Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning, Christ Church. Thank you so much for tuning in today. My name is Chet, and if this is your first time watching with us, we're so glad to have you and we'd love the chance to meet you and to come check out our service in person. And today you're picking a perfect time to tune in because we are starting a brand new series called Strengthen My Faith. I believe faith is one of the most important things in our life. And when our faith grows stronger, everything in our life will change in a good way. So for the next four weeks, we're going to talk about how God helps us to strengthen our faith and how God even is so gracious to us that when our faith is struggling, he will help us in that struggle. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. Because I've had the privilege and the blessing to of being around people who had deep and real, authentic faith. And growing up in Christ Church has been just a great blessing to me. And actually, today we're filming at our Columbia Station campus. And it's this beautiful place, and God uses it every week to reach so many people and help connect them to Christ. But I remember when it was just a vacant piece of land and we used to walk on it and pray. And when we were in that time as a church season, God was growing our church. But it all was like really difficult and it all was uncertain and nothing was kind of guaranteed. And we were really living this great adventure of faith. And I remember one day we were on this land, and there's this really sharp hill on this land which I actually kind of looking at right now in this pre record, but you can't see it. Sorry. But at the top of this hill is a cross. And we had kind of put that there and we were with a group of people. And at that time, I was in high school, so I was kind of one of the younger people in the group. And we were praying that God would one day build this beautiful facility on this piece of land. And so we all went around and prayed, and it was this really special and beautiful moment.
[00:02:19] But then after we were done, our lead pastor looked at me. And again, I was just in high school, and since I was the youngest, he said, hey, Chet, you need to tell people one day that we were here. And we prayed and God heard and God did this great thing.
[00:02:36] And so now here I am, I'm telling you, I'm doing what he said. We prayed and God answered. But there was so many of these great Moments that I got to see of people in our church who are guided by their faith and people who are guided by their faith. People who have a deep and an authentic faith, they always have a different perspective on things than most people.
[00:03:07] They also have a guard to their well being in the ups and downs in life. I've noticed people with a strong faith that they don't get as undone by those kinds of things. I've noticed that people of great faith, they, they move with a healthy sense of action in doing things and doing good things, that their faith is a fuel for that.
[00:03:33] And I've noticed that people who have a deep faith, a real faith, they have an expectation about the future that is hopeful and it brings energy and hope in life.
[00:03:50] And so people who have a real trust in God, they're fun to be around.
[00:03:56] They bring something needed into this world. They call people to trust in God and to remember God and focus on God and it's all just beautiful and good. And so as we're looking at this topic as a church, what I and praying for myself and for each one of us is that God would strengthen our faith. I believe we are that kind of church. I believe we are that kind of people. And I believe we can be even more of that. And whether you're going back to school, whether you're going into middle school or high school or college or you're starting a new job, or maybe you're just like in the thick of it in life, you here's what I believe. If your faith is strengthened and you go into that next chapter, this next season, with a stronger faith, it's going to be a better experience.
[00:04:49] And so today I want to talk about how God is willing and God is so kind that he will help us even when our faith is struggling. And so if today you're watching your chat, well, like, I don't even know if I have faith. Well, I'm glad you're listening because you're going to see how valuable faith is and how kind God is in helping us start that journey of faith. Maybe you're watching, you're like, I have faith, but man, it's not at a place that I feel good about. I'm struggling, I'm losing my grip on it all. Well, I'm glad you're watching because I want you to see that you have a savior and a God that will always help you even when your faith is struggling. If you ask him and if your faith is strong, then I just pray it gets stronger and that it grows and that God uses it to inspire others.
[00:05:44] Now, today, I want to tell you this story, and it's all about faith, and it's from the Gospels. Each week we're going to look at a different Gospel and a story about how Jesus helps people's faith, how Jesus praises people's faith, how Jesus encourages people's faith so that we. We can learn about this from many different angles. And. And here's a story today. And it starts in Mark, chapter nine, verse 21. And it says this. And Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And I'll give you the context of this in a second. And he said, from childhood. And. And it is often, cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said, if I can, all things are possible for one who believes.
[00:06:39] Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe.
[00:06:44] Help my unbelief. And if you have a Bible that you're looking at, go ahead and circle or underline that phrase, I believe, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd was coming together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mutant death spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.
[00:07:07] And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. The boy was like a corpse. So that most of them said, he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? And he said to him, this kind can be driven out only by prayer.
[00:07:31] Now, this is a unusual story, I think, to us, because it involves a father and a son who is being spiritually attacked.
[00:07:41] And Jesus casts out this demon that's attacking this boy. But. But behind all of that story, that sometimes we can get lost in that element is really a story about faith and how Jesus interacts with a man who says, I believe, but I'm struggling.
[00:08:01] Help my unbelief. And before we dig into this too much, I want to talk to you for a second about why faith is so important.
[00:08:12] And what we see in the Gospels is that we see Jesus marvels only two times.
[00:08:20] Two times, the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus marvels where he's like, he's amazed. He stands back and he goes, whoa.
[00:08:29] And the two times are one, when he goes to a town and they have such little faith in him, like absolutely zero faith in him that he's amazed at that. So that's the negative side. And then another time, Jesus is amazed at the faith of a person, and he's amazed at how much faith they have. But what I want you to see here is that faith is something Jesus pays attention to.
[00:09:01] It's something that's important to him. It's something that we see him react to either in the negative or in the positive, which means faith is something that's really important.
[00:09:14] Secondly, Jesus teaches that faith can be a limiting factor in our lives.
[00:09:21] Jesus has these interesting teachings where he says things like this, as your faith, be it unto you.
[00:09:29] And there's a sense where Jesus is saying is, hey, I. I'm going to partner with you.
[00:09:36] And that partnership is in some ways going to be connected to your faith, to your trust, to your confidence in me, to your willingness to walk with me and to trust me and to pray and to seek me and to follow me. And so faith has a real influence on our experience of God and of God's work through us.
[00:10:02] Third, we see the great apostle Paul, who wrote a lot of the New Testament. He said that there are three Christian virtues that are the most important.
[00:10:12] Faith, hope, and love. He says the greatest is love. Love is number one. And we're going to talk about that in another sermon series.
[00:10:20] But tied for second place is faith and hope.
[00:10:25] So the second most important quality in your life, in your Christian life and in my Christian life, is faith.
[00:10:34] It's in the top three.
[00:10:37] And lastly, the author of the Book of Hebrews says that without faith, it's impossible to please God.
[00:10:48] And so if we flip that the other way, that only with faith can we live a life that's pleasing to God.
[00:10:56] So all of this is to say that faith is something incredibly important and that faith is something that we ought to be serious to understanding and to nurturing into asking God's help to grow in our life. Now just take another step back and ask this other question. Well, what is faith?
[00:11:19] What do we mean by this? And let me first start by telling you what faith is not.
[00:11:27] Faith is not just sort of this, you know, this blind leap into the unknown. And a lot of times we talk about faith that way. Like, I'm taking a leap of faith, and it means like, I have no idea what's going on. I have no idea what. What's going. But. But I. I'm just kind of going for it. I don't think that's the right way to understand faith. Sometimes people think about faith as Being opposed to knowledge? Well, I, I don't know, but I have faith. And we kind of make this false dichotomy. But faith is not against knowledge, it's not against intellect. Faith requires the fullness of our mind.
[00:12:08] Faith is not against science.
[00:12:11] You can be a incredibly educated and thoughtful and brilliant person and still believe deeply in the reality and the importance of faith. They're not. One is not against each other. And sometimes in our world we talk about it that way. So faith is not a rejection of those things.
[00:12:35] In fact, the author Hebrews gives a very elegant definition of faith.
[00:12:41] It's so simple, but yet so profound. And here's what the author of Hebrews says. He says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
[00:12:59] So faith brings both an assurance that is hope based into our lives and a conviction about things that can't be known just by seeing or by our senses. And you could think about this definition your whole life from the book of Hebrews.
[00:13:19] It's just a simple sentence, but there's so much in that. And I love how one author unpacks it. There's a great theologian named John Calvin and, and he gives this definition of faith that I want to share with you. He says we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us. That's the first part of the definition. I want you to hear those words. So he says, first of all, faith is knowledge.
[00:13:53] Faith is not against knowledge, but faith is a way of knowing that. And it's a way of knowing this, that God is benevolent towards me, that God wants to do good in my life, that God wants to love, forgive, redeem, help, all these things, that God is benevolent for me. And then he says it's a knowledge of God's benevolence towards us founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ.
[00:14:25] So it's knowledge that God wants to do good towards me. And it's founded on the person of Jesus Christ.
[00:14:36] So it's this knowledge that I have that God wants to do good in my life. And the reason he wants to do good is because of the promises of Jesus Christ. Because what Christ has done for me, how Christ has given me these promises and given me forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. But, but notice this, that the object of faith is in the person of Jesus Christ. So when we talk about faith, we're not talking about what I think God should do. And my faith is in what I expect him to do. But my faith is in the person of Jesus first and foremost. And then lastly, Calvin says, given these promises in Christ that are both revealed to our minds, so faith requires our mind and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:33] So faith is an act that involves both the mind and the heart, the intellect and the emotions. And God helps to solidify it in both those areas. And I just, I love that definition. And so when you think about faith, I just want you to think about those things. That one, it is knowledge, and it's a special knowledge of God that man, God wants to help me. God is the source of every good.
[00:16:02] God wants to continue to pour good. And why do I have confidence in that? Not because I'm good all the time.
[00:16:10] Not because I'm good some of the time. Not because I'm good most of the time. No, because of Christ, because of the promises of Christ in this reality. I'm understanding it with the Spirit's help more and more in my mind, and I'm feeling it and experiencing it more and more in my heart. I think it's a good way to understand faith. Now let's talk about the struggle of faith that we see in these verses.
[00:16:37] So we see this poor boy, and he has experienced this spiritual attack for a long time, and his father is unsure what to do.
[00:16:49] Now, many of us hearing this story, we might automatically get a little bit skeptical of this story. We're like, oh, you know, this is kind of weird. Here's this boy that's demon possessed and it's affecting him. And, you know, we have all these kind of spiritual elements going on.
[00:17:08] And sometimes if we are maybe exploring the Christian faith or we're kind of coming at this with maybe a little bit more skepticism, we might be like, man, is this really believable what's happening here? And here's what I would just say to us today, something just to think about that, you know, we're good at guarding ourselves against physical threats in this world. We lock our doors, we have cameras on our doors. We, you know, we maybe are cautious about where we go. And we understand how there are threats in the physical world and we protect ourselves against it. We also know there are threats in the digital world. We have passwords for all kinds of things. Our social media accounts get hacked, and we, you know, get it fixed. And we recognize that there are people that are trying to steal our identity or, you know, steal our profile, which I have no idea why they do that, but. But they have some reason. They're trying to do it, and, and we understand how to protect. But you know what the Bible says there's also spiritual realities, and there are also spiritual things that are trying to keep us from God and break us down and create all kinds of pain and chaos in this world.
[00:18:43] And I don't think that's an irrational thought.
[00:18:46] Because if you just try to understand the world in only a natural way, and you say there's only natural causes to everything, there can be nothing that can be.
[00:18:58] That can happen that can't be explained naturally, you actually end up running into a lot of problems, because I think there is supernatural causes to things. And unfortunately, this boy is experiencing a supernatural problem.
[00:19:15] Now, the good news is, is that Jesus Christ is greater than all the powers of evil and that the protection that we need can only ultimately come from him. Yes, I can protect my car and my house and maybe some of my Internet and social media accounts and things like that, but I need one who is greater than all the forces of evil to protect my life. And that's what this boy needed. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't stand a chance against him, and I just want you to know that.
[00:19:58] And so, so this dad comes to Jesus's disciples and they try to. To help this boy, but they can't. That's a part of the story I didn't read to you. And so then finally the dad comes to Jesus and he says, okay, your disciples couldn't help him, but can you help?
[00:20:16] Help? Do you think there's anything you can do? If you're able, can you help them?
[00:20:22] And Jesus says, if I can, my ability to help you is not the problem.
[00:20:32] But are you willing to believe? Nothing is impossible for the one who believes. He says, you don't have to do a power check on me. I. I'm doing a faith check on you.
[00:20:48] And Jesus calls this man to trust in him in a deeper way.
[00:20:57] I love what one writer said. He said this, that Jesus calls for that faith which bows its head before the concealed glory of God.
[00:21:10] See, that to me, is so important to understand that faith, it defers to God.
[00:21:19] Yes, faith can look very bold. And I could say, lord, please help me in this area and move this mountain in my life. And Jesus invites us to do that. But faith is also deferential.
[00:21:36] At the end of the day, faith is not in what I think God should do.
[00:21:43] See, some of us, we have said prayers and we said, God, I think you should do this.
[00:21:50] I really want you to do this. And we've meant it. And it wasn't a bad thing we were asking for, and it wasn't a wrong thing we were asking for. We've all had FL friends and family that were sick or struggling. And we prayed and we said, God, would you just take that away?
[00:22:09] Some of us, we went through things as young kids that were horrible, and we prayed and we said, God, would you create something different?
[00:22:19] And maybe for some of us, those prayers were not answered the way we asked.
[00:22:26] And for some of us, that has been a stumbling block. It's been something where we have a hard time getting over in our spiritual journey.
[00:22:38] And I want you to see something that's happening in this story and something that is so central to faith.
[00:22:44] And here's what it is. Faith. Yes, it's bold. It's good to ask those things. And Jesus, he's like, look, my power is not the issue. I can do anything.
[00:22:54] There's no limit to it. But sometimes there are reasons beyond us that God allows things to continue or things to happen that don't make sense to us, that we cannot connect the dots. But here's what faith does. It says, no, no, the object of my faith is not the contents of my prayer.
[00:23:21] The object of my faith is Jesus Christ. Here's what that means. That means that when I pray, I'm always going to say, but, God, here's what I'm asking for. But I defer to you. At the end of the day, here's what I want you to do with all my heart, and it matters to me so much. But at the end of the day, Lord, I defer to you because my faith is in you, not what I think you can do. And if our faith is in him, then we will trust him even when he answers differently than we asked.
[00:24:02] Because sometimes my kids ask for things and I have to answer differently than they ask. Not because I don't love them, but because I do love them.
[00:24:13] And the same is true with your Heavenly Father. And so Jesus says, all things are possible for the one who believes that when we approach life with faith, it opens all kinds of possibilities around us. We begin to see all that we're going through and experiencing, and we begin to see it differently.
[00:24:38] And so today, I just want you to know maybe you've asked things and God answered differently than you asked.
[00:24:44] I want you to know he is still trustworthy and faith is still the right response to Him.
[00:24:53] And those who trust in him will not be put to shame.
[00:24:58] But I love this Father because he's just Real with Jesus. And he says, I do believe, but help my Unbelievable. And maybe that's where you're at today. You're like, lord, I do believe, but I am just struggling.
[00:25:15] Help my unbelief.
[00:25:18] And, you know, Jesus heals that boy.
[00:25:22] Jesus casts that demon out and he says, and you're never coming back again. Jesus answers that prayer, even though that man's admittedly struggling in his faith. And you know, what I learned from that is that if you're struggling in your faith and you ask God for help, he will help you.
[00:25:47] He's so merciful to us.
[00:25:50] He would be right in saying, well, you're struggling in belief, man. I'm not dealing with that. But no, he meets us where we're at.
[00:26:00] And today that's what I want to encourage you to do. If you're struggling today and your faith, it doesn't feel like it's getting stronger. It feels like it's getting weaker or it feels like it's in a vulnerable spot. I want to invite you to just say what that man said. Lord, help my unbelief, strengthen my faith. I know it's not where it should be. I know it's not where you deserve it to be, but would you help me and Jesus?
[00:26:31] Jesus will help us.
[00:26:32] And for some of you today, that maybe you're saying, like, I'm exploring faith. I'm thinking about what I believe. I don't know what I think about God yet. I don't know what I think about Christ yet.
[00:26:43] I haven't crossed that line of faith. I just want you to think about this thing. What is blocking your faith today?
[00:26:51] What question is it? What issue is it? What needs resolved?
[00:26:56] What would get you to a place where you would believe in Jesus Christ, where you would trust him, where you would commit your life to him? What is the thing that is blocking you?
[00:27:10] And as you think about that, and if you can name that, would you talk to someone about that?
[00:27:16] And would you just maybe give him a chance to help you possibly overcome that?
[00:27:22] Because he is worth trusting in. And then Jesus ends this section, and he uses this to teach us about the importance of prayer.
[00:27:33] The disciples say, well, why couldn't we cast this demon out of the boy? And Jesus says, well, some things come out only by prayer.
[00:27:42] And what I learned from that is that there are some things in life that God want, will only move forward through prayer and prayer.
[00:27:54] It reveals our faith and it also grows our faith.
[00:28:00] See, when you and I, when we go to God in prayer, what we're saying is we're honoring him because we're saying, God, I believe you can help.
[00:28:08] I believe you listen. I believe you care. I believe you're real. I believe you're a rewarder of those who diligently seek you.
[00:28:19] And see these disciples, unfortunately, because they had been blessed and empowered by Jesus, they got to this situation and they thought they could do it without him.
[00:28:31] And Jesus says, no, no, some things come out only by prayer. You can't do this all without me. And some of us today, we're going forward in our life and we're doing our thing, and we're making the same mistake. We think we can do it without Him.
[00:28:46] And prayer is this great indicator that we're living by faith because we know we can't do it without Him. We know we need his help, and we know we've got to constantly ask him. And interestingly enough, the more you pray, the more your faith will grow. So it shows faith, but it also nurtures faith. And there might be an issue that we're facing today, and maybe that's an issue that God's saying, hey, this is only going to move forward by prayer.
[00:29:16] And so let's get to praying. I believe our church only moves forward by prayer.
[00:29:22] And I just want to ask you, church, as we are working towards this new building and we're trying to get this final push and get this all figured out, get a shovel in the ground, would you pray for this every day? Would you ask God to bless us financially, to bless us with all the logistics, all the permits, every aspect of this project? There are so many aspects to it. Would you just pray for God's blessing, for God's favor, for God to open all the right doors, to close all the wrong ones, and to glorify his name in this process? Because I think this is something that only happens by prayer.
[00:30:02] And so today, here's what I want you to do. I just want you to ask God to strengthen your faith. Say, lord, strengthen my faith. Help my unbelief.
[00:30:15] Today, again, you're watching. You're like, well, Chet, I don't even have faith. Well, then I want you to ask God for this. God, give me faith. Because here's what the apostle Paul says. He says even faith is a gift from God.
[00:30:31] And God is a generous, generous giver of gifts. So let's ask him either for faith or let's ask him to strengthen our faith. Let's pray.
[00:30:43] Father, I thank you that you are so kind to people like us who struggle in our faith.
[00:30:54] Father. Sometimes I have those moments where I realize how foolish it is of me to struggle.
[00:31:01] Because you've been so good.
[00:31:03] You've been. There's so many moments I can look back to, and I can see your hand, your power, your mercy, your grace, your goodness clearly. And I'm sorry for all the times I waver, all the times I doubt, all the times I lose my way. And I pray for myself, and I pray for any of my brothers and sisters listening or watching, that you would strengthen our. Our faith. Lord, I say, with that man, help my unbelief.
[00:31:35] And I pray, Lord, as you were gracious to him, you would be gracious to us and ask this in the good name of Jesus.
[00:31:43] Amen.
