Crazy Enough to Believe It (Part 4): Help Thou My Unbelief

What if the real battle isn’t your crisis, but your confidence in God inside it? We open Mark 9 at ground level—right where a father’s last hope collides with nine disciples who can’t help and a crowd that mistakes deliverance for disaster. From the mountaintop glow to the valley’s grit, we follow a story that names the ache many of us carry: I believe; help my unbelief.

We share the father’s long road through doctors, remedies, and disappointment, then watch Jesus step into the chaos with calm authority. Along the way, we unpack why the disciples failed—not because they had no faith, but because their faith wasn’t enough for that moment. Mustard-seed faith isn’t about having a tiny dose of optimism; it’s about living faith with potential to grow, root, and shelter. We wrestle with the gap between what we say on Sunday and what we trust on Monday, and we learn how to read the shaking: sometimes the turmoil you see is the enemy’s last stand before freedom breaks through.

This conversation gets practical. We talk about moving from head knowledge to lived trust, how to keep praying when years have dulled our courage, and how to interpret hard seasons without calling God’s work dead. You’ll hear a simple framework for growing sturdy faith—anchoring in Scripture, taking small steps of obedience, and inviting community to carry you when your confidence thins. The goal isn’t hype; it’s honesty, and a resilient belief that God is able to meet you right where you’ve run out.

If this speaks to you, share it with someone who needs courage, subscribe for more messages that build real faith, and leave a review with the one place you’re asking God to help your unbelief today.

Transcript

Opening Worship And Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You are the wisdom music, you are the song that I sing, you are the melody, you are the harmony, praise your name I will bring. You are the Lord of laws, you are the mighty God, you are the king of all kings. So now I give back to you the sound that you gave to me. You are the song that I sing. No, you are the words in the music, you are the song that I sing, you are the melody. Oh you are a lot of laws, you are a mighty God, you are the king of all kings. So now I give back to you the sound that you gave to me, you are the sound that I say Lord you are more precious than silver Lord Lord you are more costly more than ghosts Lord you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing compass with you just one more time singing lord more precious than my Jesus you are lord you are more gonna sleep you more beautiful than nothing and nothing I desire with you as the de sings for my souls are my heart desire and my strength may my spirit are my heart desire and I I like to shape Amen Mark chapter number nine Mark Chapter Number Nine While you're turning there it's good to see all of you that are here here and those of you if this is your first Sunday or your third Sunday, I'm glad that you're here.

Reading Mark 9 And The Scene

The Fight For Your Faith

Belief Versus Practice

The Father’s Long Road To Hope

Why The Disciples Couldn’t Do It

Mustard Seed Faith Explained

Jesus Confronts The Unclean Spirit

Seeing God’s Work When It Looks Worse

Prayer, Response, And Invitation

Anderson George 3:51

Uh if this is indeed your first time, I want you to know that these doors swing open on welcome hinges. That is to say, there are no strangers here, only friends who've not yet met. Mark chapter nine, verse number fourteen. If my voice songs deeper than usual, it is not because Judy added bass. This is all natural. I am without my voice, and my gift is when I don't have my voice, I sound like this. Mark nine from verse number fourteen, scripture says when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. Immediately, when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed and began running up to greet him, and he asked them, What are you discussing with them? And one of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought you my son possessed with a spirit which makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it. And he answered them and said, Oh unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. They brought the boy to him. When Jesus saw him immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, How long has this been happening to him? The father said, From childhood, it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe. Help thou my unbelief. Crazy enough to believe it. Part four. Help thou my unbelief. Crazy enough to believe it. Part four. Help thou my unbelief. Whether you realize it or not, you are in a fight for your life. And the fight that you're in is one where what is at stake is your faith. I understand that typically we would say that your soul is what you're fighting for. But the truth is you're fighting for your faith, and losing your faith determines where your soul goes. It's a fight of faith. It's the reason why Paul tells Timothy, fight the good fight of faith. He doesn't tell him, fight the fight for your soul. He says, fight the good fight of faith. It's the reason why the Hebrew writer would say, without faith, it is impossible to please God. It's why Jesus would tell his disciples that if you have faith, you could move mountains, you could change the course of your life. It's why John the Apostle would end his writings by saying, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. You are in a fight for your life, and what is at stake is your faith. The devil is not after your money, he's not after your honey, he's not after your children, he's not after your job. The devil is after your faith because if he could rob you of your faith, he could rob you of the life God intended you to have. If I'm to ask you, if you believe that God the Father is the creator of the heavens and the earth, you are going to say you believe. If I'm to ask you that you if you believe that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope of your calling, one spirit, you're going to say you believe. But there is a difference between what you intellectually agree with and what you practically affirm. And the two don't always agree. Let me say that again. There are times where you believe something, but what you believe is not translated into what you practice and how you live. This is where we meet this guy, this is where we meet this father who utters one of the phrases I love most in scripture because it sounds paradoxical. Jesus says to him, all things are possible if only you believe, and then he says, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. How is it that you could believe and unbelieve the very same thing? But then it happened to me, and I realized what this father said is actually true. But before we get to the text, let me make sure you understand the context. In Mark 12, Mark 9, where we're at, Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he appeared in his beautiful splendor to Peter, James, and John. And as he does this, Peter acts like Peter and says a foolish thing. But they were able to see Jesus in his beauty, Jesus in his holiness on the mountaintop. And if I had time, I would tell you that the mountaintop is where we all want to be. We want to be at the summit, we want to be at the peak because that's where you see the beauty, that's where you are able to appreciate how awesome God is, but you don't live on the mountains. The truth is we're just traveling. And so every now and then you get a view, what I call a mountaintop experience, but you have to come back down in the valley. And the valley here represents where troubles meet you, where trials meet you. You're in the valley, and the valley is where temptations and trials arise. Jesus now shows himself beautiful on the mountain, and he comes down into the valley, and trouble is waiting for him. Here's the trouble. There is this father who has a teenage boy, and he has done everything possible to heal this boy of his demon possession. Let me borrow the whiteboards of your mind. I want you to picture that this is not the first time that the father is looking for help. He has sought doctors that couldn't help. He has tried home remedies that did not help. He did everything and nothing helped. And then he hears of Jesus. And he tries to meet Jesus, but Jesus is on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. But there are nine other disciples in the valley. And he said if he can't get to Jesus, he could at the very least get the next best thing. Jesus' disciples. So if Jesus can't do it, his disciples surely could. And there's nine of them. His last hope is in these nine. And I want you to picture the scene. Remember the names Peter, James, and John, they're on the mountain. So that leaves everybody else. Matthew, Thomas, Simon, the Zalot, Alpheus, it leaves everybody else. Nine of them. And I want you to see the scene as clearly as you could in your mind because what happens is he comes looking for Jesus, but Jesus is not here. So inevitably, one of the disciples asks, How can we help? And the dad tells the story. Could you do anything? It's interesting that that's his question. He's no longer saying heal him. It's like, could you do anything? Anything is better than this right now. He is at his last because he has tried everything, and all he's asking for is just, could you do anything? And Matthew gets up first and he says, This is easy, I'll do this. And I don't know how much you tried, but he tried his best, and the demon didn't leave the little boy. And then Doubt and Thomas said, Well, I'll try too. And he tries, and the demon still didn't leave, and and and Philip tried, and Nathaniel tried, and and Alpha, Simon, the Zealot. Nine disciples tried. And there was no change, there was no difference in this boy. If you are his father, you are very close to losing all hope. Because the second best option failed nine times. And so when we read our text, and it says in verse number 14, when they came back to the disciples as Jesus, Peter, James, and John, they saw a large crowd around them. That's the father, his son, and the nine disciples, and some scribes arguing with them. There's an argument taking place because what happens is when you lose hope, you get frustrated. So I want you to picture this dad who came with hope and has no hope. So all he has now is frustration. And when you get frustrated, you say things you shouldn't. When you get frustrated, you act in a way that you shouldn't. This is where you say amen because it's the truth. You don't act the way you should when you're frustrated. So imagine this dad is now saying, I thought you were Jesus' disciples. I thought you had power. I thought you were the real deal. You guys are just jokers. You're fake, you're not authentic. You should forget being a disciple. So there's this commotion happening, and Jesus comes down, and Jesus asks a simple question: what are you discussing? And the man gets up, he says, Teacher, I brought my son possessed with a spirit, to your disciples, to your disciples, to cast it out, and they could not do it. How long shall I put up with you? Jesus here is reproaching them publicly because this was supposed to be something they had power over. This was supposed to be something within their capability because Jesus enabled them to do it. And so when he hears that they could not do it, he doesn't simply say, I'll do it. The first thing he does is say, Oh, you unbelieving generation, because the reason why they failed was because their faith wasn't good enough. Now, Paul said, church, pause, pause, pause. It's not that they don't have faith, they do. It's that the faith they have is not enough for this current circumstance. I wish I had a church. See, the problem sometimes is not that you don't have faith, you have faith, but your faith fails you right now for this situation. You no longer believe that God could do something about this. So you believe God is, you believe all the facts about God, but when it comes to a particular situation, you no longer have hope. You no longer believe that God could still work in it, that God could turn it around, you no longer believe that it could be different, you no longer believe it could be better. You have faith, but not enough faith. If I had time and more of my voice, I would take you to Matthew chapter number 17, where this same scenario is told by Matthew, and Matthew tells you that after the commotion, the disciples come to Jesus and ask him, Why is it we could not do this? If you're taking notes, this happens in Matthew chapter number 17, verse number 19, it tells us that Jesus is approached by his disciples privately and they ask him, Master, why could we not do this? and he tells them there, it is because of the littleness of your faith. And then he says, If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would be able to tell this mountain, be removed, and it won't be removed. Let me Just say this. Jesus there was not saying have little faith. He said have mustard seed faith. And the reason why he mentions a mustard seed is because in their time it was the smallest seed known to man. And this smallest seed had the potential to become a ten-foot tree and home to several species of birds. What he was saying was not have a little faith, he says, have faith with potential to grow. If you had faith with potential, you could do great things with it. The problem is we all don't have faith with potential. And so what happens is the disciples couldn't do it. And he says, Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I put up with you? But they are not the only people he talked to about faith. After he reproaches them, he says, Bring the boy to me. And the moment the boy who is demon-possessed is face to face with Jesus, the demon starts to act up because he knows his time is no longer long for this world. And he throws the boy into a convulsion, and the boy is foaming and he gets into seizures. And while this is happening, Jesus is calm, cool, and collected. It's what amazes me. While this is happening, if you were to see somebody seize now, you you might get a little anxious. But Jesus is calm, cool, and collected. While this happens, he simply and casually asks the dad, How long has this been happening? And the father says, This has been happening since he was a little boy. And then Jesus says, All things are possible if you believe. Help thou, my unbelief. Hopefully, it makes more sense now that he says, I believe. I believe that you're Jesus. I believe that you could do great things. I have heard that you have stilled boisterous winds and uncalm waves. I've heard that you've loosed tight tongues and unstopped deaf ears. I've heard that you have given strength to lame legs. I believe that you are able, however, I've been in this situation for 10 years, I've been in this situation for 15 years, I've been in this situation since he was a boy, and nothing has worked. So I'm struggling to believe that you could do something here. It's not that I don't have faith, it's that my faith is not strong enough to apply to my current circumstance. I believe you're Jesus. I believe you've turned water into wine. I believe that you've done miracles and healings and great things. I believe that you fasted 40 days and were not hungry. I believe that you raised the dead. I believe that you were able to stand at a distance and say, Lazarus come forth, and a man who was dead four plus days is able to come from the grave bound. I believe that you took two loaves and some fish and fed a multitude, five loaves and a fish, and fed a multitude. I believe that you could do great things, but I no longer have that confidence to believe that you could make my boy whole again. Let's move from him to us. How many times are you one where your faith is good for Sunday, but not Monday? It's good enough for Sunday. You came to church, you sang all the songs, you prayed all the prayers, you heard the sermon, it was good. But then Monday meets you, and you have discomforting news, troubling news. It doesn't matter what the news is, it could be medical, it could be emotional, it could be family-related news, but you heard something or something happened to you, and your immediate thought is not that Jesus could fix it. What about you who've been in a situation now for days, weeks, months, perhaps years, and you've prayed about it time and time again, but you're not sure if your prayers are passing the ceiling, if God is still taking your prayers, you've prayed enough about it, you've cried about it, you've done everything you could about the situation, and it hasn't changed, and it's been the same for days, weeks, months, or years. You no longer have the same hope that it could change. You no longer believe that God, who has all power in his hands, could still turn your situation around. So you believe, but there's still some unbelief. It's here where true faith arises. Faith is not your ability to show up to church today. Faith is not your ability to sing the songs that we did. I'm not telling you don't do that, that's good spiritual shaping, but you could do that and still struggle with what's happening in your life right now, and still doubt that God is the God of the impossible, that he could make a way where there's no way that he could do above and beyond all that we ask or think or even imagine. You could say, we could have been here this morning and sing how great thou art, and you doubt that tomorrow. There's a point in every one of our lives where our faith is not practical enough because it doesn't move from what I believe here to what I'm practicing daily. That's where this guy is, and for that reason, I think he's very relatable because it's possible that you could go through all the motions of church, you know all the right things to say, you know all the verses, you know when to say amen, you know all the songs, you you are churchified, but still lacking in faith, and this is a text that encourages us to look beyond my routine, look beyond what I simply say I believe, and see if it actually is being lived out in my real scenario today, and so as we look at this guy, he cries out, Lord, I believe, but I'm struggling with unbelief. Help thou my unbelief. I I don't have hope anymore, I I'm not sure anymore, my confidence is is wavering. I I can't confidently say this will turn around. And Jesus takes the boy's hand and simply says, Get out, you unclean spirit. And I want you to see this before I close. Meet me in verse 26. 25. Let's start at verse 25. When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again. After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, the spirit came out, and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, He is dead. When you don't have enough faith, what is the power and the working of Jesus could look like something else to you because they did not have faith to see what was actually happening and what God was actually doing, what was supposed to be a moment of celebration of life and freedom became a moment of mourning because they thought he was dead, all because they did not have faith to believe, and because I did not have faith to believe, I didn't have what was necessary to see. So Jesus has to intervene one more time, and Jesus takes him by his hand, raised him, and he got up. Leads me to realize that you may be missing the fact that Jesus is currently speaking to your circumstance right now, and you may be mislabeling his power for the demise of your situation because your faith is not strong enough to believe, and therefore it's not good enough to see what is actually happening. If I had time, I'm done. I would tell you that's the reason why we are quick to see the negative in everything. It's why you have to work harder to find the silver lining, it's why you can't find that even in the midst of difficulties, God is still working out good because your faith is struggling, you believe, but you also have unbelief. And so today, the plea, the aim is to have God strengthen those areas of my life where my faith is diminished, strengthen those areas of my life where even though I believe, I struggle with unbelief. Even though I know who God is, I struggle to think God could work in this situation. Let's pray that for the areas where we have unbelief, God could still work in it and through it and cause us to have increased faith. Let's be crazy enough to believe that even in impossible situations, God is still able to work and to work something faithfully for those that love him. We're gonna sing. Let's all stand, don't sing it, let's be standing. Every time I remember and think of this father, I can't help but think about various areas of my life where I have acted what he said. I think it's something very relatable for all of us. Where I think if you're honest with yourself, you too could say, I've had moments where I have acted like I believe, but not believe at the same time. I have had moments where if I were to reanalyze it, I was saying the same words this father did. But I want you to pray that moments like those become less as you grow with Christ, as you grow in Christ, that your faith increases in such a way that the moments of unbelief become less and less. And so if there's anyone who needs prayer for their faith to be increased, but particularly for the areas of unbelief to be exposed and strengthened by the grace of God, I want you to meet me in the front row while we sing. This is the moment for you to be encouraged. Meet me at the front row. I'll pray with you and for you. That just like this Father, God helps our unbelief, as we say.