This Kind Can Come Out Only By Prayer

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Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel According to Mark, chapter 8, verses 34 and 35,

Mark 8:34

and chapter 9, verses 14 to 29, as printed in the liturgy.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said,

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

But whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them

and the teachers of the law arguing with them.

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

What are you arguing with them about, he asked.

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, Jesus said,

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 up 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.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Good morning, Christ Church.

It's good to see you all on this holiday weekend.

And it's great to see the sun come back out today for us.

And we're here in the gospel of Mark.

We've been preaching this since Christmas,

and we'll preach it all the way to Easter.

And if you're paying any attention to the literary structure of this little book,

it's written as a three-act play.

And we've been primarily in act one with Jesus in Galilee,

and he's demonstrating his power and his authority.

That's basically the first eight chapters of Mark's gospel.

On Wednesday night, Ash Wednesday,

we took a turn to act two of this play.

And it's basically Jesus on the way to Jerusalem,

and he takes his disciples on this journey

where he's teaching them now about his cross

and about what his cross means for their discipleship.

And he's re-educating them about the nature of the kingdom of God.

And that's basically from Mark 8 to 10.

And then act three of this book is Jesus in Jerusalem,

the final events, this final week leading up to his cross,

and that's Mark chapter 11 to the very end.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

And so we, the other night, Ash Wednesday,

we began looking at act two,

where Jesus is talking about the meaning of his mission

and therefore the manner of our discipleship.

And he asks his disciples, he says,

who do you say that I am?

And Peter answers, on behalf of the 12,

and he says, you're the Messiah.

And Jesus says, correct.

And the kind of Messiah I am is that I'm going to be killed,

and I'm going to lay my life down

in humble service and suffering for the sake of others.

And then Jesus says these words we just heard.

He says, whoever wants to be my disciple

must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.

If you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you'll save it.

And what a great theme that is for us during Lent.

If you want to be my apprentice,

Jesus says there's a cost to that.

He says you've got to deny yourself,

which is not so much about giving up chocolate or alcohol for Lent,

as it is about, it's not so much about denying something to yourself,

it's just denying yourself,

your self-interested, self-centered ego.

Jesus is saying, I want you to surrender to me

your entire identity structure and your destiny.

I want you to surrender that to me.

Deny yourself.

Take up your cross.

That is, be ready and willing to be executed with me or to die for me.

And he says, I want you to lose your life for me and for the gospel,

which means I want you to give yourself to my mission.

I want you to become an ambassador of my good news of the kingdom of God in this world.

So that's where we are now in Act 2 of Mark's gospel.

And if you want to turn to your pew Bible on page 820,

that's where we are today.

And you can kind of see some of this larger context.

You can see that this is just after the transfiguration

where the glory of Jesus as the divine son of God

has been revealed to the disciples Peter, James, and John.

And while Jesus is up on the top of that mountain with his three disciples,

you've got nine other disciples down at the bottom of the mountain.

And they're struggling with, in this valley, they're struggling with evil.

And Jesus shows up to find them in an argument.

And he says, well, what are you arguing about?

And this father steps forward and he says, I'm responsible for this commotion.

My poor boy has been attacked with convulsions since he was a child.

And I thought that you and your disciples would be able to help and to heal him.

But your people basically could do nothing.

And they tried, but they failed.

And Jesus then proceeds to exercise the demon out of this boy

and to heal him and restore him in a moment.

And the disciples later on, they asked, Jesus, why couldn't we drive this demon out?

We've had success with these things before, but today we failed.

Why do we fail?

And why, Jesus, were you able with extreme ease and with just a word to speak?

And evil is vanquished and the boy was healed.

Why are we, your people, your disciples, your apprentices, not yet able?

Why do we not yet have the power to do what you do?

And so that's the question today.

Why don't we have the power to do what you do?

Now, I preached the body of this sermon before,

but it was a time when many of you weren't part of this church.

So I'm putting it back on some of your radar.

And for some of you, you're hearing this for the first time.

And I'm going to make some fresh application.

But my thesis today and my golden thread is just Jesus' simple statement at the very end

where he says, this kind can come out only by prayer.

This kind can come out only by prayer.

So let's think about this kind.

In this boy, we have a picture of the modern world,

which is seized and convulsed by evil.

An evil which is distorting and destroying the image of God in human beings.

And in these disciples, we see the church of Jesus Christ, which is trying.

It's doing its uttermost, but it's lacking in power.

And it's obviously failing to deal with the situation.

Do any of us ask the question of these disciples?

Do we say, Lord, why?

Why don't we have the power?

Why don't we have the power to deal with the evil that's so obviously convulsing our world?

Why does the church in North America and the Western world seem to lack such spiritual energy

and authority to engage with the situation that's confronting us?

And Jesus answers the question about why they couldn't drive out the evil spirit.

And his answer is, this kind.

You don't yet understand this kind.

You've not yet learned to differentiate between that kind and this kind.

The disciples know how to deal with that kind of spirit.

Because after their initial training, we saw this in Mark chapter 6,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Jesus sends his disciples out and he says,

I want you to go preach the kingdom of God and I want you to cast out demons.

And they went out and they did that very thing.

And in Luke chapter 10, we read that on one occasion,

Luke 10 · chapter mention

they were so successful that they came back with such elation and such excitement

that they felt overconfident.

And the Lord rebuked the pride of his little disciple community.

And he says to them in Luke 10, 20, he says,

Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you,

but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

He says, you guys are full of excitement because in my name and in my power,

the devils are made subject to you.

And because this kingdom of darkness, this kingdom full of evil spirits

is just falling down before you as you preach the kingdom of God.

But Jesus says, this time, this father brings his son to you for healing

and you're approaching that problem with overconfidence.

You're approaching this problem with a sense of self-assurance.

You have no doubt that you're going to succeed against the darkness.

And yet, in spite of all of your efforts, this boy, he's no better at all.

In fact, he's just as desperate, just as miserable as he's ever been.

And so Jesus says, I want to give you, my disciples,

I want to give you eyes to see the difference between that kind

that you've encountered before with success and this kind,

which is way stronger than you ever realized.

You guys tracking with me so far?

If you've ever read the Screwtape Letters,

if you've never read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis,

if you're in middle school or high school or college

and you've never read the Screwtape Letters,

I encourage you to get this book and read it between now and Easter.

What an amazing book that is.

But it draws on this New Testament teaching

about the difference between this demon and that demon.

Right?

That in this evil kingdom of dark powers that Jesus describes,

there's gradations and there's hierarchies.

And the Apostle Paul writes about this in Ephesians 6.

He says,

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

He says,

What do we wrestle against?

What we really wrestle against,

he says,

are principalities and powers

and the rulers of the darkness of this world

and spiritual wickedness in high places.

There's a gradation.

There's a hierarchy.

And at the head of all of that is Satan himself,

whom the Apostle describes in Ephesians 2.

He says,

He's the prince of the power of the air

and the spirit that is now at work

in the sons of disobedience.

And so under Satan,

there are these spirits,

these forces,

these powers that vary in strength.

And earlier,

the disciples could easily deal with the lesser spirits.

Right?

They could master them.

They could exercise them in Jesus' name.

But Jesus says,

Here is a spirit of greater power.

This kind is not like the other feebler spirits.

It's altogether different.

You're facing a much bigger problem.

And the disciples rush to attempt a treatment

before they've truly understood

the nature of the problem before them.

And I think the church in the Western world today

is so active,

so busy,

it's so devoting,

massive amounts of time and energy

and money

without really stopping to consider

Jesus' diagnosis of this kind.

Right?

We may not be as aware as we should be

of the real essence

and the real depth

of the problem that's confronting the church.

And what do I mean by that?

Well, in 1882,

philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

said that we should,

our modern project,

our project in the late modern world

is that we should unchain

the earth from the sun.

We should unchain the earth from the sun

and therefore,

on that basis,

we should revalue all values.

Okay?

I can't explain what that means

this morning.

But think about that.

What happens if you unchain

the earth from the sun?

And what happens

when you revalue all values?

Well, since Nietzsche's time,

we've seen belief in God

rapidly fading in the western world.

We've seen the knowledge

of biblical truth diminished

and almost virtually gone.

Probably in the next generation,

it will be completely gone.

We've lost a sense of universal,

timeless, moral absolutes

of what's right and what's wrong.

The notion that human beings

are a species that need saving

is increasingly dismissed and mocked.

Jesus is interpreted

as just a man among men,

a social reformer,

a political agitator,

a good moral example

or ethical teacher,

but he's nothing more than that.

The Bible is interpreted

as just a book among books.

It's got inspiring stories,

beautiful poems,

wise sayings,

but it's mostly just

superstitious myth and legend.

Nothing more than that.

And the result of all this

is that most of our friends

and our neighbors

and our colleagues

and our family

are in positions of plenty

in our culture of affluence.

They have everything they need.

They're able,

at the click of a button,

to get whatever they want,

but they're totally unconcerned

about spiritual things.

No interest in the soul,

no interest in higher

and eternal things in life,

no interest in God

just eating and drinking

and enjoying the pleasure

of the moment,

completely powerless

in the face of evil.

Right?

Totally unprepared

to meet God face to face,

to stand before

the judge of all the earth

with his exacting standards

of absolute righteousness.

righteousness.

This is what happens

when you unchain the earth

from the sun

and you revalue all values.

We're facing this unprecedented

post-Christian context

and this increasingly

anti-Christ zeitgeist.

That's the spirit of the age

that we live in,

the zeitgeist of our spirit,

the spirit of this age,

is resisting Christ.

And so can we carry on

thinking that the problem

is that kind

when really Jesus would say,

no, it's this kind.

Like the disciples,

are we trying to deal

with this kind of situation

that we find ourselves in

without prayer,

without extraordinary prayer,

how arrogant,

how clueless

the disciple community

seems to be

about our inadequacy

to deal with evil

and suffering in the world.

We seem not to understand

how weak we are,

how proud we are.

We overestimate our abilities

and our faith.

We underestimate the power of evil

that's out there in the world

and indeed the power of evil

that's in here in ourselves.

And Jesus is wanting us,

I think,

to confront

and to contend with

this kind.

This kind.

Do you understand

that you're dealing

with this kind?

Does that make sense?

But Jesus says,

this kind can come out.

This kind can come out.

When you look at the actors

in this scene,

you notice that,

number one,

there's the devil

who the New Testament

calls a roaring lion

seeking whom he may devour,

who comes to steal

and kill and destroy

and the disciples

seem to give him

no trouble at all.

The boy,

here he is

in this terrible condition

of helplessness

and evil

is making him

increasingly subhuman.

The scribes

just argue and debate.

The clergy

is completely useless

when real evil

needs to be confronted.

The crowd is just

in absolute distress.

Who else in this crowd

needs to be healed

and delivered

like this boy?

And this father

is so distraught.

He's just a man

who his basic prayer

is just rescue me

from my unbelief.

And then you have

these disciples

who are confident

that they can help,

confident that they can

do something

in this situation

and then they're mortified

and they're baffled

by their failure.

It's a scene

of total despair.

And isn't that

our situation exactly

in Berkeley in 2024?

That Satan is rampant,

the world is convulsing

with evil

and if you're not

convinced of that

you just need to read

the headlines more often.

The church is impotent

with her squabbling scribes.

The crowd is agonizing

with her massive levels

of need

just watching this spectacle.

The people of God

are faltering

in their faith,

just their faith

is polluted

and choked by unbelief.

And the disciples

are perplexed

about what to do

in the face

of overwhelming evil.

Doesn't that feel

just desperate?

Well, Lent is a season

in which we humble ourselves

before our desperate situation.

It's a season

in which we say,

Lord, help us.

Lord, deliver us.

And what's amazing

is that you've got

more than just

these six actors

that I've named.

You have the seventh actor

that enters the scene

and he says,

this kind can come out.

And he demonstrates

the power to drive it out.

And then in this

follow-up Q&A,

Jesus says,

you know,

this kind can not

be driven out

by anything but.

And he's basically saying,

look, certain approaches

to being a disciple community

are utterly useless

when applied to this kind.

The power that

maybe you've had before,

the things that

were sufficient before

are insufficient now.

The things that were

adequate before

are inadequate now.

The things that were

effective before

are ineffective now.

And it's leaving you

helpless and hopeless

and it's leaving this boy

diseased and powerless.

And Jesus,

in this conversation

with his disciples

is driving them

to a sense of

deeper dependency.

When these disciples

realize

that in spite of their efforts,

they're not enough,

that they're actually

quite useless,

that they lack power

that's needed

to confront the powers

and the principalities,

what do they do?

And what does the church

do today

when she realizes

that we're not touching

the secular age at all?

That the spiritual,

moral condition

of our society

seems not affected

by us one bit.

In fact,

in many ways,

we're being drawn

into the spiritual

and moral condition

of our society.

And in many ways,

in many pockets,

the church is making

the spiritual and moral

condition of our society

worse.

Do you realize that?

Jesus says,

if you realize that,

I want you to put your faith

in my power

to deal with the situation.

I want you to put your faith

in my power

to deal with this kind.

And so he says

in verse 19,

you unbelieving generation,

how long shall I stay with you?

How long shall I put up

with you?

Bring the boy to me.

He just looks out

and he sees everybody's

full of unbelief,

no faith.

Jesus is the only one

that believes.

He says,

bring the boy to me

and they brought the boy

to him

and when the spirit

saw Jesus,

it immediately threw the boy

into a convulsion

and he fell down

to the ground

and he rolled around

foaming at the mouth

and we've seen this

over and over

in Mark's gospel

that the spirits

know Jesus.

The spirits know Jesus

better than human beings

know Jesus

and so when they see him,

they tremble.

They understand his power

and when Jesus

gets closer to them,

they resist

and they tighten their grip

on human beings

and Jesus,

in verse 21,

it says,

he asks the boy's father,

how long has he been

like this?

And he says,

from childhood,

he's often thrown him

into the fire

or water to kill him

but if you can do anything,

if you can do anything,

take pity on us

and help us.

You can kind of imagine

this father just shrugging

his shoulders

and saying,

hey, Jesus,

go for it.

If you got anything,

just do it.

And Jesus teasingly

rebukes him

in verse 23

and just bounces

this question back

to him and says,

what is this

if you can nonsense?

It's not about

my ability

or inability.

It's totally

about you

and your setting limits

upon God

and what for him

is possible

or impossible.

And so this man

hears that

and immediately

in verse 24,

it says,

the boy's father

exclaimed,

I do believe,

help me overcome

my unbelief.

What an awesome prayer

for the season of Lent.

What an amazing thing

for the church

to just honestly pray.

I do believe

but oh Lord,

help me overcome

my unbelief.

Lord,

rescue me

from my doubts.

Liberate me

from half believing

to full believing.

Save me

from notional faith

into real faith.

It's a prayer

in which we say

to Jesus,

awaken me,

enliven me,

quicken me,

revive me.

Give me

just the smallest

amount of,

just a mustard seed

size of faith

to grab hold

of your massive

amount of power.

Lord,

please enable me

to believe in you.

And in verse 25,

it says,

when Jesus saw

that a crowd

was running to the scene,

he rebuked

the evil spirit.

He said,

you deaf and mute spirit,

I command you

come out of him

and never enter him again.

And the spirit shrieked,

convulsed him violently

and came out

and the boy looked

so much like a corpse

that they said,

he's dead.

What have you done,

Jesus?

He's dead.

But Jesus took him

by the hand

and lifted him

to his feet

and he stood up.

Jesus is the giver of life.

Jesus is the one

who breaks the power

of Satan.

Jesus is the one

who releases us

through his

authoritative word.

Jesus is the one

who's on his way

to his own death

and his own resurrection

and so he just

grabs a hold

of this boy

and he pulls him

out of this death-dealing evil

and he raises him up

to new life with him.

And this is a wonderful instance

of what Jesus said

he came to do.

In Mark chapter 3,

Mark 3:27

verse 27,

he says,

I came to bind up

the strong man

and to plunder his house.

I came to bind up

the strong man

and to deliver

all the prisoners,

all the people

that he's put

into his house.

Have you experienced this?

Has Jesus taken you

by the hand

to raise you up

from darkness

and evil

and sin

and death

and to give you

a new kind of life

with him?

Has Jesus unleashed

the power

of the Holy Spirit

in you

so that you've been

delivered and liberated

from the kingdom

of darkness

into the kingdom

of light?

You can't

become a Christian.

You can't enter

into the kingdom

of God

in any other way.

So if you're here

and you're exploring

Christianity with us,

we're so thrilled

that you are.

but if you've not yet

experienced

the power

of Jesus

but there's a part

of you that wants to

and maybe there's a part

of you that just wants

to want to,

I want to encourage you

to just take a risk today

and even right now

in your heart

and maybe later today

you can just pray,

Lord, I believe

but rescue me

from my unbelief.

And if you're a Christian

you've said that.

You're a disciple.

You're a follower of Jesus.

You've apprenticed yourself

to the master.

This season of Lent

is a time to examine

ourselves

and to ask ourselves

where is my faith

in Jesus?

What unbelief

is lingering

in the shadows

of my heart

and my mind

that I need Jesus

to overcome for me?

And in what parts

of my life

am I saying,

Jesus,

if you can,

help me?

When I'm looking

at the challenges

that I'm facing

or that we're facing,

where have I succumbed

to unbelief

and thought to myself,

I'm pretty sure

that this particular need

is beyond your ability.

And I'm pretty sure

that this particular challenge

that I'm facing

is outside of the realm

of what's possible

for you to accomplish.

What are the areas

of my life

where Jesus

is looking at me

and going,

you unbelieving

and faithless soul,

how long,

how long do I have

to be patient with you?

Oh.

One of the verses

in Mark's gospel

just haunts me.

It's where it says

in Mark 6,

Mark 6:5

verse 5,

he, Jesus,

could not do any miracles

there in Nazareth

and he was amazed

at their lack of faith.

And that's the question

for us is

how much do we believe

that Jesus has the power

to do the things

that we need him to do?

How much do we believe

that Jesus has the power

to make this kind

come out?

He says this kind

can come out

but in conclusion

he says this kind

can come out

only by prayer.

This kind can come out

only by prayer.

You succeeded before

because you were dealing

just with that kind

of lesser,

weaker demons

and you've failed here

because now

you're in a different situation

with this kind

and you have

insufficient power.

Your ignorance

about the hierarchies

of powers

and principalities

in this world

has led you

to a lack

of preparation

and therefore

insufficient prayer

and therefore

powerlessness.

And Jesus says

what I did,

he says to his disciples

I did what you could not do

because I have the power

and because I'm filled

with the power

that God gives me

by the Holy Spirit.

What Jesus has just been doing

on the Mount

of Transfiguration

is he's been there

in a time

with his disciples

Peter, James, and John

in a particularly

intense time

of prayer.

Praying to the Father

fill me

with the Holy Spirit.

Fill me with the power

of the Holy Spirit

and he comes back

from that time

of prayer

with a heightened

sense of power.

And friends

we're never going

to be able

to deal

with this kind

that's facing

the church today

unless we've applied

to God

for the power

which he

and he alone

can give us.

A power that's beyond

any of our ability.

I assume

that these disciples

had actually been

praying

but they were praying

unbelieving prayers.

And Jesus

I think

is calling us

to a kind

of extraordinary

believing prayer

where we say

God

I'm so aware

now of my need

I'm so aware

that we are in

over our heads

and that we're

confronting something

too deep

for us

to deal with

on our own

and I'm aware

of myself

that I half believe

and that I'm riddled

with doubt

and that I barely

pray

but help me

with my unbelief

enable me

to depend

upon you

fill me

fill us

fill this church

with your power.

Jesus is calling us

to act out

our faith

through this kind

of prayer

and if you hear

that as

an individualistic

just sort of

do it yourself

kind of project

you're hearing it wrong

because Jesus

is talking

to his circle

of disciples

and he's saying

y'all need something

you guys

need something

that can go down

underneath

this evil power

and that can shatter it

and there's only one thing

that can do that

and that's the extraordinary

supernatural power

of my father.

And the first place

that my father's power

is going to show up

in your disciple community

is through your prayer meetings.

The prayer meeting

is the spiritual thermostat

of the church.

The prayer meeting

is where

the spiritual heat

and the spiritual energy

gets cranked up

among us.

Right?

The prayer meeting

is where people

come in with hearts

that are cold

and hard

and closed

and they walk out

with hearts

that are warm

and soft

and open.

At Christ Church

we're hoping that

prayer is happening

in our homes

and our community groups

but we have this

weekly meeting

for prayer

at 9.30

on Sunday morning

in our boiler room

just back there

and down beneath

the sanctuary

and that's a place

where we just pray

Lord would you

cause whatever

is going on

with this kind

in our church

and in our city

to move aside

so that you can

create space

for your kingdom

to come in.

Once a month

we gather

on second Wednesdays

at 7 o'clock

for prayer

to pray

for the particular

needs of individuals

and the corporate

needs of our church

and of the world

that we live in.

Once a quarter

we come together

for prayer vigils

our next one

happens to be

on Good Friday

and here's my

crazy hope

during Lent.

You want to hear

my crazy hope

during Lent?

Is that our prayer

meetings would be full

and I know that's hard

for parents especially.

That may be actually

a miracle

if you could make it

to a prayer meeting

but I'm praying

that our prayer meetings

would become full

and that we just have

no space left

for people

to pray.

There'd just be

too many people

that want to come

and pray

and I think

that would happen

if we're utterly

convinced of our need

and if we were

to cease

having so much

confidence in ourselves

and if we know

that we can't succeed

in the mission

that we've been given

without the presence

and the power

of the Holy Spirit

and if we collectively

decided that yes

we want to see

this power

that can enter

into the souls

of people

and break the grip

of evil

and liberate people

and make people

new

if we wanted

to experience

the power

of the living God

we just simply

have to pray for it.

It's not going

to come automatically

you have to ask

God to give it to you

and you have to ask

him again

and again

and again

and there's only

one thing

that stands

in the way

of this kind

of praying faith

this faith

that prays

and Jesus calls

it yourself.

If anyone

whoever wants

to be my disciple

must deny yourself

and take up

your cross

and follow

me.

The church

is never going

to deal

with the problems

that's facing us

unless we give up

more than chocolate

and alcohol

for Lent

and definitely

give that up

but what we should

really give up

is our prayerlessness.

What we should

really give up

is the thing

that our prayerlessness

is rooted in

which is self-confidence

and self-reliance

and self-satisfaction.

If anyone

asks you

what are you

giving up for Lent

I hope you'll say

myself.

I'm just going

to stop trusting

so much in myself

and I'm going

to start

taking up

this cross

of prayer

and just

deliberately saying

Lord I believe

but help my unbelief.

That's how I'm

that's what I'm doing

in Lent.

That's how I'm

preparing for Easter.

We really have

no hope to deal

with this kind

unless God

manifests his power

among us.

But when he does

it's like this boy

Jesus just

overcomes the evil

in him

with apparent ease.

He just deals

with this problem

in an effortless manner.

The devil's exercised

the boy is healed

the father's relieved

the family's restored

the community

rejoices.

That's what happens

when the power comes

from on high.

And friends

Christ

Jesus is risen

from the dead.

He's our risen

and living Lord

who's just waiting

for us to come

and pray to him

and ask him

for his power

and so may we

come to terms

with our

powerlessness

in the face of evil

and may we come

to know the power

of God in Jesus

by the Holy Spirit

and may we seek

more and more

in this season

to be full

of the Holy Spirit

and full of his power

through prayer.

And as we pray

let us pray

with the confidence

that everything

is possible

for those who believe.

And let us pray

with deep believing

that nothing

is impossible

for God.

And let us pray

knowing that

the eternal

infinite

unlimited power

of God

it's right there

for the asking.

if only we would

radically rely

on his ability

and not on

the self.

This kind

can come out

but it can only

come out

by prayer.

In the name of the

Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.