Mark 14:61-62 Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” 62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
 
DO you find comfort in Jesus’ promise to return? Do you have hope and know peace in God’s plan to judge and redeem the world? May this comfort, hope and peace be true for your heart.
   Life is turbulent, ever-changing, isn’t it? We may feel things are generally well. But suddenly something happens to disturb us. You may worry about a loved one or be concerned about the general state of affairs in your country. Perhaps you have doubts about your finances. Some of you may wonder, “When will I have my next meal?” In your everyday life, what good is it to know, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
   Have you ever been on a difficult journey? You may have had issues with weather, transportation or any number of circumstances that delayed your travel. Yet it is likely you continued to work through those challenges to reach your destination. If you forgot where you were going or the reason for your journey, you may have become discouraged and returned home.
   But if you were traveling with a decided purpose and destination, you probably continued your journey. Reaching your destination was a victory for your determination and perseverance.
   In Christ Jesus, God promises he has called you to a journey toward heaven. The way forward has many challenges that can cause you to break down and stop if you take your eyes from your destination. That’s why you can thank God Jesus’ promise has come from heaven. Through the gospels you know where you are going and why when you place your faith in Jesus. You know how you will arrive in heaven. Paul points you to this great encouragement as you travel through life: Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
   Yes, Jesus poured out his love. As the Jewish authorities condemned him, he claimed victory. His promise to come again began to take shape three days after the trial. He rose from the grave. The angels declared, “He is not here. He’s has risen.” (Matthew 8:6) And 40 days later at Jesus’ ascension, perhaps those same angels promised, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) As the apostles began their difficult journey of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth, they would persevere because they knew Jesus’ promise. This was their great hope of their future destination. This must be ours, too.
   Remember the God-centered LIFE is to Live In Fath Everyday. In the daily challenges and even very hard days, you have the assurance that your forever future is in God’s hands. The Son of Man has promised to come. Live with this destination on your heart. Be confident and satisfied in Jesus’ rule to come.

Mark 9:25-29 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. 28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
 
PRAYER becomes powerful when it is persistent. The demon had grossly affected the boy’s health and behavior. Its violent reaction to Jesus’ presence is symbolic of our sin nature’s great discord against God’s Word. To avoid God’s commands, the human race throws itself into all types of convulsions: Galatians 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions. These sins cast us away from Jesus’ benevolent care. They blind us and bind us to keep us from communicating with God.
   Sin can only come out by prayer. We cannot ignore it or fail to confess if intrudes into our mind to block our thoughts of God.
   As Jesus wearied of the unbelieving generation, he once more used this healing as an opportunity to show the Jews their Lod had come to save them. The crowd watched the healing. They heard the evil spirit shriek and saw the boy become still as death. Sin is angry when righteousness commands it to go. They watched the Lord take his hand to help him stand. The God who speaks is the God who comes to you when you pray, “Help my unbelief.”
   Some manuscripts state Mark 9:29 “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.” Jesus taught his disciples to be deliberate with their spiritual disciplines. Prayer and fasting are effective means of grace if we use them! Prayers of haste and convenience to call on God only when you are in trouble are ineffective. A relationship with God requires you love him and listen to  him. Remember, being a “disciple” is about “discipline”. The disciplined life of prayer leads you into a more personal communication with Jesus. The God who speaks wants you to speak to him. As he did that day before the crowd, the teachers, the father and the disciples, he wants to glorify his name as he answers your petitions and praises.
   Jesus was training his disciples to become apostles. When he left them, they would need to rely on all he had taught them. And they did so. One of the marks of the early church: Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Prayer opens the door to God’s power. You won’t see him respond to you until you respond to him. Seek God and let him know you have faith to say, “I believe.”
   

Mark 9:19-24 “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 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. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “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.” 23 “'If you can'?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
 
OUR Lord is frustrated with his people. These are mainly the Jews, who had been given God’s promises from Abraham. The LORD had worked mighty miracles to form them, favor them and protect them even in his judgments. He had personally come to show his grace and goodness to his people. The apostle Paul wrote there was no excuse to be ignorant of God: Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Even the generation who watched the Lord personally display his power would not believe in him. Perhaps the boy’s father summed up their hearts with, “If you can.”   
   Are we any different than those faith-challenged people? We can easily connect with the desperate father, who cried (prayed?), “Help my unbelief!” For many years he had witnessed the perils of his son’s disease. Then he heard about Jesus. The miracle accounts ignited a hope in his heart he had never known. But when he found nine of Jesus’ disciples. Where was Jesus? But surely his disciples could heal his boy.
   But they couldn’t. What happened? Is it possible the disciples relied too much on Jesus’ presence? Did they not realize their gift was to heal in the Spirit’s power? Maybe they became watchers instead of doers and did not trust the Lord’s power was in them.
   So then, how would you react to the disciples’ inability to heal your son? When your prayers produce no visible results, is it appropriate to say to Jesus, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” The father had few, if any expectation Jesus would respond.
   And it’s true, isn’t it, that these words may echo in your heart? We experience many broken circumstances that appear beyond repair. And we wonder if God cares. What do with our doubt or even with unbelief?
    The father’s prayer, “Help me overcome my unbelief.” is a prayer that begins to turn our heart to seek God’s assurance he will do what he promises. With humility and submission, we realize we must talk to God to begin to build our faith.
   We must remember God is One who Speaks. He has granted his creation very personal access to him. The Bible records the many times God spoke to his people when they where mired in unbelief. He gave many unbelieving generations the opportunity to know him. That is the way to effective prayer. Jesus will help our unbelief when  we speak to the God who speaks to us. He will help your unbelief when you hear from him as you pray. You will begin to grasp the depth and breadth of his power that extends through the ages.  
   Next: God’s Word triumphs.
 

Mark 9:14-18 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with the disciples. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 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.”
 
THIS begins a three-part look at Mark 9:14-29. Our purpose is to better understand the power God offers to us through prayer.
   Jesus, Peter, James and John are returning from a “mountain top experience”. The three disciples have witnessed God’s full glory descend upon Jesus in the Transfiguration. They have heard God’s voice tell them, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:7) Those three disciples would be full of joy and wonder. Hopefully, too, they would have a very strong, determined faith through their remarkable personal experience with God.
   But as Jesus and the three return, the other nine disciples are in the midst of a spiritual battle. A desperate father has brought his deaf, mute, very ill son to them. He wants them to drive out the spirit that throws the boy to the ground and causes him to have severe seizures. But Jesus’ disciples cannot deliver the boy from the demon. What happened to the power Jesus had given them to do so? Mark 6:7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.  
   That’s why the teachers were arguing with the disciples. Apparently the teachers were mocking the disciples because they could not command the demon. Mocking the disciples is mocking Jesus. As we’ve mentioned, one reason Jesus healed and delivered people from demon possession was to demonstrate God’s power to forgive sins. If his disciples could not deliver the boy, then Jesus must be a false teacher. We must note a lesson here. If we say, “I am Jesus’ disciple.” our depth of faith reflects on our Lord. If we live content with a casual or weak faith, then people will see God as casual and weak. A strong faith demonstrates God’s strong hand. A strong faith tells God we are listening to his Son, with whom he is well pleased. One way to demonstrate a strong faith is through consistent, trusting prayer. We’ll learn more about that as Jesus responds to the father, the demon and the disciples.
 

Mark 14:22-25 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”
 
LOVE’S great promise for you. Jesus promises to give you his broken body and shed blood. You’ve heard this many times when Communion (the  Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Table, the Eucharist) is offered in a worship service. This is the promise from the Son of God that he is giving himself to all who believe in him. How do you respond?
   Do you consider God’s gift with reverent awe and joyful wonder? We mourn the sin that caused Jesus’ suffering. We wonder at his deep love to so dreadfully suffer the cross, so we can live with him in the kingdom of God. That’s why Communion must be celebrated with a reverent heart to receive the LORD God’s eternal gift to you.
   The apostle Paul instructs us to a worshipful response to Jesus’ New Covenant of grace: 1 Corinthians 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 
   You can properly receive the power of Jesus’ promise only if you approach Communion with a faith in Jesus’ work on the cross, a repentant heart to confess your sins and a joyful heart to believe God forgives your sin.
   Jesus’ promise is holy. He is the Son of God perfectly completing the Father’s covenant of salvation first stated in Genesis 3:15 “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The crucifixion is sin’s strike on Jesus’ heel. It is also the act the crushes Satan’s authority over the world. God will judge a casual or irreverent approach to Communion. That’s why some churches properly instruct people in the church to refuse Communion if they do not believe Jesus is Savior, or if they are unwilling to confess and repent of sins. It is also the church’s responsibility to refuse Communion to those who exhibit outward sin and do not repent.
   Communion is a private and a public demonstration of your faith in Jesus’ promise. You privately pray to God to repent of your sins and to receive the elements in faith. You publicly demonstrate this faith when you take the elements. This meal is telling God and telling your brothers and sisters in the church that you are faithfully responding to Jesus’ command, “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19b) 
     

Mark 9:36-37 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
 
AS Jesus took the child in his arms (Mark is the only gospel to mention Jesus did this.), you can feel and hear the Savior express honor to the child with his welcoming touch and his affirming words. This is very much out of the normal way of life in both the Jewish and Roman cultures. Children had no value other than to raise them to become adults.
   The disciples had just been arguing about who would be the greatest to have a role to rule in the kingdom (Mark 9:33). In response, Jesus taught them kingdom greatness is loving, serving and honoring others – even children – and perhaps especially children.
   Children are vulnerable. They rely on adults to care for them. Most non-Christian cultures today have little regard for children other than some form of property to be utilized for work or income. But the Christian view is to see all children through Jesus’ eyes. You are kingdom great when you open your life to care for those at risk. Further, honoing Jesus is honoring the Father. When you honor a child created in God’s image, you honor the child’s Creator.
   Can you apply this to your family life? What about your home? Husbands, when you honor your wife, you are honoring others who love her – her parents, her children, her siblings and her friends. Wives, when you honor your husband, you are honoring your children, his parents, his siblings and his friends. The same is true of honoring your children. And children, when you honor your parents, you are also honoring your siblings, your grandparents and their friends.  
   Honor to one, whether it is the Son of God or the child of your parents, is an expression of love to those who love him. You are connected emotionally to many people. Wouldn’t it be good if one of those connections is honor?

Mark 8:31-33 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
 
PRIOR to this, Peter had confessed to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:29d) That meant the disciples believed Jesus is Israel’s Messiah to redeem the nation from foreign powers. Perhaps they thought Jesus’ next words would be a call to action against Rome, to go to Jerusalem to conquer and reign.
   But then Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer…be killed…rise again.” Why did Jesus identify himself as “Son of Man” instead of “Christ” as he prophesied his suffering and resurrection?
   The Jews understood the names to be of similar character and purpose for Israel. Son of Man is a reference to one under God’s authority to rule the earth. This is revealed in Daniel 7:13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” The Jews understood the Son of Man is from God and of God. He is eternal. So then, how does “Son of Man must suffer…” correlate with these titles of the triumphant one from heaven?
   “Must” is the key word here. Jesus is on a mission. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10). “Must” means compulsion – an obligation here to fulfill the Father’s will. The Father has obligated the Son to suffering from the first promise of salvation when he told Satan in Genesis 3:15 “You will strike his heel.” Further, God’s law requires a blood sacrifice to redeem sins. And the prophets said the Messiah will suffer: Isaiah 53:11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
   The intricate weaving of the Father’s will with the Son’s incarnation is at work here. Jesus, always faithful to the Father’s will, knew what he must do. He committed himself to suffering. And he also committed to resurrection. Peter and the others should have been excited for Jesus’ ultimate redemptive work. But they couldn’t see past Jesus’ suffering promise. But without Jesus’ suffering there would be no resurrection, and there would be no way for you to live in heaven.
   Are you glad Jesus knew he must fulfill God’s promises? 

Mark 5:25-29, 34 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering…34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
 
JESUS told the woman, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”. In the previous lesson, Jesus saw the faith of the crippled man and his friends to come to him against great odds. He forgave the man’s sins and healed the man’s body. Is faith the healing agent? How much faith do we need?
   Jesus taught that a very small faith will do great things. When his disciples could not heal a young man with epilepsy, he exhorted them: “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) The Lord urged his disciples to spiritually hold on to him. He wanted them to exhibit the same faith as the woman who had grasped his cloak and the crippled man who had pursued him through a thick roof.
   Both the woman and the man had enough faith to know to go to Jesus, to trust  his power that he would move the mountains from their lives and into the “sea” – a metaphor for the place of destruction. Three times in the gospels Jesus admonishes the disciples, “You of little faith.” He wanted to draw them from a self-view of their own abilities, so they could set their eyes on him and await his response. Because faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1), we cannot hope to see God touch our lives if we do not seek to touch him. 

Mark 2:4-6, 10-12 Since they could not get the paralyzed man to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” … 10 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone, and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
 
DO you think the paralyzed man was passionate to get to Jesus, so Jesus would forgive his sins? It’s more likely the group broke through the roof because they had faith Jesus would heal the man’s legs. Because of Jesus’s surprising grace to forgive his sins, the man looking to walk on earth now walks with Jesus in eternity.
   How passionate are we to receive Jesus’ forgiveness? Isn’t this the first thing we should seek each day? Do we even believe Jesus forgives? If we stop to consider past sins, fear may paralyze our walk with Jesus. Perhaps we will wonder, “Am I forgiven? Is it possible Jesus would want such a sinner as I to follow him?”
   The Bible tells us he does want to forgive you, and he will forgive as you confess: 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. John knew this is true because he had witnessed Jesus begin the New Covenant of grace with these words: Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Then he watched Jesus’ blood pour out on the cross. John learned sin’s cost and the Lord’s passion to pay the cost.
   But we note the forgiven, healed man did not confess his sins. Does this negate God’s requirement to confess? On the contrary, Jesus’ forgiveness here proves confession leads to forgiveness. Jesus healed the man’s body to prove he had the power to heal the man’s heart. When he said, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” he is telling the ruling Jews and all present three essential truths: When he identifies himself at Son of Man, he is saying, “I am God.” He then says God has come to earth. Third, he proclaims his authority to forgive sins. To prove this eternal truth, he spoke once more to the crippled man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” The author of life spoke, and life changed for the faithful that day.
   Faith is essential, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit stirred in the crippled man and his friends a faith to break through a roof, so he could be in Jesus’ presence. He arrived crippled at Jesus’ feet captured in sin’s brokenness, and he walked away free in salvation’s wholeness. This man and many others throughout Judea became an example of God’s forgiving power. If he can change the physical body, he can change the spiritual soul.
 Trust your heart to Jesus’ forgiveness. You will know, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

Mark 1:17-20 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
 
HAVE you ever wondered what made these fishermen and other young men like them leave what they were doing to follow Jesus? After all, most left their jobs, their way of life, their parents and their friends to respond to Jesus’ promise, “I will make you fishers of men.”  An eager willingness to change your life for Jesus is an amazing, devoted response, isn’t it?.
   Likely his promise struck their heats with excitement and possibilities. The Promise Keeper had called them into a future they could not imagine. What was this fishing for men? But perhaps for the first time they understood life with God has the potential to be an extraordinary experience when you commit your life to him.
   This fishing opportunity was far from these fishermen’s minds. The culture of the day had great restrictions on who would be rabbis and teachers of the law. Young men who were interested in learning more of God and God’s Word would have to go to a rabbi and say, “Could I please be your disciple?” Many were rejected because they did not pass certain tests. Or the rabbi had some prejudice against them. Peter, Andrew, James and John were laborers. They had no hope of sitting under a rabbi’s teaching.
   But something remarkable was happening in Judea. John the Baptist was walking the countryside preaching, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11) And now the one proclaimed has come to Galilee to anoint his chosen disciples into ministry. Jesus’ promise is a call to harvest the catch God has prepared to begin his church.
   This is one moment in God’s plan to save the world from sin. In his love, it is his choice to come to earth. In his love he has chosen people to be his disciples. In his love, he will take all who believe the promise and drop “their nets” to follow him.
   What is your response to the promise? Can you “catch fish” – help people know Jesus, so they can follow him, too? Do you know life with God is an extraordinary adventure when you go with the Lord?
    This is a most amazing thing, isn’t it?