Matthew 28 - Faith in Jesus Raises the Dead

Matthew chapter 9. And I'm also going to read to

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

you Mark's account of the same passage. So

first I'll give you Matthew and then I'll give you

Mark. So in Matthew we're in chapter

9 verse 18. Remember last week Jesus was just

talking about, he had been questioned about fasting and

actually while he was saying these things, while

he was finishing this up an interruption comes in

verse 18. While he was saying these things

to them, behold a ruler came in and knelt before

him saying, my daughter has just died but come and lay

your hand on her and she will live. And

Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples and

behold a woman who had suffered from a discharge

of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched

the fringe of his garment. For

she said to herself, if I only touch his garment I

will be made well. Jesus turned and seeing her he

said, take heart daughter, your faith has made you

well. And instantly the woman was

made well. And when Jesus came to the

ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd

making a commotion he said, go away for the girl is

not dead but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But

when the crowd had been put outside he went in and

took her by the hand and the girl arose. And

the report of this went throughout that district.

Now I'm going to take you to

Mark chapter 5. You're going to see some things

Mark 5 · chapter mention

that seem different. The point here is that Mark

went into more detail just to bring you some clarity.

One point that you're going to

notice right away is the ruler Jairus comes and he

says, my daughter is sick and dying. And

Jesus says, okay, I'll go with you. And

then he proceeds to go with and then the

interruption comes. And then someone says, hey,

never mind, she died. So you're going to go, well,

which was it? Well, Mark was just simply

abbreviating the story. Hey, a little girl died. Jesus

raised her from the dead. Or

that's what Matthew was doing. Hey,

here's what happened. A little girl died. She

was raised from the dead instead of like, well, did

this happen first or that happened first? Matthew

wasn't being as detailed as Luke or Mark in this

example. But again, not a contradiction,

nothing to panic over. But these are the kind of

things that sometimes could stump a saint. You

go, what's going on here? Is

the Bible faithful and true? Absolutely.

All witnesses of the Gospel accounts are faithful and

true. And yet they bring out

different details and sometimes move past other

things. So Mark chapter five, you're

going to go to verse 21. And

when Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the

other side, a great crowd gathered about him and he

was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of

the synagogue, Jairus by name. And

seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him

earnestly saying, my little daughter is at the point

of death. Come and lay your hands on her

so that she may be made well and live. And

he went with him. And a great crowd followed him

and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had

a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had

suffered much under many physicians. You

see where more detail is coming here. And

it spent all that she had and was no better, but

rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about

Jesus and came up from behind him in the crowd

and touched his garment. For

she said, if I even touch his garments, I will be

made well. And immediately the flow of

blood dried up and she felt in her body that she

was healed of her disease. And

Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out

from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and

said, who touched my garments? And

his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing

around you, yet you say, who touched me? Everyone

was touching him. It's a mob. Jesus

is on the move. I want to touch him. Touch

my baby. Kiss my baby. Oh,

this is going on. Everybody's

touching him. Everybody's touching him. But

something different happened when the touch of faith

came to him. You see everyone pressing you,

yet you say, who touched me? And

he looked around to see who had done it. But

the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in

fear and trembling 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 disease. While

he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's

house some who said, your daughter is dead. Why

trouble the teacher any farther? But

overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of

the synagogue, do not fear, only believe. And

he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and

James and John and the brother of James. They

came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and

Jesus saw commotion and people weeping and wailing

loudly. And when they had entered, he

said to them, why are you making a commotion and

weeping? The child is not dead but

sleeping. And they laughed at him. But

he put them all outside and took the child's father

and mother and those who were with him and went

into where the child was. Taking

her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha kummi,

which means little girl, I say to you arise. And

immediately the girl got up and began walking for she

was 12 years of age. And they were immediately

overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them

that no one should know this and told them to give

her something to eat. Heavenly

Father, we thank you so much for the living word.

It is living and active. And

God, I pray, even as the woman who had heard the

testimonies about Jesus, faith was born in her

heart. God, so much more this morning.

As we hear the word of God

preached, as we hear the word of God cut us to the

heart, Lord, as you deliver faith, help us to be

recipients of it. Make us good ground. Make

us good soil. The word wouldn't be choked out

by thorns. The thorns of life and the

pains that we've experienced, the despair,

the heartbreak, the challenges. God,

I pray that there wouldn't be stones in our heart

where we're calloused. I pray that there wouldn't be

rocks in our heart where we're cynical. God,

I pray that we wouldn't be a hard soil that can't

even be penetrated. Make us soft and pliable. The

new wine skins so that we can receive new wine this

morning. In Jesus' name. Amen.

So, giving you a little historical context on the

situation here. Jairus is the father. He

runs the local synagogue. So

you can think of each town, each village would

have a synagogue in it. This

is a place for Jewish worship, but they don't

have a set pastor like you have here. They've

got rabbis who travel. So Jesus would have been one

of many traveling rabbis throughout Israel. And

the synagogue ruler, Jairus, he's responsible for

administration. He takes care of the building.

He runs the school during the

week. And he also is booking and

making rabbis on the schedule. He

said, OK, Rabbi Soenso is going to be with us for

this coming Sabbath. And Rabbi Soenso is going to

come teach on this Sabbath. So

he's planning all that. He's

a prominent man in the community. Probably

love, probably respected, probably a godly man. So

even in coming to Jesus and humbling himself,

falling at the feet of Jesus, probably there's many

rabbis and there's probably many Pharisees who are not

a fan of what he's doing. But

he doesn't care. Why? Because he cares about his

daughter and he knows where the answer is. So

he's passed all of the opinions of man at this

point. There was a time where it didn't

cost him much. And we don't know. This

is some speculation. So maybe he was all, teamed

Jesus all the way. Jesus had people from every

social status following him. From

the depth and the width. He

had rich people who followed him. He

had poor people who followed him. He

had religious leaders who followed him. And

then he had wicked sinners who the world would have

called wicked sinners. Of course, we know all of us

to be wicked sinners. But wicked sinners, prostitutes,

who then repented and followed him. So

Jesus has a broad, broad following. In

particular, we often think it's just him and 12

disciples. But anytime Jesus is on the

move, masses are on the move with him. The

crowds. He's close. Maybe

it was for convenience sake, right? Like

the Jimmy Buffett fans. There's

some people who like literally followed that guy

all over the world. He even said it one time.

He's like, I think these people

need to get a life. And I would agree. Yeah,

like because Jimmy Buffett was their life. He's

doing another concert. So you got the people who are

like the hardcore disciples. And

he got the people who was like, he's coming to my

city. I'll go check him out because

he came to my city. Jesus had the same kind of

thing. We've talked about that. The

crowd versus the disciple. So

we don't know where Jairus was, but we know when he

had a need, we know who he comes to. And

then this woman, the context for this woman who

has got this issue of blood. This

is probably an administration problem that

has happened. And it just won't stop

happening. 12 years. Probably

weakened because of all of this. Probably

discouraged because of all this. The

things you're going to see in these passages, there's

multiple things to see here. But

we're going to notice what seems like the permanence

of both of these situations. A

dead person. The permanence of that

situation. So I would think, right? It's

settled. I guess that's it. It's

over. And a sickness of 12 years.

Like it's just kind of your

address at this point. That's

where you got to live. You know, 101 sickness way.

Like this is, you get used to

this thing. You need to kind of accept it.

It's 12 years. I

mean, how long? I don't do well when I get

sick. I'm not like the man baby,

like the jokes he had made about. But

I don't like being sick. I will say that. And

if I've been sick for a week or two, that's pretty

much feels like 12 years to me. I'm

going like, well, now I know how Joe felt. You

know, because like this cold has just been sticking

around. You know, which is, you know,

ridiculous, of course. So there's this permanence that

we feel. And we feel like, man, could

anything really change here? We're

going to look to the master. We're

going to look to see what Jesus does right away. And

that's of course what we see. Jesus

in the middle of teaching something. He's

answering questions. And then a need comes and he

says, I'll go with you. Like

I'm at your service. Jesus is here. I'm

with you. I'll go with this father right

away. And then it's another thing

we're going to notice. Look at the decisions that these

people made. Look at the rules that these

people put on Jesus. Hey, master, if you just come

and do this, she'll be healed. He

comes with this predetermined assumption

about what will happen. Hey rabbi, I just need you to

do this. Jesus, I just need you to do

this. And then it's done. Doesn't

that sound familiar? The woman with the issue of

blood does the same thing. People

making up their own rules here. If

I just touch his garment, if I can just touch his

cloak, there's actually four tassels that would have

hung off of him as a rabbi. And

she would have been probably like looking to

get to one of those because they represented the

word of God and the law of God. So

regardless, she just says, if I can just do this, I

don't need him to talk to me. I'll

just press through the crowd, which I'm not

allowed to do because I'm unclean. Ceremonally

unclean. Anything that this woman has even

sat on for the past 12 years is ceremonially

unclean. This woman has not been allowed

in the synagogue for 12 years because she is

unclean. So in many ways she has a

separation. Not to the same degree as a

leper, like we've heard about before, but she still

has an extreme separation from the rest of society.

And she is most definitely not

supposed to be pressing in this crowd. She's

shoulder to shoulder with people. She's

like, but I'm going to get my healing. I'm

going to just go in. I'm not going to bother the

master. I'm not going to slow him

down. She just goes, I got what I

need and Jesus goes, hang on a second, something just

happened. What happened? Everybody's

touching him. Everybody's touching him, but somebody

touched him with faith. Something

was different and Jesus perceived it. He

wasn't weakened. He wasn't like, oh, my power

supply was just drained. That's

not what's happening. He's not a battery. He's

not weakened in any way when he gives to us. But

he perceived in the spirit something else just

happened. Maybe some of these people are

superstitious. I have to touch him. I

knew he's the Messiah, but they're not receiving

anything. Apart from, I touched Jesus,

right? Jimmy Buffett walked through. I

touched him. Now I can tell the story.

Okay. You touched a famous

person. Needs story. Kind

of cool. But somebody else touched him

with a spiritual faith, a living faith to receive.

Remember somebody else who just set

their own terms, right? The Centurion comes to Jesus.

The Roman soldier, the powerful

man. He's ruling over these little

Jewish people. And yet he comes to this rabbi

and says, master, my servant is suffering

terribly. And Jesus says, all right, I'll

come. And he goes, no, no, no, no,

no, don't come to my house. That's

crazy. I'm not worried to have you in

my house. Just speak the word and my

servant will be healed. You telling Jesus what to do?

Yes. Just speak the word. Don't

bother. Don't stop your day or anything.

Just say it. Just

say it, Jesus, and it'll be done. And

Jesus, did he rebuke him and said, don't you tell

me what to do? He marveled and said, I

haven't even found this kind of faith among the

Jews. And here I have a gentile, a

Roman gentile coming to me and saying, Lord, why? Is

it because he gave the Lord the prescription? No,

it's the living faith. Living

faith will always find an expression. Living

faith will always find an expression, not a formula.

Oh, am I supposed to do this?

No saints. Living

faith will find an expression. We're

not chasing a formula. There's

not a rule that we can follow. The

only rule is living faith in the person of Jesus

Christ. So look at these things that

these people are saying or doing. Their

faith is in Jesus. They don't have faith in faith

itself. They're not saying, if only I

could have faith. Yes, faith matters, but it's the

object of your faith is what matters. Not

the formula of your faith. Not

the correctness of your faith. Faith

in Jesus is the final answer. Faith

in Jesus is the final solution. And

that leads to whatever kind of outcome the Holy Spirit

might direct you to. When your faith is in Jesus,

you'll have this impression from the Lord and you just

go, I'm going to go to the Master, but you're

going to say, all he has to do is say the word

because the Holy Spirit directed that through a

living faith. Or you'll say, I'm going to

go to the Master and if he will just put his hand

on my daughter, then that'll be it. That's

all that has to happen. That's

a living faith. It's not that you're just making

things up. Well, I'd like for, if I just

drive my car in a circle, by all means, if the Holy

Spirit prompts that as a result of living faith,

obey it. This is why I have no problem

with different expressions of worship and church. Why

is Bob running in a circle around the congregation? You

don't know what living faith is operating in Bob

right now. And what the Holy Spirit might

be encouraging and directing him to do. And

he might say, this ankle that's been hurting me for

years and the Lord says, run Bob. And

he goes, I'm going to run. Am

I supposed to run every time my ankle hurts? No,

you're supposed to put living faith in the Lord

Jesus Christ. He is the answer, not a

formula. So with that revelation,

there's no limit to what then is possible. Because

Jesus is the limitless one, not my formula. Well,

I heard somebody did it this way one time. Well,

saying if the Holy Spirit would lead you that way,

run with it. Well, I've seen, you know, I've

seen the TV preacher say, I could put my hand on

the TV. Is that a real thing? Living

faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And

then I think there's very few possible limitations to

what that could look like. Now,

our temptation is formula. We've

talked about this before as we've looked through faith

in the scriptures as we've gone through Matthew. I

want a formula. I want A plus B equals C

every single time. I want the same results every

single time. Why? Because I want control. I

want control. I don't want humility. I

don't want submission. I don't want mystery. I

don't want any kind of mystery. I

definitely don't want to look weird either. That's

the worst thing in the world for me to have to

look weird. But I don't want mystery

because then that would involve me needing to be

in fellowship. That would mean I actually have

to have communication to and from the Spirit of

God. And that gets into the mystery

realm. I prefer the realm where

there's no mystery. I prefer the realm where I

can accomplish things on my own. Where

if I just know the rules of faith, well saints,

there's only one rule of faith. And

that is have it and put it in Christ. But

it's a living faith. A living active faith. So

these people don't have faith in faith. They

don't have faith in a formula. This

is not a complex thing for them. It

is the object of their faith that is also the

source of their faith. Jesus

is the object of your faith. He's

also the source of your faith. Whatever

you need, it's run to Jesus. It's

run to Jesus. But living faith is different

from brain acknowledgement. Right?

Have you been there? Have you been in the place

where you prayed for something and you're like,

you're truly not expecting the Lord to answer it. But

you prayed it because praying is something that

Christians should do. I don't condemn you for it.

I've done it a bazillion times.

And yet we've got to be honest

with ourselves about the difference between I am

praying a prayer compared to I am seeking God with

living faith. There's a difference. There's

a distinction between the two. Well,

Jama 'kel, could you make it more clear for me? I

don't know that I can. But it is clear when you're

living it. You can know it when you

recognize it. And if you'll have it named

for you, you can be aware of it. What

do I do? How do I get this living

faith? Saints, you're doing it right now.

You're sitting under the Word of

God. Faith comes by hearing the Word

of God. So you're not to be condemned.

You're not to be rebuked. You're

to be encouraged and shepherded. Many

of us have heartbreak. Many of you have heartbreak. I

have prayed for this thing and it didn't happen. I

have prayed for this person and they weren't healed. I

have prayed for this person and they did die. I

could say, show me hands and every hand would come

up. We'd say, I've seen that. I've

experienced that. What do you say to that

preacher, man? I say, let's go back to the

Word and let's keep putting a living faith in Jesus.

Let's ask, let's seek, let's

knock. Ask, you shall receive. Seek,

you shall find. Knock, it shall be opened. Well,

what about I have as many questions as everyone else?

And yet I'm not going to not

preach the Word of God to the saints that I love. I

tell you this, every single time I preach on healing,

every time it comes across the Gospels, which is quite

frequently, I listen to a lot of sermons in my

preparation as I'm studying. And

I might listen to others who preach the text. And

the same thing happens. Faithful

men who I love, week after week after week, they say,

the Word says, the Word says, the Word says, the

Word says. And then we come to leprosy.

And you know, this Jesus can

heal the leper. And I'm like, amen, keep going.

And they're like, and that

means he can heal your leperous attitude. And

I'm going, what? You lost me there. I'm

like, wait, how did you were doing so good? You

know, and then, you know, Jesus can raise the dead

girl. And I'm like, keep going.

You're getting close. And

that means Jesus can resurrect your bad day.

Like, I'm with you. I

agree. Let's keep going. Let's

just bring it all the way through like basic reading

comprehension kind of stuff here. Does

Jesus love Jairus more than he loves you saints? No.

Does Jesus love Jairus' little girl more than he

loves you saints? No. Does Jesus love the woman

with the issue of blood more than he loves you

saints? No. Does Jesus change? No.

You're doing it. You're doing excellently on this

test. It was a pop quiz, but you're

nailing it. So he's faithful. He's

kind. He's good. And

it's a living faith that makes the difference.

Hundreds of people, thousands of

people probably touched Jesus and received nothing.

Received nothing. Touched

him. You're blessed. You're

loved. You're not condemned. He's

not like, that touch meant nothing. That

touch was empty. There's no condemnation for any of

it. So for all the prayers that I

haven't prayed in faith. For

all the prayers I've prayed in doubt and in fear, the

Lord doesn't condemn me. The

bruised reed, he doesn't break. The

smoldering wick, the candle that's barely flickering,

that's John Michael some days. He

doesn't go, pfft. He doesn't. The

scripture says he doesn't blow you out. So

when you're weak, you're not to be condemned for

your weak faith. You're to be encouraged to say,

keep looking to Jesus, brother. Keep

looking to Jesus, sister. You're

like, I feel so weak or I didn't receive the promise

as I wanted. I know. So

I weep with you and I mourn with you. That's

where I'm at. I rejoice with those who

rejoice. Praise the Lord for this

testimony. And I weep with those who

weep. I hate the devil. The

world is broken because of sin. And

yet Jesus is still going to make all things new and

restore everything perfectly. That's

where I land. Well, that's convenient. So

it is. And it's very biblical. It's

very biblical. It's very faithful. Many

of us have believed, and this is a lot of my

background. Many of us have believed that a

formula to faith was the key. If

I said the right words and if I avoided the wrong

words and I became formulaic in my faith and

thinking, I have got to say it right. Or

why? Well, I got that from places,

biblical places that do make an important biblical

point like Mark 11, 23, 24, whoever says unto this

mountain, be removed and cast into the sea. And

doesn't doubt in his heart, but believe the things that

he says shall be done. He shall have whatever he

says. So I go, that is true. That

is biblical. That is Jesus. And

also that's not the only scripture in the Bible,

John Michael. Did you know, John Michael,

that there are other scriptures that also teach

on faith and that there is a complete picture to faith

so that you should not build your entire doctrine

or entire theology of faith around one verse. And

that's what I had done in that area. I

started to go, the language is the most important

thing. And then I became like this

language Nazi, like with my words, like, I've got to

say it right. And it's me saying it right

that will accomplish the thing. No,

John Michael, you miss Jesus's point. Jesus's

point is a living faith will say the right thing.

A living faith will say she's

sleeping, not because it's naive or stupid, but

because faith speaks things that are not as though

they were. And it's easy to get the cart

before the horse. I'm going to say the right

thing. I'm going to say the right

thing. Well, dear saint, are you doing

that in an effort to meditate on the word of

God? If so, keep at it. Or

are you doing that because you think this is the

accomplishment of faith? Because

that's just vain repetition. Then

we're just like the pagans, you know, like Jesus said,

who just they think they'll be heard for their many

words. I said it right. I

said it right. I said it right. I

said it right. The priority is living faith

and living faith will always have an action.

Oftentimes that action will impact

your language. Oftentimes, which is why Jesus comes

in, he says, she's not dead. She's

asleep and they laugh at her. By

the way, these people were mourners. You

would pay people to come mourn when family members

died. In the east, they mourn very

differently than we do. We're

very stoic. We're like, oh, I cried a few

tears and it's time to move on. That's

not the biblical pattern at all. When

people die in scripture, there is weeping and

mourning and there's a season and it is good and

appropriate. And I think there's a lot of

wisdom there that we miss. I

think we bottle up a lot and we're like, well, it's

been three days, you know, got to get back to the

office. Instead of having time to process

and grieve the way the Lord wants us to, the way

he knows that we need to, because he is kind and he

is gentle. And again, he doesn't break the

bruised reed. You know, that twig that's

flimsy, he's not going to say, well, let me just

sever you off. He says, no, let me strengthen

you. The candle that's flickering, he

doesn't go, well, that's not enough light. He

goes, no, you know what, we can strengthen this

thing. We can help it and we can

bear with it. But many of us have believed

that a formula was the key. If

I just did it right, no, Jim, Michael, the only

thing to do right is the living faith, living faith,

not head formulas. I'm supposed to say this, I'm

supposed to do this, I'm supposed to say this, I'm

supposed to do this. Those are all excellent examples

of what expressions of faith may look like. And

by all means, yes, faith speaks things that are not

as though they were. And yes, you can say under the

mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, but not

without living faith. You can't just let your words

accomplish things. Living faith in Jesus, Jesus

accomplishes things and he does it through his people.

This matters, these distinctions

matter. And if you don't have them,

you get in great condemnation. Wouldn't

that still imply that lack of faith matters? It

does, clearly, which is why Jesus tells Jairus, don't

be afraid, just believe. What

in the world does Jairus' faith have to do with

anything? Why does his faith matter? This

is Jesus for crying out loud, the sovereign God.

What role could Jairus play in

any of this? Apparently, something. Apparently,

something. Let me ask another, we'll give

you another simple quiz, easy to pass. Do

you think Jairus' daughter would have been raised from

the dead if Jairus had not have come to Jesus? Lots

of people died while Jesus walked on the earth,

friends. Lots of people were sick while

Jesus walked on the earth. Do

you think the woman with the issue of blood would

have been healed if she had just sat at her home

and said, well, Jesus is here on the earth? No,

but her living faith found an expression that the Holy

Spirit met, even without Jesus, knowing that it was

coming. Not that Jesus couldn't have,

and yet he emptied himself of that temporarily. Some

saints would say Jesus knew everything at all times,

like he knew about a leaf that was blowing here in

Hartfield at that time. I don't think so. That

would also imply that Jesus knew how to talk as an

infant, and he just pretended not to,

potentially. Anyway, not important. Wherever

you land on that, it's okay. It's

okay. But the point is, living faith

is what matters. So some of us, we made a

formula out of faith. Others

of us, we just haven't even known to have faith.

We just have totally put all

these things in the category of Bible story.

Jesus could do it all. He

did that stuff, and you don't even think about the

application of it for your life at this point. And

you're just going like, I guess I didn't even think

about it, but he doesn't do that anymore. What

makes you say that? Your five senses make you say

that. That's normal. Again,

you're not to be condemned. You're

to be instructed. You're to be discipled. So

faith is supposed to come from the Word of God. My

perception of truth is supposed to come from

scriptures. Not, well, I heard about, or

one time this, or, well, those things, I don't deny

the reality of it. I don't deny those things,

and yet the truth of the scripture supersedes all of

it. So others of us have such a

weak faith that we go like where some of those

preachers go with those scriptures. They

just want to spiritualize everything. Jesus

can resurrect your dead dreams. Okay,

amen. But did he resurrect Jairus'

dead dream? Is that how Jairus would have

interpreted that day? Is that what he would, his

walk away would have been like, man, Jesus can turn

your frown upside down. Like,

I'm going to go preach that gospel of the frown

upside down, because Jesus is that powerful. But

for some reason, that's what preachers do to you

and I now. Look what Jesus did, and

therefore he can resurrect your career. Like,

I didn't see that coming. I

agree he could resurrect anything, and yet he

literally resurrected a person, which means he'll

still do that. One of my favorite quotes, I

share this with you every so often, a dead preacher

guy, Leonard Ravenhill. He said, one of these days,

some simple soul will pick up the book of God, read

it, and believe it, then the rest of us will be

embarrassed. I'm always convicted by it.

Lord, let it be me, let it be

today. Let it be me, let it be

today. Give me living faith, Lord.

Knowledge just puffs up. I

know more stuff now. I know the word. I

know the word. The Pharisees knew the word,

and they stared the word in the face, and they

still didn't recognize the word when he was right

there with them. So, what are you trying to say

about the word? I'm saying it, he's to be in

your heart, and when it's in your heart, it produces

a living faith. When it's in your brain, it's

hit or miss. And yet, the word of God will

renew your mind. But these folks, the woman with

the issue of blood, the man with the dead daughter,

they had a living faith, and living faith will

always find an action to take. The

particular action is not the most important thing.

The most important thing is

that you truly, completely go to Jesus with living

faith. And what does Jesus say to

this woman? He encourages her like a

father. And he says, daughter, daughter,

maybe Jesus was older than her. Maybe

he wasn't. You know, he's at maximum. He's

33 here. He had absolute maximum. So,

maybe she's 30. Maybe she's 40. Maybe

she's 50. Who knows? But

he says, daughter, your faith has made you well.

And again, my old temptation,

be like, look, her faith did it. It's

her faith. Well, her faith in Jesus. The

idea is not that she accomplished anything on her

own. The idea is that you did well.

You put faith in me. Your

living faith in me has made you well. That

has made the difference. So this isn't to say that

your faith is the power. It's

to say that your faith, a flawed analogy, your faith

is the train tracks that the Lord drives the train

on. So, look at my, I have amazing

train tracks. Like, congratulations. Like,

nobody cares. The train is the thing that

matters. The delivery of the promise.

The delivery of the miracle.

But the Lord operates on these

tracks. And he says, where are the

tracks? So Jesus does applaud great

faith throughout the scriptures. And

Jesus does rebuke when he thinks, where's your faith?

Where's your faith? Where

are the train tracks, guys? Where's,

like, I'm eager. I'm more than willing. Clearly,

through these examples, the centurion, the father, a

bunch of others that we're going to continue to come

across. Not because I'm doing a healing

series, but because I'm doing a Bible series, a

gospel series. And as Jesus reveals the

kingdom, of course, that would include resurrection.

Not just the spiritual

resurrection, which of course is the most

important. Resurrection. By far. And

yet, it ain't the only one he offers. So

your faith is not the power, and yet, your faith

does matter. You do not have to reach out

to God in the correct way. You

are not the thing. Be free and be relieved of

pressure. Do I have to this? Friend,

no. Friend, no. Living

faith. Living faith. I

don't know that I'm there. Me

either. So let's continue to ask and

seek and not can pursue. Let's

feed on the word of God so that we can get to

that place of living faith. And

let's be honest when we're not. Like

Sherry was saying, when I'm weak, I'm coming to you.

I'm weak right now. I

don't have faith for this. Let

me be honest. I don't have faith for this

challenge and this problem. Can

somebody else rise up for me? And

you might go, I have it. Like,

it's all over me. The spirit of God is rising up

in me. Like, I am so angry at the

devil for you, and I'm so eager and expectant for

what Jesus wants to do right now. That's

the body of Christ strengthening one another,

instead of me pretending to be in faith with my

language. Hey, I'm standing on this

promise. Would you stand with me? Hang

on. No, I'm not actually standing

on anything. I feel weak and discouraged

and overwhelmed, and it's been 12 years, and I

basically accept it as final. But

I'm sick of it. Could anybody else join me and

pick me up? And maybe somebody else would

go, yeah, actually, actually, yeah. I'm

praying with a living faith in this moment. Saints,

don't pray when you don't have the living faith.

Sorry. Don't pretend to have

living faith is what I meant to say when you

don't have the living faith. Do

pray. Do seek the Lord. But

don't put on. And many of us have a

background that would teach us the rules of faith and

lead us to look like we're doing something when we're

not. It's damaging. It's

the opposite. It's actually pride. It's

pride. It's the opposite of submission.

It's the opposite of humility.

And Jesus can't work with

pride. That's so good. So

look at Jesus' instruction to the Father. Don't

be afraid. Just believe. Why?

What role could Jairus' faith possibly have here?

Again, Jesus saying, lay down the

train tracks of your faith. Why?

Without faith, it's impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11 .6. For

whoever withdraws near to God must believe that he

exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So

we will have to avoid both sides of this ditch,

saints. The side that says, my faith

is awesome. It's not. Your

faith isn't anything. The object of your faith is

awesome. That's all. And

we avoid this ditch that says, faith has no impact

on anything. God is going to do what God

is going to do and that's that. Also,

clearly, not what happens in the Gospels over and

over and over. So what do we have here?

Welcome to the mystery that none

of us like. Well, it's my faith, but it's

the Lord. But I see it. Welcome

to walking with the Lord and being led by the Holy

Spirit, where you're not in control and you don't get

to make the rules. And there is a master and

you're not him. And he says, ask, seek, knock.

He says, I'm the vine, you're

the branches. Apart from me, you can do

nothing. But thankfully, he's gracious,

kind, and good. And that's what the King does.

The King has to do everything.

Don't be afraid. Just

believe. That's Jesus's encouragement to

you. That's Jesus's encouragement to me.

Don't be afraid. Just

believe. No matter what the crowd is

telling you, no matter what your symptom, no matter

what your circumstance, no matter what your past. Now,

I've got a lot of evidence. I've

got a lot of past as a pastor, as a preacher who

believes literally that it is always God's will to

heal people. Can you imagine that I might

have some stories that I can't explain that break my

heart? And I know that you do as

well. But I don't go, well, my story

apparently disproves the word. I

go, you know what? I don't know what happened

there. I just know the world is

broken because of sin. The devil is bad. And

I know that maybe something got thrown off somewhere

with me. I'm not in guilt, shame, or

condemnation. It doesn't take away the

heartbreak. And still I walk on with the

master and say, Lord, teach me. Help

me to walk with you. The disciples had authority to

cast out demons, didn't they? Didn't

they? They celebrated it. Lord,

even the demons obey us in your name. And

Jesus goes, first of all, don't rejoice because demons

obey you. That's no big deal. It's

not a big deal. Of course they obey you.

Jesus, I can step on an ant.

Congratulations. Of course the demons obey

you. Rejoice because your names are

written in heaven. That's the correction Jesus brought

them. I know demons are going to

obey you. And yet, remember the father

with the demon that possessed boy. Jesus

had been up on the mountain. He

comes down and the father says, Lord, your disciples

couldn't cast out this demon. And

Jesus said, oh, faithless generation. How

long must I bear with you? Faith?

What? They already can cast out

demons. Why couldn't they cast out this

one? And Jesus said, you can't do

this one except by prayer and fasting. I

talked about fasting last week. Again,

is fasting my magic formula to twist God's arm? No.

Fasting makes me the soft new wine vessel. What

word am I looking for? Thank

you. New wineskin. Brock

knew I was fishing. He saw the glaze over it. I

was like, I know there's a word here. To

make me the new wineskin. And

then the new wine flows. It's

not I fasted, Lord. Now this demon has to leave.

Oh, it was a special fasting

demon. That's nonsense. That's

nonsense. That's formulaic Christianity again,

where I want the rules that I can accomplish. How

long do you have to fast to kick this demon out?

Huh? How many meals? How

many calories? What as to how long do you

have to pray? It wasn't the point. The

point is be the new wineskin. And

then the new wine will flow. That's

what faith is. The track is the wineskin. And

then the wine flows. But he's the wine giver. He's

the one who provides the powerful, nourishing new

wine. Don't be afraid. Just

believe. To the woman. He

says, daughter, go in peace. So

all these people touching him out of superstition, or

just to say that they did it, one person touches him

and receives something from him. This

is living faith. Living faith is determined. Here's

a characteristic of living faith. It

is determined. How do you know if your faith

is living faith or not living faith? Living

faith is determined. Living faith will get ridiculous.

Living faith will run a lap

around the church when other people go, what's

that about? That's not how you worship the

Lord. Living faith will literally tear

the roof off of someone's house. Four

friends will get together with living faith and go,

pick somebody. This guy's going to sue us. I

don't care. I don't care. I'll

deal with that later. Why? Because living faith is

doing, living faith takes action. Non

-living faith goes, eh, I don't know. It'll

be what it'll be. It is what it is. It

do what it was. But living faith says, I'm

going to do something. Living

faith is determined and it doesn't follow a script.

Living faith might cause you to

fill in the blank. Tear the roof off of someone's

house so you can lower your paralyzed friend on a

mat in front of Jesus. And that scripture also said,

Jesus seeing their faith. Faith

looks like something apparently. Faith

sounds like something apparently. But

you can't get the cart before the horse and go,

I'll do a pretend faith action. No,

the faith action comes out of the living faith first.

The heart goes first. So

you got to have the horse. The

living faith is the horse. And

then the cart can come afterwards. So

some things in your life say they seem stuck or

closing. 12 years is a long time to have health

problems and not lose hope. As

time passes, it becomes easier to believe this is

my life. And somebody dies. Do

you mind were you talking resurrection? Yes.

I'm talking the actual application of the text.

When somebody dies, it seems

obvious to everyone that it's too late. So

Jesus gets rid of the mourners. You

guys leave. I want living faith present

in this room. Peter, James, John, you with me?

Yes, master. Are

you with me? Yes, master. You

can come in. Father, mother, you can come in.

Believe. Don't be afraid. Believe.

All right, Jesus, we're with you. That's

why we came to you. Living faith. John

Michael, I'm not there. Saints,

I haven't been there a million times. And

still we're going to tell the truth about where the

bullseye is. My dart has missed many times.

But we're still going to tell

the truth about the bullseye. And

we're not going to get in guilt, shame, or

condemnation. But we do need to recognize

there are time to send the crowds away. There

are times to separate from other people. Even

God -loving believers who, when I need a miracle,

there's certain people I'm calling and there's certain

people I'm not. Why? I might be on the brink.

I might be a shred. Like,

I don't need your doubt. I got enough of my own. I

don't need your hesitation. I

got enough of my own in this moment. I

need somebody who's going to say, let's ascend the

throne. Let's go to the throne of grace

with boldness, trusting in the merciful Lamb of God,

who was slain, who was pierced, who received

stripes. Let's go. Let's

go. Let's go with a hopeful

expectation. And God, would you please grant

us that living faith? God, would you give us a living

faith? Crowds are notoriously faithless.

Notoriously faithless. So

we would be wise to surround ourselves with

people who will believe Jesus with us. So

what have you come to accept as fixed? What

have you come to accept as settled? Jesus

would tell you, don't be afraid. Just

believe. Others may have given up on your

situation. You may have given up on your

situation. God doesn't condemn you. God

doesn't accuse you. God is near to the

brokenhearted. He has come to comfort the

brokenhearted. But do not say that something

is not His will. And do not let man do so

either. If you've got something that

seems stuck and seems permanent and dead, whether

it's now or in the future, the solution is the same.

It is to come to Jesus with

living faith. The one who says it's not dead

is just asleep. Heavenly Father, we don't have any

resurrection power in ourselves. But

in Christ, we absolutely do. That

living power has been placed in us. And

that's even what Paul prayed for the Ephesian

church. That the eyes of their hearts

would be opened so that they would see and know.

That they would recognize the

power available for them who believe. That

same power that you use when you raise Jesus up

from the dead. The greatest miracle ever

accomplished, the most power ever displayed. Greater

even than that which was done in creation. When

you spoke and the universe was created and forced into

existence. The resurrection of Christ was

even greater than that. And that resurrection power

dwells in us. Lord, would you please grant us

more living faith? Not just more knowledge. God,

I pray that you would grant freedom. I

pray that you would break off strongholds right now.

That this word as it's come,

that it would accomplish the surgery. To

remove pain, to remove wounds, to remove bad

teaching. To remove doubt in your word.

And also to break the

strongholds of man's traditions. Man's

traditions that hold up people and their actions as

the hero. Instead of a humble people who

come with a living faith. Even

the faith that we need is a gift from you. We

cannot muster it up. We cannot accomplish it. But

you give faith as the word is preached. Faith

is present for us to receive. Teach

us, show us Lord. What does it look like? Next

time we're facing that difficult thing or the

current thing. Lord, bring breakthrough. Keep

us soft new wine skins. Who

remain eligible to receive the new wine. Because

you won't pour in new wine where it's unfit. Where

it would even do damage. You're

a tender shepherd Jesus. Thank

you for cleaning us. For caring for us. For

feeding us. Jesus, you weep with those who

weep. You rejoice with those who

rejoice. You comfort and you strengthen.

I pray that you would do

whatever is necessary in the right season, in the

right moment. Every saint in here is in a

different spot. Different season, different moment.

Different thoughts, different

experiences. Jesus, would you please pour in

the oil and the wine and heal it all. Fill

in the cracks. Minister Holy Spirit, with your

loving presence.