Notes for
Dealing with Disappointment-2
What to Do When God Didn’t Come Through
Judges 3:1-2 These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)
Romans 8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Matthew 21:20-21 Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.
2 Corinthians 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,
Mark 9:14-29 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them… A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 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.”
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
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.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “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.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.
The first lesson we must understand is that we can run into situations where we will not see God’s power move in our situation.
The second lesson is that when things don’t work according to God’s word, the problem is on our end, not God’s.
After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.
Key #1: The gospel of the kingdom that we have received from Jesus is not just a “word only” Gospel.
Acts 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach
Matthew 10:5-8 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “…As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Romans 15:18-19 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
John 14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these
The pagans who followed the Greek and Roman gods left them and converted to Christianity for one reason: “they saw the power to deliver and heal in the name of Jesus. It was miracles that brought the Roman Empire to Christianity from 100 AD to 400 AD.”
We have a mandate from Jesus to seek and demonstrate God’s kingdom. We owe our generation an encounter with God.
I John 3:8 The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
Key #2: the impossible is part of our spiritual DNA.
John 12:23-24 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
I John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
This DNA of Christ in us breaks the power of sin in our lives and it has a further goal, and that goal is to make us just like Jesus in this life.
Ephesians 4:11-13 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
John 14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.
I Samuel 11:1-6 Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead… But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.” The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”
When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger.
It is natural for us to hunger for the impossibilities of life to bend their knee to the name of Jesus.
There are two things that stop our natural hunger for the impossible:
1) Bad Teaching.
2) Our own Unbelief.
Key #3: When we let go of pursuing the impossible, we accept a lesser gospel.
Loss, sickness and death cannot change the fact that the simple solution to everything in our life is “What would Jesus Do?”
Mark 1:41-42 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
Key #4: Jesus spoke about the price of His anointing.
Mark 9:28-29 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
Luke 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit
We’ve all been given that measure of faith-but God expects us to grow that measure of faith.
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