LEARNING FROM MY FAILURES
The Gospel of Mark #30
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
(Mark 9:14–29, NLT) “When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.
“What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.
One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”
1. Humility helps me to learn from my failures.
(Mark 9:28, NLT) “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
2. A proud heart will argue rather than learn from failure.
(Mark 9:14, NLT) “When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them.”
3. People come to get help from Jesus, not me.
(Mark 9:17, NLT) “I brought my son so you could heal him.”
4. Failure can be due to deficient faith and insufficient
(Mark 9:29, NLT) “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”
5. God speaks to me when I wait in prayer.
(Psalm 27:4, NLT) “The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.”
(Acts 10:9, NLT) “Peter went up on the flat roof to pray.”
(Acts 10:30, NLT) “Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house …”
6. Three Kinds of Faith.
a. Struggling Faith.
b. Clinging Faith.
c. Resting Faith.
-D.L. Moody
7. Faith requires humble trust.
(Mark 9:24, NLT) “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
8. Faith is a gift sustained by the power of Christ.
a. Sustained by His return.
(James 5:7–8, NLT) “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. … Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
b. Sustained by the Word of God.
(1 Peter 1:23, NLT) “Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”
9. Faith and prayer are powerful.
(Mark 9:29, NLT) “Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”