Life Change: Change Fighter Mark 9:14-27 Opening Illustration: Pee Wee Soccer You’ve got to love competitive Pee-Wee Soccer. Last year, I sat on the sidelines and watched my son (who was 4 at the time) compete in the 5 & 6 year old division and it was great… so great, that this year, I decided to Coach his team. My daughter is on the team as well and we are the Mean Green Fightin’ Gators. Chant: Go Green!!! (…not sure if that’s a chant for our soccer team or to promote recycling) But I’ve learned a few things being a Coach who is also a Dad: You see, more than anything… I want my Children to play well… I want them to be successful in the game… I want them to score goals and play hard… My goal for them is that they would continually grow & develop & change into becoming the very best they can be… That’s my goal for them. But I’m also very aware that there’s another Dad/Coach on the other sideline… and his main objective… his main goal… is to prevent my kids from doing well. He’s pulling out all the stops in order to prevent my kids from being successful… from scoring, from growing, from developing or changing. He doesn’t want them to get better, he is doing everything in his power to keep them from scoring. Yes, it’s 5-6 year old Pee-Wee soccer and yes, everyone is a winner, but when you get right down to it, we want to win and they do everything they can to keep us from winning… What does that sound like to you? You know what it sounds like to me? LIFE. It sounds a lot like… my life. Because, you see, God is our Father… and whether you realize it or not, he’s also our Coach. He’s on our sideline… He’s wearing the jersey… and you know what else? He wants you, as his Child to thrive. He wants you to score… He wants you to play hard, and do well… He wants you to continually grow and develop and change into becoming more like Him… He wants that for you! But as much as He desires that for us, on the other sideline Satan stands… and he has little devils swarming around you every minute of every day and their main objective is to prevent you from changing. They don’t want you to score… They don’t want you to be successful… Their main objective is to hold you back and keep you down… preventing life change. We’ve seen over the last several weeks that God is in the business of changing lives.

Change isn’t something that’s easy to do. You can’t live your life, day after day, doing evil things and thinking evil thoughts and then just decide to do good… because the Bible says we are masters of doing evil. We learned last week that you and I have mastered evil after many long hours of practicing evil things… and the only way to change is to PUT OFF the evil things in our lives and then PUT ON the righteousness of God… because in the end… He is the only one capable of changing our life… He is the CHANGE FACTOR. Satan on the other hand is the CHANGE FIGHTER… and tonight, in Mark chapter 9, we’re going to see a boy that was desperate for Life Change… but no matter how bad change was needed or change was wanted… Satan kept fighting to prevent it from happening: 14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.

18 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.”

It’s interesting that Mark uses this word: ROBBED. It said that this evil spirit robbed this boy. And just as Sin robbed him, Sin robs us and Satan uses everything in his arsenal to steal from us every single day. Scripture warns us about him: John 10:10 says he’s a thief that’s here to kill, steal & destroy. But when he breaks into your life, most of the time he doesn’t appear to be this roaring lion that seeks to devour… he looks like he’s on our sideline. He looks like he wants the best for us… he wants us to have fun, he wants us to be successful… he wants us to be accepted and cool. When we walk in the direction Satan wants us to walk, life seems to become easy. But when we walk away from him and walk towards Jesus… it’s an entirely different story.

You see, every step you take towards Jesus… motivates Satan to put up a road block and prevent you from changing, or growing or developing in Christ because Satan is the Change Fighter.

19 “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 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. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “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.” 23 “‘If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

So, the father believes! He believes Jesus is capable of changing the life of his son… but even in the midst of his believe, he saw up close and personal that Satan would fight hard to prevent the change from happening. He realized that, Satan himself; the CHANGE FIGHTER was also the GREAT DESTROYER: 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him (DESTROY HIM). -NKJV In the same way, Satan is out to DESTROY ME… DESTROY YOU! He wants to ruin your life! Every step you take towards God, he’ll attempt to stop you. That’s been true in my life:

• Decide to be more consistent in reading the Bible (Road block) Busyness. Too tired.

• Decide to go on a mission trip or serve in a certain ministry (Road block) Not enough time…after all, my schedule is pretty ridiculous.

• Decide to repent from a habitual sin in my life (Road block) Excuse after excuse…

Satan wants to kill and destroy any pursuit you may have towards God or godly things… He’s the kind of friend that… if you were sinking in quick sand… he would rush up to you and, rather than helping you out, he would pat you on the head. And perhaps you’re convinced that I’m wrong about this whole thing… maybe you’re convinced tonight that Satan is powerless against you. You say, “Satan isn’t going to destroy my life… I’ve given my life to Jesus! He’s my savior & Lord!” Listen, if he can’t ruin your life directly, he’ll try to ruin your life indirectly. When he can’t have you… he tends to make a habit out of targeting those around you… the ones you love & care about. He’s not only out to destroy you… he’s out to destroy your: Children… Marriage… Godly relationships… Positive Spirit… FAMILY!

Luke tells us in his account of this story that this boy was his only child. In Mark 9:21 it says, 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered.

That tells me that Satan wants to get a hold of our children while they are young. He wants to destroy us and everything else around us… and he wants to destroy the good things in your life in their infancy.

Satan is the GREAT DESTROYER… He’s also the GREAT DIVIDER:

If he fails to destroy you… he’ll back up, regroup… and then attempt to divide you. Satan used the circumstances of this boys condition to divide him from his father…

You’ll notice that nowhere in Scripture does Satan make things come together… he always cause things to come apart. He is the creator of Chaos. He uses his power to cause division… and it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

God had created Adam and Eve and there they were enjoying fellowship with their creator. Then do you remember what happened? Sin entered the world. Satan’s influence prevailed that day: and he divided God from His creation.

And because of the great divide that took place in the garden through the first Adam… Jesus (the second Adam) came to build a bridge between Holy God and Sinful Man. And that bridge wasn’t build with iron or steel… it was build with the sinless blood of Christ.

Our enemy will divide men, women and children from God. He’ll divide husbands and wives. He’ll divide children from parents and friends from one another. Satan is the GREAT DESTROYER and the GREAT DIVIDER. [PAUSE]

I love that song that says, Nothing can separate… even if I ran away… your love never fails. It says, the Chasm (gap… wide difference… like a deep hole in the earth) is far too wide… I never thought I’d reach the other side… Your love never fails.

And the reason it says that and the reason that’s true is because… it doesn’t matter if Satan is a great destroyer or great divider… we serve a God who is bigger and stronger and a God who is on our sideline tonight… and He’s a God who is a GREAT DELIVERER.

Satan can be a change fighter, but that doesn’t change the fact the Christ is the change factor. Change in your life is possible tonight, if you truly believe God is capable of changing you.

No matter what your circumstance looks like tonight, it’s not unchangeable. Satan can’t destroy you to the point God can put the pieces back together…

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil[a] spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

Tonight, your life may look completely lifeless— • Your spiritual life may look like a corpse • Your prayer life may look like it’s without a pulse • You may be 1 million miles away from God tonight…

1. You say—my sins are too great 2. You say—there’s no way my life could change

Listen, this man looked dead… he seemed lifeless—and Jesus grabbed him by the hand and picked him up. If you believe in Him tonight—If you believe He’s capable of that in your life, the life of your family, your spiritual life, your prayer life, your personal life… He will do the same for you. It’s good to remember tonight… that your Coach in Life is also your Father… and He not only wants the very best for you… but He’s capable of making it happen.