Jesus' Answer to the Disciples' Impotence

The point: Individually and corporately, when pursuing God's word and meeting defeat, face it realistically and come to the Lord asking 'why?'.

Martin shares the church's recent experience of two elders conducting a 'spiritual post-mortem' and 'Christian burial' for a failed church planting effort in Georgia, using it as an example of owning defeat and asking God 'why?'.

Nicely, what we are doing is a church in the light of some of the recent defeats in our church-planting efforts. Have we hidden from you as a congregation that two of your elders this past week had to go down to Georgia and do a spiritual post-mortem and give a decent Christian burial to a church-planting effort? Have we hidden that from you? Do we only tell you the successions and the triumphs?

31:06 - 31:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Parents, remember that some children may require extraordinary means (intense prayer) to bring their will into subjection.

Martin uses the analogy of parents disciplining children, noting that some children respond to ordinary means (spanking, stern look) while others require 'extraordinary means' due to stubbornness, illustrating varying intensities of spiritual warfare.

And dear people of God, we need to remember that insight. You parents need it desperately. You may find with one child that the prayerful application of the rod very soon and very quickly brings the will of that child into subjection to its parents' will. And never forget, that's your goal in discipline.

40:46 - 41:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Parents, remember that some children may require extraordinary means (intense prayer) to bring their will into subjection.

Martin recounts a pastor friend's struggle with a stubborn son who repeatedly entered his study despite spankings, highlighting the desperation parents can feel when ordinary discipline methods fail.

He said, I don't know what to do. I keep spanking my son, but he just is determined to have his own way. And I had a very big example. I was with the man in meetings, and one morning we were in his study trying to pray, and his study was in the home.

41:43 - 41:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Jesus' words 'This kind' reveal that there are varying degrees of demonic evil and thus require varying intensities of spiritual weapons. Martin illustrates this with parenting…

The pastor friend's extreme act of putting his son in a cold shower illustrates the desperate measures parents might consider when conventional discipline is ineffective, reinforcing the need for 'extraordinary means' in difficult situations.

And in my frustration, I put him in the shower and turned on the cold water on him.

42:24 - 42:29 Read in full sermon