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A Closer Look At Mark 9:14-29, Lord I Believe Help My Unbelief
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Feb 19, 2025
To support tayibs.com see link below https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=W7946Z6TXXRRC or visit https://tayibs.com/about-me/ As Jesus was coming back from the mountain where 3 of the disciples experienced His Glory, HE realized there was commotion. The rest of disciples were involved in an argument with the scribes and Jesus quickly found out what was taking place. A man with his epileptic son brought the child to the disciples so they could heal him from the demonic influence he was suffering from but they failed. The man then turns to Jesus as his last option and Jesus proceeds to heal the child. But prior to the healing, there is an exchange between the man and Jesus that we’re going to be exploring today. We’ll also find out why the disciples couldn’t drive out the evil spirit out of the child. See video Scripture References: Mark 9:14-29 Matthew 17:19-20 Hebrews 11:6 Romans 10:17 Acts 1:4-8 Mark 6:7, Mark 6:13
View Video Transcript
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hello good morning this is tbs.com and
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this morning we're going to look at uh
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Mark 9 verse
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14-29 and I put a little title help my
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unbelief so I'm going to give you my uh
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intro real quick and then we're going to
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jump into the the topic itself now so
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Jesus is like coming back from the
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mountain where three of his disciples
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experienced his glory they went to the
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Mount and they saw the Transfiguration
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and it was John James Jes and Peter so
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as Jesus was coming back from the
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mountain he sees that there's like a
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commotion there's like a crowd and the
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rest of his disciples are involved in an
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argument with the scribes and Jesus
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quickly found out what was taking place
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so a man had an epileptic son and he
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brought the child to the disciples so
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they could heal the child from the
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Demonic
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influence and they failed so the man
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turns to Jesus as his last option and
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Jesus proceeds to heal on the child but
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prior to the healing there's like an
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exchange between the man and Jesus and
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we are going to look at it today I'm
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also going to emphasize why the
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disciples couldn't drive out the evil
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spirit out of the child but at the
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outset I want to set some some some
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things uh straight now here's the thing
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the child was foaming at the mouth
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scripture says but he had epilepsy but
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it was also a demonic influence on the
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child because some people look at the
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scripture and they go see those people
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back there they saw an epileptic child
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and they say that he had a demon n no no
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the epilepsy was there but the demon
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used the epilepsy to actually throw the
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child into more danger because he wanted
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the child to die he would trying to he
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dragged him next to like fire and water
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and the man talked about it and when the
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spirit actually saw Jesus again the
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epilepsy came full force so the boy was
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epileptic but there was also a demand
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influence there I don't want us to
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forget that because some people have a
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tendency to say that's because people of
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old ascribed diseases to Demons so yes
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it was epilepsy but at the same time the
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child was being influenced by demonic
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Powers so let's dive into this now so
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the first thing I want to do is I want
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us to read the account and then we can
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go and dissect it so this is Mark 9:1
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14-29 and I'm reading from the ESV
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translation so scripture says and when
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the boy and when they came to the
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disciples they saw a great crowd around
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them they mean Jesus John James and
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Peter and scribes arguing with the
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disciples and immediately all the crowd
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when they saw Jesus were greatly amazed
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and ran up to Jesus to greet him and he
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asked them what are you arguing about
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with them and someone from the crowd
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answered him teacher I brought my son to
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you for he has a spirit that makes him
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mute and whenever it seizes him it
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throws him down and he foes and grinds
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his teeth and becomes rigid and I asked
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your disciples to cast it out and they
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were not able and he answered them oh
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faithless generation how long am I to be
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with you how long am I to bear with you
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bring him to me and they brought the boy
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to him and when the spirit saw him
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immediately he convulsed him the boy and
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he fell on the ground and rolled about
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foaming at the mouth and Jesus asked his
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father how long has he been has this
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been happening to him and he said from
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childhood and he has often cast him into
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the fire into the water to destroy him
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but if you can do anything have
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compassion on us and help us and Jesus
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said to him if you
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can all things are possible for one who
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believes immediately the father of the
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child cried out and said I believe
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help my unbelief and when Jesus saw that
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a crowd was running together he rebuked
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the unclean Spirit saying to it you you
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mute and deaf spirit I command you come
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out of him and never enter him again and
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after crying out and convulsing him
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terribly he came out and the boy was
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like a crops so that most of them said
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he is dead but Jesus took him by the
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hand and lifted him up and he arose and
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when he had entered the house the his
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disciples asked them privately why could
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we not cast it out and Jesus said to
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them this kind cannot be driven out but
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this kind cannot be driven out but oh my
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goodness this kind cannot be driven up
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by anything but prayer now some
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translation mentioned prayer and fasting
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but in this case it was prayer so that I
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think the meaning is the same prayer and
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fasting okay so some some people love
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the fact that it doesn't say fasting
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here because then they have a reason not
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to fast right I just want to mention
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that anyway now let's go into dissecting
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this real quick all right so now we're
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going to go and talk
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about uh why the disciples couldn't
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drive out the evil spirit so let's do
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that now so first thing we need to know
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is this
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like I want to point out the key verses
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in verse 19 Jesus says oh faithless
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generation how long am I to be with you
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how long am I to bear with you okay
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so when Jesus said faithless generation
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he included his own disciples in that
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set that subset that he was mentioning
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the generation he mentioned included the
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scribes the crowd and the men in
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question as well as the disciples as
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well right they were all included in
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that so I want to bring up another verse
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verse 28 he says and when he had entered
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the house his disciples asked him
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privately why could we not cast it out
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and Jesus said to them this can this
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kind cannot be driven out
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but this kind cannot be driven out by
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anything but prayer I'm not sure why I'm
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struggling with this verse here some
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it's interesting
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anyway so the same account is mentioned
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in like Matthew 17 he gives more details
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and is is important for us to bring it
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up so let me do that real quick here
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Matthew
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17 uh verse 19 says then the disciples
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came to Jesus privately and said why
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could we not cast it out and Jesus said
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to them because of your little faith for
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truly I say to you if you have faith
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like a grain of mustard seed you will
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say to this mountain move from here to
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there and you will move and nothing will
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be impossible for you now people listen
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to these verses and they bend them like
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they just abuse these verses and I want
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us to stay away from that so let's truly
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understand what is going on here like
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like I said earlier some translations
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mention prayer and fasting but this
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translation here mentions uh F prayer on
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I don't think that matters because it's
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the same meaning so basically the
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disciples could not cast out the demon
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because of their lack of faith and I
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want us to really grasp the danger of
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misunderstanding the meaning of lack of
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faith because if you don't truly
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understand these verses you will go out
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and try to do stuff and make yourself
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look like a fool and actually you you
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become detrimental to the kingdom of God
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so you have to truly understand why
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Jesus is saying here and why the
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disciples could not cast it out so let's
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do that the lack of faith and we we're
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going to talk about it so how do we
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acquire Faith because this Jesus said
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they couldn't cast it out because of
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their lack of faith right so according
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to Romans 10:17 scripture says faith
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comes by hearing and hearing by the word
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of God in other words you cannot acquire
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Faith by mastering up some kind of will
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power it's not in you faith is the work
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of God God is the one who create faith
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in a person so faith comes from God you
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need to truly understand that pause and
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truly let that sink in you cannot
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acquire faith on your own is not your
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work faith comes by hearing and hearing
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by the word of God the word of God is
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the one that produces faith in you Jesus
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is the one that creates faith in you you
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cannot do
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it it is the spirit of God who works in
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you both to Will and act according to
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God's purpose you cannot produce faith
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on your own you cannot Master up enough
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strength to produce Faith you can't do
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it this is why Jesus said to his
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disciples if you had Faith as little as
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a m se you could say to his mountain
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move and he will move basically he was
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telling them you don't even have a
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sentilla of faith in you we need to
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really understand that okay and Hebrews
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11:7 says and without faith it's
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impossible to please God for whoever
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would draw near to God must believe that
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he exists and that he rewards those who
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seek him now God made it that way so
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that he gets the glory that he
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deserves now if you let's go back to the
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account and we're going to understand
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what is going on Jesus says again like
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in verse 9 of Mark uh Mark 9 verse um 9
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he says oh faithless generation how long
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am I to be with you how long am I to
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bear with you okay and then he also says
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in uh in verse 28 and 29 they asked him
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why could we not cast it out and he said
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to them this cannot be driven out by
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anything but prayer okay and if you see
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I put the we in right for a
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purpose they said why could we not cast
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it out they were relying on their own
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ability to cast out the evil spirit and
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that is the root of unbelief a lack of
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faith they try to cast out a demon by
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Conjuring up some kind of willower and
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that was very displeasing to the Lord
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this is why he said this cannot be
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driven out
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but man I don't know what's going on
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with me this cannot be driven out by
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anything but prayer I don't know why
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this verse is causing me to
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like go crazy anyway because prayer
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humbles you and me prayer brings up
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brings us to a place of saying Lord we
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cannot do it apart from you prayer takes
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the focus of the source of our strength
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will away from us and puts the focus
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back on God basically when you go to
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prayer you're basically saying
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essentially saying God I can't do it
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because prayer put you in a place of
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humility he says you don't have the
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power in you to do anything so the focus
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is back on God see the crowd was
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expecting the disciples to wow them and
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they would have been detrimental to
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their spiritual growth because that
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would have been like that would have
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hurt the disciples if they actually did
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something something then the disciples
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would have thought oh look what we did
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today you know a lot of people do that
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maybe God allows them to perform some
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type of Miracle or maybe they pray for
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somebody that person gets healed and
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then they begin to think man my prayer
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is so strong that I I prayed and then
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that person got healed I did this and
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that person got healed you begin to to
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self to be
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self-reliant but God doesn't want that
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at all for the disciples the true
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disciples he said I am not going to
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allow you to heal this boy because you
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guys are not getting it faith comes from
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God so a quick reminder I said if you go
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to Mark 6:7 and Mark 6:13 let's read
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those Mark 6:7 scripture says and Jesus
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called the 12 and began to send them out
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two by two and he gave them authority
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over the unclean spirit so Jesus gave
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them the authority he G he did it and in
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in verse 13 we are told and it cast out
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many demons and Anointed with oil many
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who were sick and healed them so why why
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am I saying this see in this occasion
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which took place prior to the event in
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Mark 9 the disciples had been given
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power and authority by Jesus over
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unclean spirit so they were able to cast
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out the demons and they healed people
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but in the account of Mark 9 scripture
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doesn't say that scripture doesn't say
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that they were given authority to do
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anything so when they tried to cast out
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unclean Spirit they failed miserably
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because they were counting on their own
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ability and if you go to uh acts 1
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verse4 Jesus says and while staying with
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them that's after the resurrection he
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told them not to depart from Jerusalem
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but to wait for the promise of the
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Father which he said you heard from me
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for John baptized with water but you be
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baptized with the Holy Spirit not mean
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this from today and then if you go to uh
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verse 8 he says but you will receive
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power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
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you and you will be my Witnesses in
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Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria
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and to the end of the Earth now he's
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talking to the disciples the closed NE
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disciples he's telling them don't do
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anything until the Holy Spirit has come
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upon you because I don't want you to
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make a fool out of yourselves again I
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don't want you to go out trying to that
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you can do something on your own so he
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told them wait for the Holy Spirit to
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come upon you
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first you see prior to to Pentecost the
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Holy Spirit had not yes yet Endwell the
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the disciples so there was always this
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like vacillating between relying on the
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Flesh and trying to do things on their
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own so Jesus told them okay I know you
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guys have seen the resurrection you have
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seen me I'm here I'm telling you wait
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for the holy spirit for the power in the
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gift of the Holy Spirit come upon you
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prior to going to do ministry you cannot
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do ministry without the empower of the
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Holy Spirit you cannot live this life
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without the Holy Spirit you cannot try
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to do things in your own you cannot tell
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people you have to have faith if they
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are not being used they are not being um
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strengthened and
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impromptus all things through people
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okay we need to understand that see he
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was reminding them and say don't don't
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attempt to do anything until you receive
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the fullness of the holy spirit because
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he will be the one doing the work of God
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not the disciples it wasn't Peter that
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was doing any Miracles it wasn't Paul
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that was doing anything it was the Holy
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Spirit who was working in Paul through
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Paul so that God gets the glory remember
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without faith it's impossible to please
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God because God has to be the focus okay
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because again faith comes by hearing and
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hearing by the word of God it is God who
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works in us to Will and act according to
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his good own purpose I truly want to
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emphasize this because many have made a
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shipwreck out of their faith by trying
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to manipulate God and the
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scriptures they trying to do that
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they're trying to manipulate God in the
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scriptures and they basically use God as
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a genie to get things done for them God
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is not a genie it's not like the Aladin
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Genie you don't just Rob off and say
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okay now I command you come out you
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cannot do that unless the spirit of God
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is prompting you because a lot of time
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when these guys preach they put the
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emphasis on them start saying and that
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did this and then things things happen
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you can't it is the spirit of God so we
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have to truly understand that you cannot
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tell people they have a lack of faith if
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they not being they are not filled with
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the holy spirit of God how can they
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produce Faith they
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can't
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okay now let's look at the man himself
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the man
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says in verse 23 and 24 Jesus said to
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the man if you can all things are
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possible for one who believes
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immediately the father of the child
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cried out and said I believe help my
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unbelief so at first glance like when
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you look at this the man was distressed
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he's so distressed that he thought of
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Jesus as another option and not the
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answer like he came to Jus say you know
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what I tried your disciples you didn't
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work now I'm going to try you too but he
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was rebuked but if you look closely
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Jesus worked in him to Will and act
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according to God's purpose the man was
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suffering from unbelief and Jesus
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probing led him to recognize his
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spiritual bankruptcy see Jesus wasn't
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saying to the man man I need you to
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master up Faith man but what he was
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saying is man you cannot produce a
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sentilla of Faith apart from me so some
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people like they distort this verse and
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basically tell people that the reason
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why they are not healed is because they
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have to
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believe so I want to be careful to
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explain what I'm trying to say here like
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convey see no human can come to Faith
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apart from God working in that person
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person so you cannot master of Faith
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unless the spirit of God permits it so
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Jesus brought that man to that
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realization okay hence the phrase I
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believe help my unbelief and Jesus
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answered the man's Prayer by healing his
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boy this is how Jesus helped his
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unbelief that's what he took he took the
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epilepsy he took the demon he took the
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disciples failure and he took that man's
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desperate plea so basically all those
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events happened so that the man could
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come to Faith he wasn't it's like it's
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incredible because God worked in every
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situation so that that man could come to
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a place of saying and now get it is not
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within me it's not because I believe no
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I have unbelief help my unbelief this is
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what God was trying to get it so all
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these elements brought them into that
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place of helplessness and scripture says
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blessed are the poor in spirit for
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theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that's
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Matthew 53 and scripture also say all
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things work together for good for those
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who love God and have been called
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according to his purpose God knew that
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this man's faith and and belief needed
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to be changed so he brought him to a
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place of helplessness through the
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disciples failure through the epilepsy
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through all the things what Satan meant
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for evil God meant for good he was to
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save that man to bring him to Faith and
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Jesus healed his faith because Jesus
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gave him the faith to believe I mean
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it's incredible okay so what can we
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learn see God hates the proud but gives
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grace to the humble for us to be
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effective for the kingdom of God we have
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to totally depend on the spirit of God
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we cannot put any confidence in the
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flesh flesh or just like the disciples
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we will fail miserably and this is the
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call to humility to live a life of
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prayer scripture says that man does not
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live by bread alone but by every word
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that proceeds from the mouth of God
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which means everything we do must be the
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result of God's prompting this is a
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heavy burden and God has made it that
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way so that you can fully depend on his
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Spirit to be sustained and Galatians
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5:116 and I will end with those verses
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says but I say walk by the spirit and
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you will not gratify the desires of the
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sinful nature
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basically we cannot live this Christian
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Life on our own and by the flesh where
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the flesh I means your own enell your
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own abilities and your own ways of doing
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things you get up every day and he's
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always give us this day our daily bread
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give us this day our daily bread because
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every day we need wisdom every day we
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need to depend on God because everything
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that we say everything that we do must
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be in line with the Scripture it must be
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in line with the mind of God because
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that's what scripture says love the Lord
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your God with all your heart all your
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mind and all your soul and love your
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your your neighbor as your friend as
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yourself I'm sorry I misquoted that love
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your neighbor as yourself first thing is
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this we must love the Lord our god with
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every an of our being and no one can do
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that this is why we constantly need to
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depend on the spirit because the spirit
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is the one that gives um strength the
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spirit is the one that gives us wisdom
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the spirit is the one that allows us to
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be effective in the kingdom of God so
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I'll exalt you to do that and again this
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is T and if you've been encouraged by
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the words that I speak because again I
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believe I'm doing this by the prompting
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of the Holy Spirit and and I pray that
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everything gets across accurately so if
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you want to support this um this work
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then be be sure to check the link in the
20:34
description and you can support and your
20:37
support is greatly appreciated because
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again I'm not doing this for that reason
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but I want to make sure you understand
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that this is important for me because
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when I when I share this thing is
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because he has really marked me and I
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want you guys to know that okay and have
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a wonderful day and I'll see you next
20:50
time again thank you very much