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Thank you, Worship Choir.

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And now would you open your Bible with me please to the Gospel of Mark and the fifth

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chapter where we're going to begin reading in verse 21.

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If you don't have a Bible, there may be a Bible in the pew near you.

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It's on page 995 in the pew Bible.

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995 is Mark chapter 5 beginning in verse 21.

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What a remarkable record we have in the Gospel of Mark of the life of Jesus.

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He presents Jesus in seemingly two contrasting ways.

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On the one hand he presents Jesus as a servant.

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And so in the Gospel Jesus is going quickly from one place to another, serving and assisting

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people who are hurting and who are in need.

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On the other hand he presents Jesus as one who is in, has complete authority.

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Jesus is able to speak to storms or to devils and they obey him.

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Jesus touches the diseased with his healing power or he feeds the multitudes with miraculous

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supply.

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He is God you see says Mark in the clothes of a servant.

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And that theme continues as we see beginning in verse 21.

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When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd

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gathered around him while he was by the lake.

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Then one of the synagogue rulers named Jairus came there.

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Seeing Jesus he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, my little daughter is

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dying, please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.

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So Jesus went with him.

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A large crowd followed and pressed around him and a woman was there who had been subject

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to bleeding for 12 years.

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She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had.

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But instead of getting better she grew worse.

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She heard about Jesus, she came up behind him and the crowd and touched his cloak because

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she thought if I just touch his clothes I will be healed.

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Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

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And once Jesus realized that power had gone out of him, he turned around in the crowd

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and asked, who touched my clothes?

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You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you ask who touched

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me?

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But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

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Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and trembling

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with fear told him the whole truth.

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He said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you.

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Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

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While Jesus was still speaking some men came from the house of Jairus, the ruler, the synagogue

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ruler.

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Your daughter is dead, they said.

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Why bother the teacher anymore?

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Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, don't be afraid.

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Just believe.

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He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

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When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw commotion with people crying

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and wailing loudly.

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He went in and said to them, why all this commotion and wailing?

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The child is not dead but asleep.

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But they laughed at him.

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After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were

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with him and went in where the child was.

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He took her by the hand and said to her, talitha cum, which means in Aramaic, little girl,

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I say to you, get up.

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Immediately the girl stood up and walked around, she was 12 years old.

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At this they were completely astonished.

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And he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this and told them to give her

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something to eat.

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Let's pray.

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Father, I pray this morning that the Holy Spirit will indeed be very present in this

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service to speak to us.

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Because we have sensed your presence, Lord, in the worship.

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So now in the teaching of your word, be near.

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And I pray this in your name.

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Amen.

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Well, as the story unfolds that Mark brings to us in this text, Jesus returns to his own

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town in verse 21.

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Mark simply says that he crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake.

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I suppose in one sense it's a good thing he said he crossed over by boat because he could

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have walked across the water if he wanted to, but he makes the point that he went by

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boat.

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Matthew adds that Jesus went across the lake to his own town.

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The apparent reference here is to Capernaum, that village where Jesus had established himself

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now.

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And it says that a large crowd gathered around him as he arrived at the shore.

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Luke says that indeed they saw him coming and they were expecting him to arrive and

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so the great crowd.

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The story further unfolds by Jesus receiving an urgent plea, verses 21 to 22 rather to

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24.

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There was a ruler of the synagogue there who came to him.

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The ruler was the administrator of the synagogue.

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He was the one who kept it in order.

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He was the one who selected the participants, each Sabbath or Shabbat, who would read the

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scriptures or make remarks.

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So he was a man with authority.

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He was probably a man of some means.

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And he was undoubtedly a man who knew Jesus personally.

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Because he had before this selected Jesus to read the scriptures here in this synagogue.

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He came to Jesus and he fell on his knees before him.

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He is a man who comes with an urgent plea.

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He's got a problem.

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He's married you see and he and his wife have a daughter, we learn later, she is 12 years

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old.

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And this young girl is dying.

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Matthew abbreviates this whole story.

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He only spends half as many words telling this whole story as Mark does.

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And so Matthew just says here that he said my daughter has died.

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But at this point as it was unfolding, she was still in the last throes of life.

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She was very near death.

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And this man, Yerush, is probably how it's pronounced, Aramaic nor Hebrew have a J sound.

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It'd be Eerush.

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He came to Jesus.

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He got down on his knees and said oh Jesus, Jesus my daughter is dying.

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Please come Jesus.

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She needs you.

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It's possible that Jesus knew this little girl because he knew her father.

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Now put yourself in his place.

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Suppose it was your child.

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Would you come to Jesus?

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Would you be on your knees?

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Wouldn't you be begging Jesus to come?

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Of course.

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And some of us have.

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You see Yerush believes that Jesus can heal her.

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And so Jesus immediately responds and agrees to accompany him.

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But then something happens, something unexpected.

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As Jesus is moving through the streets of this village, this large crowd continues to

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press against him.

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In fact, Luke says the crowds almost crushed him.

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And so you get the picture here of what happens, for example, at an arena when people are standing

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outside and the doors open at seven o'clock and what happens at seven o'clock?

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Everybody rushes for the door.

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And there's elbowing and there's pushing and there's shoving.

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That's what's happening in this crowd around Jesus and they nearly crush him.

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It's like a celebrity who arrives at a scene and the crowd is near and presses upon him.

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But as you're looking at this scene in your mind, I want you to pan in with Mark because

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Mark wants us to see one woman in particular.

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There is in this crowd behind Jesus.

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He's moving one direction.

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She's behind him coming through the crowd as fast as she can.

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This is remarkable because this is a woman who had hemorrhaged for 12 years now.

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She was a woman who was therefore probably anemic and weak.

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Not only that, because of her bleeding, she was, according to the Jewish law, ceremonially

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unclean.

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And she was not acceptable socially because anyone who touched her or whom she touched

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would therefore be ceremonially unclean.

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And so she's something of an outcast.

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She's not normally around crowds.

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But here she comes through this crowd.

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She had heard about Jesus.

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We don't know who had told her about Jesus.

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Perhaps she lived in this village and knew of him that way.

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Or perhaps there was somebody like you who told her about Jesus.

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And she came up behind him, the text says.

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She came up behind him.

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She did not want to be seen.

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She did not want to be observed.

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She was reasoning in her mind, if I can just get close enough to touch his clothes, that's

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all.

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Just touch his clothes.

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I know I will be healed.

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And so she reaches out through the crowd and with her finger she just touches his clothing.

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And it says, at once.

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At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.

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He was facing this way.

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She was behind him.

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She touches undoubtedly the back of his clothing.

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Some say it was just the tassel on his clothing that she touched.

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And immediately Jesus knows something's happened.

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Power has gone out from him.

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And he stops.

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The mark is very graphic, Jesus now turns around and he says, who touched me?

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Who touched my clothes?

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And in verse 31 the disciples are just nonplussed by this.

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You could paraphrase it by saying, Jesus, are you kidding me?

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Who touched you in this crowd?

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They're coming in from every direction and you want to know who touched you?

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And Jesus says, power has gone out from me.

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Who touched me?

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And he keeps on looking.

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He doesn't leave it just one question.

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He keeps asking, who touched me?

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Who was it?

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And finally this woman who was standing in the crowd realizes that she's been healed.

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And she steps forward.

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And she too falls before Jesus on her knees.

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And she's trembling.

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She's trembling with fear.

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Mark says that she did this in the presence of all the people.

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So what you need to understand is that there was this little opening that was created in

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that big crowd.

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And in the middle of that opening was Jesus and one woman.

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And Mark really pans in on that picture of just the two of them.

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She told Jesus the whole truth.

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We don't know what that means.

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It could be the fact that she was ceremonially unclean and why she was unclean and how long

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this hemorrhaging had lasted.

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The details were known by the gospel writer at least.

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She told him the whole truth.

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And so Jesus speaks these wonderful words of assurance to her.

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Notice that he says to this woman, who in the last 12 years had hardly known the touch

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of another human being.

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Now you think about that when you consider how important touch is to a female.

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And hardly anyone would speak to her because she was unclean.

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And Jesus says to her, daughter, isn't that great?

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Jesus embraces her with this warm and intimate and personal word of family.

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He says, daughter, he says, daughter, your faith has healed you.

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Now it wasn't the fact that it was her faith itself.

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It was that she had faith that Jesus could do it.

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That's the point here.

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And her faith wasn't very much.

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It was not even enough that she was willing to face Jesus and ask for healing like Yerush.

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Instead, she sneaked up behind him just to touch.

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But she did believe down deep in her heart that if she touched, she would be healed.

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And Jesus says to this trembling woman, go shalom to you.

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Be freed from your suffering.

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The words that Jesus uses here suggest not only physical release from disease, but spiritual

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salvation as well.

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I believe we'll see this woman in heaven.

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The text seems to be very clear about that.

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And while Jesus was still conversing with her, the story continues to unfold.

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We have now an absolutely desperate father because word comes from the household of Yerush

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that his daughter is now dead.

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They say, why bother him any longer?

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Yerush is too late.

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She has breathed out her last breath.

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She's lying there dead.

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And this man's heart just melted.

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He was filled immediately with fear.

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A wave of fear just hit his heart.

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It's too late.

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It's too late.

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Jesus was interrupted.

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This woman, because of her, my daughter is dead.

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If Jesus had just been able to come immediately and not been stopped, he might have made it

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on time.

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Comparing what the report was, Jesus said to the ruler, stop being afraid.

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It's a command.

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It's in the present tense, indicating that this man was afraid.

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He says, stop being afraid.

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And then he says, again, a command in the present tense, keep on believing.

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You see, there's a tug of war that's going on here in the heart of Yerush.

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You can identify with this.

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He came believing.

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And then this word of impossibility, this word of death hit him.

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And so this wave now of fear hits him.

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And so he's pushed back the other way.

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Jesus says, don't allow that wave of fear to overtake you.

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Yerush, keep on believing.

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Keep on believing.

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Push back the other way.

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It goes on to say that Jesus thinned the crowd at this point.

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He did not allow anyone to follow him further in this journey.

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He stopped the crowd.

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Maybe the other disciples had to stay behind and do crowd control.

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I don't know.

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But Jesus took only three of the disciples with him, the three that were often with him

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in this inner circle group, Peter and John and James.

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And they came, along with the ruler, to his house.

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We don't know how far it was.

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It must not have been very far because Capernaum was not a very large village, a few thousand

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people.

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They came to his home and there was this tremendous commotion going on.

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The house was filled with a crowd of people.

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Now we don't know if these were professional mourners.

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Yes, they had those in those days.

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How would you like to have had that job?

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You think flipping hamburgers and McDonald's and stuff.

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How would you like to have been a professional mourner?

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You are hired to go to somebody's house and they're to weep and to wail when somebody

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dies.

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And Matthew tells us there were also flute players, people who were playing the flutes,

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mournful tombs.

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And so here's the commotion at the house that they encounter when they arrive.

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And so Jesus asks the question that he does in verse 39.

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He says, while this commotion and wailing, the child is not dead but asleep.

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Now did Jesus mean by this she's in a coma?

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There are some who would say that and that she was in a coma.

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I don't believe that's the case at all.

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That may be how the crowd understood it.

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I think what Jesus was saying is what you and I believe, and that is that death is temporary.

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That there is a resurrection coming.

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And in this case it's going to come very soon.

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That death is compared to the New Testament at least for believers as sleep, isn't it?

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We do not mourn like those who have no hope.

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For those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, says Paul.

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You see for the believer, death is compared to sleep because the body is like it's asleep

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as we all know who have been to a funeral.

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The body is like it's asleep.

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It's put into the ground.

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The word cemetery that we use comes from the Greek word for a sleeping place, an inn.

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It was viewed when the word was created, the cemetery was viewed as a temporary place for

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the body because they believed in the resurrection.

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Jesus says she's not dead, she's asleep.

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And notice how they respond.

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They laugh.

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Here are people who are one minute crying and mourning and weeping and wailing and the

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next minute they're laughing.

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And they're not laughing merely because they think it's funny.

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They're laughing in derision.

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They're scorning Jesus.

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They're ridiculing him.

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Jesus, don't you think that we know when somebody dies?

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And they heckle him.

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Well, immediately Jesus puts them out.

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Forceful words here described in the gospels that Jesus just drove them out of the house,

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shuts the door, and then he brings the other five with him into the area of this house

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where the child's body is lying.

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And Jesus does what is unthinkable for a Jew and particularly a rabbi.

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He touches a dead body.

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Again, this makes you unclean, you see.

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You can't touch a dead body and be ceremonially clean as a Jew.

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But Jesus goes over to this little girl and he takes her by the hand and he says to her,

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little girl, I say to you, get up.

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Now you've got to look at this sentence.

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Of course, he doesn't say just get up.

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He says little girl.

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Because if he had said get up generically, the graves would have emptied.

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You see, he had to make it specific to this little girl or there would have been a lot

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of commotion in Capernaum, let me tell you.

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It's the same reason he said Lazarus come forth.

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The whole hillside would have erupted with bodies coming out of graves.

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He says little girl, I say to you, can I tell you a little secret?

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There have been times when I have stood beside a casket and I thought, Lord, if only we could

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have the power that you gave the apostles in certain cases.

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This family is so sorrowful.

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Lord, this is such a tragedy.

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This is all going on in my mind, right?

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I'm not saying this out loud except to you now.

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Lord, if only you could touch this little one.

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I volunteered for some years as a police chaplain in Covington, Kentucky.

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I will never forget the call that I had to come to Booth Hospital and to meet with a

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family whose little girl had just drowned in the Ohio River.

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They were in the emergency area back in a room.

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I didn't know them at all.

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As representing the police department, I went and I walked through the room where the little

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00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:40,120
girl's body was.

329
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I had some children at that age.

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There she was, stretched out on the table, dead, a little younger than this girl.

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I thought, Lord, if only I could pick her up and take her into her family.

332
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,920
But I couldn't.

333
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,920
So I had to go in and do the best I could to comfort this family that was just totally

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00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:09,920
lost.

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00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:16,680
Just totally lost.

336
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I would love to have been there on this day.

337
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:27,000
So if you could just pick one miracle where you could go back and be there, this is the

338
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:34,300
one I would pick.

339
00:25:34,300 --> 00:25:43,000
Because as a parent, I identify so much with what this mom and dad are going through.

340
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:49,880
And Jesus says, little girl, I say to you, get up.

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00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:55,000
And suddenly those eyes that had sunk and fluttered and the color that had drained away

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00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:00,120
from her cheeks suddenly came back and she was pink again.

343
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,800
And she got up and she began to walk around.

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00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,360
Can you imagine how Yerushin and his wife felt?

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00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,240
Well, they were totally astonished.

346
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:17,720
They were absolutely overwhelmed in every way that their little girl who was clearly

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00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:27,880
dead was now alive again.

348
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,400
Jesus said, don't tell anybody.

349
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:36,040
You see, he's back over on the Jewish side of the border now and he doesn't need things

350
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,280
getting out of hand over there.

351
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:43,820
Remember last week he said to the demoniac who had been delivered, go and tell your family

352
00:26:43,820 --> 00:26:46,280
and all the Decapolis about this.

353
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,960
And now on this side of the border he says, we need to keep this quiet.

354
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,400
Here's the main point in the story this morning.

355
00:26:54,400 --> 00:27:01,640
When Jesus is near, you need not fear.

356
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,840
Just believe.

357
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:08,280
When Jesus is near, you need not fear.

358
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:12,240
Just believe.

359
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:19,120
Each of the main characters in this text teach us some lessons about faith.

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00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,640
For example, the ruler.

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00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:27,940
The ruler believes Jesus is in control.

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00:27:27,940 --> 00:27:29,000
He really believes that.

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00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,960
He comes and he falls on his feet before the Lord, on his knees rather, before the Lord

364
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,160
and he says, Lord, my daughter is sick.

365
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:43,480
Please come, put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.

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00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:48,120
He believed Jesus is in control.

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00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:54,520
I received two emails this week, both of them on the same day.

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00:27:54,520 --> 00:28:01,440
One of them is a prayer request for a loved one and in the email this person quotes her

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00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:06,520
loved one and says, here's what she said, I'm going through a physical trial and will

370
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,000
be having a medical test.

371
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:14,420
This looks like it is very serious according to the doctor I saw yesterday.

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We know God is still in control.

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00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:23,960
My sister wrote me.

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00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:33,180
She had some testing done at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston this week to see if they have any

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00:28:33,180 --> 00:28:38,480
advice for her regarding her battle with colon cancer.

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00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:43,020
She talks about being in the waiting room after the test and waiting for the doctor

377
00:28:43,020 --> 00:28:51,000
to come in now and to give her and her husband, Lou, the reports.

378
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:59,480
She says, I had that little book by Charles Stanley entitled God is in Control with Me

379
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:04,360
while we were waiting for the doctor to come back in and talk to us and I kept reading

380
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:11,880
little parts of it to Lou and how God was in control no matter what news we were going

381
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,920
to hear shortly.

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00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:20,680
Folks, this is bottom line to our faith.

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00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:27,820
Either God is in control or he's not.

384
00:29:27,820 --> 00:29:34,600
And if he is not, is he God?

385
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:41,720
Now I know that that raises all kinds of questions about suffering and why and so forth, but

386
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,640
here's the deal.

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00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:50,240
The bottom line of what the Scripture teaches us, despite all the questions, Jesus who is

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00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,840
God is in control.

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00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,100
He is in control.

390
00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:00,920
Just as that old hymn says that we used to sing a lot, at least in the church where I

391
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:11,480
grew up, no waters can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies.

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00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:18,720
Indeed, no demon can stand in his presence.

393
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:29,000
No disease can ignore his touch and even death must heed his command.

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00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:35,120
There's a great song that I heard for the first time I think right here in this auditorium

395
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,520
when Twyla Parris did a concert here a few years ago.

396
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,120
It's pretty well known now.

397
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:41,440
She has recorded it in others.

398
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:43,120
It's called God is in Control.

399
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:49,080
It says this is no time for fear, this is a time for faith and determination.

400
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,440
Don't lose the vision here carried away by emotion.

401
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,200
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart.

402
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,680
There is one thing that has always been true.

403
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,840
It holds the world together.

404
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,040
God is in control.

405
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,920
We believe that his children will not be forsaken.

406
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,280
God is in control.

407
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,740
We will choose to remember and never be shaken.

408
00:31:12,740 --> 00:31:16,400
There is no power above or beside him.

409
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:22,040
We know God is in control.

410
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:27,760
Whatever your circumstances today, however painful, however sorrowful, however threatening,

411
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:33,880
however awful, I want you to remember what Yerush remembered.

412
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,080
Jesus is in control.

413
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:43,360
It does not mean that he is never going to allow you to hurt or your loved ones to die

414
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,440
or for you to suffer loss.

415
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,600
These are all a part of the fallen world in which we live.

416
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:55,040
They're a part of the reality of our race, the consequence of our being the children

417
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,040
of Adam and his sin.

418
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:02,980
And yet God's sovereignty is at work despite it and through it all.

419
00:32:02,980 --> 00:32:08,000
He is in control.

420
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,480
That's the foundation to your faith and mine.

421
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:16,440
There's a second lesson that I see here and that is from the woman who was healed.

422
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:21,720
The lesson I see here is that Jesus' power is available.

423
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,360
This little girl was 12 years old.

424
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:31,680
That was the same year that this woman began hemorrhaging.

425
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,960
For 12 years she suffered.

426
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:41,200
She had been in Capernaum before this, we assume, but this time somehow the arrangement

427
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,960
was such that Jesus was close by.

428
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:51,840
He was close enough for her to literally take out her hand, reach out with her hand, and

429
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,740
touch him.

430
00:32:53,740 --> 00:32:56,960
And she took the risk.

431
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:06,560
It was a small act on her part, but it was enough to make contact and it proved her faith.

432
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:13,080
How Jesus may demonstrate his power is not really up for us to decide.

433
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:20,560
It's only for us to connect with him in faith and then let him choose how he may answer.

434
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:27,440
But I want you to know that you too can experience the power of God every day of your life.

435
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,440
You see, this is the resource of our faith.

436
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:37,400
If the fact that he's in control is the foundation of it, the resource is that his power is available

437
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,920
to you and to me.

438
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:50,040
I say to the hurting souls here this morning, claim the healing power of his grace by faith.

439
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:56,720
I say to you who are single parents and who are under the load of all of that responsibility,

440
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,560
yes, you can do it.

441
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:03,920
You can, though you don't feel like you can go on another day, another week, you can do

442
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:08,080
it because his power is available.

443
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:14,640
I say to you defeated saint out there, you can get up off of that place where you've

444
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:15,640
fallen.

445
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:20,840
You can go on because his power is available to you.

446
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:26,480
I say to the grieving widow, I say to the sorrowing husband, I say to the fearful child,

447
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,840
Christ can give you courage to face the future.

448
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,720
His power is available.

449
00:34:32,720 --> 00:34:40,880
All you need to do is reach out and touch him, connect with him in faith.

450
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:46,280
And then the Lord himself gives us some lessons about faith here.

451
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,760
You're three of them that I see.

452
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:54,000
Jesus wants to say something to you and to me as we represent him in the world, just

453
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,700
as he was representing the Father.

454
00:34:56,700 --> 00:35:02,500
The first thing he wants to say to us, and each of these by the way requires faith.

455
00:35:02,500 --> 00:35:07,960
The first thing is make time for hurting people.

456
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:13,040
Make time for hurting people, Jesus did.

457
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:20,400
All around you there are people who are hurting, right here in this worship center I mean.

458
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,480
All around you are people who are hurting.

459
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,880
We look pretty clean, pretty brushed up, pretty calm and composed on Sunday mornings we go

460
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:28,880
to church.

461
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,840
That's the way we go to church, right?

462
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:39,120
The fact is, every one of us is struggling somewhere.

463
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:46,040
And we can't help everybody, but around you are people who do connect with you.

464
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,800
Make time for hurting people.

465
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,520
It takes faith to do that.

466
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,000
Because we're busy people.

467
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,640
We're busy people.

468
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,920
And we're distracted by many things in our lives.

469
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,720
And it's easy for us to think, not now, maybe not ever.

470
00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:10,040
I just can't handle it right now.

471
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:16,540
Jesus says, I want you, my servant, I want you to take a step of faith and make time

472
00:36:16,540 --> 00:36:18,400
for hurting people.

473
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:26,000
Jesus was on a mission to Jerusalem's house when he was stopped.

474
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,040
And he made time for this woman.

475
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:31,200
That leads me to my second point.

476
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:39,080
I think Jesus would say to us today, by faith I want you, my servant, to allow for interruptions.

477
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,520
It takes faith to do that.

478
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:46,440
Because we have our priorities, right?

479
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,720
One of the hardest things we have to do in the world, I think, is to make a judgment

480
00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:54,200
between what is important and what is urgent.

481
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:55,200
It's not always easy.

482
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,960
I remember talking to a lady one time.

483
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:03,100
She had a problem, a real problem.

484
00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:08,300
And as she was talking to me about this problem, she was holding her baby.

485
00:37:08,300 --> 00:37:17,560
And he had the smelliest diaper you ever saw, could ever smell.

486
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,880
And at that moment, I couldn't tell which was more important and which was more urgent.

487
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:25,000
I really couldn't.

488
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,960
And it's tough to know.

489
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:36,200
But the fact is that we do need to allow ourselves to be interrupted.

490
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,000
You've heard of the law of the coffee break, haven't you?

491
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,760
The law of the coffee break says that when you have poured a cup of hot coffee, your

492
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:51,200
boss will give you an assignment that will last long enough for the coffee to get cold.

493
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,280
Interruptions.

494
00:37:54,280 --> 00:38:00,040
Jesus says, I want you to believe that I bring these interruptions.

495
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,440
I want you to allow for them.

496
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,680
Now, we have to make a judgment.

497
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:12,920
Is my interruption one that is really important to this person, or is it just something that's

498
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:14,440
urgent?

499
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,560
We have to sometimes make judgments about this.

500
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:24,440
I remember a lady years ago in a church who would call our house night after night after

501
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:29,660
night, just about dinnertime, with a problem.

502
00:38:29,660 --> 00:38:38,000
And finally, I had to inform her as politely as I could, and it wasn't very that she needed

503
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,720
to deal with these issues at other times in the day or in another way, but not to call

504
00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:46,100
me as she had been.

505
00:38:46,100 --> 00:38:52,820
She eventually came back to church.

506
00:38:52,820 --> 00:38:59,000
And then third, Jesus would say to you and me, ignore ridicule and discouragements.

507
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,800
Oh man.

508
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,840
If the first two take faith, think about this.

509
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:10,480
I want to tell you, it's tough to stand in the middle of a crowd, as Jesus did, and to

510
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,200
be jeered at.

511
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:20,440
To take a stand for Christ on your campus, to make a statement about your faith in the

512
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:28,440
classroom, to ask a pointed question to the science teacher that kind of sends him reeling

513
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:34,320
back a little bit about the dogma he's trying to get across to you, and to have other students

514
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:39,640
look at you and say, oh, come on.

515
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:46,480
Or to have the teacher come back at you with some kind of a snide remark about your Christianity.

516
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,640
It's tough to do that in an office setting, a family reunion.

517
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:52,320
It doesn't make any difference.

518
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:54,840
It's tough to be jeered at.

519
00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:56,480
It's tough to be ridiculed.

520
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:58,880
But Jesus says, I want you to believe.

521
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,000
I just want you to do it.

522
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,360
I want you to be my representative.

523
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:09,000
I want you to say what I want you to say, and do it by faith, and don't worry about

524
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:13,560
what others say, and I'll come through for you.

525
00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:23,760
Well, folks, Jesus is near right now, right here.

526
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:32,080
What would you ask him to do?

527
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:33,080
What big thing?

528
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,720
Perhaps some seemingly impossible thing.

529
00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:45,080
Something that is really hard, but which is weighing down upon you this morning.

530
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:49,360
It may be in your own life, or it may be in somebody you love.

531
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:56,640
It may be a situation that's out there in the future that is just haunting you, or maybe

532
00:40:56,640 --> 00:41:03,920
it's something in the past, and it's eating away at your joy.

533
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:09,240
What is it that you would ask Jesus to do?

534
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:14,480
We're going to give you an opportunity to do that this morning, because Jesus is near.

535
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,400
You need not fear.

536
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:17,400
Just believe.

537
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:18,400
Believe.

538
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:24,760
I'm going to ask the worship team to join me here in the front.

539
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:32,240
I'm going to ask the elders, the directors, and pastors, and spouses who wish to, to come

540
00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,440
forward and to form a line here across the front.

541
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:39,760
We're going to close our service this morning with some singing.

542
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:48,960
And as we prepare our hearts and sing, I want to invite you to come.

543
00:41:48,960 --> 00:42:00,320
Now, none of us is Jesus, but what we are is representative of Jesus, and we would love

544
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,440
to pray with you.

545
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,680
And I'd like you to scatter out just a little bit more than you are, just to give some space

546
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:11,360
here as much as you can, because we want a little bit of confidence here.

547
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:18,880
What I'd like for you to do is to bring to someone here whatever that big thing is, and

548
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,680
with them, believe.

549
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,820
Let them lead you in prayer for that.

550
00:42:23,820 --> 00:42:26,520
We don't have time for counseling sessions.

551
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,080
We have, I'm serious about this.

552
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:31,360
We have lay counselors who can help you with issues.

553
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:38,560
We have celebrate recovery where you can find help with some kinds of issues of hurt, habit.

554
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:42,160
This is not for counseling this morning, per se.

555
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:43,660
It's for prayer.

556
00:42:43,660 --> 00:42:47,800
And so sum up in your mind what you would like to say, what that need is.

557
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,360
Make it a sentence or two and say, here it is, and then let them briefly lead you in

558
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:53,360
prayer.

559
00:42:53,360 --> 00:43:02,080
And let this be the way that you reach out and touch the Lord this morning.

560
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:12,440
Father, grant I pray that in the minutes that follow as we sing, as we wait upon you, that

561
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:20,680
there will be many who will take that step requiring faith, but give them what they need

562
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:27,440
to do it so that they might see what faith can do.

563
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:32,720
May they not be afraid, but believe.

564
00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:51,720
In Jesus' name, amen.