1 Corinthians 4:20 - For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in POWER .
2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my POWER is made perfect in weakness."
Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the POWER at work within us.
James 5:16 - The prayer of a righteous person has great POWER as it is working.
I Want to See Jesus Move...
... so I need to HUMBLE myself. (Mk 5:21-22)
... so I need to believe that He CAN and WILL help me. (Mk 5:23-34)
... so I need to trust Him if He seems LATE . (Mk 5:35-42)
... so I need to accept things I don't UNDERSTAND. (Mk 5:43)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:06
Open up your Bibles to the Gospel according to Mark.
00:06-00:08
We're going to be in chapter 5.
00:08-00:09
You have your Bibles?
00:11-00:11
Turn nice and loud.
00:14-00:16
Mark chapter 5.
00:21-00:30
How many people remember, I don't know if they still happen, and I might be showing my age to some of the younger families here.
00:31-00:36
How many people remember those monster truck commercials on Channel 53 when you were a kid?
00:37-00:38
Like, how many people remember those?
00:38-00:39
You know what I'm talking about?
00:39-00:48
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, bigfoot, grave digger, and truckasaurus.
00:49-00:54
$25 buys you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge.
00:54-00:55
Do you remember that?
00:58-00:59
Thank you.
01:00-01:01
I remember that.
01:02-01:05
My parents never took me to a monster truck show that I remember.
01:06-01:07
But I love those commercials.
01:10-01:22
So last month, we find out through our children's speech therapist that they're having some Valentine's Day party thing at Console.
01:24-01:26
And it was a free event.
01:26-01:28
Families bring your kids.
01:28-01:30
It was like some superhero themed thing.
01:30-01:40
And you're going to get to see-- unveiled the debut in the Pittsburgh area, the Iron Man monster truck.
01:42-01:46
So Aaron was like, do you want to take the kids?
01:46-01:47
I'm like, we're going.
01:50-01:51
And we went.
01:53-01:55
And so we went into console again.
01:55-01:56
This was a free event.
01:56-01:57
But when you go in, they gave you a ticket.
01:57-01:59
and there was a number on the back of the ticket.
01:59-02:01
And we were number one.
02:02-02:03
What's this number for?
02:03-02:10
Well, they're going to call you down to the arena floor to see the Iron Man truck.
02:11-02:14
And they're going to take you down in groups, so just listen for that group number.
02:14-02:16
And they're like, group one, it's your turn.
02:16-02:16
Then you go down.
02:17-02:27
Otherwise, we were up in the Niagara suite, where they were doing all these crafts and prizes and popcorn and all this other stuff I really wasn't interested in.
02:27-02:29
I'm just like, I wanna see that monster truck.
02:30-02:34
I wanna see the Iron Man monster truck smash some stuff.
02:35-02:36
So I was so excited.
02:37-02:37
Can you tell?
02:40-02:44
So they were like, group one, you can go down to the arena floor.
02:44-02:45
So I was like, come on, kids!
02:45-02:47
And they're like, we're working on our craft.
02:47-02:49
I'm like, forget it, let's go, let's go!
02:51-02:52
And we got down there.
02:53-02:54
And do you know what it was?
02:55-03:00
It was an opportunity to get your picture taken with the truck.
03:01-03:03
And I was like, lame.
03:05-03:09
And they're like, well, you can get the autograph of the guy that drives it.
03:09-03:11
Like, I don't know that guy.
03:12-03:15
I wanna see the truck smash stuff.
03:15-03:16
That's why I came.
03:16-03:17
I didn't come to look at the truck.
03:18-03:21
I wanna see the truck smashing things.
03:22-03:24
I did not get to see the truck smashing things.
03:24-03:27
Do you know you have to buy a ticket and go back the next night to watch that?
03:28-03:29
I certainly didn't know that.
03:30-03:37
And I thought, well, my kids had a good time, but I thought it was kind of lame that I just got to go look at it, but I didn't get to see it in action.
03:38-04:00
Church, how lame would it be for us to perhaps look at Jesus, to sing about Jesus, be around other people who look at Jesus and sing around Jesus, but never really experience the power of Jesus.
04:02-04:06
You know, last week we talked about the power of Jesus over the demoniac in the tombs.
04:06-04:11
And if you were here, like, isn't that one of the craziest stories in the Bible?
04:11-04:39
Like here's this naked demoniac sitting in the tombs gashing himself and screaming and Nobody could subdue him and then Jesus shows up and permits the demons to go into this like herd of 2,000 pigs who throw themselves into the water and drown and the man's in his right mind and everybody kind of freaks out and says, "Okay, you need to go." And we look at that like Jesus had some power, amen?
04:40-04:41
Jesus had some power.
04:43-04:53
And then we read the Bible and we say things like, "Well, you know, God used to do some pretty powerful stuff. And my question, church, 2014, does he still?
04:54-04:58
Does God still do powerful things today?
04:59-05:11
I mean, he did like in Noah's day and Moses' day and Elijah's day and certainly Jesus' day, but does God still do pretty powerful stuff today in the church?
05:13-05:15
Well, we're going to play a game.
05:16-05:17
I have some scripture verses.
05:18-05:19
This is a word game.
05:19-05:21
I have some scripture verses on your outline.
05:23-05:24
First Corinthians 420.
05:24-05:26
We're going to play what goes in the blank.
05:26-05:26
You ready?
05:27-05:40
First Corinthians 420 says, "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in," shout it out if you know it, "power." Who said power?
05:41-05:41
All right.
05:41-06:43
Matthew, well done. Power. The kingdom of God does not consist in looking at the monster truck. The kingdom of God is in the monster truck smashing things. The kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. 2nd Corinthians 12 9. The flesh, and he said he prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed. And Jesus' answer to Paul was, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my blank is made perfect in weakness." What goes in the blank? Power. Ephesians 3.20, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the blank at work within us." What goes in in the blank? Power.
06:45-06:49
Paul says that there is power at work.
06:50-07:05
How much power? Well, more than you can even ask for. In James 5.16, one of my favorite New Testament verses, "The prayer of a righteous person has great blank as it is working." What goes in the blank?
07:06-07:07
You see a theme?
07:08-07:13
You realize today I could have given you several sheets of New Testament verses.
07:15-07:17
You can do a search on this.
07:18-07:21
Just do a search on what the New Testament says about the power of God.
07:23-07:34
I had pages and pages and pages of verses that talk about God wants to display His power you and through you.
07:36-07:42
And this is available for everyone who wants it.
07:44-07:48
The question we're going after today is how can we see God move powerfully in our lives?
07:49-07:54
How can we see Jesus moving powerfully in us?
07:55-08:04
Well, the human element in the transaction of God's work is called faith.
08:06-08:18
Actually, Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." You can do whatever you want that you think is going to please God, make God happy.
08:18-08:55
You can try saying certain prayers or tracking your church attendance or being nice to the old lady that lives next door or whatever. None of those things please God because according to the Hebrew writer, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Faith is what moves God or more specifically, faith is what moves us towards God. So what is faith? You know We know we use that word a lot, right?
08:56-09:00
We use that word so much it's sort of become an abstract concept.
09:02-09:03
We've got to keep the faith.
09:04-09:05
We've got to have faith.
09:06-09:07
Don't lose the faith.
09:07-09:09
I have faith in the pirates this year.
09:09-09:11
I have faith in you.
09:13-09:15
Okay, well what does faith even mean?
09:15-09:20
If that's like the thing that pleases God, what does faith look like?
09:20-09:36
In this next passage, we're going to see exactly what faith looks like, because Jesus encountered two people specifically who show us what faith looks like when it's authentic in a person's life.
09:38-09:44
So on your outline, over these points, I want to see Jesus move.
09:45-09:49
If you don't want to see Jesus move, I'm not sure why you're here this morning.
09:52-10:01
But if you're someone who is not content to play church, to go through the motions, if you're somebody that's saying, "I want to see Jesus Christ moving in my life.
10:01-10:14
I want to see things happen in my life." That the only explanation is, "That was the power of God." If that's you, we're going to see it right here in this passage, how that happens, what that looks like.
10:15-10:17
So first of all, I want to see Jesus move.
10:20-10:21
Jot this down.
10:21-10:22
So I need to humble myself.
10:24-10:25
So I need to humble myself.
10:25-10:26
Look at verse 21.
10:27-11:16
It says that when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, remember He went sort of northwest to east over to the area where the demoniac lived, and the residents asked Him to leave, so He crossed back over. It says, "A great crowd gathered about Him, and He was beside the sea." This is very familiar. We've seen this all through Mark, right? Like as soon as Jesus shows up to these Jewish people, they were just flocking and flocking to Him. He can heal. And, you know, we've seen Him do some amazing works, and nobody's ever taught like this man, and driving out demons, and once again Jesus shows up and he's crowded.
11:18-11:25
It says, "Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name.
11:27-11:42
And seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly." Let's pause there for a second.
11:43-11:50
Jairus, or Jarius, depending on how your Bible has that translated, it says that he was a ruler of the synagogue.
11:50-11:51
What does that mean?
11:51-11:53
Well, he wasn't a priest and he wasn't a teacher.
11:53-11:55
He was an administrator.
11:56-12:00
He was, I think, in terms of a facilities manager of the synagogue.
12:02-12:04
This guy would have been a bigwig, okay?
12:04-12:06
This guy would have been pretty important.
12:09-12:15
So this important facilities manager of the synagogue shows up to Jesus, and what does your Bible say?
12:16-12:17
Falls at his feet.
12:19-12:23
The first step for anyone to see God at work is humility.
12:24-12:25
That's always the first step.
12:27-12:29
That's the first step in coming to Jesus Christ.
12:31-12:35
And that needs to be a first priority in your continual walk with Christ is humility.
12:37-12:44
Because pride is always me, me, me, me, me, me, spotlight on me, attention on me, what's good for me, what's best for me.
12:45-12:46
That's pride.
12:48-12:54
And some people think that humility is thinking less of yourself.
12:55-12:58
Like, "I'm such a loser.
12:59-13:00
I'm no good.
13:00-13:01
Nobody likes me.
13:03-13:12
I'm terrible." Some people think, "Well, that's humility." Humility is not thinking less of yourself.
13:12-13:15
Humility is thinking of yourself less.
13:15-13:29
You see, the person that's constantly thinking about how terrible they are, they're just as obsessed with themselves as the prideful person because they're giving themselves too much undue attention.
13:31-13:33
We talked about that in our depression series, right?
13:33-13:42
Somebody that is biblically, spiritually, emotionally depressed, they say things like, "I hate myself.
13:43-13:46
I hate myself." That's actually a lie.
13:47-13:47
You love yourself.
13:48-13:54
You love yourself so much that you're obsessed with trying to figure out how you feel about yourself.
13:55-13:57
You're giving yourself too much attention.
14:01-14:03
Humility is thinking of yourself less.
14:04-14:06
It's me not in the picture.
14:07-14:10
It's focused on Jesus Christ, first of all.
14:11-14:16
He's focused on the needs of others second, and like where do I fit in?
14:16-14:18
Well, I'm not even thinking about myself.
14:20-14:21
This man certainly displayed humility.
14:24-14:26
He could have talked himself out of this, right?
14:27-14:31
Like I'm the manager, I'm the manager of the synagogue, man.
14:32-14:36
I don't go like, I don't go bowing myself to like random rabbis.
14:37-14:40
Like, by the way, how did most of his peers feel about Jesus?
14:41-14:43
Like thumbs up or thumbs down on Jesus?
14:43-14:43
Most of his peers?
14:44-14:45
Yeah, thumbs down.
14:45-14:49
Like all his buddies, actually what did they say about Jesus?
14:49-14:51
Oh yeah, he's the devil.
14:52-14:55
He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul, remember that?
14:56-14:58
That's what all of Jerry's buddies were saying about Jesus.
14:58-15:03
And he could have talked himself out of it.
15:04-15:05
Note this in verse 23.
15:08-15:10
Humility recognizes desperation.
15:13-15:15
Humility recognizes desperation.
15:15-15:23
It says, "He implored him earnestly." Humility says, "I can't do this on my own.
15:24-15:24
I need the Lord.
15:25-15:29
I'm desperate and weak on my own." It's the prideful person that says, "I'm going to get this figured out.
15:30-15:32
My daddy raised me to be self-sufficient.
15:32-15:33
I don't need anybody's help.
15:34-15:36
Yeah, things are tough, but I'm going to figure it out.
15:37-15:37
That's pride, man.
15:38-15:45
Humility gets to the point that you're like, I am so weak and unable to do this on my own.
15:49-15:59
Humility wrestles you down to the point where you say, you know, He is God, and I am not.
16:00-16:00
Right?
16:01-16:06
He is God and I am not.
16:07-16:15
And you are not going to experience the power of Jesus Christ moving in your life until you humble yourself.
16:17-16:25
If you're self-centered, if you have selfish motivations, if you're prideful, according to the Bible, the only thing that you're getting from God is opposition.
16:25-16:25
Did you know that?
16:26-16:28
The Bible says God opposes the proud.
16:29-16:32
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
16:33-16:36
So I want to see Jesus move first of all, so I need to humble myself.
16:38-16:39
This guy got it.
16:40-16:52
Secondly, I want to see Jesus move, so I need to believe that He can and will help me.
16:54-16:55
Look at this next statement.
16:58-17:06
Jairus said on his face before Jesus, "My little daughter is at the point of death.
17:07-17:15
Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live." He went with him.
17:17-17:19
You're like, "Well, I know how this story is going to go, right?
17:19-17:26
Because Jesus was like healing people and casting out demons, and this guy says, 'My daughter is dying,' and Jesus goes with him.
17:27-17:32
And it says, "And a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him." Yeah, we kind of expect that.
17:33-17:40
Verse 25, "And there was a woman." Let's stop right there.
17:42-17:46
Yay, we're on our way and Jesus is going to heal my daughter.
17:47-17:48
Get the crowd out of the way.
17:48-17:49
Jesus is going to heal my daughter.
17:52-17:54
And then this woman shows up.
17:55-17:57
Don't you hate it when other people have problems?
17:58-17:59
Don't you just hate that?
18:00-18:02
That so gets on my nerves.
18:02-18:10
Like, "Man, I got problems, man." And you're like, "I got problems." I'm like, "You're interrupting my problems with your problems?
18:12-18:18
Do you think that was a problem for Jesus?" But look at what happens, like Ninja Lady shows up.
18:19-18:50
It says, "There was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse." Actually, biblically, according to Leviticus 12 and 15, this woman would have been ceremonially unclean, which would have meant that she would have been a bit of an outcast.
18:51-19:02
She wouldn't have been allowed to be around Jewish people who were wanting to maintain biblical purity.
19:03-19:05
Just being near her, they would have been unclean.
19:08-19:15
Notice in verse 26 it says, "She suffered much under many physicians." He's not making a commentary on like doctors, okay?
19:16-19:20
She's just saying that she had a problem that those doctors were unable to treat.
19:21-19:23
She suffered much and she spent all.
19:25-19:27
We have problems like that often, don't we?
19:29-19:31
We suffer much and we spend everything.
19:31-19:33
We have this problem.
19:33-19:33
We've tried everything.
19:34-19:36
I have spent money that I don't have.
19:36-19:37
I have been to every doctor.
19:39-19:42
I've been looking for other ways to earn extra income.
19:42-19:43
I have talked to people.
19:45-19:51
I know some of you can relate to this, this constant problem that I just can't seem to remedy.
19:54-20:10
Verse 27 says, "She had heard the reports about Jesus," here's why I call her a ninja lady, "and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment." Okay, this wasn't like funny at the time, but it's funny now, and I'm sure like, if we run into this woman in heaven, we will.
20:11-20:13
We'll, I'm sure, you know, kind of have a little laugh about that.
20:13-20:14
But do you see this picture?
20:14-20:36
Like there's this huge crowd around Jesus, and Jesus is trying to go to be with this little girl, and this woman's like getting through the crowd, and she's like, "If I can just, I can just touch him, "I'll be healed." And she kinda like pushes through the crowd, pushes through the crowd, and like goes up behind Jesus, and like grabs hold of his garment.
20:38-20:49
So like what happened next, verse 29, "And immediately the flow of blood dried up, And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
20:52-21:08
And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned around, excuse me, turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" Do you have this picture?
21:08-21:11
Huge crowd, woman sneaks up, grabs hold of Jesus' garment.
21:12-21:14
Isn't that awesome that Jesus felt that?
21:15-21:18
I mean, it's awesome that she had this kind of faith.
21:18-21:19
Just let me touch him.
21:20-21:21
Just let me get close to him.
21:22-21:22
I've heard about him.
21:22-21:25
Just if I can get close, immediately she's healed.
21:25-21:27
But isn't it awesome that Jesus feels?
21:29-21:36
He's not this indifferent, you know, scooping out a miracle here and scooping out a miracle there, untouched, unfeeling.
21:37-21:38
He felt that.
21:41-21:43
This is kind of a humorous part of the story.
21:44-21:46
I really believe there's a lot of humor in the Bible.
21:46-21:49
I think you just have to look for it, you know?
21:51-22:09
This is kind of funny because there's this huge crowd and Jesus and the disciples, you have the picture, they're going to Jairus' house and all of a sudden Jesus stops and he's like, "Who touched me?" What's the answer to that question, logically?
22:10-22:27
While the disciples speak up, his disciples said to him, verse 31, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" The disciples were like, "Who touched you, Jesus?
22:27-22:30
How about everybody?" Right?
22:31-22:36
I mean, not to be rude, we're pretty much in the middle of a mob.
22:37-22:38
This is like a mosh pit.
22:39-22:43
And you're like, "Who touched me?" Just shout out a name, Jesus.
22:43-22:45
That person probably touched you.
22:48-23:00
Well, verse 32, "And He looked around to see who had done it." Jesus wasn't like content with their questioning.
23:00-23:07
He was like, "No, somebody touched me." How many people think that Jesus already knew on.
23:08-23:33
You know when God asks a question, He's not looking for information, right? You did know that. Like in the Garden of Eden, God's like, "Adam, where are you?" Like, "Hide and seek champion." Adam's like, "Yes! He'll never find me here." When God asks a question, He's not looking for information. What's He looking for? He's looking for a confession.
23:36-23:38
He's looking to draw you in.
23:40-23:44
Ok, so Jesus is like, "Who touched Me?" And He's looking around to see who had done it.
23:45-23:47
So if you're the woman, what are you thinking at this point?
23:49-23:52
Like, "Oh man, He knows.
23:52-23:54
He knows.
23:55-23:56
He knows.
23:56-23:56
He knows.
23:57-23:57
He knows.
23:58-23:58
He knows.
24:00-24:17
But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, and fear and trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth." She just comes up and falls before Jesus and she's like, "It was me." She was trembling.
24:17-24:18
"It was me.
24:19-24:20
I've had this disease.
24:21-24:34
I heard about you and I knew if I could just touch you, I knew if I could just touch you, this disease that I have suffered with for 12 years, I knew you would be my only hope.
24:36-24:46
And as soon as I touched you, I was healed." And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.
24:48-25:03
Go in peace and be healed of your disease." This is the only time in the Bible recorded that Jesus refers to someone as "daughter." Do you see the tenderness there? Do you see the compassion?
25:07-25:21
Literally, your Bible might say, "Your faith has made you well." Literally, in the Greek, this is translated, "Your faith has saved you." There is more happening here than a disease being healed.
25:21-25:23
This was a soul being saved.
25:25-25:27
I want to see Jesus move.
25:30-25:37
So I need to believe that He can and will help me.
25:39-25:41
Do you believe that God can help you?
25:42-25:48
How many people would say, "I believe that God can help me." Do you believe that God will help you?
25:50-25:52
How many people believe that God is willing to help a person?
25:54-25:56
I expected that, but here's the hard question.
25:59-26:04
Do you believe that God will help you?
26:06-26:07
This is where you have to personalize.
26:08-26:10
Do you believe that God will help you?
26:11-26:52
I don't know why it is, but I'm more apt to believe sometimes that God is much more likely to move in the life of a John Piper or a Billy Graham or a Francis Chan or, in certain name of favorite preacher. There's something in me that's like, yeah, God's really moving in their lives. Do I believe that God wants to move like that in my own life? That's where it really hits, right? This lady heard the reports about Jesus, so she was like, He can, he can help.
26:55-26:59
But she made it so personal, she's like, "I know he can help me, I just got to get close enough to touch him.
27:00-27:05
So will God help me?" And really, that's the whole point of the passage.
27:06-27:12
Because when you compare Jairus and this woman, it's quite a comparison, isn't it?
27:14-27:16
Jairus is mentioned by name.
27:18-27:20
This woman, we don't even know what her name is.
27:23-27:24
Jairus would have been very wealthy.
27:27-27:28
Bible tells us this woman was bankrupt.
27:31-27:33
Jairus was concerned about a 12 year old daughter.
27:34-27:37
This woman was concerned about a 12 year old disease.
27:39-27:41
So that's what we see in this passage.
27:41-27:55
Whether you are facilities manager of local synagogue, esteemed in the eyes of the public, Or whether you're this poor sick woman who's been a bit of an outcast for the last 12 years.
27:57-27:59
Where is Jesus more likely to be at work?
28:01-28:02
The answer is both places.
28:02-28:03
Amen?
28:03-28:28
You see, in Jesus' mind, in the very heart of God, there isn't a distinction between people, except for one. There's one distinction. There are people that reach out to Him by faith, and there are people who refuse to reach out to Him by faith. That's it.
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No matter how much money you make, or where you work, or what color your skin is, or what family you come from, or whatever.
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Those things don't matter.
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What matters is, do you have the faith that He can and He will help you? God's looking at the heart. People to humbly come believing that He will show Himself gloriously. I want to see Jesus move, so I need to humble myself, so I need to believe that He can and will help me. Write this down. So I need to trust Him if He seems late.
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Okay, so you have the thing with the woman with the disease and like touching the garments and confession time. Oh yeah, anybody remember the sick little girl? I had a little interruption there. It says, verse 35, "While he was still speaking." How long did this transaction take?
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I mean, did it take a few minutes?
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Did it take an hour?
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Did it take a couple hours?
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We don't know, but it took some time.
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While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house, from Jairus' house, some who said, "Your daughter is dead.
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Why trouble the teacher any further?" Let's just pause here and acknowledge that sometimes God seems late.
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So many times we face this, right?
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This desperate need has shown up in your life and you're like, "I am taking this to the Lord and I'm trusting Him for big things and things look good." Right?
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And then things quickly go south.
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And we're like, "I thought God was going to do something." And the bottom fell out.
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That's what happened to Jairus, right?
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Like Jesus is going to my house and He's going to heal my daughter.
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And then like the interruption with the woman, and then they're like, "Your daughter's dead, man.
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Don't trouble the teacher anymore." I've always gone through Jairus' mind, let's be honest.
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Is it possible he was thinking if it wasn't for that stupid woman, my daughter would still be alive?
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I don't know, the Bible doesn't say what he was thinking, but put yourself in his shoes, right?
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That's probably what I'd be thinking.
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Like, "I had Jesus on the way to my house and this woman just shows up and totally bogarts my time.
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I was first." I like had a number, man.
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Take a number.
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I was one, you were two.
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And like now, now we're too late.
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And that happens so often to us.
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Things start to look good, things look like they're heading in the right direction, and then the bottom falls out and we're like, now what?
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And listen, faith has to overcome that obstacle.
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You're like, what obstacle?
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You see, what do I do when it looks like everything went south?
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When I was trusting God to deliver.
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Your faith has to overcome that obstacle, because it's going to happen.
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It's happened to many of you in your lives, and if it hasn't, it's going to.
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But your faith has to overcome that obstacle.
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verse 36, "But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.'" I don't know whatever Jairus was thinking before this point, but I wonder what that statement from Jesus did when Jesus just turns and says, "Don't be afraid.
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believe.
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You're going to get your answer. You are going to get your answer.
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Even if God seems late, even if things look good and the bottom fell out, you're going to get your answer. What was Jairus' answer? Look at verse 37, it says, "And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly." Like, what's going on there? In our culture, when you go into the funeral home, it's like quiet, right? You walk in and it's just, there might be soft organ music playing.
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Everybody's Very respectful.
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And that's our culture, but you know what a first century Jewish funeral was like?
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It was loud.
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They put a premium on loud just like we put a premium on quiet.
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I know it sounds crazy to us, but it's true.
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They would actually hire wailers.
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Did you know that?
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There were people, that was their job, was they would get paid to show up at a funeral and scream.
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where do I sign up for that?" Right? And they'd hire flute players and it was always this really, really big commotion. So, picture this scene, you know, Jairus' house and all these people are just like wailing and screaming and Jesus walks in, verse 39, "And when he had entered, he said to them, 'Why are you making a commotion and weeping?
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The But sleeping?
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Seriously?
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I mean, could you imagine Jesus walking into a funeral home today and people were standing around like sobbing quietly.
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In our day, Jesus would say, "Why is everybody so quiet?
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She's just sleeping." Here Jesus was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's all the commotion?
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She's just sleeping." In verse 40 it says, "And they laughed at him." Oh, the world laughs at Jesus.
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Oh, this idea that you're the expert on life and death and they laughed at him.
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And biblically it literally translates, "They laughed to scorn." Okay?
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It wasn't like, "Oh Jesus, we think you're funny." This was a mocking laughter.
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This was like, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha This was mocking Jesus.
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Oh, no, do you hear this guy?
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Oh, she's sleeping, she's sleeping.
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Do you hear this guy?
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That was the kind of laughter, laughter scorn.
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It says, "But he put them all outside." You gotta love when Jesus shows up to a funeral.
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Actually, I believe it's in Matthew's account of this.
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He literally tells them out.
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He just shows up to the funeral and is like, "Out.
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"We're trying to have a funeral, get out." There's the door.
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He put them all outside and he took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, who was that? Peter, James and John, and went into where the child was.
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Taking her by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha humi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." That talitha literally translates little lamb, right?
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Little lamb, get up.
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And immediately the girl got up and began walking.
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For she was 12 years of age.
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And they were immediately overcome with amazement.
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You're going to get your answer.
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You need to trust, even if He seems like you're going to get your answer, but listen, answer does not mean God does my bidding.
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That's the problem. We think answered prayer means I put in this very specific request and God meets everything on my list and that's not what it means for God to answer prayer.
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It's "Thy will be done," not "My will be done." Answered means that God shows up.
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That's what it means when God answers prayer.
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It means He shows up and reveals Himself gloriously.
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And sometimes He heals instantly.
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Like He did with this girl.
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Like other stories I can tell you.
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People that I know that have experienced instantaneous healing because of prayer, because of the power of God.
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I've seen it.
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Sometimes He heals instantly.
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Sometimes He seems to delay, seems to delay in healing.
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Sometimes what He chooses to do is show His glory in the midst of it.
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Many of you know our story.
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We, with our children, we weren't facing a 12-year issue, okay?
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We've been, we're only in a nine-year issue so far.
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And I can't tell you over the years concerning the health and development of our children, I can't tell you how much we have prayed, how much we have fasted, all the doctors we've been to.
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We catch wind of a doctor saying, "Hey, new breakthrough in autism." And next thing you know, we're loading up the car and driving and spending money we didn't have, seeing two steps forward followed by five steps backwards, and we're like, what's he doing?
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What's God doing?
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I mean, He answers prayer, right?
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So why isn't He answering this one?
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I think often of a woman that I know that had a very sick husband, and she prayed and fasted for his healing, prayed and prayed and prayed, and he died.
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And this woman actually went to a friend of mine, very angry with God, and this friend of mine, very wise man, he's like, "Why are you angry with God?" He said, "Because I trusted God to heal my husband.
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You know, I prayed and I prayed and I trusted God to heal him." This friend of mine said, "Well, where is your husband now?" And she goes, "Well, he was a believer.
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He's in heaven." And my friend said, "Do you think he's healed now?" You see, true faith looks at things biblically.
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It's the big picture.
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It's not over even if it seems over.
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But true faith doesn't give up at the first sign of God, not doing what I want, when I want.
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You need to trust God even if He seems late, because God sees the big picture and we do not.
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And finally, I want to see Jesus move.
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"Oh, I need to accept things I don't understand." Look at verse 43.
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You have this scene in your head.
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Jesus shows up at a funeral.
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Everybody laughs at him.
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He throws everybody out.
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He raises a girl from the dead.
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And honestly, this next verse, I'm just like, "I don't get this.
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I just, I don't get it." It says, "And he strictly charged them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.
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I don't get that.
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But I wanna see Jesus move, so I need to accept things I don't understand.
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What would be your knee-jerk reaction if this was your 12-year-old daughter?
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This was your 12-year-old daughter, and Jesus just came into your house and raised her from the dead, what would you do?
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I know the first thing you'd do, you'd be like, "Come here, daughter." Be like, "Selfie!" Like, all right, we're putting this on Facebook, okay?
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Jesus came to our house today and rose our daughter from the dead and you'd be on the phone, you'd be telling everybody that would sit still long enough.
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And Jesus says, "No one should know about this." Actually, he did that a lot when you study through the Gospels.
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There are many, many times Jesus performed a miracle, and then the first thing he says is, "Don't tell anybody about this." Church, do we know the reason why?
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Tell me, do we know the reason why?
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Don't be shy. Do we know the reason why?
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No.
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Did Jesus have a reason?
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Yes.
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If God had wanted us to know the reason, would He have told us?
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Yes.
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Do we need to know?
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Apparently not.
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Faith says I'm okay with not knowing.
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Faith says I obey God's Word even if I don't understand.
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Because He is God and I am not.
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Let's pray.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 5:21-43
Can you come to Jesus without humbling yourself? Why or why not? How exactly do you humble yourself?
Why did Jesus tell the woman her faith made her well (lit. saved her, verse 34)? What was the substance of her faith?
How would you define “answered prayer”? What does “an answer to prayer” mean? How do you know when a prayer has been answered?
Breakout Questions:
What is something you have prayed for that “the Lord has seemed late in answering”? (Mk 4:35) Why do you think He hasn’t answered your prayer in the way that you wanted? What is your response going to be?
Pray for the upcoming Franklin Graham Crusade and our church’s involvement in it. If we are to be involved, we need the Lord to raise up a leader who will help get us plugged in. This is a tremendous evangelism opportunity!