We Can Trust Jesus (Jake Enns)

This morning, today actually is the day of Pentecost and I don't

know how how many of you this resonates, but there are

churches this morning that have a baptism service and that's the

standard practice for them every year on June the 8th or not on

June the 8th on Pentecost Sunday, rather, they celebrate

baptism. That's the day when the Spirit

came down and fill the apostles, the disciples.

They were together in prayer and there was a big sound of rushing

wind, and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and

it was an exciting and an eventful time.

And Peter preached A sermon. At the end of that day, 3000

people were baptized and received into membership.

Well, they didn't have membership per SE, let's say.

We don't know for sure, but they were then part of the Church of

Jesus Christ. We tonight as well want to

celebrate with baptism. We did not plan it with that in

mind because that's Pentecost that didn't cross our minds when

we picked June the 8th, but just so happens to be.

So I think it's very fitting. So tonight, everyone's welcome

here at 6:00 for a baptism ceremony and members of

Transfer. The sermon this morning is not

geared toward Pentecost. It's a sermon based again out of

the gospel of Mark. We're going through the gospel

of Mark in our, in our sermon series and our title this

morning is we can trust Jesus. We can trust Jesus.

I want to begin with this question this morning.

When does a person grow the most in their relationship, in their

trust relationship with Jesus? Trusting God is a big deal it's

not always easy, and we all know that sometimes trusting is very

hard The disciples of Jesus, they were not that great and

always trusting Jesus and neither are we, so we're in good

company with them. There are circumstances in life

where we just know there's no easy way out of the problem we

face. We we sometimes face issues and

struggles where we have to what we say.

Unless God has a miracle, it's not going to turn out well.

Unless God has something that's out of the ordinary, then things

will be difficult. I want us to envision it like

this. Let's say a person's going

through a hard time. The person does pray for healing

or removal of an obstacle or a challenge in life, Let's say.

Whatever the question may be, here's here's what I want to

ask. Does God have the same objective

in mind and allowing a person to go through suffering as the

believer has in praying for the suffering to be removed?

Does that the same? I think it's a valid question.

In other words, we live in a sin broken world and God allows

people to suffer to reveal His power over sin and his reveal

his glory, but the suffering person prays that God will

remove the suffering, trusting God will do so for his glory.

There's a story in the Bible. Before we get into Mark chapter

Mark 4 · chapter mention

4 and five, I want to just draw reference to the story in John

John 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9. The first few verses, there's a

story where there's a blind man and the disciples said, hey

master, who sinned? He or his parents that he's born

blind to them. It was not a question had

somebody sinned. The question was who sinned

Jesus? Nobody.

This happened that God's power may be revealed.

That's why it happened. Often times when someone

suffers, as did the blind man in John 9, it may not be because

somebody did wrong. It can be people inflict evil on

people, and so people suffer because of sin, that sense.

But sometimes sin is not the issue.

Sin doesn't happen. We must learn to trust Jesus no

matter what the the reason may be why we're suffering.

Is it just something that happened?

Maybe a person is born a certain way and suffers.

Maybe a person has an accident through no fault of anybody.

Maybe somebody did something bad.

But whatever the the purpose of suffering is, God allows it for

reasons which he does not explain to us.

But this much we can say only when we align our will with

God's will should we expect God to do anything, either remove

the suffering or give us what we need to go through the

suffering. And if we trust God, he will do

one of two things. He will remove the suffering or

He will give us strength to endure the suffering.

But he won't leave us. He won't leave us either way.

We're called to trust Jesus. We're called to trust him.

And we will never fully understand this on this side of

eternity. Let's just face it.

Let's just accept that there is sometimes no answer on this side

of heaven. There is no answer as in chapter

58, verse 55, verse 8 and 9, The pot the prophet writes for.

My thoughts are not your thoughts.

God is writing to the prophet, nor are your ways my ways, says

the Lord. For as the heavens are higher

than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my

thoughts than your thoughts. OK, Lord, explain it to me.

Not a chance. He can't explain some things, he

does some things, but on the big scheme, we will never really

know. We just don't.

This does not mean, however, that we shouldn't pray for

healing or that we should not pray for the removal of the

issues we face. We should, and we do, but

there's a lot more at stake than us wanting a problem removed or

a sick individual healed. The question is, is our desire

for physical healing and removal of problems greater than our

desire for God's glory? Last Sunday we left off in Mark

Mark 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 where Jesus taught the people in parables and he says

to those on the outside I speak only in parables, but to the

disciples on the inside he explained the parables.

So this morning we're continuing in Mark's Gospel and in chapter

4, verse 35, Mark shifts. There's a shift if you read the

gospel, the shift from Jesus talking in parables, Mark's

writing about parables that Jesus told.

Now Mark is writing about miracles that Jesus did.

There's a shift in the story in Mark chapter 4, verse 35 to Mark

Mark 4:35 Mark 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. Through the chapter, Mark writes

about four different miracles that Jesus did and demonstrated

his power in four different ways.

It's a fascinating story. Unfortunately, our time in in a,

in a Sunday morning is too short to do justice to all four

stories. So I won't do all four stories,

but I'll do a kind of a brief fly over, if you want to call it

that, or brief overview observation of these 4 miracles.

Just a few words about each, each miracle that happened.

So the first miracle was the miracle of the storm at sea.

Jesus had been speaking. He gets in the boat and sails

across the sea and it's night time and it's, it's, well, it's,

it's stormy. It gets very stormy.

And what's he doing? He's in the back of the boat

sleeping on a pillow. And the disciples are fighting

for their lives, trying to not sink.

And they asked him in verse 40, don't you care that we're

perishing? And then Jesus, as Jesus often

does, he does a miracle. He calms the storm and rebukes

his disciples. You have no faith or little

faith. And then the disciples being

scared of drowning, they're not scared of drowning anymore.

And others are scared of him. They fear him.

Who is this guy? They learned a bit about trust

right there. Then there's a second miracle.

Continuing on in chapter 5, the 1st 10 verses, Jesus heals a

demon possessed man. They come to shore and right

away on shore, this, this demon possessed man comes running to

Jesus and falls before him and addresses Jesus, the Son of God.

And Jesus has this conversation with this demon.

What's your name and legion and they know it's coming.

They know what's up. This is going to end badly for

them. And then they beg, don't send us

out of the region and and don't torment us and and so on and let

us go into those pigs that are feeding over there by the

hillside. And Jesus gives them permission.

They go into the pigs. The pigs all run down the steep

bank into the ocean to the sea and they drown.

And that's the end of them. And the these guys who are

hurting, who are shepherding and hurting the pigs or feeding the

pigs there, they run off into the community and tell what

happened. This demon possessed guy, he's

now, he's now healed and pigs are dead and the people come out

and they begin to plead with Jesus to leave them.

The disciples had a first hand witness and eyewitness, the 1st

and eyewitnesses of what Jesus did, He actually healed a demon

possessed man. Then the third miracle's over a

sickness. There's a woman who's had a

blood flow verse 21 to 34 for 12 years and she spent all her

money on doctors and nothing's working.

And it doesn't get better, gets worse.

And she hears Jesus is around and she sneaks into the crowd

and pushes forward and touches his garment and she's healed on

the spot. And she wants to get away.

And Jesus calls her out and he addresses her and she's, she's

totally fine. And she's healed.

And body and soul both. And the final miracles over

death. This young 12 year old girl is

her dad, her father, the synagogue ruler, J Iris.

He's come to Jesus and he wants them to come and come and heal

my daughter, lay hands on her and heal her.

And he wants to. But before he gets there, the

girl dies and Jesus does still go and heal her.

These last two stories, the kind of interwoven, interconnected.

So that's where we want to spend our time with this morning.

So let's look at these two stories and we want to read out

of Mark chapter 5 beginning verse 21 to 43.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

Mark 5, verse 21 to 43. Now when Jesus had crossed over

Mark 5:21–43

again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to

him, and he was by the sea. And behold, one of the rulers of

the synagogue came, Jairus by name.

And when he saw him, he fell at his feet, and begged him

earnestly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of

death, Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed,

and she will live. So Jesus went with him, and a

great multitude followed him and thronged him.

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for 12 years and hadn't

suffered many things from many physicians.

She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather

grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she

came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

For she said, If only I may touch his clothes, I shall be

made well. Immediately the fountain of her

blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed

of the affliction. And Jesus immediately,

immediately, and knowing in Himself that power had gone out

of him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my

clothes? But his disciples said to him,

You see the multitude thronging, thronging you, and you say, Who

touched me? And he looked around to see who

had to see her, who had done this thing.

But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had

happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him

the whole truth. And he said to her, daughter,

Your faith has made you well, Go in peace and be healed of your

affliction. While he was still speaking,

some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, who said,

Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any

further? As soon as Jesus heard the word

that was spoken, he said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not

be afraid, only believe. And he permitted no one to

follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

Then he came to the House of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw

a tumult. And those who wept and wailed

loudly when he came in, he said to them, Why make this commotion

and weep? The child's not dead, but it's

but sleeping. Then they ridiculed him.

But when he had put them all outside, he took the father and

mother of the child, and those were with him, and entered where

the child was lying. Then he took the child by the

hand and said her said to her Talitha Kumi, which is

translated, Little girl, I say to you, Arise.

Immediately the girl arose and walked for she was 12 years of

age and they were overcome with great amazement.

But he commanded them strictly that no one should know it and

said that something should be given her to eat.

Thus far, the reading of the Scripture.

I want you to keep your Bibles or devices open because we'll

refer back to this as we go along.

It's interesting how Jesus and people's needs somehow always

seem to meet each other and get attracted to each other like

magnets. I don't want to say trouble

found Jesus, but in a way it's like that.

Difficulties always seem to follow Jesus around.

People have people had them struggles and challenges and

they followed him. Where Jesus went, there people

came who had needs, and that's proper.

And that's what we should do too.

There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, that's what we're

supposed to do. The people were doing the right

thing. Now, mind you, of course not

everybody who always came was there for the right reasons.

But the people with needs, they came.

And it's safe to say that for Jesus as a man, his ministry on

earth was not an easy one. It was riddled with problems and

challenges because every time someone had a problem, it became

his problem, his issue to deal with.

And he did. So in this story, Jesus has now

crossed the sea. He's landed on the shore, and

someone comes hurriedly to Jesus.

And this man named Jairus comes and he says to him, hey, master

or rabbi, quickly come, my daughter's the point of death,

please come. And then a little bit later on

the story of the woman, see this, this man, Jairus, he's

even named, he was a man of status, we could say in the

local town, he was maybe the local pastor.

We could say he was the guy who would preach on the Sabbath to

the to the congregation. He was the man people looked up

to, people revered, people respected him.

He was a pillar in society and the culture and the community.

We can say if somebody had a need, let's go talk to pastor to

Rabbi Gyrus. Let's go see what he would say.

Let's go ask him for support, things like that.

But now he was in need of support.

Now he was on the end where he needed someone and he, oh, Jesus

has come. I'm going to go to him.

I'm going to go to him and ask him.

And he does. He faces a situation that he

needs help with. His 12 year old daughter is

almost dying, hanging on to life by a thread.

He needs he needs to come urgently and Jesus, true to his

nature, walks with him. It's not just Jesus and the Iris

who are now walking. There's a throng of people

following. It's like everybody in the

community wants to be close to Jesus.

But the Iris had trust Jesus walking with him, and we can

just imagine the mind he must have had there walking along.

Hopefully we're not too late. Hopefully we make it on time.

Hopefully she's alive when we get home.

We do not know how far they walked.

We do not know what exactly was in his mind.

But we can't imagine if it was my 12 year old child, what would

have gone through my mind. Let's get there, let's get

going. Well, there's an interruption in

the story. Something happens in the story

that's could not have waited. She'd had a full of blood for 12

years. Why not just wait till after the

healing of the dead girl? I mean the almost dead girl.

This woman comes along. She's also heard that she's in

the community. She's had her problem for 12

years, 12 years and she's not even named.

Here's a certain woman, she's not named.

She spent all she had problems still there.

It's gotten worse. In fact, she's there and she has

this idea. If I only touch his garment,

I'll be made. Well, the man, he's a, everybody

knows Gyrus. But this woman, we don't know if

anybody knew her, someone no doubt did, but she's not named

her problems. one-of-a-kind. That's not kind of embarrassing.

If you know what this is referring to, you know what it's

talking about. And this has been with her for a

long time and she was unclean. She was a woman who should not

be out in public. She should be by herself, not

with people. I want to read out of Leviticus

15. I'll have this in the PowerPoint

here. Leviticus 15, verse 25.

Leviticus 15:25

This is the law of Moses for a woman who had her issue.

Let's read. If a woman has a discharge of

blood for many days other than at the time of her customary

impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all

the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days

of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean.

Get that? Not only that, every bed on

which she lies, all the days of her discharge shall be to her as

the bed of her impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be

unclean as the uncleanness of her impurity.

Whoever touches those things shall be unclean.

He shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean

till evening. Not just don't touch her.

Don't touch what she touched. Imagine living like that.

Imagine living that for 12 years and you've been here and there

and everywhere, spent all your money and nothing is working.

And then you hear the physician of all physicians, the man who

can heal anything. That man's around.

Would you keep the law and still not touch?

Would you still keep away? No, no, she doesn't do that.

You see, she couldn't go to the marketplace, to the public,

places where people would know her, never mind a synagogue or a

worship service. But she had a lot of trust and a

lot of faith. Her, her faith was stronger than

her fear of disobeying the law. See, sometimes desperate

situations call for desperate measures.

She's been like this for 12 years.

Let's we, we can't even really wrap our brain around this 12

long years of this situation. It's a long time.

Here she is, Jesus coming and Jesus walking, and she joins the

throng. She didn't want to go public.

She didn't want to expose who she was.

She reasoned, if I can only touch him, I'll just touch him.

It'll work. It'll work.

And so women in those days, they basically wore head coverings

like this, this, this veil over their head, this, this, this

large something on their head. You couldn't really see them,

who they were unless you looked in the face.

And she must have just come along.

And maybe if she would look down, we can't say, but imagine

it must have been like that. And she has her head down and

nobody will recognize me. And just just, if I can touch

him, just touch him. She works her way into the crowd

and through the throng and gets close to Jesus.

And sure enough, she gets close enough.

Just touch him. And immediately she's healed.

Just like that, suffering's over.

Now it's time to get out, get right, get a hasty retreat.

Before somebody knows, right, The 12 year old, 12 year ordeal

is done. Having lived with us forever,

the sickness, the stigma, she's healed, no longer unclean, but

not quite so fast. This act on her part was real.

It was true, but also for Jesus. And he noticed something

happened. And then verse 30 to 34, he

turns around and says who touched me?

And the disciples jaws dropping. Master, what are you talking

about? Look at the crowd who touched

me? What are you asking?

Another lesson for them, another jaw-dropping lesson for them.

They're normal men. But I would have asked too.

Hey, what are you talking about? Look, there's, you can't even

walk fast here. But he's not paying attention to

his disciples. He's not asking them.

He's saying, who touched my clothes?

And it says here. He looked around to see her.

Verse 32. He looked around to see her who

had done this thing? And the woman knows it's over.

I'm exposed now everybody will know.

It's just like, could we not do this somewhere private?

It's on, it's on the street in broad daylight where everybody's

walking traffic and Jesus doesn't seem to care.

So how does the woman respond? Not run away?

She doesn't do that. It says.

She comes fearing and trembling, verse 33, knowing what had

happened to her, and verse 3 three and came down, came and

fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

Meanwhile, Gyrus is standing there.

OK, here goes my time for my daughter.

We don't know if he thought that or not, but this was an

interruption. She'd been found out.

She couldn't hide. And fear and trembling, she

comes forward in front of everybody, falls down before

him. She was the unclean woman, had

been for 12 years. Who would believe her?

Well, Jesus obviously, because he says who touched me.

She was afraid. She's broken, but she was

honest. She told him the whole story,

what had happened to her and her and how her faith had been

rewarded. But here she was publicly

exposed. She told him everything and then

she waits. What's he going to say?

He's the rabbi after all. You don't touch my neighbor.

Never mind him. She'd broken the rules.

But notice this word in verse 34.

And I put it here. He said to her daughter, your

faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of

your affliction. Jesus did not say I healed you,

He says. Daughter, let's pause over that

word for just a moment. We don't know even the name of

the woman or anything about her other than this little bit a

certain woman. But we know what Jesus called

her. Daughter doesn't get better than

that, better than her own name. She was safe with Jesus.

She trusted. You see, it doesn't matter where

you're in life when you come to Jesus and faith.

Notice what He wants to call those who come.

He wants to call them son or daughter.

That is sacred. We can only imagine this woman's

trembling shoulders, the fear, her shaking knees when she comes

and how that just drained away before Jesus when he called her

daughter. And not just did he call her

daughter, He says your faith has healed you.

Your faith has made you well. She trusted power had gone from

him to her. She was on the right track.

Not that this act of touching Jesus garment had a magical

power. No, no, no.

But she trusted in Jesus and that was the power that healed

her. He says go in peace, be healed

of your affliction, life change. We don't know how long this

took. I'm assuming that took longer

than just a short little 5 minute reading of the passage.

I think it took quite a bit longer.

And these things do take time. And meanwhile, he was Gyrus,

when we're going to get going with my daughter, we need to get

there because she's sick and she's going to die if we don't

get there soon. Well, this interruption did

'cause just that. And it says in verse 35, but he

was still speaking. Some came from the ruler of the

synagogue's house that your daughter's dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?

Case over, It's finished, it's done, it's too late.

And Jesus knows this. And he says to the ruler, don't

be afraid, only believe. And then Jesus does something

interesting. He won't allow anybody to

follow. He disperses the throng.

OK, guys, I got something to do. I got something important.

I, I need you to leave. I'm, I'm, I'm going to be busy

for a little bit. We don't know exactly how he did

that, but he does not allow the throng to follow.

It says we're 37. He permitted no one to follow

him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James.

And so now off they go to to Jairus house.

Now, Gyrus, imagine his mind, OK, my daughter's dead.

What are we going to do now? I don't think it registered with

him necessarily that, OK, Jesus could heal that.

Will he heal my dead daughter? And logically speaking, would

have been the time to call off the trip.

You know, I mean, dead people are just dead, right?

And but Jesus doesn't do that. He says only believe, only

believe. And from that point on, just

Jesus, Peter, James and John go there and the crowd can no

longer come. They arrive at the house.

Things are not good we're 38 to come to the House of the ruler

of the synagogue. There's already a crowd there

and there's this loud wailing or this says they wailed loudly.

The crowd has gathered there's a funeral in the process funeral

making it prepare, preparation of the process and the ones

whose job it was to lead the mourning process, they're busy

weeping in mourning loudly. By the way, just in the side

note here, I did did Google and research wailing in mourning a

little bit and that's actually a thing and I knew it was back

then, but it's actually a modern thing too in some countries

still. And actually, I don't know how

true Google is, but there's mourners for hire.

You can actually hire them in some countries.

And so that's what's happening here.

They're called, they do their thing, they do the morning.

And then Jesus says, and get this, he says, why make this

commotion and weep? The child's not dead, but

sleeping. If it was my child in bed lying

dead, I wouldn't like that being said.

And I don't think they did either.

In fact, we know they didn't because when he says the child

is sleeping, it says in verse 40 they ridiculed him.

Everybody knows she's dead. What's your problem?

The professional mourners, they've been to funerals many

times. They knew death.

They'd arrived on, maybe because they were called.

I think they were called, and now Jesus, this Jewish rabbi is

saying this is not a big deal. It's not a big issue.

It was a big deal and they all knew it.

But then he tells them to leave, too.

Not just the crowd left behind on the street, on the road,

wherever they were. Now that he puts this crowd out,

too, all the mourners don't know how many there were, but they

all have to leave too. Get out.

He puts them outside and walks into this room where the dead

girl is. And takes her by the.

Hand and says in Aramaic Talitha Kumi, which means little girl, I

say to you arise and then she gets up.

Mark then tells us that Jesus did not want the story to

spread. You see, Jesus was never entered

for the publicity for the attention and notoriety that it

would gain him. He just wanted to help this

couple, this man in this, this gyrus and his wife's and their

little daughter. It does.

Tell us that they were overcome with great amazement, rightly

so. And no doubt everybody would

have wanted to share this, right?

But they're told not to. And just a side note too.

Makes me wonder about those mourners outside.

Knowing for certain he's. Going to come out and nothing's

happened, only to find out, oh, wait a minute, this girl did

rise from the dead. And as far as these these

mourners, I'm not sure. Did they get paid for their

little thing or was it called off and they have to go home?

I don't know, but it's almost a bit like they're proven wrong,

not Jesus is. This story has 2 characters.

This this story about these miracles.

Two people, this well known respected pillar of the

community, the synagogue ruler, the gyrus, this woman who's not

even named just a person living as an as a as a unclean woman.

Yet at the end of both of them walk away with a new experience,

a new knowledge, a new understanding, a new perception

of Jesus and His power. Maybe we need that sometimes.

We need a new understanding, a new perception, a new experience

with Jesus. In each case, they were drawn

closer to Jesus because of what they went through and what they

experienced, and that in that they learned to trust Jesus.

Maybe if Jairus's daughter had not gotten sick, he would have

never got to know Jesus this way.

Maybe if the woman had not had 12 years of experience with her

uncleanness, she would not have gotten to know Jesus this way.

And back to the story of the boat in the sea.

If the storm hadn't come, the disciples may never have learned

that Jesus, oh he actually has power over nature as well.

The story of the demonic. Maybe if the disciples hadn't

witnessed that, they wouldn't have noticed.

Oh Jesus does have total control over the demonic as well.

One thing to note, I've. Read and listened to different

writers and read different writers on this passage and this

thing is pointed out. These miracles were great.

They were awesome, but they were not permanent.

There would be other storms at sea.

Sometimes people drown at sea. There'd be other times when the

forces of darkness would exercise demonic attack and

control still goes on today. Healing a sick person.

Is a great a great thing. But that didn't mean this woman

would never die. She did die later on, we don't

know from what, but she did die. Raising this dead child to life

was a good thing, but she died as well.

Maybe of old age. But she died.

So what's the lesson here? The.

Miracles that Jesus performed, they were not primarily for

making storm seas or sick people well or cast out Satan, although

he's going to do that one day for for real, I mean forever.

Those were miracles he did not because he needed to do them or

even because the people needed them.

There was a greater purpose because.

We know he didn't heal. All sick people.

He didn't heal all the demonic people, he didn't raise all the

people. What was His objective in doing

these miracles? He did them to demonstrate who

God is, who He is, and God's desire for us to be with Him.

That we must learn. Oh yes, there's a need.

For miracles, even today. But there's needs that are.

Much greater. We must realize the Christian

life is not about the miracles. Jesus couldn't does miracles

even today in some places, but it's not about them, it's about

something deeper. Jesus wants to draw us to God,

to him. He wants to call us sons and

daughters. He loves us, He's concerned

about us, He wants us. The apostle John, when he wrote

the letter to 1st John, what we call first John, he says, my

little children, these things I write to you so you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus

Christ the righteous. Not just in our good times does

he stick up for us and advocate for us with the Father even when

we sin. You see, folks, that's family.

We can trust. Him.

In the end, Jesus. Does miracles, and if He does

them, they're for His glory, because he wants people to do

recognize Him. And if he does not do miracles,

the same principle holds true. He sometimes delays for doing

miracles, sometimes not at all. I.

Want to share a little? Story to close there's a woman

she's living today, her name is Johnny Ericsson Tata.

Some of you know her. She's a 75 years old now.

As far as I know, she has a ministry called Johnny and

friends. She was paralyzed in a diving

accident when she was 17 and she became a quadriplegic.

Life has been a very difficult journey for her.

Shortly after accident, of course, they prayed for healing

and miraculous healing, and nothing happened of that nature,

but something far better did. Shortly after her accident.

She became despondent, discouraged and depressed and

wanted to die, but then in her pain and suffering, turned to

Christ and she found New Hope. She's now been living as a

quadriplegic for close to 60 years.

It's not quite that long. She's had many obstacles in

life, not just not just her, her inability to walk, other issues

as well. Not that she didn't pray.

And many didn't pray. They did, but the physical

healing she so desperately wanted didn't come.

But she has joy. And here's what she said.

In one of her videos she has numerous videos out she said

this and I'll quote her. I would not trade a Christ like

character for any amount of walking and I really would

rather be in this wheelchair knowing these as I do.

Than. Being on my feet and knowing

less of him. You see, folks?

It's not about the miracles as much as it is about the purpose

of the miracles. God wants you and I.

To glorify Him, and however He accomplishes that is for Him to

decide and not for me and you. That's up to Him.

We're invited to choose to do what's right, what honors Him.

No matter where we are or what we face, God's desire is for

many people as possible, as many as possible, to turn to Him, to

come to Him, to learn to trust Him, to live for Him and be with

Him in eternity. You see, in this world we will

always face challenges of different kinds, spiritual

storms, spiritual oppression, sickness, disease, and death.

That does not change who Jesus is or what He wants from us.

You see, when we walk with Jesus, we can trust that He will

see us through on the path that He has set out for us, whether

it's a path that's light and delightful as it sometimes can

and is, can be and is, or whether the path is hard and

difficult as it sometimes can be.

If we're on the path with Jesus, we have hope.

You have comfort. We can trust Him.

I will encourage us this morning to learn to trust Jesus.

Some may be here for the first time, some here perhaps to learn

to relearn to trust Him after having walked away for a time

with Jesus, we are secure. He will keep us.

We can trust him. Let us pray.

Thank you, Father. For sending your Son Jesus into

this world to come, to teach, to suffer alongside us.

And to draw us close. To you, Lord, we pray that we'll

be faithful and learn to trust you day by day, in totality and

completely. Lord, may our hearts be in tune

with you. May we learn to lean on you in

all circumstances. Thank you Lord, for the stories

of Scripture, how you let your people, and how you're leading

us. Today we thank in Jesus name,

Amen.