When your faith meets desperation, pray earnestly and honestly. Cast your cares on Him. He cares for you.  Sermon Title: WHEN FAITH MEETS DESPERATION Sermon Text: MARK 9:2-14 (ESV) Sermon Series: THE ROAD TO THE CROSS: FOLLOWING THE SUFFERING KING By: BRO ARNOLD ALO Sermon Notes: Mark 9:2-14 (ESV) 14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” When someone’s true identity is revealed, it changes the way you see everything else about them. Prayer is where faith meets our desperation. I. The Scene: Chaos and Confusion (Mark 9:14-18) II. The Problem: Unbelief in Unlikely Places (Mark 9:19) III. The Conversation: Honest Desperation (Mark 9:20-24) IV. The Miracle: Power and Compassion United (Mark 9:25-27) V. The Teaching: The Heart of the Matter (Mark 9:28-29) Application: Living Between Faith and Unbelief – Prayer1. Practice honest prayer2. Identify Your Self-Dependencies3. Bring Your Desperate Situations to Jesus When your faith meets desperation, pray earnestly and honestly. Cast your cares on Him. He cares for you.  Read 1 Peter 5:7