3AC Dr. Eric Walsh - A Crisis of Belief

good evening and greetings from here in new england in the united states i want to send uh my kindest and warmest regards to all of you at the kilimani 7th adventist church in nairobi kenya and looking forward to continuing to spend this week with you as we uh discuss further the bible and his principles and some of the prophetic events and things that are going on in the world today um i am honored and privileged again just to say that i'm honored and privileged uh to have been invited and hope that one day maybe we could meet in person either here in the states or there in kenya and i praise god for all the work that your church is doing there um for the cause of god we're going to get right into god's word for this evening's message and we are going to start with our scripture reading which is taken from second timothy chapter one and verse seven second timothy chapter one and verse seven for god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind our message tonight is entitled a crisis of belief a crisis of belief let us pray father god we thank you for this opportunity to study your word thank you father god that you are better to us than we are to ourselves we ask now once again that you make me just a nail upon the wall a rusty sorry nail lord but upon that nail lord we ask that you hang a portrait of jesus christ but eric walsh not be seen or heard instead father let us hear a word from the throne room of grace it's our prayer in jesus precious and holy name amen if you have your bible turn with me to the book of mark the ninth chapter mark chapter nine we're going to start at verse 14. this is one of my favorite stories of jesus mark chapter 9 starting at verse 14. and to give some context to these texts is important to remember that in mark chapter 9 in the first part of the chapter jesus had taken three of his disciples into the mountain to to visit with him and when he went up there he was transfigured as you would remember elijah and moses visits jesus on the mount of transfiguration they'd come it seems to encourage our lord um and to remind him maybe or to uh or to remind maybe even the disciples of what was at stake you have to remember that of all the beings in the universe two of whom would have been most concerned with christ's success on earth it was elijah and moses elijah represents those who would live for christ never die and be taken to heaven moses represents those who would die be resurrected and taken to heaven uh and both were there peter was so excited as it was peter james and john that went into the mountain with christ that peter wanted to make altars and do all these different things but uh christ was there and a voice was once again heard from heaven this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased as christ came down from that mountain he was a glow similar to when moses came down from mount sinai with the ten commandments christ came down and he was aglow the bible says as he comes so if he took three disciples with him it means he left nine disciples on the ground behind mark 9 and verse 14 says and when he came to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them and straightway all the people when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running to him saluted him and he asked the scribes what questioned ye with them when the people saw jesus aglow they ran to him they saluted him the bible says but christ's attention was focused on the fact that his nine disciples were being accosted by the scribes he goes to them and asked why are you questioning my disciples and what if the multitude answered and said master i have brought unto you my son who has a dumb spirit as the crowd gathers around and jesus approaches this approaches the scribes who are questioning his nine disciples out of the crowd one man emerges a man who the crowd was by now probably familiar with as they had watched him bring his son who had a particular problem and saw the nine disciples be unable to deal with the problem as jesus comes toward them the man steps out kind of like in a schoolyard a circle clears in the middle jesus and the man are left alone the man says listen i brought my son my son has a spirit a dumb spirit and in american english we often now use the word dumb to mean unintelligent or even stupid but really it means someone unable to communicate the man goes on in mark 9 and verse 18 and he says and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him and he filmeth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away and i spoke to your disciples that they should cast them out and they could not while jesus was in the mountain with the three and the mount and the experience that peter james and john had at the mount of transfiguration while that was going on down in the valley his nine disciples were also having an experience but they failed the test they were unable to cast this demon out and i want to submit to you there in nairobi kenya our brothers and sisters in christ i want to submit to you that when the church becomes divided it becomes powerless the nine disciples who did not get to go into the mountain were probably quite jealous of the fact that three were chosen to go so if you can imagine while they're down there brooding and and steaming and angry and jealous and envious that christ took only three up and all of them thought themselves worthy as we saw as we see in other parts of the gospel where they are jockeying for position and leadership and when jesus comes into his kingdom i can imagine they were not very happy and because of this when this man brings his son they have no spiritual power to deal with this boy because instead of praying and fasting they were just stating problems and complaining our churches must be unified it's a great story i i tell in my sermon sometimes that i heard when i was in ee cleveland's dynamics of christian living class at oakwood university in huntsville alabama where i went to undergraduate training and he talks about this church in nashville tennessee where demon possession had happened in fact elder cleveland as he was teaching us the class tells us that when he walked into the church it was ice cold and the pews were floating in the air i've got corroborative stories from one man who was a theology student at the time and someone else was a pastor at a time in tennessee and he said and they tell me that when they began to cast demons out of the church members they asked them how is it that you have the ability to do this in the church of god the demons responded because this church is divided incredible story but when we are divided satan gains advantage and this is why the church has to be careful as we allow issues like um women's ordination or or or racial issues here in the states or even vaccination now if the church is not careful and we allow these issues to separate us that's exactly what the devil wants because the devil wants us in a crisis of belief he wants us not focusing on those things that are important salvific and eternal he wants us to focus on anything that will separate us because when we are separated we are not as powerful as we could be in the holy ghost and in christ jesus so the father says listen i tried i brought my son to your disciples but they they couldn't do anything in mark 9 verse 19 he answered him and say it o faithless generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i suffer you bring him unto me jesus said listen there is a crisis of belief in this generation not enough of you all this crowd scribes the father nobody even his own disciples did not have enough faith to deliver this boy from the demons that possessed him let me submit to you church that we are living in a time today when we are in a crisis of belief where uh where untoward and heretical doctrine have seeped into the church of god in fact some of these heresies are even being preached from the pulpits of our churches and taught in our institutions a faithless generation now has compromised that even on simple biblical principles like whether or not god created the world on whether or not christ is divine or the holy spirit is a person we have compromised as a faithless generation we have accepted the teachings and wiles of the world and think that they are now sacred we have we are beginning to bow down to the idols of the world's philosophies rather than worship the truth that is in christ jesus there is a crisis of belief mark chapter 9 verse 20 and 21 the bible says and they brought him unto him and when he saw him straightway the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming this boy as they brought the boy towards jesus the demons begin to act out the demon uh start to the spirit tear him begins to mess with him and and pull at him and he fell on the ground the bible says he starts to wallow and starts foaming at the mouth the boy starts to go into a fit verse 21. now let me say this about verse 20 first anytime we take someone and begin to lead them towards jesus the devil is going to act out in their lives never forget that we're doing my wife and i were doing bible studies with a a young couple in high school and um um the young lady is an adventist but the young man she is dating is not but now he wants to become an adventist a christian so he we were doing bible studies with him and after the first one my wife turned him and said do not be surprised if when you begin to study the bible and get interested in god if the devil does not throw things at you and sure enough that week he got bad news about the health of someone in his family and it began to derail the bible studies as you begin to move uh from sinner towards the savior all of a sudden the demons realize their time is short and so they try to act up in your life they may do that through a spouse through a boss they may do that through natural disaster they can do it a thousand ways but as this boy begins to go towards jesus the demon acts up and rather than respond to the demon or the boy jesus turns to the father and he asks this question how long is it a go how long has it been since he started doing this the king james says since this came unto him and he said of a child i can imagine the father's bitter pain watching his boy grow with this demon taunting and tearing at him all the time i can imagine and it's funny the boy's mother's not even mentioned in the story maybe she was at home with the other children who knows or maybe she was an audience and it's just not mentioned but the father has a vested interest in trying to save his son who since he was just a child since he was very little he was under this influence there would have been many in the jewish economy who would have blamed the parents to blame the boy for his situation but jesus just wants to know when did it start and i want to submit to you church as an aside in this message that the devil still wants our children and he has some new ways to get them in those days you use certain things but this in these days it's different as you begin to do research into what is shaping and molding the minds of children today what is uh holding their attention and what is beginning to help them to develop their world view what you check is one of the first thing and all these things starts with an s um uh the first thing is screen time children spend on average and this is in the united states i'm not sure what it would be like in kenya but in the united states children spend an average of seven hours a day on electronics children under the age of two years should have either very limited or no screen time experiences that is what the american academy of pediatrics says they may have changed that but that's been what they've said for a while studies show that children who have more than an hour a day of screen time have much more behavioral and mental health issues than children who spend less than an hour a day on electronics ha so talk about a child who acts up as he's moved towards christ as the boy in our story what we're being told is that if our children are allowed to have all of this screen time one of the things that happens is they begin to see the world different and they begin to behave different they even have more mental health issues from the screen time of course the screen time affects your ability to sleep the the blue light that comes from it it it will begin to shape what you think reality is it has a many effects on you and of course it it the the mind of that age should be inquisitive it should be moving around inspecting and learning about its environment but if you're on a two-dimensional screen you're only using one of your five senses the second one that's really catching our children today is social media social media has taken over and i know all over the world in africa asia all over europe north america south america australia people are using social media like crazy but research reported on childmind.org as well as many other sources shows that heavy social media use has been linked to increased depression anxiety and low self-esteem among kids did you guys get that the use of social media would cause a child to have anxiety and depression we're going to talk more about how that manifests fully later and low self-esteem let's read on it prevents the development of some social skills and direct communication skills ah so if you use social media too much which means you're doing too much screen time look at what happens you lose the ability to communicate you gain a relatively at least dumb spirit could we could we be raising children today who like the boy in our story are being trained to have the problems the boy in our story from mark chapter nine has because their minds are being molded in such a way that they're not able to interact with other people pre-teens and teens pre-teens and teenagers spend more time connecting on social media instead of building social skills and having conversations in person therefore they are not learning how to read body language facial expressions or vocal inflections social media may also become a major distraction and lead to lack of sleep and poor academic performance if technology is used as unmonitored kids may stay up late without their parents realizing they are not asleep ultimately it is difficult for kids to unplug from technology at all times of the day i say all of this to bring social media to the to the surface because many parents have no idea what the kids are doing on their phone on their tablet or on their laptop they have no idea what's going on but here is a window into the mind and soul of your child where the satan can directly download content information culture all that can be anti-christian jesus asked the father how long has this been he said since he was a child satan wants to take our children through screen times through social media and i'll throw in another one that's really big here in the states and that's sugar we're finding that sugar not there's one from science news journal says sugar not so nice to your child's brain development studies suggests new research has shown in a rodent model that daily consumption of sugar sweetened beverages during adolescent adolescence impairs performance on a learning and memory task during adulthood the group further showed that changes in the bacteria in the gut may be the key to the sugar-induced memory impairment so it's not even that the sugar goes to your brain and causes the problems is that it alters the gut micro uh biota i won't get into that but but the healthy bacteria that are supposed to align your intestine your gut your colon and allows through signaling good things to happen in your body like i said i won't get into it but if that if the sugar changes and um can mess with the gut lining and a lot of toxins in it can uh which can go to the brain and cause brain fog sugar as well as meat and the fat for meat can do this the saturated fat particularly so imagine it like in america here where we combine these fats with sugars the damage it does to the healthy bacteria the support of bacteria in the gut so that now toxins can get in and the brain can be affected so bad that adolescents who drink too much soda will have memory problems as adults and look at this here in the states and i don't i know in kenya there's probably a lot more whole food being eaten and healthier foods but america is clearly exporting it's it's diet around the world i was at the one of the conference offices in ghana um um and i remember coming out of the conference office there um and when i came out of that conference office in akra there was a kentucky fried chicken across the street from the conference office and i just shook my head but look at this all these different corn syrups sugar fructose syrup there's high fructose corn syrup there's maltrose dextrose there's all kinds of ways they put sugar and hide it in the foods because sugar does a few things to the food one it makes it preserve it to last longer it adds taste but we know that sugar is addicting some people would argue sugar is more addicting than cocaine sugar clearly the cousin of alcohol and they both work on the liver the same way except uh and to damage the liver and create fat alcoholic fatty liver disease is what's called caused by alcohol but when the sucrose in sugar breaks into its two parts into glucose um to glucose and fructose when that gets to the liver it actually does a lot of bad things one of them is it makes the body make fat which can then damage the liver and even increase the risk of diabetes i could go on and on and i'm way off the topic here except to say that how we feed our children remember the story of daniel and the three hebrew boys how we feed our children has a lot to do with how they will behave when they get a sugar rush and the sugar levels in their body go way up they get all hyper and excited and when the insulin comes to take the sugar out they drop and they go into almost a comatose state if a child is sent to school on sugar they can't focus if they come to church and all they had in the morning was sugar they might be uh running circles around the sabbath school teacher and then they can't get anything out of divine service the devil is still after our children and in the united states billions of dollars have been spent advertising sugar sweetened beverages and products to children the last one there's some other stuff we'll we'll get to one more in another section here but the other one is the superheroes the fourth s and there's a lots of artists the gospel according to marvel and um what is happening now is as these superheroes rise they're changing morality they are the new morality one article i don't have it in this one it says the the new morality comes from the comic books and from the comic book heroes and so as they teach a morality church they will teach a morality that is inconsistent in some ways from the bible and if our children are caught up in this they will accept that immorality everything your child does they're studying every television program they watch every song they hear we are all always studying our brains soaking in in fact to counter this paul says in second timothy chapter 2 verses 15 and 16 he says to study is to show yourself approved unto god don't just study to show yourself approved you need to be approved unto god a workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth but shun profane and vain babblings but they will increase unto more ungodliness what even in first timothy paul says the same thing to timothy um he says listen shun profane and vain babbling this is like the hip-hop music the the the the the reggae music and i had a good friend who's a emergency physician from uh kenya and he played some of the some of the djs in kenya and it's basically the same music that a lot of the black american children and jamaican children listen to uh hard beats but but the words are profane and vain often misogynistic uh lowering the standard of the mind of children around the value of a woman and even her body just just just reducing them to collective of her body to a collection of parts the scripture says instead just study to show yourself approved unto god how rightly dividing the word of truth we should be studying the word with our children not exposing them to the filth that is in the world this is what spirit of prophecy says on this because what we need to be doing is building the character in our children um character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings and never before was its diligent study so important as now never was any previous generation called to meet issues so momentous never before were young men and young women confronted by peril so great as confront them today i want to submit to you that we who believe in the sanctuary message understand that it is the cleansing of the sanctuary that we are waiting for jesus in the heavenly sanctuary doing it now but as the book of numbers points out as the sanctuary is cleansed the people are cleansed we should be gaining victory over sin and developing the character of christ instead many of us like this boy are suffering at the hands of demonic influence mark 9 and verse 22 and oftentimes it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him the father says he's had this from a child and listen since he's been a child this thing has been it's been trying to kill my son here in the united states and i didn't even pull up numbers from since the cove had started but the suicide rates have been doubling among teenagers um and they're telling social media giants they need to crack down on it in england the british i cut out some of this stuff but there's a professor um who's the head of the national suicide prevention strategy that says teenage suicide is on the rise the danger is and this is talking from the united kingdom the danger is that we are presiding over a suicidal generation of young people and that and that young people have learned self-harm as a way of coping young people have learned self-harm as a way of coping we're in a crisis of belief suicide rates for u.s teens and young adults are the highest on record father said since he was a child he took him and he tried to throw him in the water throw him in the fire he's tried to destroy my son church once again the devil is still trying to destroy our children the father makes this plea in mark 9 and verse 22. but if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us the father says listen he's been trying to kill my son but if if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us if you can't do anything have compassion on us and help us his father believed that jesus was powerful but here he ifs jesus one of my favorite verses in this story and one of my favorite verses in the book of mark is this one mark 9 and verse 23 which says jesus said unto him if you can believe all things are possible to him that believes in other words jesus says who are you iffing i am the one who stood on nothing and spoke and the worlds came into existence form man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils jesus is saying if the if is not on me the if is on you can you believe church if you can believe all things are possible to him that believes why is this such a important a verse of scripture for where we are prophetically today because we are in a crisis of belief you see if righteousness is by faith and you can't believe righteousness is outside of your grasp you've got to believe that christ can do what he said he can do that he can deliver us from the uh from the from the gutter most to the uttermost you've got to believe that jesus is in the business and it has the ability to turn around even the most rotten sinner polish and nurture them pass them through the fire so that sinner becomes a saint jesus says if you can believe all things are possible to him that believes mark 9 and verse 24 and straightway the father of the child cried out with tears lord i believe help thou mine unbelief and this ought to liberate you in the time of a crisis of belief this liberates us because what we think is if i don't have all the faith i need i'm in trouble remember this man had enough faith in christ to take his son who was acting out put on whatever clothes he could probably get on him and move with him through the crowded streets to try and find jesus he had enough faith when he got to the nine disciples to ask them to heal his son he had enough faith when his the disciples couldn't to wait there for jesus to come back he had enough faith when the crowd was gathered and the scribes were being um spoken to by christ he had enough faith to stand up all by himself and say i came to speak to your disciples to cast this demon out of my son but they couldn't he had enough faith watch this church but when in the face of christ jesus when right there with him he doubted but here's the power the secret to doubt is that you take your doubt to jesus don't take your doubt to the world don't take it to the philosophies of this world take your doubt to christ and it'll liberate you because what you understand is it's okay if you have your doubt but just have enough faith to go with your doubt to jesus here's what the spirit of prophecy says she says it is faith that connects us with heaven and brings us strength for coping with the powers of darkness in christ god has provided means for subduing every sinful trait and resisting every temptation however strong but many feel that they lack faith and therefore they remain away from christ let these souls and their helpless unworthiness cast themselves upon the mercy of their compassionate savior i want you to get this church our job as we come to the close of this world as it be as we come to the to the soon return of our lord and savior jesus christ understand that one of the things we must be cognizant of is that we are to be working to have the character of christ to gain victory over sin and it is impossible to do so if you are not bringing your doubt whatever weaknesses you have whatever flaws you have must be brought to jesus i say it all the time but that old hymn says turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace what are you focusing on you see by beholding you become changed are you focusing on social media are you focusing on your own problems your own sin your own faults your own weaknesses your failures in the past or the way that someone else hurts you as long as you're focusing on something other than christ like this father you'll wonder if god can do what he says he can do but when you turn your attention to him and cast yourself upon the mercy of the compas of our compassionate savior when you do that power comes to you look to jesus in fact spirit of prophecy goes on to say look not to self but to christ he who s healed the sick and cast out demons when he walked among men is the same mighty redeemer today faith comes by the word of god then grasp his promise him that cometh to me i will in no wise cast out john 6 37 cast yourself at his feet with the cry lord i believe help thou my unbelief watch the last sentence you can never perish while you do this never oh i hope you got that church you can never perish while you do this never how powerful is that if you are sincere that you have fault lines in your faith if you understand that you have a crisis of belief but you're willing to sincerely take it to jesus and you're willing to lay it at his feet what does jesus do he fills in the gap where you come up short prophets and kings page 175 says this nothing is apparently more helpless yet really more invincible than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on god back to the story the bible says in mark 9 and verse 25 when jesus saw that the people came running together he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him thou dumb and deaf spirit i charge thee come out of him and enter no more into him as the people saw what was going on they come running towards him jesus as the boy is there wallowing foaming at the mouth rolling around on the ground looking like he's having an epileptic fit or something and the demon is trying to destroy him jesus rebuked the foul spirit he says you dumb and deaf spirit come out of him and enter no more into him jesus is not interested in partially fixing the problem or partially removing the demon he says don't you just come out come out and never come back verse 26 says in the spirit cried and rent him sore meaning it tried to destroy the boy and he came out of him when the demon comes out of the boy the boy's body has gone through such an experience that a boy collapses the bible says and he was as one dead he's lying on the ground people begin to look put their hands over their face looking with their eyes wide open and thinking that he is dead they're wondering did the boy die from this experience but let me tell you something church any time the sinner has an experience with christ something should die self should die pride should die ego should die arrogance should die the old man should die in fact when you when when you have an experience with christ folk ought not recognize you anymore why because verse 27 says that jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose when you die to self something we ought to do daily it's christ who picks us up it's christ who lives in us the boy is healed the father i'm sure is shouting and jumping for joy the crowds are amazed the scribes are ashamed they probably slip away quietly as everyone exalts in the victory that christ wins over this demon but there are nine people confused the disciples that were not an amount of transfiguration in verse 28 the bible says and when he was coming to the house his disciples asked him privately why could not we cast him out lord we did miracles with you before why couldn't we cast this demon out verse 29 is where i want to leave you today and he said unto them this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting church as we go through this week i want to ask you to pray for me pray for this effort pray for the church in nairobi and around the world pray for our brothers and sisters in haiti who are recovering from a terrible earthquake pray for what is going on in places like afghanistan and even on the streets here in america the war zone that it often can become pray that the gospel would be preached and that christ would be lifted up fast and pray that demonic strongholds would be broken down as we stay see in this story there's something that some of us are dealing with that cannot be removed a yoke we cannot shake because we are not praying and fasting we've got to have the faith that breaks this crisis of belief illinois says if you have faith like this you will lay hold upon god's word and upon all the helpful agencies he has appointed thus your faith will strengthen and will bring to your aid the power of heaven the obstacles that are piled by satan across your path though apparently as insurmountable as the eternal hills shall disappear before the demand of faith nothing shall be impossible unto you nothing shall be impossible unto you tonight if you're having a crisis of belief i want to challenge you to take whatever doubt you have and bring it to jesus when you bring it to christ he will fill into this the difference he will allow you to have the experiences that will grow your faith because we are this is we're no longer in a time where we can be um sometime-ish christians where we can uh play with god or play church play time is over we've got to take god seriously because i know you can see all the signs being fulfilled all around you the bible says that we must watch and be ready to be sober and vigilant that's going to take faith challenge your church especially those who have been struggling with their with their faith now is the time to draw close to christ you may go through something on the way there but my lord will deal with all your problems he will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory if you have a crisis of belief tonight bring it to jesus let's pray father god we thank you for this opportunity to study a word in this story as father god as we as we as we go through the rest of this week i pray lord like the father in this story we would have the faith to come to you even if we have some areas of doubt we would understand the importance of raising our children after your in your fear and admonition we'd understand the importance of church unity help his father god to be the people you want us to be a people and a church without spot or blemish and lord we know that if we believe all things are possible to him that believes it's our prayer in jesus precious and holy name amen [Music] you

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Published: Tue Sep 14 2021