THE TOOLS OF SERVICE PART 7 OF 12

TEXT- MARK 9:14-29

INTRODUCTION

Today is theme day here at our church when we emphasize our goals and theme for the year.

This year our church theme is, "The Serving Church" and our theme verse is Mark 10:45 which says, "For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

To reinforce our theme I have been preaching a series of sermons each theme day from the gospel of Mark on the topic of serving the lord.

The gospel of Mark is a book of action, recording the things Jesus said and did while he was here on earth.

It is a book that shows us how Jesus was a servant and how we should serve.

One day a woman was getting into her car to go to town and forgot to put the car in reverse and smashed the front wall of the garage. The husband called a carpenter out to fix it. The husband usually took a bus to work, but the next morning he overslept and decided to drive. When he got into the car he noticed that the wall that had been smashed the day before had not been repaired. He went back into the house and called the carpenter. "I thought you said you would have that wall fixed by noon yesterday." he screamed. "Let me ask you one question," said the carpenter, "did your wife drive the car in the afternoon?"

This morning our text is found in Mark 9:14-29 and the title of my message is, "The Tools of Service."

If you are a carpenter, plumber or electrician there are some tools that you use to do your work and that help you to do it better and easier.

Every trade or occupation has certain tools that they use.

The same thing is true for us as Christians and servants of the lord.

In our text mark describes how Jesus cast a demon out of a boy and the disciples could not.

In verses 1-13 of this chapter we find Jesus revealing His glory to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.

When they came down off this mountain Jesus discovered some Scribes who were in a dispute with His other disciples because they were unable to cast a demon out of a man's son.

Several things are important for us to notice about this scene.

First, if you will remember, Jesus gave His disciples the power to cast demonic spirits.

Mark 3:14-15, "And He appointed twelve , that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, [15] and to have authority to cast out the demons."

Even though they had the power, they were still unable to do anything for this demonic boy.

The second thing that is interesting about this scene is the fact that the Scribes didn't waste any time ridiculing the disciples for there failure.

Both the Devil and the world like to see God's people fail.

As we examine this passage I would like us to notice two tools that are available to us today and are absolutely essential for serving the lord.