Very good singing this morning. Bust my soul already to hear you all. If you have your Bibles I'd invite you to turn with me to the gospel of Mark this morning. Mark chapter 5. I pulled a fast one on Jeff and Lisa. They did the bulletin and I switched my morning and evening services on you guys. I wanted to mention too as you're finding your spot, we did have a death in our church family. Some of you know Patty Ann Baker. Her grandmother, who she's named after, Patty Baker, passed away yesterday morning of cancer. I don't have any details, any arrangements yet, but please keep that family in your prayers. Her mother is Audrey, and her dad is Jeff. That was Jeff's mother. She passed away, so please keep them in your prayers today. I know that they're very heavy-hearted at the passing of Miss Baker. So Mark chapter 5, as you turn there, just to kind of give you a recap of where we have been, we've been doing our series through the Gospel of Mark, and last week we took a look at a very, very sad case, and we titled that message, The Danger of Evil, because we all need sometimes a picture to kind of remind us of certain things in our lives. And the picture that the Bible showed us last week with this man that was demon-possessed, was just how wicked and evil and the effects of it can be in our lives. And we need to hear that because over time, we come to a place where we'll downplay our own sins. We'll use terms like, yeah, I've struggled with that mistake, I've got this habit, and we're so unwilling to call the things in our life that are wrong, sin. And so we needed to take a look at that, and we did. And what was so sad about that story was that here comes Jesus into a situation where this whole town had tried to just kind of quiet this guy and tried to control this guy and shove him aside. And we do that in our own lives. When things go wrong, we try to control ourselves, we try to manage sin, and that never works. It only gets worse in our lives. And so here comes Jesus, and He does something that only He can do. He changes this man, He transforms him, and that's what He does for us. All of us are not just in need of a makeover, we're in need of a new birth. And so He comes along and doesn't just fix us up and dust us off, He completely recreates us by giving us a new life and a new heart. And He does that work in this man's life last week. And the sad thing is, these townspeople had seen the worst of the worst with this guy. And they had seen the grace and mercy and love of Christ right before him in forgiving this guy. And he's seated there in his right mind, clothed again and normal. And the townspeople come up to Jesus, and they tell him to depart. They tell him to leave. And you know, we are in one of those two situations today. Either when Christ comes into our presence and we recognize our need and we've seen others around us who have been changed by grace, we're either going to be thankful like the demonic man was and wanted to follow Jesus and go where he was going and be with him, or we're going to be like the townspeople and say, depart. You know, we don't want you. I'm not ready for that. I'm satisfied with my life. Don't intrude on it right now. And we're in one of those two places this morning. And it's my prayer that if you've never really heard the call and followed Christ, that today might be that day. And so we look in Mark chapter 5 this morning, we're going to see another picture. And actually we're going to see two pictures today that I think will help us and that we'll be able to relate to quite a bit. The first that we'll see is a picture of a broken world. We're going to see a picture of a broken world. There's sick children in this story that eventually die a sick child. We're going to see hurting parents. We're going to see chronic health issues. We're going to see fear. and depression. And all of those things are very, very prevalent in our society today, and probably in each one of our lives to some degree we all relate to those kinds of things. And it shows us the fact that we live in a broken world that has been marred and devastated by sin, and it's in desperate need of the gospel of Christ. And so, as we look at that, you're going to also notice that there's going to be a battle of faith. And faith has really been a theme that God has laid on my heart quite a bit the last few weeks. And it continues, you know, just going through this series, it just so happens that we fall on this text, you know, I'm just going book by book, verse by verse, and so it just kind of happened that God worked it out to where this message fell at the time that it did. But we're going to have to ask ourselves some questions today as we look at this. And the question I would ask you to think about is, do you really believe this morning that Jesus is your only hope? Do you really believe that Jesus is your only hope? And if you believe that, does it lead you to have a radical faith? Does it lead you to have a radical faith? And what I mean by that is, do you have a faith that causes you to move in ways that you normally wouldn't move? Does that faith move you in ways it normally wouldn't? Paul Tripp said that faith is not unreasonable, but faith will press you beyond your reason. That's a short sentence, but it's powerful. And so as we look today at verses 21 to 43, I want you to see, I want to introduce you to two people that we're going to see in these stories. In verse 22, Jesus after he had crossed back over from healing the demonic it says in verse 22 then came one of the rulers of the synagogue Jairus by name and Seeing him he fell at his feet and then drop down and look at verse 25 It says there was a woman who had a discharge, or a flow, or the King James uses the word, an issue of blood for 12 years. And those are the two people that we meet in this story. One major thing that they have in common, their lives couldn't be any more different as we look at them. Obviously, the obvious is Jairus is a man, and then we know this lady, who is unnamed, is a female. And that alone in biblical times carries a lot of weight with it, because women were looked at more as objects, more as just second-class citizens, if that. And so the social status there alone is a tremendous difference. Jairus, it says, was a ruler of the synagogue. He held a prominent position in his community. This woman, because of this issue, this flow of blood, was ceremonially unclean and defiled. She was on par with a leper. She wouldn't have been allowed in the temple. She wouldn't have been allowed around other people. She couldn't even touch other people, or they too would become defiled. Jairus was in a position where he was financially well off. We're going to see that this lady had been bankrupt by spending everything she had trying to get an answer to her disease. You're going to see that Jairus comes up and falls down right in front of Jesus and pleads with Him and worships Him. And this lady comes up secretly and sneaks up behind Him. And so there's so many things that put these two on opposite spectrums. But the key thing that I want you to see is, and the great news that I want you to understand this morning is, everyone in this room comes from a different background. Every one of you may be, at least maybe you feel, that you're way down on the social status, you're way down on the economic status, you may feel, your esteem may be as low as it can get and you feel just unwanted and unloved and uncared for. And then some of us feel like, you know, maybe we're a little bit better off than others and we're in a good position. In the eyes of God, we're all equal. Paul says there's neither bond nor free, Jew or Greek, we're all one in Christ. And so he tears down and separates those barriers for us. But the common factor that both of these people have is they had a desperate need, they recognized it, and they saw that Jesus was the only answer. And they had a radical faith that caused them to move beyond their circumstances, beyond their situations, beyond what they normally would have even considered logical. But it drove them to put their faith into action. And I believe that every week, not just here in church, but in your daily walk with God, He puts you in places and calls you into situations where you have to exercise a radical faith. In your families, in your schools, in your jobs, in your church. There's times when He calls us and He's calling you to exercise a radical faith. And my question also this morning to you is simply, how are you answering that call? Or are you answering that call? Or have you been continually sweeping it aside and brushing it aside and ignoring it as best as you can? Let's see how these two stories play out as we look down through again. Look at verse 25. We just read, there was a woman who had a discharge. She had an issue of blood. That word in the King James stuck out to me as I read that. She had an issue. And how many people in this room, I beg to say everyone in this room has issues. We all have an issue. And it's amazing as we dig into this story and look at it, that issues in our lives often become our excuses. Issues can often lead to our excuses as to why we don't do certain things, why we don't respond to things in faith, why ultimately maybe we doubt and don't trust God. Because look at the amazing thing that we see in this story is, Jairus is named. The woman in verse 25 isn't named, she is just related to by her issue. They said, this is that woman that had the issue of blood. And everybody in the town knew her by that. She had a name. But they didn't even call her by her name anymore. She was just simply known by her issue. And we do the same things in our lives today. We have issues. And we stay stuck in those issues to the point where they begin to define who we are. We let our issues define us. She suffered, the Bible said, with this issue of blood for 12 years. For 12 years she'd struggled with this to the point where that became her complete identity. That was who the people knew her by. That was what she defined herself by. Every waking moment of her life was focused and her mind was continually brought back to this issue. She spent every dime that she had on this issue. And I would like to say to you this morning that maybe you've struggled with something so long that you feel like that that is just who you are. That this thing that's controlled your life for so long, this issue, is now how you define yourself, how society calls you, the label that maybe you've been given, is such that you think that this issue is what makes you. And it defines you. And maybe you pray and you desire so much to be free from this thing, but you can't let go of the fact that this thing is what you build your life around. And the good news is that your identity this morning does not hinge on your issue. it hinges on the fact of whether or not you have a relationship with Christ, and whether or not He has made you something new, or if you're still lost and in your natural state, because everything that we talk about today is going to hinge on that. Hold your spot, and if you don't have a Bible, the guys will get this up on the screen, and look with me at Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. I want you to see this. I want you to see how important this is, that you understand that your identity is not in your issue. The question is, do you know Christ, or don't you? And if you do, then your identity and everything that you are will be a result of that relationship. And I don't think there's any better place that you're going to see that than in Ephesians chapter 1, the first 14 verses. And I just want you to see that as I read through. I'm going to call these things out to you. If you mark in your Bibles, underline this, and read it every day until you drive this point home to yourself, that you're not defined by your issues. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to call out some verses to you. I want you to see this. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us. What's the next two words? In Christ. Do you see that? Your blessings come, not because you're a good person, not because you work hard, not because your church attendance is good, because you read and pray every day. Your blessings, you're blessed because you are in Christ. Underline those words. With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Verse 4, even as He chose us, what's the next two? In Him. In Him, He chose us. No one in this room came to Christ this morning in your own strength, in your own power. He seeks us. He looks for us. In all of our sin and all of our brokenness, God is pursuing you. And when you come to church and you hear the gospel preached and you feel that knock on your heart, that is a loving God extending mercy to you and calling to you. He chooses us. In Him, our identification, our salvation is in Him. It's not in anything that we do. And it's not forfeited by anything that we do. If we're truly His, we're chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. That's before any of us were ever here, before we ever did any good, any bad. He was pursuing us through the foreknowledge of God to seek those that are in Christ. Let's go on. that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. Verse 6. To the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us. What's next? In the Beloved. That's in Christ. He again shines His glorious grace on us and blesses us because we're in Christ. Verse 7. First two words. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He has lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Verse 9. Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose, which He set forth... What's it say? In Christ. Verse 10. As a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him. There it is again. Things in heaven and on earth. Verse 11. In Him we have obtained an inheritance. You know why believers are going to heaven? Because we're in Him. He's promised us an inheritance. And because He defeated death, He defeated sin, He lives again, He's on the right hand of the Father right now making intercession for us. Because we are in Him, we are heirs to the promises and the inheritance that Christ has purchased for us. having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, verse 12, so that we who were the first to hope In Christ. There's your hope. It's not in the world. It's not in yourself. It's not in the pastor. It's not in the church. Your hope is in Christ. It might be to the praise of His glory, verse 13. In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. over and over and over again. God is driving home the point through the Apostle Paul that who you are, who you are predestined to be, who you will be because of your faith in Christ, all goes back to that relationship. And you've got to understand this morning that that is where your identity comes from, not your issue. And the only way to be set free from the things that you're struggling with is to repent, to turn from those things, to stop trying in your own strength to work it out, to manage it. We saw last week that managing it doesn't work. It never works. Paul says in Romans 7, the more that he looked at the law and tried to live by the commands, the more that he fell. And as he goes through that struggle in chapter 7, the last verse, his answer comes. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he gets the answer. Christ Jesus is the answer. Jesus Christ was the answer that he sought. It wasn't in keeping the law. It wasn't in trying to be good enough. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 49 says, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, that is, our first birth where we are born in sin and we are perishing, we had the image of Adam on us, he says we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. He's saying when you're born again, you're no longer in that sinful old man's relationship that's going to lead to eternal separation and death. You're born again, you have a relationship now with Christ, the second Adam, the Bible calls Him, and you will live forever with Him. Romans 8, 29, For those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. He's working a process in you that's making you more like Christ. You're not defined by your issues. You've got to get that. or you're always going to struggle, you're always going to look at your life and say, this is my problem, this is my struggle, how can I get better? How can I get over that? Rather than saying, Christ is my hope, Christ is my all, these things have been broken in me by the power of Christ, and I don't have to be defined by these, I don't have to live in these things anymore. Is it a battle every day? Yes. Do you have to wage war against things in your life? Absolutely. We've talked about that. But you've got to understand that your eyes have got to be taken off yourself, it's got to be taken off your issue, and it's always got to be drawn back to God, in Christ Jesus. It's got to be there. One person said, we live our lives trying to perform to make others and ourselves happy. But Jesus performed for us to make the Father happy. Boy, doesn't that take a load off? To know that you don't have to perform? to please people and yourself, that Christ performed in your place by dying on the cross and taking your sins upon himself? That's a burden-lifting statement. And look at this woman's case, verse 26. She'd suffered much under many physicians and had spent all she had and was no better, but only grew worse. And can you relate to those words? You've tried everything, and things aren't getting better. They're only getting worse. And I don't just mean physically. That can be emotionally, that can be mentally, that can be most certainly spiritually. You have tried everything. Some people try everything in the world. I mean drugs, alcohol, pornography, stealing, lying. You go to any extreme to try to fix a circumstance in your life. And a lot of people don't just turn to the world, they turn to religion. They turn to religion and try to get better. You go to church, you pray, you carry your Bible, you get involved in Sunday school class. And all those things don't really make it better for you either. Because at the end of the day, what you're looking for is Jesus Christ. I know that sounds simple, but that's the answer. And that's what we dance around. That's what we skip over. Have you ever really, by faith, received that offer of eternal life, of forgiveness of sin? That's the question we all have to wrestle with as we come in here in the morning and every day of our lives. Some of you have heard this story over and over again. You've heard the gospel countless times. It says that the reason that Jairus came because he had heard of Jesus. The woman came because she had heard of Jesus. And you hear about him every week. And some of you have yet to come to him. What's holding you back? What is it? Is it the issues that you think you're too bad to come? Or maybe you don't really think your issues are bad enough to keep you from Him. Both are lies. But you're not too bad that Christ can't forgive you. And you're not too good to make it on your own. So no matter where you stand this morning, you're still in need of Him. You're still in need of Him. And this woman recognizes that. She tried everything, and nothing worked. And so verse 28, listen to what she finally reasons with herself in her mind. She said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And that's the difference between this lady and many people in the world today. A lot of people know about Jesus in their mind. A lot of people have heard of Him. A lot of people even claim to have believed. But for this woman, In verse 28, she believed and then that faith led her to do something. It led her to action. And I have no doubt that God could do amazing things through many people in this room today, if only you would activate your faith. If only you would go past just simply mentally believing something to actually allowing it to stir your heart enough to move you to action. That's what true faith does. It doesn't just sit on the sidelines and say, yeah, that makes sense. It actually moves you to action. If you were on a cruise liner that was sinking, and they said, the ship's going down, get on the lifeboat, and you said, well, there's the lifeboat, I believe it's real, and I bet it would float, but, you know, I'm just going to hang on and stay on the big ship because that boat's a lot smaller, and logic says, you know, this doesn't make sense, I don't want to try that. You're going to go down with the ship. If you want to be saved, if you want to get out of that situation, you've got to get on that lifeboat and trust it. Not just believe that it can, but actually activate that faith. In Matthew 14, you don't have to turn there, but some of you probably know the story, we often look at that and we think about Peter when Jesus comes walking on the water and Peter wants to get out of the boat. And we look at that story and we always take that story and we say, now see, you need to have faith because Peter sank. And the whole point that we always drive home in that story is that Peter looked around and failed and sunk. But we don't really ever focus on the fact that, you know, there was 11 other guys in that boat. And only one had enough faith to even step out and try it. And guess what? Not only did he step out, but he did walk for a while. You know? He did walk for a while. And yet the funny thing is, the one guy that steps out of the boat and actually believes enough to do it, usually everybody else will sit back and tell the guy how he ought to do it. You know? We don't want to take that step ourselves, but then we want to look around and tell everybody else that's trying it how they're doing it. D.L. Moody was criticized one time for his methods of evangelizing and the way that he would do things. And he told his critic, he said, I like the way that I evangelize better than the way that you don't evangelize. It's the truth. At least Peter got out of the boat. And at least he did walk for a time. And he sunk. But the Lord lifted him up, and you know the thing that we also miss in verse 32 of that chapter is they walked back and got in the boat, and I don't think Jesus carried him like it was a honeymoon over the threshold. I think they walked back together. I think he lifted up Peter and then they walked back together. But faith moved Peter to get active. And faith has got to move you to get active today. Verse 30 says, after this woman touched Jesus and things were healed, it says, Jesus perceived in himself that power had gone out from him and immediately turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? Now, Jesus didn't ask that question because He didn't know. I mean, this is the Son of God. He already knew who had touched Him. Why did He ask that? I believe He asked it for several reasons, but I believe one is, as we said, this lady had been defined by her identity. Her identity had been defined by her issue for so long. And she snuck in and touched Him, and then she was going to try to just sneak away with this physical healing. And so she would have still been defined as the woman who once had an issue of blood, and then Jesus healed her. But Jesus had much more for this woman than just a physical healing to take place. And He wanted to bring her into the forefront, not to embarrass her, but to show her how much greater things are possible to those that believe. how great things can be for those who believe. Some of you today want to just sneak in and get a quick touch of Jesus. You've got a problem, you want to sneak in the back door, get a touch and get your issue fixed, and go about your life. And that will never work. It's all in with Christ. Why did He use the language In so many stories, it was so strong. If you want to follow me, you've got to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. If anyone would come after me, he's got to hate his mother and his father. I mean, strong language like that. It's because you don't have an undercover faith. You don't sneak around in the dark and try to follow Christ when nobody's looking. He wants you to experience the full relationship that He has for you. And He wanted this lady to see it. Look at how beautiful verse 34 is. If you don't take anything else, take this. This was a woman defined by her issue. All we knew her as was a woman who had an issue of blood. And He said to her, daughter. Wow. Daughter. She was a woman with an issue. And now she's a daughter of a king. And that ought to stir your heart this morning. Whatever issue you've got, He wants to make you a child of His kingdom. You don't have to be defined by your sin. You don't have to struggle with the things that you're struggling with. There'll be a battle as a Christian. I'm not calling you to an easy, prosperous life as a believer. But I'm calling you to a hope. beyond anything you've ever experienced, a peace that passes all understanding, a love that's so divine that you've never felt it in your life. And this lady experienced that. He calls her daughter. It wasn't just an external healing. He said, go, your faith has made you whole. That word whole is the same word that the Bible uses to be saved. She wasn't just physically cleansed, she was spiritually cleansed. She was made whole through and through is literally what that means. Inside and out. She was made a new creature. And I'm going to close with this. I don't want to skip Jairus. I do want you to see something. In verse 35, as this all was taking place, Jairus is waiting impatiently to get back to his house to get his daughter some help. His daughter dies. In verse 35, we see that. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? Man, some of you have gotten news like that before. You've been waiting on God, and you've been praying for Him to do something, and then all of a sudden you get the news that just seems like the nail in the coffin, the death blow. You're like, man, I have waited and waited on you, God, and now I get this news, and it's done. It's just done. I give up. I give up. I'm sure that's how Jairus felt. He said, man, if you would have come on when I said so and not waited around, we might have gotten something done, but now it's too late. She's dead. Look what Jesus says in verse 36. But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe. Is that not a call to radical faith? The child's dead. She is dead. That flies in the face of all kinds of logic and reason. And Jesus says, Do not fear, only believe. And think about Jairus' situation and think about your own. He came to Jesus in a desperate place in his life because he thought that Jesus was the only hope for that situation. And Jairus' circumstances had changed dramatically from when he first came to Jairus to where we see in verse 35. We would all agree with that, would we not? Now let me ask you this question, for Jairus and for you. Had Jesus changed? Had he? Was Jesus just as powerful, just as able, just as mighty, just as necessary when Jairus fell down at his feet and said, my daughter is sick, versus the place where he stood before Jesus and heard, your daughter is dead? Had God changed? Not one bit. Not one bit. But the circumstances changed Jairus' outlook. And for some of you that are struggling with things, your circumstances have changed and gotten worse, and rather than stepping out and continuing to trust an unchanging God, you've let your circumstances throw you into doubt and despair, and you've given up. Have you not? I have. I've done that. And I'm sure that you have. And I want to encourage you this morning that what you're facing doesn't face who's in control, doesn't change who's in control. It doesn't change that point. And so it's a call to radical faith that God expects of you. And Jeff, I'm going to have you come. Whatever you're facing, God is still able in that circumstance to meet your needs. The same faith that you exercised in Him to save you, to keep you, to sustain you, is still there because it's still the same God. But you've let those circumstances change your outlook. You've let your issues define you. And as we stand and sing this morning, maybe it's time that you come and you allow Christ to be the defining thing in your life. That you allow your faith to be rekindled to say, you've walked with me this far and I know that you'll never leave me. Whatever you're struggling with this morning, whatever you need, if you want to come, you come. As he's speaking to you this morning, do you hear that still small voice? Calling for you and for me. He offers salvation. He offers hope. He offers second chances. He's patient and loving. He's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Will you come home? Come home, come home, ye who are Are you weary?" He said, come unto Me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I can't help but believe God continues to work in the hearts and lives of people here. And I have no doubt that he's called many of you today to do things that you've just refused to do. And so I had a friend that still preaches, Ted Loman, some of you may know Ted, and he used to say at the end of services, he'd say, you know, when you leave, I'm going to pray that you're so miserable this week that you can't stand it. And I used to think, man, that's crazy. But I understand now. And so, you know, if God's dealing with your heart this week, today, and you didn't step out, I'm gonna pray that this is the most miserable week you've ever experienced. And I hope you're back here Sunday. I hope I get a phone call before Sunday. But I hope God gives you the time. And if it's not me you call, call somebody and talk to them about Jesus. But if you still need to work out some issues, Come and talk to me. Come and talk to somebody. Come back here. This is a place where you can find help. So we'll be here tonight at six. Don't forget the two meetings after service. We have friends and family night Wednesday from 6 to 8 at the shelter. We'd love to have anyone. Everybody come back and fellowship with us. So just know that those things are available and we'd love to have you. I'm gonna ask today brother Rodney Hubbard. You mind to close us in prayer this morning.