I want to draw your attention to this passage that I read to you from Mark's Gospel, Chapter 5. And I'll just read the verses 41 and 42 of Mark 5, but I'll deal with all that passage. And Jesus took the damsel by the hand and said unto her, Talitha cumi, which is being interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. and straightway the damsel arose and walked. For she was of the age of 12 years, and they were astonished with great astonishment. Now I just can remind you of the context of these words. The context is because on the big picture, it's from the Bible. It's from the word of God, isn't it? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Spirit. Jesus said, Thy word is truth. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away, he said. So, it's in the Bible these things are written. And then again, the larger context, we'll diminish it a little, it is found in Mark's Gospel. And Mark's Gospel begins, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And all that follows in the 16 chapters of Mark's Gospel are his evidence for this staggering claim he makes that God has a son and that son is Jesus Christ our Lord. And then again, narrowing it down, the more immediate context of this passage is found in chapter 4 and verse 35 where we have the first of four great manifestations of the power of Jesus Christ. Firstly, we have his power over creation. You often have that, he can turn water into wine, he can walk on water, he can curse a fig tree, he can multiply loaves and fishes. And here he speaks to the winds and the waves in a mighty storm and they obey him. That's the first mark and then the next there is the greatest case of demon possession that this world has ever seen or ever will see where a legion of demons then enter a man at Gadara and rend him and make him preternatural in his strength, he can snap iron chains and he lives in a graveyard. And Jesus, unafraid, can, by a mere word, deliver him from the evil one. So we have power over creation. and we have power over demons. And then thirdly, we have in the incident that's within this larger incident of the raising of Jairus' daughter, we have the healing of a woman who for 12 years sought healing in the world. And the physicians only did harm to her and not any better. And so here is the Lord Jesus' power over disease. And then fourthly, we have this incident that I've just read the climax to you of the raising from the dead of Jairus' 12-year-old daughter. And these things are accounted, recorded for us here in scripture in order for us to cry out, hallelujah, what a savior. Now the healing of Jairus' daughter took place over an hour or so and the incidents that characterised it have their own fascination for us who want to hear everything about our Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit has given us in his word. And we see here, first of all, how the Lord Jesus encourages us to trust him, as he encourages Jairus to trust in him. the boat greats on the beach and Jesus stands in the prow of the boat with the water as a sounding board and the news spreads like wildfire the grapevine very effective and people leave their homes and leave their work and children their play and they all come everybody comes because the great teacher and healer has come to their little community. It's anonymous, it's so small. And so our Lord Jesus is teaching them. And meanwhile, there is a notable absence and Jairus and his family are not there. and they're not there because that morning the girl took a fever and though they went to the medicine woman down the road and sought help from her and she gave various prescriptions and herbs the daughter grew weaker and weaker and more unconscious and the two of them were in desperation about the state of their little girl. The neighbours were quiet. Now, Jairus was one of the elders and perhaps the leading elder of the synagogue and he'd heard of Jesus like everyone had heard of Jesus by this time, the miracles that he had done, his unforgettable sayings. And so, He'd often wondered what would happen if Jesus came to his synagogue because there'd been controversy in other synagogues with what Jesus had said. What would he do? Would he go up and put a hand on his shoulder and say, keep your counsels to yourself here? What would he say? But then he thought, oh, Jesus will never come to a little out of the way place like this. And then He couldn't sit on the fence any longer. A man comes hurrying to him. One of his servants says, have you heard the news? Jesus is here. In town, he's on the beach. He's preaching to everybody. They've gathered round and there he is speaking to them. His daughter is dying and Jesus is there. No one can help him and Jesus is there. His wife is saying to him, you're a religious man, you're a man of faith, do something about our daughter. And Jesus is there. And he forgets then everything about Decorum and Harith. And he forgets everything about what the next conference of synagogue rulers of Israel are going to talk about. about Jesus and whether they should let him speak in their synagogues. He is utterly uncaring about those things. His daughter is dying and Jesus is there. And so he hurries through the streets and pushes his way through the crowd. They fall before him. And then he falls. on his face before Jesus Christ and looking up at him, he says, oh, can you help? My daughter is dying. Can you come and help me? There are two kinds of people that came to Jesus. There were the clever dicks. There were the smart alecks. There were the hostile. hating men who devised questions so that whatever answer Jesus gave it could be misinterpreted and they came in their groups with their rehearsed questions and they challenged him about giving money to Caesar about a woman married to seven brothers. And Jesus answered calmly and humbly and silenced them. and they went away as baffled by him as they had come. But there were another group that came to Jesus and they came with longings and desires for themselves, for their children. They heard that their brother was ill and they sent for Jesus and told him. They longed for aid and help from the Lord Jesus. He was their refuge and their strength and a very present help in trouble. He never let them down. He answered them. He cleansed the leper. He healed everyone in the latter stages of a disease that was incurable. He helped their children. He transformed them and they went away with deep thankfulness in their hearts. And so the single ruler came and he prostrated himself before Jesus. But you will notice how he prescribed the way that he expected Jesus to heal her. You see that? He didn't just say, my daughter's at the point of death, please help me. But there was a certain course of action that he expected Jesus to take. He said, please, will you come? And will you put your hands on her? that she may live. Do you notice that in verse 23? He had hurried out of his house that day and through the little street and he had certain fixed ideas about Jesus like some of you have. who have come here this evening. And on the basis of those ideas of who Jesus is and how he works, he approached Christ and told him what he had to do. And his ideas were unworthy and small. It's only in submitting to Jesus, it's only listening to what Jesus says to us and responding to his word It's only then that astonishing things and life-changing things happen to us. And we're like Jairus, aren't we? That we don't just pray to the Lord, but we tell the Lord how he has to act in answer to our prayers. And that approach is easy to spot. when you're in the pulpit, but when you're in the valley, and when you're by yourself, it's the most natural thing for us to do. Because we know, don't we, we all of us know Jesus didn't have to go a certain distance and be in the presence of this little girl in order to heal her. We all know that there was a Roman centurion, a gentile officer, and he had worked along with his dearest friend, his personal batman, his servant, and they'd gone through many scraps together. They discussed strategy the night before the battle. and they discussed the victories afterwards and he healed his wounds and he patched up his armor and cooked his food and helped him and they were the closest of buddies. And one day this gentile officer's son, friend and servant, he He grew ill, and the legionnaire's physician couldn't do anything to heal him, and the man grew more and more unconscious and helpless. He knew of Jesus. He loved Jesus. And he went personally, the centurion, a gentile, to this Jewish rabbi, and he fell at his feet and said, my servant is so ill. And he's dying. Can you help? And Jesus remember what he said? He said, Oh, I'll come with you now and see him. Oh, he said, there's no need for you to come. There's no need for you to come. I'm a man in authority and I say to this man, go. And he goes. And he comes straight away. All you need is to think and to will the healing of my servant and he'll be well again. This is a great saying, it only takes a flash of the will that can and the dead are raised. And Jesus marveled at his faith. Centurion went back home and there was his servant up and well and busy and apologizing and when he asked what time had the recovery taken place or it was when Jesus heard when Jesus heard he didn't need to be there he doesn't need physically to be there in order to hear and answer our prayers Now then, here this story takes place. And we're told this. Jesus went with him. And that, you see, is the answer of grace. There's no little lesson that Jesus gives, saying, well, let me just tell you this now. You know, I don't need to come with you. There's nothing like that at all. There's our sweet and forgiving Lord dealing with a father in great trial. And it teaches us that you don't have to get your prayers absolutely sinless and perfect in order for God to hear and answer. There can be an awful lot of muddle and self in all our petitions. And yet through the grace of Jesus Christ then, God gives us our heart's desire. Imagine a little girl and mummy goes down to Morrison's and she goes through the door and the little girl runs out into the garden straight away and she starts to pick flowers. And daddy says, what are you doing honey? And the girl says, gathering flowers for mummy. All right, he says. And she soon comes with her little hands and her hands full of plants. She says, can I see them? And she gives them to daddy and daddy looks at them and there's dandelions and weeds and dead plants and poison ivy and he just gets them, clears them out and then he gives them back to her and she's holding them and the door opens and mummy comes. She runs up to mummy and she gives the flowers to mummy and mummy says, oh, you're a sweet little girl and gives her a kiss. You see my illustration? You can see it, can't you? We go to God through an advocate. We go to God through a mediator. We go to God through a loving great high priest And I've never prayed a sinless prayer in my life. There's always been a bit of ego in my holiest of prayers. But Jesus descends. He takes away all the unrighteousness and what he offers to God in his name for me. Our prayers that are a fragrance to God are acceptable and are sweet. to my loving Heavenly Father. And so Jesus went with the man, as the man requested. And then they're going along and then they meet the woman and the man is, oh, dancing with eagerness that Jesus should come now and not be delayed. His daughter is dying. Come and come. And they heal the woman and then they go on their way and then a sight, a couple of people, a couple of men come round the bend and the man is saying, oh, no. Oh, oh, oh, may it not be so. They look grim. And he knows them. They're his servants. And their heads are bowed and they come up to him. And they say to him, your daughter's dead. So don't bother the master anymore. Surely they didn't say that. Surely they didn't say anything, but they hugged him. And they wept. And they said, sorry. Surely they didn't say, your daughter's dead. Such plain, cruel words. But that's what scripture says, they said. And then they add the barb. So don't bother him. Don't bother him any more. Jairus has just heard Jesus speak to a woman and say to her, daughter, your faith has saved you, has healed you. Go in peace. She's a woman and Jesus has healed her. He's a man. He's a ruler of the synagogue. He served God all his life. Why doesn't the Lord give him what he asks for? Instead of this awful news and this barb, why bother the master any longer now? The girl is dead. What more can you do about it? He's got better things to do than to come and look at a corpse. Death levels the playing field for everyone. Death always has the last word. Don't bring him a step. nearer, he's as helpless before the grave as anybody. That's what they say, isn't it? That there are some issues which religion doesn't help anyone because we're going to die just like the world is going to die. To face up to reality, you like to meet one another on a Sunday and sing these nice old hymns together and we are happy for you. But when it comes to death, you are as helpless as we are, the world says. It's the assumption of unbelief that there's a situation you're in in life and it's a dead end. There's no way out. No way that Jesus can help beyond the scope of the world's greatest teacher. That's our assumption. That's what the world thinks when it looks at the grave. We go home and we mourn a grievous providence. What more is there to do? But here is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the resurrection and the life. Here is the one with power over disease and over demons and over creation. And he speaks and he says, don't be afraid. Fear not. Just believe, he says. Go on believing that he says. That's what he says. when your daughter was alive, you came to me and you thought I could help when she was alive. Don't let your faith now grow weak that she has died. Go on believing. Don't stop. Still trust me when things get worse. Don't let your fears win, your fears that say, well, death always has the last word. You'll never see her again. Jesus says to him, don't be afraid. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Keep trusting in me now. Keep trusting. That's why he's brought you here tonight. He's saying to you, you've got some difficulties. And the devil is saying to you, there we are. Look, Christians have difficulties, terrible difficulties, sometimes worse difficulties than the world has. What's the point of going on? And the Lord is saying to you, Keep trusting, keep believing, keep believing. So he ignores what the servants say and he keeps walking to Jairus' house. You see what that says to us. that though the servants said there was no hope and that he shouldn't go, Jesus kept believing. Jesus kept trusting in his father, that he could do exceeding abundantly above all, that he asked to think that he could heal a woman of 12 years with any sew of blood and he could heal her, but now look, here's a dead child. Jesus keeps going. He keeps going. He doesn't shake Jerry's hand and say, sorry old man, so sorry. I've got to leave you now. I've got a crowd of people listening to my preaching and I've got to go and preach to them, so I'm sorry. Now next time, try to contact me a little earlier. And then I'll see what I can do. Nothing like that. He keeps going. He keeps going where death reigns, and Jesus comes there. Don't be afraid, just believe. You see, he's adequate for things we've never experienced. When you're going through the valley alone for the first time, Jesus is adequate. When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you need fear no evil, for he is with you. And his rod and his staff, they comfort you. So when there's still hope, you're trusting in Jesus about the prognosis. But when it's final, you must still trust in him. You must still trust in him. So let me then go on to show you how the Lord Jesus conceals his glory here. He didn't let anyone follow him except Peter and James and John. Now you remember, don't you, the other two occasions when he was selective about who could come with him. You remember them. Firstly, there was the Mount of Transfiguration. And then secondly, there was Gethsemane and the praying in the garden. There was transfiguration, there was intercession, and here, resurrection. And what this does is to elevate this miracle that we're looking at tonight. It's one of the most important miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's there alongside Gethsemane's intercession. Father, take the cup from me. It's alongside then the transfiguration where Moses and Elijah come from heaven and talk with him about the decease he would accomplish in Jerusalem. It's there. This is holy ground. And it's important for the three men to be there because of the Deuteronomic a requirement in 1915, a matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. So that when Mark comes down to record this miracle, he's got the authority of one who was an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus Christ who did this miracle. And he tells him everything. Peter is there and Mark is writing it down. He's writing it down because it's the foundation of this congregation and a million congregations of gospel Christians like it all over the world as it has been for two thousand years. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of it. So we want to know, don't we? We want to get it right. And so here are Peter and James and John and they are there. And then you see the crowd is not there. Now when Jesus rose from the dead he didn't go to Pilate, he didn't go to Annas and Caiaphas, he didn't go to the Pharisees, he didn't go to the crowds who had said crucify him. He went to Mary and Mary and another godly woman He went to Peter and John. He went to the 11. He went to Cleopas. He went to his half-brother, to James. He went to 500. The flock he had gathered, his successful evangelism and the people we read about, Martha and Mary and Lazarus and the woman with the issue of blood. the cleansed lepers, and all of those wonderful personalities. And they're drawn together to the hillside of Galilee. And like a queen in Buckingham Palace at a party, a tea party, the clock strikes three, the doors open, out she comes. And they're tireless. And she speaks to people, and, why were you invited? And she listens to them so sweetly. and Jesus for those hours amongst the 500, the things they never forgot. And years later, Paul says, you talk to them, you find them, they're there everywhere. And they love to talk about the time when they saw the risen Jesus. Believers. More to those who find are this, no tongue, no pen, can show the love of Jesus what it is. None but his loved ones know. And so the women wailing, paid to wail. The Talmud said, if you're very poor, you must have one wailer at a funeral and a flautist. You must have that, everyone. And they were there. The greatest group in the world of wailers was the Jerusalem women. That's what they were called. And there was the woman in charge, and she'd take her apron off. And when they were going to crucify a young man outside the city, she'd make sure that her group were there. And they would line up, six of them. And then they would start to wail as the boys came, carrying their crosses off to death. And they would all relate together and mourn together until Jesus came and silenced them. He didn't want their pity. He said to them, you wail for yourselves. What's going to happen when people say, you're fortunate not to have children. I have children. What's going to happen when Rome sends its legions and sieges the city and their starvation? And we're eating rats. What will they do to us girls? You mourn for yourselves. I don't want your pity. And Jesus silenced them with a look and said, Why are you wailing? She isn't dead. She's asleep. You know how the New Testament, when it talks about the dead in Christ, it uses that metaphor. It says they're sleeping in Jesus. They're sleeping in Jesus. And those that were wailing so agony, beating their breasts, 10 seconds later they are Breaking out in laughter. That's what it says. It's in scripture in front of you. They laughed at him. They were weeping one minute and they were laughing the next. They were so shallow in their grief as the world is. And Jesus said, get out. And now there are seven people in the room, aren't there? Seven. There are three disciples. There's Mr. and Mrs. Jairus, and the little girl, and the Lord Jesus Christ. There are these seven in the room. And then he says something very strange. He says in verse 43, he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this. Ain't that funny? He gave these strict orders. Don't tell anyone what happened here. Oh, come on. They all know she's dead. The two men have come. And the crowd of women and whalers there, they've all seen, and the neighbours, they all know the girl is dead. And she's going to rise from the dead, and we're not to tell anyone? What is all this about? Well, you see, he doesn't want the details of what happened in that girl's room to be spread abroad. That's what it's about. If reporters come from the Jerusalem Post next week and they say, oh, something remarkable happened here and we're always looking for a good story, some resurrection, and you just say to them, I can't tell you. Come on, come on, there's good money in this. No. I won't say a word. And when she went the next Wednesday afternoon to the Jewish Ladies Weaving Guild, and they said, oh, you've heard something exciting in your house, haven't you? She said, yeah. I can't share it with you, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And there were a couple of reasons for him saying this. The first was knowledge of the power of Jesus at this early stage in his ministry would have been devastating for him. He had already taken and killed John the Baptist. The Roman powers couldn't have somebody who could raise the dead wandering through the empire. He can't be hunted like a partridge in the wilderness, going down near the Dead Sea and hiding in caves for the next two years. It can't be like this. He's got these country yokels, fishermen, tax collectors and young boys, and he has to teach them what the Kingdom of God is. He has to teach them who he is, who they are. The great diagnosis of the human race and how man is in sin and needs a redeemer. And that he is the one who is promised to our first parents via the word to the serpent that one will come who will bruise the serpent's head. And he needs this time. And so he says, keep mum about it. And because then the revelation of how glorious he is wouldn't be understood by the world. They'd exaggerate it in all sorts of ways or minimize it or mock it, as the world does. And the last thing we see here is how the Lord Jesus displays his glory over death. We're told that he went up to the child and he took her by the hand and he said to her, it means it'll go, get up. And immediately she got up. She was 12 years of age and they were flabbergasted. They were just astonished. The rumors about Jesus were absolutely true. He could do amazing things. There's someone here with greater power than death. And you'll notice how Mark actually quotes the Aramaic words. Now it's certain that Jesus and his disciples could speak Greek. It was the lingua franca. Peter had terrific Greek. His two letters are amongst the most excellent examples of the Greek language that we have. But the normal language that everyone used was Aramaic. Hebrew had died about 300 years earlier and then though the scribes knew it and studied it, most people used what was called the Septuagint, the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek. So, why does Mark here say talithukumi? You know, he does, in a number of places in the Bible, quote Aramaic, doesn't he? There's a man who is deaf and he says efatha, which is Aramaic, mean be opened, is be opened. And then on the cross he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And that's, again, Aramaic. And then when he says to his father, Abba, that's the Aramaic for dad. Well, you see, it was so unforgettable for him, wasn't it, the event? Wouldn't it be unforgettable for you? your daughter raised from the dead? Wouldn't it be something you, when he went preaching in, on his journeyings, on his evangelizing to Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, Galatia, when he went preaching in those places, and sat down with them in the evenings, and after a meal together, they would say, you know, tell us about Jesus, tell us, tell us. Tell me about Jesus. Didn't he heal a little girl? Didn't he raise her from the dead? And he'd say, well, yes. Her father was the leader of the synagogue, and he came. And Jesus went with him and went into the room. And he threw out the whalers. And we were just six or seven people. The little girl was lying there, and she was quite dead. And Jesus took her by the hand and he said to her, it's our language, you know. It means little girl, rise up. That's what he said to her. It was not a magic word. It wasn't abacadabra. You understand that. It was the commonplace language. that every afternoon when the sun was far hotter than it's been here in the last week. And the mother would say, now you rest. The sun is high. You go to bed now. You have a siesta. And she didn't want the girl to sleep all the afternoon because she wouldn't sleep at night. And so she would go 3, 3.30. Every mother would say then to her child, Talitha Kumi, little girl, come on, little one. Wake up now. You've had your sleep. Talitha Kumi. When Jesus comes into your life, he changes the language of the home. And commonplace language and commonplace statements are transformed by him. And he makes brushing and cleaning and all the teasing and the happiness of a Christian home. He greatly enriches it, like he does here. The life-giving power of God coming into a home and affecting the simple things that parents say to their children. So you see, he raised her. She was dead, but Jesus could raise her. That's the main truth. The realm of death is under the sway of Jesus. What he will do, what he will do. This miracle is a signpost and it points us to Jesus Christ. We are dying men and women and we are looking to one who is more powerful than death. Well, you say, why don't we see that sort of thing more often? You say to me. If what you Christians say is true, why aren't Christians raised from the dead today? And death certificates torn up. Why don't we have it? Well, for the same reason as we don't have much of it. When Jesus was on the earth, you have the raising of the widow of Nain's son, and Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus, those two were raised from the dead, and this is the other one. Three. There could have been others, but only three are recorded. Why? Well, because it wasn't time yet for this. That's resurrection day. That's the second coming of Jesus Christ. What we have here are simply samples of his resurrection power. Most people who died while Jesus was in this world remained dead. He didn't go to the cemeteries and the graveyards and raise people from The dead. Gravediggers still made a living. Funeral directors still had plenty to do every week. There were just a few episodes. Why these episodes? Well, to show us who has ultimate power. What's more important, death? What's more powerful, death or the preacher of the Sermon on the Mount? And the Bible tells us that the preacher of the Sermon on the Mount is more powerful than death, that he can open the jaws of death and he can bring out those that were dead. And the raising of Jairus' daughter was a sign of what's to come. It was a foretaste of what's to come. Let me use that picture, foretaste. We lived in a little house in Merthyr Tydfil, in the 1940s. And in the winter, then, we'd get up. I'd be up first, like children are. And we'd go to the kitchen. And Dad, then, would rake out the ashes from the grate. And he'd put them in the ash bucket. And then he would put paper and sticks. And he would put lumps of coal down and coke that hadn't been burned out, he would put that on the top and then he would light the paper and he'd made a blower out of metal and he'd put that against it and then he would put paper around it to seal the draft. So the draft came underneath and the fire would start and then he'd go over to a sink here and he'd wash and shave with his collar detached and mum would make eggs and bacon on the cooker next door. That's what we always had for breakfast. and then we would keep an eye on the paper that it wouldn't catch a light and then mum and I would live in that room. The one room in the house in the winter that was warm and we lived there before I went to school. I'm four years of age, say, and we'd listen to the radio and then mum would make cake. And she'd put the flour and the butter and the sugar and the milk and everything, and she'd stir it all together. She'd have two sponge tins with greaseproof paper, and she'd put the mixture in, and she'd put it in the oven. And then she'd give me the bowl. And the wooden spoon. Oh, I can taste it today. The foretaste. Mmm, lovely. Oh, it was sweet and delightful. I'd eat that. And then in 45 minutes, the food would be ready. She'd take it out of the oven and she'd snap open the sides and she'd put the kettle on. And she'd make milky tea for me and then tea for herself. and then she'd put jam on the cake and she'd cut it and now, not the foretaste, but now the real cake, mom's cake. Mom's wonderful sponge cake. That's the way the miracles of Jesus function. They give hope to the people of God, they do. They give hope to James. James was there. James was arrested. He was the older brother, so he goes first always in the war. Not as important as John, but he was the older brother, so it's James and John. And James is arrested. And one day into his prison cell, three soldiers come and they grab an arm each and the other has a short-bladed sword. up through the solar plexus into the heart and mercy, fully and mercilessly, he dies and he knows, he knows what's going to happen. And he remembers being there. And he remembers Talitha Kumi. And he remembers the dead being raised. And he knows this, sir, this isn't the end. This isn't the end. He's had the foretaste of His glory. We're given such a word, aren't we? John 6, 40, for the Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. And I will raise Him up at the last day. John 6, 40, that's the promise. And if you're thinking, now all this is too good to be true. And if you are thinking, whoever heard of anyone being raised from the dead, you just did. Didn't you? That's what we've been talking about on this planet. With gravity working and night and day following one another and us inhaling oxygen and breathing out the poison. A man raised the dead. In Revelation 1.17, Jesus speaks. Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and hell. That's what he says. The keys are a symbol of authority, aren't they? Of control. Jesus has the keys. Jesus has the keys. You've got your car keys with you. You have your front door keys with you. They're a symbol of ownership, of possession, of authority. Jesus has the keys of eternity. of death, he has the keys. There was a woman in Andrew Bonner's congregation, she was very afraid of dying. And one day that verse came to her. That verse I just quoted to you, it came to her and she knew who was the one who had the keys. I like a woman writer, she's not a Christian, named Joan Didion, she's an American, she records things and she sees and she's got a quizzical mind. And she was in California at the time of the flower power and the Beatles singing All You Need Is Love and all that, and all that mysticism. And she was working in the summer as a student in an apartment house and she was taking the keys from people who'd hired an apartment for a week and taking their money and giving them keys and she said, I've got the keys, but I haven't got the key. And there are people all around us in Hailsham, they've got the keys, They've got the keys to a nice boat down on the coast. They've got the keys to a security box in a bank. They've got keys to a second home on the south of France. Keys to a lovely car. They've got the keys. They've got a lot of keys, but they haven't got the key. What's this life all about? Why are we in the world? And Jesus has the key. Jesus is the key to knowing that and experience. I have come that you might have life and that you might have it at its fullness. What a kind Savior we have. What a mighty Savior. I can't understand why you don't want Him. to be your Saviour. I can't understand anyone who can hear what Jesus did and said and that you don't long for Him to be your Lord and your Saviour. Except men love darkness rather than light. Jairus' daughter lived for many years but she died I suppose her father, Jairus, died first, as men often do, and then her mother died, and she married, and she had children, and then she grew old. And on her deathbed then, her family gathered round her, and she spoke to them. And on her dying bed, she told them that she had lost her fear of death when she was 12 years old. She left that fear with Jesus long ago. And she said, the first hand I'm going to feel will be his hand. And the first face I'm going to see will be his face. And the first voice will be his voice. And he would be saying to me, talitha kumi. Little girl, arise. Amen. Let's pray together.