Powerful Faith

March 6, 2016 Background Scripture: Mark 9:14 – 29 Lesson Passage: Mark 9:14 – 29 One of the greatest challenges of Christianity is to appropriate faith beyond the acceptance of salvation as a gift of grace from God. In other words, how does a Christian use faith to overcome the challenges of everyday life? Our testimony is a reminder of how we stepped out on faith and trusted God to save us because we believed in the saving power of Jesus’ blood. We know that our lives changed the moment our belief and confession became a reality. So now what? The battle has been won but there are still some pesky spiritual skirmishes that won’t go away. And I know that the missing link in these is my faith. We tell ourselves that we have to learn to believe God for these situations just like we believe Him for our salvation. The text of today’s lesson will help us see that there might be more to it than we think. Prior to the situation presented in our lesson, Jesus had given his disciples power over unclean spirits to use in cities where he would come later. While in those cities, the disciples were charged with proclaiming the presence of the kingdom of God and preparing the hearts of the people for Jesus’ arrival. Their proclamations were endorsed with the miracles they performed as a result of the power Jesus had given them for the assignment. At some point after this, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and withdrew temporarily upon a mountain from the other nine disciples. While he was gone, a man approached the nine disciples for help to deliver his son from demonic possession. The scriptures indicate the disciples attempted to cast the demonic spirit out of the boy but they were unsuccessful in their efforts. The disciples were frustrated because they had cast out unclean spirits during the previous assignment which Jesus had given them. Upon the return of Jesus and the three disciples, the man approached him and informed him that he needed help and his disciples were not able to assist him. He told Jesus about the demonic possession of his son and begged him to deliver his son. Jesus requested that the boy be brought to him. When Jesus looked at the boy being tormented by the demonic spirit, he asked the father how long the spirit had possessed him. The father answered that it was since the boy was a child. Jesus assured the father that all things are possible with faith. Jesus cast the demonic spirit out of the boy. Later, the disciples asked Jesus privately why they were not able to cast the demonic spirit out. This was a great question because they had previously witnessed that demonic spirits had obeyed their command to exit people when they had commanded them in Jesus’ name to do so. Why did it not work this time? Jesus’ response is enlightening. All demonic spirits do not respond the same. Some types require more affliction of the soul of the faithful person as they pray for the power of God to manifest through them. With some demonic spirits, you have to be real. Much fasting and praying will be required to get one’s flesh out of the way so that the Spirit of God will work through the individual. Powerful faith doesn’t just show up because a person can quote a few scriptures or has good attendance in the church services. An individual’s relationship with Christ must go beyond believing and confessing. As we have seen in previous lessons, Christians are like the leavened bread that is offered before God. We still have sin in our flesh and we must die daily to it. We can appropriate powerful faith to the extent that we are willing to afflict our flesh through fasting and commune with God in sincere prayer. Jesus’ disciples learned this lesson and they are our examples. Robert C. Hudson February 24, 2016

Feast of Tabernacles

February 28, 2016 Background Scripture: Numbers 29:12 – 40; Leviticus 23:33 – 43; Deuteronomy 16:13 – 17; Revelation 14:1 – 5; 1 Corinthians 15:20 – 29 Lesson Passage: Leviticus 23:33 – 43 Never forget where you came from. That’s salient advice that has been passed through many generations and nationalities of people for thousands of years. It is no different for the nation of Israel. There were three annual pilgrimage festivals for Israel’s males (Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles). We have discussed the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks in earlier lessons. Today we turn our attention to the Feast of Tabernacles. Israel was commanded by God to celebrate the end of the grain harvest season and its offerings. Afterwards, they were required to remember where God had delivered them from. As Moses prepared the nation to be led by Joshua into Canaan, he strongly admonished them to not let their blessings from God blind them and cause them to forget their deliverance. Moses warned them that the greatest danger would come after they had been blessed. The Feast of Tabernacles was one method whereby God kept the nation grounded in reality. Again, I refer to God’s purposeful provision of mandatory “holy days” for Israel that were designed to commemorate God’s covenant relationship with the nation and to create teaching moments for younger generations. God knew that the religious rituals He prescribed for Israel would generate curiosity in young people. He used the curiosity of the young Jews to strengthen the accuracy and the perpetuity of Israel’s oral history relative to their relationship with Him. The adults were required to learn the meaning of their religious rituals and teach the meaning to the younger generations. Israel was required to gather branches from a variety of trees that were specified by the Lord to be used to construct makeshift dwellings that they were required to live in for seven days. This humbling experience was to be used as a teaching moment for their children. When the children asked concerning the ritual, the adults were to teach them that their ancestors lived in such dwellings during the forty years between their deliverance from bondage in Egypt until their occupation of Canaan. God had provided for their ancestors throughout their pilgrimage in the wilderness. Although the nation was now blessed beyond measure, they were not to forget God’s deliverance of their ancestors who had very little physical resources compared to them. I often wonder if today’s generation of children in our society would be as “entitlement minded” if we were required to relive part of our lives prior to God’s deliverance of us. I certainly believe that it would have a profound effect on many young people today. Many of them have never experienced a long term lack of electricity, telecommunications, natural gas, automobiles, and water and plumbing inside the house. Even inmates who are housed in the many penal institutions in our nation today are provided with most of these resources. In fact, under our constitutional law, it is considered “cruel and unusual punishment” to deny most of these provisions to inmates who have been deemed criminals by the nation’s criminal justice system. The Feast of Tabernacles was a religious celebration to teach Israel to never forget the deliverance of their ancestors by God. Robert C. Hudson February 22, 2016