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Speaker 1: Life Audio. The most powerful prayer in all of Scripture is just six words loan. Those words are I do believe, help my unbelief. Friends, if you have ever been really honest with yourself, you probably can really relate to that prayer as well. All of us have faith mixed with doubt, all of us have fears mixed with our certainty. And in the midst of that we have Jesus who walks with us and invites us into deeper and deeper dependence on Him. Hey, everyone, welcome to How to Say the Bible. I'm your host, Nicole Yunis, and I'm so glad to get to journey with you as we discovered together week by week the very real and relevant power of God's Word in our life. I'm so grateful for your reviews, for sharing these episodes, for leaving your comments on YouTube. It's just a delight to put your names at least a little bit together in our community as we just spend a little time every single week in a way that I hope is bringing the Bible to life for you, in a way that I hope is bringing you encouragement in the midst of your everyday life. I know that I cannot go more than a few days in a row without feeling like God, I need a word from you. I want to feel encouraged because life is hard, and life is full of doubt and uncertainty and struggle, and we need the power and the encouragement of God's words so that we can live out this life together, that we can let our light shine as Jesus has called us too. But if you're a person like me who struggles with doubt, who wonders sometimes where God is in the midst of all of it, then you are going to find a friend today in March chapter nine, as we continue forward in this mini series that we've been talking about, this is kind of the wrap up in this whole concept of confusion to clarity. If you remember where we left off last week, we had Jesus asking that very pointed question to his disciples. The question he had asks all of us, but what about you? Who do you say that I am? And Peter declares for the first time that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the one he's been written about, he is the one he's been prophesied about. He is the only savior, the way, the Truth, the life. It is such a high point and immediately we have problems right after that. It is so incredibly human because right after this kind of pinnacle experience with Jesus, immediately Peter is like talking about Jesus is talking about his death. He's like, I'm going to go to the cross. And this is not what the disciples are expecting to hear. When we talk about perception and the data points. The data points say that this man who has all authority and all power, that we've just declared the Messiah, why would he say he's going to be murdered at the hands of human beings. Why isn't he coming into his power. Why isn't he declaring his kingdom. Why isn't he like setting us up as is like main, guys, you know, that's how we understand earthly power. And so it makes sense that it was confusing that right now after Peter says you are the Messiah, Jesus predicts his death. Peter rebukes Jesus. He's like, don't say that, Jesus, That's not how it's going to happen, and then he gets rebuked right back. Jesus actually says, you might know these words where he says to Peter, get behind me, Satan, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man. And this is a reminder once again that we are not going to master the kingdom of God. That we're called to be servants in this kingdom, which means that God himself, his ways are always higher than our ways, his thoughts are always higher than our thoughts. We are not going to be able to make sense of every spiritual reality in this earthly world. And here the disciples are trying to make sense of Jesus's power, and they're thinking about the way it would go if it was earthly power, and Jesus is saying, no, the way of God is the way of the Cross. It is completely different than how you've experienced human power. And he says all this, and he's doing this right after he's said at the end of chapter eight about this idea of anyone who's going to follow me is going to take up their cross and follow me, that you actually have to lose your life to save it. That's confusing for a lot of us. We're like, what does it mean to lose my life? But it's all about that perception that we've been talking about all through these chapters. It's all about actually being willing to see life differently than the way you see it right now. It's being willing to allow God to be the one who's the driver of your life rather than yourself. That is what it means to lose your life as you know it in order to save your life, because Jesus is saying, I am the one who has real, abundant life, and this whole earthly journey is about a day by day experience of walking closer with me. I've experiencing life the way that I've defined it, not the way that you have. And so Jesus is making this very clear in this passage. And then we get to the transfiguration, which deserves its own time. We don't have time for it today, but he's going to show Peter, James and John himself in his glory. We have this moment where we actually get the curtain pulled back for just a moment between heaven and Earth, where really these three disciples see that Jesus really is God. And this is an extremely important moment of understanding Jesus's glory because we're about to see the story turn towards Jesus's passion. Jesus is suffering, Jesus's willingness to go to the cross on behalf of the world is coming. And so it's very important that these guys see that Jesus has all authority and all power, as we've been talking about, which means the only reason that he would submit himself unto death is voluntary. It's on purpose, it's for a purpose. It's not because he didn't have the power to stand up against these earthly authorities. It's because something is happening in the spiritual realm that is so incredibly important that this is the way that it's going to happen. But that's very confusing to everyone. It's confusing to us even today to think about, like, no, you don't give up your power. That's not how it works. Like if you have authority, you keep authority, If you have power, you keep power. But Jesus says, absolutely not. It says in Philippians too, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, like he voluntarily sacrificed his life to death in order that we might live. And that is the way of the cross. Let's get back to our chapter where in March chapter nine, the transfiguration has happened. And then they come off of this mountain and there's a large crowd that's gathered around the other disciples, and they're all arguing with each other, and so Jesus says, what are you arguing about? And a man in the crowd answers this, This is verse seventeen, teacher, I brought you my son. Which is interestingly he says, I brought you my son because Jesus hasn't been there. So his disciples are truly envoice of Jesus that God calls us to that work that he's saying, you are going to be the representative of Jesus to people. And so this man says, I brought you my son. And he's demon possessed and he's been robbed of his speech, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him on 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. Jesus says, you, you unbelieving generation, How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Jesus might as well sigh again, But he doesn't sigh and remove himself from people. He doesn't sigh and distance himself. He doesn't say never mind, I'm done with you guys. He sighs and says, will you guys understand who I am? Bring me the boy? And so the boy comes forward. They bring him there. The spirit throws him to the ground, and Jesus now turns to the boy's father again, not for Jesus's sake, but for the father's sake. He says, how long has he been like this? The father answers, from childhood it has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. If you can do anything, if you can do an anything, take pity on us and help us if you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed these words, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. I do believe, Help me overcome my unbelief. When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. You death 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 everyone around him said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. And after Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we drive it out? And Jesus replied, this kind can only come out by prayer. Okay, that's a lot that's going on in this story, but what we want to know are some of the things that we've been learning over the period of time as we've been looking at this gospel. Jesus has all authority. He's made that very clear. Jesus, this has made it very clear that he doesn't need any specific rituals or ways in order to do the work that he's been given to do. That he can command the spirits, he can command the natural world, he can create food, he can bring hearing to the death, he can bring sight to the blind, he can bring the dead to life. He can do all these things. So when he pass, someone participate with him, it's for their sake. And so he turns to this man's father and he says, tell me more about the situation. Is so compassionate, so empathetic. Jesus is human, and he engages with humanity. And so he engages with this father who must feel so powerless against this thing that has taken over his child, who must feel so helpless and desperate. He is in a desperate place, and in fact he's so desperate he's actually found a way to find Jesus's disciples. And he must have thought that this is his moment that his son will be healed. And his son wasn't healed even with Jesus's disciples. Imagine the doubt, Imagine the despair, the feeling of like just helplessness when you want so much for your child and you cannot provide it. And so in this moment, Jesus engages with the dad. He says, tell me more about how long he's been like this? And this dad, in his desperation, is seeing life the way that he can understand it, and he's like, if you can do anything, who knows he might have thought, if you could even give him a reprieve, if you could even give him one good day, if you could do anything anything to help us, and Jesus is like, if I can do anything, I can do everything. And he looks at this man and says, everything is possible. Everything is possible. He might not be on our timeline, it might not be the way we expect, but it does not mean that Jesus does not have the power to move in our lives. And so Jesus does what his disciples could not do, and he draws out this spirit. And before he does so, he has this man offer this desperate prayer, this desperate prayer that says, I do want to believe. I absolutely want to believe in more. Will you help me in my unbelief? And I love that because it is such an honest and desperate prayer, and it is a prayer that available for all of us when you are real about your circumstances, when you are real about the condition of your faith, when you understand your own doubt, and you're just saying, like, Lord, I want more of you, I want more faith, I want to believe in more. But I have this part of me that doesn't. And I'm asking you to help me with that part too. You see what that is is that is whole hearted. You're bringing your whole heart, the good stuff and the bad stuff, the good side, the shadow side. You're bringing your superpowers and your kryptonite. You're bringing it all, and you're saying, Jesus, I bring you everything of me. I do want to believe more than I do, but then I find myself not believing, and Jesus engages right in that space. And what happens here is that the man's unbelief does not stop Jesus from acting. It does not limit Jesus's power. He is able to drive out that spirit. He's able to do the thing. And I think what we're meant to learn from this is that what Jesus appreciates is that wholeheartedness. He challenges this man's faith, and then he accepts and receives this man's honesty, and in the midst of that, healing does occur, and his disciples are amazed again, and they ask Jesus, why couldn't we do what you did? And what Jesus says is this kind only comes out by prayer. And I think what we're meant to understand from that is that this communion with our heavenly Father is our place of spiritual power. That we are not going to be able to operate outside of an integrated, desperate life with our heavenly Father, where we are in prayer with him. Jesus speaks to the power of an interior life that actually allows us to release God's power into the world. He calls us to be very, very serious about the condition of our own heart and our own own experiences and practices with the Father. Many of us, if we've been following Jesus for a long time, we start living, We start experiencing our faith by doing, and at the end of the day, our faith is a place of being, of being with our heavenly Father, of coming away for solitude, of being in silence, of being in prayer. That that is our place of spiritual power, so that when we are called to the work, we're doing it out of that place of abundance, rather than out of obligation or striving or action that's ever separated from communion and presence with our heavenly Father. Jesus right after this, predicts his death again, and once again his disciples are missing the point. They start to talk about who's going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and what Jesus says to them at the end of this chapter is anyone who wants to be first must be very last and be the servant of all. And he's beginning to teach them about what it's going to look like to follow the way of the Cross. That the way of Jesus is not power but humility. The way of Jesus is not confidence but vulnerability. That there is this way that Jesus is inviting us to live in this world, to be so careful with our hearts, to understand that nothing is more important than what's happening inside of us, To be in practices with our heavenly Father so that we might experience communion with him. And at the very end of the chapter, Jesus brings this all back around to action, which I want to make sure I touch on because it can feel like from other chapters when the Pharisees were talking about hand washing and rituals and the things that Jesus wasn't doing, and Jesus says, none of that matters. What matters is what comes out of your heart. He's going to bring it back to action now again here and what he says is you need to know what causes you to stumble. You need to know what causes you to experience unbelief. You need to know what causes you to experience doubt, what causes you to experience despair, Where you find yourself kind of swirling in anxiety or concern or self absorption. You need to know these places, and you have got to remove those places from your life. So he is serious about action. He is serious about our behaviors. But Jesus is serious about our behaviors insomuch as they connect to our heart, as they connect to our ability. To have the courage to live out a life where we're experiencing more and more of Jesus's abundance. To have the courage to speak truth to power, To have the courage to live in reality about our own experiences as well as others. To have the courage to be dependent on Christ, to be able to say, I do believe, but help my unbelief. This is what Jesus is inviting us to. It is a full, beautiful life, but it is a rigorous, rigorous life of discipleship with Him. All right, everyone, I'll see you next week. From Mark Chapter.

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