When Your Way Isn't Working

What do you do when your way isn't working?

Maybe some of you you've been trying to navigate things with

your finances, but no matter what you do, there's always more

month than there's money. What do you do when your way

isn't working? No doubt many of you guys are

navigating things at work, and maybe you're dealing with some

pressure occupationally and you've tried all kinds of

things, but you can't seem to get on the other side of the

problem. What do you do when your way

isn't working? I know that as parents,

sometimes you're dealing with stuff with your kids.

Maybe it's behavioral issues or obedience issues or school

issues and you're trying to figure out like how to what

dials do I turn? What levers do I pull?

What switches do I flip to try to turn this thing around?

And no matter what you try, your way isn't working.

I remember back when the boys were little and you were trying

to feed them and they didn't want to be eating what you were

feeding. And they do the.

And so I figured today I would just bless all the young parents

because I found this video and I was like, I don't know if you

should do this, but boy does it look effective.

Check this out. These parents found a genius

hack to make their baby eat his dinner.

As you can see, the mom acts like she wants to feed the dad

in front of their baby, but the dad shakes his head, refusing to

eat it. He acts like he doesn't want her

to feed him. So when the mom has had enough,

look what she does. She slaps him and the dad then

obediently eats the food as the boy watches him in shock.

So when the mom feeds him, he eats it like a good boy without

any complaints. Genius.

Oh, that's good. That that's quick.

That was effective. I want to welcome all of our

different locations, those of you watching online and those of

you who are part of the crossing inside, we're celebrating the 22

baptisms. Love you guys.

I love that the gospel can go absolutely anywhere and make a

difference absolutely everywhere.

Well, we are in a sermon series called Unexpected, and we've

been looking at how Jesus dealt with the worst of the worst in

other people's eyes through the life of Zacchaeus.

And then last week we looked at how Jesus dealt with the best of

the best in other people's eyes through the life of Nicodemus.

Well today we are going to look, in my opinion, at one of the

most beautiful stories in Scripture and how anytime Jesus

is a part of the equation, you are bound to see something

special and unexpected take place.

Mark chapter 5 verse 21 when Jesus had again crossed over by

Mark 5:21

boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered

around him while he was by the lake.

Then one of the synagogue leaders named Gyrus came and

when he saw Jesus he fell at his feet.

This would have caused quite the scene.

Gyrus was an official in the very religious establishment

that was hostile to the ministry of Jesus.

This very group of people would be the ones who would eventually

plot to kill Jesus. They were seeking to destroy his

ministry. To those close to Jesus, seeing

this prestigious person in front of Jesus on his knees was at the

very least unexpected. This would be not even in range

of what it would be like for a long time Cardinals fan to burn

all of their memorabilia and become a full blown Cubs fan.

Yeah, which, you know, whatever. I I wasn't, I'm just trying to.

OK. I mean, Cardinals are better

most of the time. OK, now the that's at least

let's at least OK, let's let's switch it up.

Let's get out of season. This would be a Packers fan

becoming a full blown Bears fan. Like if you saw this, you'd be

like, what is causing this? What is driving this kind of

behavior? Well, Mark chapter 5 verse 23

Mark 5:23

tells us he pleaded earnestly with him, him as Jesus.

My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands

on her so that she will be healed and live.

When things are not right with your kids.

Nothing is right. His daughter is dying.

And because his daughter is dying, his political allegiances

get sidelined, his relational network get sidelined.

He, his daughter is dying and he's heard that Jesus can do

something about it. And so he goes and finds Jesus

and gets on his knees and says, will you help me?

When you want something bad enough, anything is on the

table. When your daughter's dying,

you're going, what do I have to do to get this thing fixed?

Many times, many, many times, the path to a relationship with

Jesus crosses the bridge of pain in my years of ministry.

Many times people who come to faith in Jesus as adults do so

because of an unresolved pain point in their life.

Many times a person's first time at church is because there is

something not right. There's an unresolved pain that

has them seeking and looking for answers.

I have never had this experience in any of our lobbies at any of

our locations. When I'm talking to somebody and

I say, how did you come to the crossing?

And I've never gotten this response.

Well, Clayton, my kids were listening too well.

My marriage had way too much sex.

My job was way too fulfilling, my relationships are way too

life giving. And we were just bored one

Sunday and thought, hey, we should try church.

I've never heard that testimony. What I normally hear is

something wasn't right, their way wasn't working, There was

something going on in their life that made them go.

Something needs to change. That is why as the Crossing, we

have thrift stores, counseling centers, marriage retreats,

because we want to be in the corner of our region when our

region is in crisis. That's why as a church, we talk

to you guys about parking far away, about joining us and being

a difference maker. Because we want to meet people

in their pain and their confusion and their frustration.

Because if somebody is coming to church for the first time

because of a pain point, the moment they arrive on our

parking lot, we want to start recognizing that this person

might be struggling, might be in something, and what is the very

best way that we can love them. Because often times people are

coming to faith because of a pain point.

I just finished writing that line when I was writing this

sermon and my phone rang. It was Ben Elephants, one of the

executive pastors here at the crossing.

And he had just finished meeting with a girl who was interviewing

to be a part of one of our summer internships.

And he asked her this question. What brought you to church?

And here is her answer. She said that she was in a dark

season, contemplating suicide, had a plan, and that week a

friend invited her to church. She showed up and the very first

week that she showed up at our church was the very first week

of weeds in my garden and she went to the steps during the

invitation time and just sobbed. Now this young girl has been

baptized and wants to be in ministry.

How awesome is our God? People often times are coming to

Jesus because of a pain point. Mark chapter 5 verse 24.

Mark 5:24

So Jesus went with him. This is Gyrus.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

That's Jesus. And the woman was there who had

been subject to bleeding for 12 years.

She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors

and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better,

she grew worse. So Jesus is on His way to

Gyrus's daughter to take care of her.

The crowd is bumped all over him.

He's moving slowly through the crowd and this woman shows up.

There is so much to unpack about this woman because of this

disease. If you were to read in the Old

Testament, specifically in Leviticus, you would find out

that the word that they would use to describe this woman is

unclean. When you have a disease or when

you are dead, you are unclean. And when you are unclean, if you

touch other people, they become unclean.

It also means that you can't be around other people and you

can't go to the temple and worship God because you are

unclean. How long has she been an

untouchable? For?

12 years. She can't worship like everybody

else. She can't be with her family

like everybody else. So she is isolated from friends,

from family, from worship. Not only that, she has been

spending all she has to get better.

And every time she collects enough money to go to the doctor

to get better, she gives the money to the doctor.

The doctor treats her and her situation never improves.

It just keeps getting worse and worse.

She's isolated, she's alone, she's broke, she's sick.

And for 12 years, no family dinner.

For 12 years, no hug. For 12 years, no kiss, 12 years

no touch. She has no one and she has

nothing. Verse 27 When she heard about

Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak

or robe if you want to think of it that way.

Because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I will be

healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped

and she felt in her body that she was freed from her

suffering. At once Jesus realized that

power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd

and asked, Who touched my clothes?

You see the people crowding around you or against you?

His disciples answered. And yet you ask, who touched me?

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

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell

at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

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

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering in faith.

This woman who had nothing, this woman who had no one reached out

and believed in faith that if she just touched the edge of his

robe, she would be healed. Then Jesus is walking while this

is happening, going to Gyrus's daughter, and all of a sudden he

just feels like, he just feels power go out and he turns to

everybody and he goes, Who touched me?

And his disciples are going Everybody, everybody, everybody

has touched you. You are in the middle of a

crowd. If you go through the different

accounts of the Gospels, they use words like crowded, pressed.

It seems like Jesus is in a mosh pit, moving in the direction of

Gyrus's daughter. And he goes, who touched me?

And they're like, everybody has touched you.

But one of the touches was different than all the others

because someone reached out and touched Jesus in faith.

There's such a good devotion in there for absolutely every

single one of us. You can show up at the exact

same campus as somebody else at the exact same service as

somebody else, sing the exact same songs as somebody else,

listen to the exact same sermon as somebody else, go to the

exact same steps as somebody else, and have a radically

different experience with Jesus. Why?

Because faith is the currency of heaven.

A lot of times we like to put ourselves when we're reading the

Bible as the hero in the story. Like somehow at the end of all

of this, you'll go home and be like, you know what I am?

I'm the woman in faith. You reached out and touched me

and I was healed. And we like to see ourselves as

that person. Do you know who I would be in

the story? The dude who bumped into Jesus

15 times and got nothing. That would be me.

I'd be the guy walking, right? Hey, hey, Jesus bumping into

him. Hey, you see me?

Boom. Bumping here.

You see me boom, I could have got hit 15 times by Jesus and

not a single thing change in my life.

Because proximity is not a substitute for faith and faith

is the currency of heaven. Lots of people bumped into Jesus

that day, but only one woman got healed and it was the one who

reached out in faith. We exercise our faith when we

live a life of obedience. Too many of us, we treat Jesus

like we treat or we treat Jesus or the church kind of like we

treat the gym. And I'm just going to kind of

talk in different categories and you guys know that I'm

speculating here. So some of you, you have the

membership, but no activity. You pay the fat tax, as we call

it, on staff. We just yeah, we got multiple

memberships. Never been there.

They look great. But that's just not us.

We're we're members. OK, How's that working for you?

Right. Then there's other people who

you, they go, they go to the gym so that they can do other

things, right. Because I worked out, I can now

eat what I want, do what I want, drink what I want.

I got a friend who works out all the time.

And I said for as much as you work out, nothing changes.

You know, I'm saving myself an hour.

OK, Because we look the same. All right, so you're you're OK.

So you're going all right, I'm going to go to church so that I

can do what I'm going to do or feel better about what I've

done. But the people who experience

the greatest results in the gym are people who build their life

around becoming healthy. It's not just about going to the

gym. It's about what they eat and

making sure they get enough sleep and making sure they get,

I mean, at this point, I'm really, really speculating.

I'm sure there's a lot of other things that you do if that's

your thing. Because I don't just, you know,

electrolytes and that's it. That's as far as I get.

You're like, we, we know Clayton, just move on.

Now when it comes to church, sometimes we show up for church

and we're like, I'm going to go to church so I feel better about

what I've done or I don't feel as bad about what I'm going to

do. Or you can just treat your

relationship with Jesus transactionally, but never

actually move into an area where you believe that God's way is

the best way. And it's when you start living a

life of faith and obedience that you experience the greatest

results. For too many of us, we like to

separate. I believe, but I don't behave.

And that's not faith. Faith is not just knowing that

God's way is the best faith, but walking in his best way.

Watch what happens. Mark 5 While Jesus was still

speaking, some people came from the House of Gyrus, the

synagogue leader. Your daughter is dead, they

said. Why bother the teacher anymore?

Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, Don't be afraid.

Just believe. Faith is the currency of heaven.

He went into the house and said to them, Why all this commotion

and wailing? This child is not dead, but

asleep. He took the child's father and

mother and disciples who are with him, and went into the room

where the child was. He took her by the hand and said

to her to Litha Coombe, Which means, little girl, I say to

you, Get up. And immediately the girl stood

up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old.

Get back into the story for a second and imagine that you are

Gyrus. You are desperately trying to

get Jesus to your daughter. The crowd is pressing around.

It's taking too long. All of a sudden Jesus stops

because somebody has interrupted you getting the Jesus ambulance

to your daughter who's dying. Jesus turns and starts

interacting with this girl. While he's interacting with this

woman, people come up to gyrus and say hey man, don't bother

Jesus anymore. Your daughter who was dying is

now dead. Can you imagine what you would

be feeling if you were him? Jesus turns to him and says,

hey, don't be afraid, just believe.

This woman just reached out in faith and she was healed.

You know what you're going to need right now.

Don't be afraid. Have faith.

You trusted me to heal her when she was sick.

Will you trust me to raise her when she's dead?

Crossing family? Pay attention.

If you can trust Jesus anywhere, you can trust Him everywhere.

If you can trust Him with your salvation, you can trust Him

with absolutely everything else. Absolutely everything else think

about. Think about this.

Your biggest issue is a sin salvation issue.

It is the biggest, most pressing issue over your life and what

you are in faith believing that when it matters the absolute

most, that when you stand before a holy and righteous God with

the hope of eternal life in heaven with Him, you are in

faith believing that Jesus is going to handle that on your

behalf. So can you trust Him with your

marriage? Can you trust Him with your

parenting? Can you trust Him with your

addiction? What area can't you trust him

with? If you have trusted him with the

biggest issue, if you can trust Jesus anywhere, you can trust

him everywhere. He goes up to this family and he

says don't worry about this. She's not dead, she's asleep

now. Jesus knows she's dead.

But with Jesus, death is very temporary.

Like Jesus, you know, he shows up for the at the wedding in, in

John, I think what is it, John, John 34 And he turns the water

into wine. Like Jesus goes to weddings.

He's very pastoral. He also goes to funerals.

The problem is if Jesus shows up at your funeral, it's not a

funeral for very long because the people just keep getting up.

He's like, I guess since I'm here, get get, get up.

Let's let's do this. Now here's what else is just

super cool about Jesus. OK, The Bible says that he

touched the dead girl. Now, if those of you are Bible

people, you know, Jesus could have done all kinds of things

there. He could have just told gyrus,

hey, just go back home, your daughter's alive because he's

done that. He could have stood outside the

house and said, little girl, get up because that's what he did

with Lazarus. Lazarus come forth.

But no, no, no, in this story Jesus does something way, way

different. He goes into the room, takes the

father, takes the mother, takes his disciples, and he touches

the girl. This girl, this dead girl would

have been unclean. Do you know who was?

Probably the guy who didn't let the woman go in to the temple

because she was unclean? The woman with the issue of

blood gyrus. Unclean people don't get to come

in. He was just following the Old

Testament law. He's doing his job.

But Jesus is touched by an unclean woman with the flow of

blood, and he intentionally touches a dead girl, both

unclean. But what happens when Jesus

touches unclean things? Their uncleanness isn't

transferred to him. His cleanness is transferred to

them. When people interact with Jesus,

unclean things become clean, which is why the Bible screams

by his stripes you and I have been healed when we come into

contact with the blood of Jesus Christ.

You and I are made right, made clean before God.

Now watch this story. You can go home and check this

out is recorded in Mark 5, which is what I've been walking you

through. It's in Luke chapter 8, but it

Luke 8 · chapter mention

also shows up in Matthew Chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Now if you were to, if I'd have done the whole sermon in Matthew

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9, what I would say right now is now I want you to

Fast forward all the way to Matthew 14, five chapters.

And we find these words in verse 34 and 35.

When they had crossed over, they landed at Ganeseret, and when

the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the

surrounding country people, brought all their sick to him,

and begged Him to let the sick just touch the edge of his

cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Now the woman was healed in Capernaum and Matthew in Matthew

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9, Jesus in Capernaum in Matthew chapter 14-5, chapters

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

later, they're in Ganeseret. There's about four miles

difference. So we're talking 5 chapters and

four miles. And I have a question.

Why do you think all those people were begging to be able

to just touch the edge of his cloak?

Where did they get this idea what made all the men, when they

saw Jesus, start going round up the sick?

Hey, if you got somebody that's got a bum leg, get him over

here. You know somebody who's got a

shriveled hand, bring him this way.

You know somebody who's got to work better bring him over.

Whatever you got, you bet Jesus is here.

And all the people showed up and they just said, can we just

touch the edge of your cloak? Where did they get this?

And all the people who reached out in faith and touched the

edge of his cloak were healed. Where did these people get this

idea from? One woman, 5 chapters earlier

and four miles away, while everybody else was bumping into

Jesus, she reached out in faith and she was healed, crossing

family. Hear me.

Your faith inspires others. When you Share your story of

faith, it helps other people to write their story of faith.

This woman was not the only person who was healed because of

her reaching out in faith. It inspired countless others 5

chapters later to do the exact same thing.

I was talking last week. There's others of you probably

have the same story. I was talking to a guy who's got

some names written on his card that he keeps in his wallet.

Where did he get that idea? He got that from Craig Hill

Bing, who prayed over a card for 20 years.

And you might have your own card, your own list of names

that you are praying for. Why?

Because somebody else's story of faith inspired you to believe.

If God can do it in them, he can probably do it in me.

The weird thing about American Christians is whatever we get

delivered from, we want to hide. Why?

OK, I'll be careful here. Some of you have had God do a

mighty work in your life and you don't want anybody to actually

know what you've actually been saved from.

You keep it to yourself because you don't want anybody to know

how bad you've actually been. And granted, you were healed and

you were delivered and you were redeemed and you were made

right, But because you will not be honest about what God has

done in your life, other people are having a hard time trusting

that God could do the exact same thing in their life that He did

in your life. Why?

Because they never knew. They just see the finished

product and they think that they could never be like you in

Christ. Why?

Can you imagine being the dad of a daughter ingenessarat and

desperately wanting your daughter to be changed and

healed and made right? And you never heard the story

about the woman with the flow of blood, but because you heard of

what Jesus did with her, you believe that the same thing

could happen in you. And so when the men started

shouting Jesus is here, you picked up your little girl and

you went running to the edge of Jesus cloak and she reached out

and touched it in faith and she was healed.

What kind of person would you be if you said now little girl,

don't tell anybody what happened.

I don't want anybody to know that you're there was ever

anything wrong with you or would the right and natural response

be to go hey guys, this Jesus guy, he changes everything,

absolutely everything. Listen to me crossing family.

There is not an area of your life that Jesus cannot

repurpose. There is not an area of your

life that Jesus cannot redeem. There is not an issue that you

face that is larger than King Jesus.

There might be some of you right now you are wrestling through

and struggling through your marriage.

I need you to know that the God of the universe is bigger than

that. You can trust God with your

marriage. Faith is the currency of heaven.

Faith is how you and I change our lives with Jesus and change

the world around us. And the Bible talks about faith.

It kind of highlights 2 things. Our faith is not in ourselves.

Our faith is in Jesus, who can do things that nobody else can

do in ways that nobody else can do it.

And then when the Bible talks about faith, it says you don't

need much. You don't need a lot of it.

It says if faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to

that mountain move. Now raise your hand if you've

ever moved a mountain. Yeah, me neither.

So that means I've got less faith than a mustard seed.

Way less. But I'll be honest with you, I

don't necessarily need a mountain moved.

I don't know if I'd be good at rearranging geography, but I

know there are issues that I face, but if I face them with

faith in Jesus, it could change absolutely everything.

Just a little bit of genuine faith placed in the right

direction and the right direction is not you.

The right direction of Jesus could change anything.

There are some of you who you have held back things in your

life for years, for decades, because you do not believe in

faith that God could deliver you, heal you, change things for

you. Honest question, in light of

this woman's story, in light of this dead girl's story, in light

of Gyrus's journey, what do you in faith need to turn over to

Jesus? Today we're moving to a time of

decision. To those of you here and those

of you watching online who do not yet have an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I just want to kind of

clarify things for you. We lay hold of our salvation

through faith in what Jesus has done.

That's the Bible. It clearly says it is a grace

that God has given to us that we lay hold of through faith.

Now if you were to go back into the Mark, chapter 5, actually in

Mark 5 · chapter mention

all of them, when Jesus turns to the woman, he says a woman, your

faith has healed you. But if you were to go to the

original language, the word that they use there is actually

sodzo. Turn to your neighbor and say

sodzo. That word actually means saved

in the original text, not your NIV or your ESV or your NLT or

your kids version, whatever you're reading, the word in the

Greek is saved. He turns to the woman with the

flow of blood and says your faith has saved you.

And at the very end of Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 16, this is

Mark 16 · chapter mention

what Jesus says. Whoever believes and is baptized

will be so D so will be saved, will be healed.

And so if you were here today and you've never started an

intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you can be

healed. You can be saved.

Your biggest problem can be removed.

Your biggest issue can be made right to those who believe faith

and our baptized obedience will experience salvation.

So just a few moments when the people around you stand and sing

and some of them come to the steps to pray.

If you're here today and you need to be saved, you need to

begin an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

You need to be baptized. Don't put it off.

You can walk right over there underneath that screen next to

the baptistry and begin a relationship that changes

everything. To those of you who do have an

intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I just want

to reiterate this to you. If you can trust Jesus anywhere,

you can trust Him everywhere. So is there a sin, a struggle, a

relationship, a trial that you've been handling on your own

for way too long and today in faith that you need to turn it

over to Him? It is normal human behavior to

hold something back. It's just normal human behavior.

We don't want to be overexposed. We don't want to be too

vulnerable. We don't want to be too honest.

And so when it comes to Jesus, we do the same thing.

We go, yeah, I want to be saved. And Jesus, I would love it if

you did that. But then we we section off all

these other pieces of our lives and we keep it from him.

An honest question, how is that working?

It's a struggle that I have. And you know, what I do is I

just do the math. Everything I've turned over to

him is better. Everything I've kept stinks.

And Satan still has the ability to keep me from turning stuff

over. So maybe today crossing family

in faith just like that woman. What could we reach out in faith

to Jesus today and say, Jesus, I don't want this to be a part of

me any longer. I don't want this to be who I am

any longer. I'm inviting you in to make a

difference that only you can make.

Let's find out what happens when we turn it over to him.

Would you stand with me? Heavenly Father, I thank you for

this church. I thank you for the work that

you're doing in our lives. God, I thank you for how patient

you are with us. God, we've been so stubborn, but

you've been so good. And I just ask that you would

watch over each and every single one of us, that you would guide

us and direct us and change us. Use this moment right here to

reshape who we are in you. In your name I pray.

Amen.