Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, July 9, 2023

Faith Makes All Things Possible

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about a man that had faith but not enough faith for what he was facing.

He wanted to believe that the Lord would help him in his struggles; it’s not about the Lord’s might but about faith’s height!

This story takes place right after the Transfiguration, where Jesus was revealed as He truly is.  So Jesus and the three disciples come down the mountain and find the other nine disciples, them arguing with religious folks, the Scribes.

This was 1,000 years before the printing press, so the Scribes were who made copies of the Old Testament.  And they took their work very seriously!  Perfectionists, indeed!

They knew the letter of God’s law but not so much the spirit of it.  So, the crowd sees Jesus coming and wanted to ask Him what was happening.  Jesus makes His way to the Scribes and wanted to ask what they were doing.

A person in the crowd offered up that he was there with his son, who was having terrible seizures and wanted Jesus’ disciples to drive the spirit out of his child, which was causing that.  

This man brought his son, hoping to find Jesus but found the other disciples.  He asked them to do the miracle, and they could not.

Jesus is deeply bothered by this.  He is frustrated because His disciples do not have faith, and faith is the thing they needed.  

This dad asked, “If you can do anything, please help us.”  

Jesus responds, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The real question isn’t if Jesus can help…it’s if we can believe.

The father had both faith and doubt, which is a common occurrence.  This man had faith because he asked for healing for his son.  The disciples had faith because they tried.  

(CSB Study Bible Notes) At issue was not Jesus’s ability but the father’s faith—everything is possible for the one who believes (cp. 5:36; 10:27).

Verses can be found in Mark 9: 17-29.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.