Living Hope Church Green River
8/4/24 Only Believe
because of not just the work that you have done and not even just the work that you are doing but the work that you will do when you return in the sky Lord we just pray for that moment for that day we pray for all those that still need to know who you are to still come to you and repentance Lord we pray that you would encourage and enable us to go and to speak the gospel to them and Lord I just pray for those of us that are here that we would not forget that we would remember the the promise of your return that we would be eagerly awaiting and that we would not be caught unaware and Lord I just pray that as we open your word today I pray that you'd speak to us that you would open our eyes convict us and draw us close to you because of what we read today we pray this in Jesus name amen thank you maybe you seated all righty it's time children third grade and under can go downstairs and get a lesson from my wife what are you talking about today what Abram Abram Abram yeah here you go some guy named Abram not Abraham obviously not yet just Abram all right okay well thank you so much for being here today for those of you who don't know my name is Pastor Ruben a living hope church exists to experience and share a life of hope and so we're thankful so thankful that you're here today with us if you're new here if you wouldn't mind there's a card in front of you if you want to mind filling out that card and dropping it in that box in the back table that box in the back tables for those of us that are part of this church that want to support the work that God is doing here financially for that box is for us to give our ties and our offerings but if you're a visitor if you wouldn't mind filling out that card dropping it in the box in the back it gives me a way to reach out to you to connect with you and to see how we can better serve you and so again thank you so much for being here also if you're new here I do want you to know our auditorium our whole church doesn't always look like this I do trip up on my own core all the time but normally it's not over everything else and so there's something very big that is happening starting tomorrow is vacation Bible school and so we want to invite all kids I think it's kindergarten through fifth grade all children kindergarten through fifth grade to come 9 to 11 30 Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and we'll have a kitchen Bible school it's going to be a great great week the theme is breaker rock beach so there's breaker rock I don't know what that means but there you go that's the theme we're gonna have a whole lot of fun with like skits and we're gonna crash a ship we won't show that part we'll just use our imagination but no it's gonna be a great week get to talk about some of the the differences and what men say versus what God says and so we want to proclaim that to the next generation of the truths of what God has said and so bring your students your children if you know any that aren't coming make sure you go bug them and tell them to be here Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 9 30 to 11 also for vacation Bible school today after the service we'll probably take a couple minutes because my wife has to go get dinner but we'll have a meal for the volunteers we'll do a quick training for the volunteers and then we'll actually decorate because this is just the beginning no I'm just kidding there's there's definitely more decorating to do this is a lot for up here though but there's other rooms and other things that need decorated and so we'll get together with all the volunteers we'll do some decorating and we'll get prepared for students showing up tomorrow morning okay other announcements we have going on where's my paper this is the final week for snow cones and popcorn at the soccer fields there's a sign up sheet on the back so if you're interested in doing that we were able to do that a couple times this last week the youth group helped on Wednesday night and it's a it's a great opportunity to just share with our community to give back and so it's it's really I have thoughts go through my head sometimes and I'm just like I don't know I don't know if you guys want to hear my inner dialogue sometimes but I just you know I had a couple arguments so if you enjoy having arguments you could just argue with people now let's be clear the argument I was having was don't pay us this is free right but you know that's the only argument you're allowed to have but no it's great it's a great way to just share with the community so that's Monday and Thursday we'll be doing popcorn snow cones at the soccer fields and so whether you sign up or not if you stop by and and just if nothing else get some popcorn it's pretty good I'm not a big popcorn guy but I love butter in cheese there's no cheese but I love butter okay and then the other thing it's not in your bulletin but there's on the on the back table there's some flyers with some information but it's also on the bulletin board in the back by the front door there's a ladies retreat that's going to be in Casper that's September 6th and 7th and so there's some information there I don't know we'll we'll find out as we get closer if there's people who are interested in going to that and we might be able to get like a carpool down there we not we you all y'all can carpool or whatever but if you're interested in that maybe talk to me and and then I'll see if we can connect anyone else that's interested in going but that's September 6th and 7th so that's a month away it's coming time is flying summer times almost over what day does school start too early yeah that's fair school starting in August August is still summer time isn't it? I don't know it's crazy this Lucas is yes it's still summer yep okay well if you guys want to turn in your Bibles we're gonna be in the book of Luke Luke chapter number eight we're actually finally gonna finish chapter number eight and I'll go ahead and read it for us all together Luke chapter number eight starting in verse number 41 or 40 I don't have it on here don't I normally have it on here oh oops oversight Luke chapter number do you have are you at 41 okay 41 Luke chapter eight starting verse number 41 and it says and behold there came a man named Jarius Jarius Jarius I'm probably gonna say it 15 different ways today so just get used to it if it's a J name that's probably who I'm talking about okay all right and behold there came a man named Jarius who is a ruler of the synagogue and he fell down at Jesus's feet okay inner dialogue is getting the best of me Jesus is another J name that Jesus he's gonna be separate the other J name Jarius I mean that's two different people okay all right sorry all right so Jarius comes to Jesus he fell down at Jesus's feet and baked him to come to his house for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age and she was dying but as he went the multitudes thronged him now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who spent all her livelihood on the physicians and could not be healed by any came from behind and touched the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped and Jesus said who touched me when all denied it Peter and those with him said master the multitude's throng and press you and you say who touched me but Jesus said somebody touched me for I perceived power going out for me now when the woman saw that she was not hidden she came trembling and falling down before him she declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately and he said to her daughter be of good cheer your faith has made you well go in peace and while he was still speaking someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him your daughter is dead do not trouble the teacher but when Jesus heard it he answered him saying do not be afraid only believe and she will be made well when he came into the house he permitted no one to go in except Peter James and John and the father and mother of the girl now all wept and mourn for her but he said do not weep she's not dead but sleeping and they rick ridiculed him knowing that she was dead but he put them all outside took her by the hand and called saying little girl arise then the spirit returned and she arose immediately and he commanded that she'd be given something to eat and her parents were astonished but he charged them to tell no one what had happened let's pray Lord we come to you today and we just pray for you to speak though other thoughts may come and go we just pray that your words that you have recorded through history would be clear to us today and that the things that we trust would not be the opinions of men but it would be what you have spoken and what you have revealed we pray this all in Jesus name amen this this is a very interesting story for me and really it comes that in very interesting time and I'm not going to talk a lot about like what has happened in the past because like ultimately this story has has a one really big theme for us to look at today and so I kind of just want to walk through the story and then at the end I have two things I want us to remember two things I want us to consider and so if you've got your your notes your notes there those will come kind at the end I'm going to just talk through the story for a minute because there's some really interesting things within this story well really it's almost like two stories like it's one story but like we're almost dealing with like two individuals stories two people's interactions with Jesus right now there's a lot of other people around but really we're going to be kind of looking at Jerris and his daughter and then this woman I try to figure out what the Bible didn't tell us her name you know sometimes I wish I had names just so I didn't come up with other words because when I wrote down you know when I was writing down in my notes I was like okay so there's Jerris's daughter and then there's the bloody woman I was like man that doesn't sound good but so there's this woman who's been sick okay and so we've got these two stories and and if for each of them their interaction their experience of Jesus is it's kind of unique right like they have their own story to tell now one happens in the middle of the other one and so we get them told together but really it's it's this really interesting thing so we have Jerris who's a ruler of the synagogue now this is kind of again the context of where this is in Jesus' ministry is Jesus is starting to face some backlash Jesus is starting to face some opposition it was really exciting when he first started preaching it's really exciting when he's healing people and people are like oh who's this new guy right and and like it's exciting because it's something new but now as he's begun to teach more and as he's getting a following there's more and more people that are beginning to be like whoa we're not okay with this we're starting to reject it and and some of the main people who begin to reject Jesus the people that are actually gonna lead crowds to reject Jesus and ultimately yell crucify him are the religious leaders of the day and Jerris is one of these religious leaders he's he's one of the leaders of the synagogue so he's a well respected well respected religious leader in this community and and yet he he has to come to Jesus because he needs Jesus' help and so that's a great wonderful thing but what I also want us to recognize is that this woman see this woman and we don't know her name and we don't know a lot of her story but man she's got this problem she she also has to come to Jesus what what I want us to kind of do is compare these stories a little bit I want us to notice how there's differences in their story but really like they're very very similar in so many regards so like if we looked at it like first of all Jerris has a daughter who's about 12 years old and and how many of you have children right okay sweet how much trouble do I want to get in today children are a blessing right my oldest just turned 10 I just I got to take her to children's camp for the first time this year I got to see her growing I got to see her learn new things I got to see her running around a camp and you know coming to say hi to me and then just leaving right like I mean like it was great it was wonderful and children are a joy and what I want us to think about is that Jerris has this daughter Jerris is a religious leader Jerris is well respected in the community and and so really I want us to kind of think about maybe Jerris is this man with like 12 years of good right if we could think of like 12 years of plenty so not to bring in too many other Bible stories but like I'm as I was thinking about this I was reminded of Joseph in Egypt and and there was this the what was the six years of plenty and then the six years of famine there's a seven I can't remember seven number of perfection right like had to be seven but like there's these like this period of like plenty and then there's this period of famine and and really in Jerris's life there's this period where like things are going well and and he's got this child it's his only child like maybe he wanted more children but like she's so my daughter my third daughter no my third kid my second daughter that's confusing Jenny her her name is Genevieve Elena Marlow and so her initial spell Jim she's a little Jim Stone right so she's like my little Jim right and that's the way I kind of like I've got four kids you know like I stopped caring after the first one that's a joke joke but like for for Jerris like he's got his only daughter and she's like the apple of his eye it's what he she cares about her he loves her he treasures her and he's had 12 years and and things are going well and it's beautiful and it's wonderful and and there's just this 12 years of like awesome stuff and now at the end of this like oh no she's dying and it's not good but then if we think about the woman it's 12 years I don't know if it's ironic maybe it's providential but for 12 years this woman has struggled for 12 years it hasn't been good for 12 years she's spent everything and she's tried everything she's gone everywhere and for 12 years it seemed hopeless and she has to come to Jesus you know as we compare these stories it's it's it's intriguing to me that that between all the differences with all of us like I am a huge believer that God made each of us individual and unique I hate personality tests I don't think they're true I think we're all different right like you don't get to put me in a box and say oh I you know I know where you were born so I know how you think it's just like no I'm different I'm unique and yet there's something that there there are things that are common with all of us and what is common for every single one of us is a need for Jesus it doesn't matter what your past is it doesn't matter if you're well respected it doesn't matter if you're nameless it doesn't matter if you're a child or if you're old it doesn't matter anything about what's unique about you what we all have in common is that we need Jesus and and for for many of us it can be like these these two people where it's a sickness where it's a physical problem that drives us to come seeking Jesus and yet what Jesus has been saying since the beginning of his ministry is that there's something more and yet what Jesus came as much as he heals the the woman who who had this problem and as much as he raises this little girl from the dead his purpose was what we celebrated right here was to not just fix a physical problem but to write the spiritual brokenness the death that comes between us and our God and so Jesus we all we all come to Jesus whether it's it's because of our physical problems that we come or whether it's because of our emotional problems that we come or whether it's our spiritual problems all of us must come to Jesus I want to very quickly I just want to look a little bit at what Jesus is facing in this passage there's there's some there's ways that people talk to God in in the Bible that are just kind of funny to me like I would be very careful not to do that today but in their context like it was hard for them to grasp that Jesus was God right like they're beginning to follow Jesus but like there's just this concept of like who he is that they're still trying to understand and grasp and so if we looked right at the beginning there's this in in the what page amount here we go verse number 43 says and now woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who had spent all her livelihood on physicians cannot be healed by any came from behind and touched him the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped and Jesus said who touched me now I want us to recognize something pretty you know I think it's important for us recognize that Jesus is God and so I am convinced that Jesus knows who touched him Jesus's question here is not for his understanding right Jesus's question is actually I believe for this woman right but he asked the question who touched me and Peter I love Peter so much Peter's like what do you mean okay so for the record I live in Wyoming for a reason large crowds of people not my thing okay I get extremely claustrophobic really fast like not being in tight spaces I used to work for rotary I've been in crawl spaces I've been in places where like I've gone spelunking and like you have to like really breathe out to be able to get through all the crevices like man I kind of enjoy that I'm not claustrophobic in that way but man you get within two three feet of me if I could smell your breath man I don't know about this like I'm you know or two two two three arms lengths you know like you know you guys are fine over there you don't need to be up here in my personal space it's really hard for me like there's really cool things that you know like you know I think of I have a picture that runs through in my office of some some friends we went to Hills alive one here and it's a great concert where skillet was headlining and you know where we pushed almost up to the front and you're just shoulder to shoulder with people and you're just bumping up next to people all the time and then skillet you know I mean that's not music you generally sit down to like that's usually music we're like headbanging to and like people are like flinging their arms thankfully I've watched Moshpits I don't get that like I'm not that angry right but like I mean we're all moving and like like even me who has no rhythm like you end up jumping with the crowd because like they're all jumping and if you're not jumping they're brushing up against you more and so like they kind of just carry you as you're jumping and so like anyway like there's just this throng of people and like there's there's no option but to go with it and Jesus is being pushed through this throng he's headed towards this place he's going to someone who needs me and then he just stops and he's like whoa stop who touched me what do you mean who touched you I did he did they did everyone did it's important for us to recognize Jesus knew who touched him Jesus asked this not for his knowledge and maybe not even for the knowledge of the crowd around him but so that the woman would respond so that the woman would speak up verse number 47 when the woman saw that she was not hidden she came trembling and falling down before him and it cleared to him and the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately and this woman's healing you know as much as it was a private thing for her Jesus made sure it was a public thing for everyone and as much as we seek to have a private like a private interaction and a private relationship with our God when God has changed us and restored us and given us new life and new hope then it becomes a public declaration and what's important for us to recognize is that following Jesus is not just a private thing that I get to do I get to come and touch Jesus for just a moment and then run away and hide Jesus is calling us out to make a public declaration and in that what this woman finds is that she finds that not only has she received healing of the problem the physical problem in her life but now Jesus begins to explain to her the spiritual reality of what it means to come to Jesus and Jesus says this he says daughter be of good cheer your faith has made you well go in peace you see this woman it was it was not let's be honest like there's there's weird teachings out there there's a lot of mysticism and and there's these ideas of you know touching right and you know if I can just be close right and and you know maybe this woman if she had just touched Jesus's garment and then walked away and never had this further encounter this further interaction with Jesus maybe she would have spent her entire life thinking that Jesus is garment like his his robe was somehow magical right maybe that's what did it we'd spend our whole life trying to understand how it worked and and and you know there's all kinds of there's there's weird miracles that God does in the Bible I think I'm allowed to say that right like there's one time Jesus literally spits on the ground and makes mud and rubs it on some guy's eyes and that it where that worked so if you guys you guys want to get rid of your glasses like let's go out back we got enough dirt out here I'll start spitting in it let's see if that works like we very quickly if we do not understand some of the spiritual truths of what is going on we can start finding magical and weird answers for all these things and Jesus didn't let that happen he stopped her and he said your faith has made you well now let's also be clear in this some of us think we have a lot of faith and we've been asking God to do something for a long time maybe it's been 12 years of suffering and pain and we've been praying and we believe and we trust and God hasn't done anything you cannot have enough faith to do what God will not do it is still the hand of God that heals it is still the hand of God that brings salvation we come to God in faith we come to God we come seeking and let me be clear about what I believe faith is there's another verse here we'll look at in just one second that uses one of these words I like to define faith by two words the first word is believe is to believe God right we believe the things that God has done this woman had to have enough faith to believe that God can heal her of her sickness and we have to have enough faith in the things that we were praying about and the things that we are concerned about we have to have enough faith to believe that God can do something about it but it's not just belief it's also an action and I like to call it trust see this this woman had to go out of her way she had to go find Jesus she had to come to Jesus she had to stop stop going to the doctors and stop going to wasting like I mean she spent all of her money she had to come to the end of herself and then she had to go to Jesus faith requires an action on our part to go to Jesus faith is the response of what we believe God can do we must come to God in faith believing that he can and then we start serving him we seek him this woman she comes and God says this he said be of good cheer your faith has made you well and then he said this go in peace go in peace and can you imagine the new life now she has go in peace and she spent so much she spent 12 years trying working anxious fearful wondering and now she goes in peace this is the new life that God offers this is what hope looks like to be able to actually live in the world we live in in our lives in our families in our in our in our different contexts to be able to live in peace because of the life that God has given so Jesus finishes this interaction with this lady and then he turns around and he's gonna go to to the Jairus's daughter who's dying but as he's going servant comes up hey don't worry about it she's dead don't trouble the teacher I think this is an interesting concern for Jesus right don't trouble the teacher number one I think it shows like like some of their view of God is like just too small right there their view of who Jesus is maybe he's just a teacher maybe you can do some healing but I mean what can he do for dead people right to be honest what can we do for dead people there's not a lot we can do for dead people but for God there's a lot you can do for dead people and so they come to Jesus and they're like hey you know thanks for trying but you know you took too long you healed this other woman you stopped in the crowd rather than come into heal our kids so she's dead don't worry about it thanks for nothing Jesus like oh that's all right he comes in he's like hey she's not dead she's sleeping you know I've seen a lot of people sleeping I didn't mean to being thought weird I've seen people sleeping I don't know if I've seen a lot of people sleeping I've seen people sleeping and I've seen a couple of dead bodies in my life they're different and we you know I think as humans we struggle with understanding life and death and how to handle death and you know for me this is ingrained in my memory now this this last year my grandmother passed her way and I went and there she is except that's not her there's a body in a casket but that was not my grandmother there's an obvious difference between sleeping and death and we might bristle a little bit because we know who Jesus is at them ridiculing Jesus but I wonder how many times we do the same thing where we look at what we think is obviously true she's dead I know what's going on I may not know how to fix it they may not know how to change it but I know what's going on she's dead and yet God speaks truth God said no no it's just a sleep you know throughout the New Testament there's references to to death being sleep and and for for us it can be this hard thing because we know the the reality of death that it's it happens and there's no changing it and yet throughout the New Testament there's this language of those who have gone to sleep and we are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ there is a promise of new life there is a promise of resurrection Paul tells us that if there's no resurrection of the dead we would be most miserable right because all of our faith is in the fact that there is life after this that after this death there will be life and it can be very hard for us when we can see the reality of death to believe and have faith in the work that God will do but here's what Jesus tells the father and mother he says only believe right he says that in verse number 50 he says when Jesus heard it he answered and said do not be afraid only believe she will be made whole she will be made well do you believe do you believe the words of Christ that we were made for more than this that there is life with God for eternity do you have faith Jared says this or Jesus tells us to Jerson only believe and then he goes and he kicks out the people and and there's just a handful of people there in the room and it goes up to the body picks up her hand he says little girl get up and she gets up one of my favorite things get her some food I don't know just how to put that in there because obviously like when you're sick you don't eat a lot right so like I imagine she's back from the dead but I mean probably hasn't eaten much lately I just make sense then here's the here's the thing that kind of I'm still scratching my head a little bit about spirit return she rose immediately he commanded that she'd be given something to eat and her parents were astonished but he charged them to tell no one what happened what I don't understand man as we're kind of comparing these stories a little bit there's woman gets healed and then she tries to run away privately and Jesus is like whoa stop stop stop stop let's publicly show what just happened right and now Jesus has raised a little girl from the dead he's like oh and don't tell anyone what happened well number one I think it's pretty obvious what happened everyone knew that she was dead and now she's not that doesn't just happen right so Jesus went in dead person became alive Jesus goes away dead person is the life right like I mean it's pretty easy to start figuring out so why why does he say that I don't know if I have a good answer for you I have I have good answers for early on in Jesus' ministry that Jesus you know you told people not to go tell everyone they were healed because then there would be crowds around Jesus is already being followed by crowds the impact of this life it's going to be obvious that Jesus healed her so so what is what is the message for us today I don't know here's the message I'll tell you though dead people talking is kind of weird and that's a story unto itself this this woman who's healed from 12 years of sickness is now made well and she's told to go in peace a whole new life and now this young daughter who still growing she's only 12 years old who still has a whole life in front of her you know the whole rest of her life is a new life because she's already died and now she's living and what asked us today do we have faith do you have new life will it be obvious to those that around you that you were once dead but now you live is it obvious to those around you that though you were concerned with everything in this world now you are living in peace two things I think I've talked about it a lot but just to write it out for your notes I want us to recognize whether we have experienced plenty or poverty we all come to Jesus in need where whatever our past is whatever our experience is whether you you think you don't need God or you think you you have no other answers whether you've spent your life on your own and your get-or-done person and you've gotten it done and you don't need anyone's help whether you're begging every moment of every day for hope we all need to come to Jesus this woman and Jair said the daughter had to come to the end of their selves they could they can no longer trust in their insurance they can no longer trust in their life savings they can no longer trust in their their community they can no longer trust in their respectability they can no longer trust in their own ability they could only come to Jesus empty-handed asking for help and this is how we must come to God stop working stop trying set it all aside and come to Jesus in need and then the other thing here is whether we whether our experience is private or public we all come to Jesus in faith whether you listen for me I was four years old when I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and I did it next to my bedside I have no idea how I did that because I lived in a room with my brother we were four and five years old so I mean I'm a mess but I was kneeling on something next to my bed and I as Jesus to forgive me of my sins my life has never been the same since listen there are those who have lived publicly horrible lives and when they come to Christ their life needs to change but what we would need to recognize is that it's only by faith we do not come healing ourselves or changing ourselves I am not a self-made man I'm a new man I'm a new man because of what Jesus has done and whatever you think your experiences when you come to Jesus in faith you believe what he can do and then you begin to seek him you begin to trust him and he will lead you where you should go he will call you out in a crowd full of people and make you say what happened or maybe he'll tell you hey now is the time to be quiet now is the time to speak we come in faith and then he leads and we trust him every moment of every day did lead us in the path of righteousness and to still waters into the things that we need but also to be able to share our faith to show others the change the new life that we have because of what he has done so I'll ask you today seriously consider do you have faith in Jesus Christ have you come to the sacrifice of his his body and his blood and asked him not in your desire to gain or in your desire to do it yourself but in your need have you come to him and asked in faith for him to give you new life to give you peace to give you hope if you have not done that do it today it'll change your life and then the journey begins journey of walking with him forever it's not going to end today it's not gonna end when we die it's gonna keep going because he alone has the power of her life and death and he alone has the power to forgive sins let us pray or do we come to you today and we are extremely thankful that you are caring that when asked you come and and when we could no longer make a way for ourselves you made a way for us to have life with you you made a way for us to be forgiven and redeemed and reconciled with our God and so Lord I just pray for all of us in this room that we would stop trying that we stop hoarding that we would stop protecting it maybe even protecting our own image or what other people will think about us maybe we come to you and brokenness and in need and trust that you can do the impossible that you will work a miracle in our life that you will restore that you will mend that you will break chains that you will draw us close to you and make us who you designed us to be we pray this all in Jesus name amen well thank you so much for being here today I didn't want to mention if you guys are sticking around it'll be just a few minutes my wife is gonna go get stuff for dinner and then we'll start decorating after after lunch so thank you so much for being here if you guys have any questions about anything I talked about I'd love to talk to you about it we will see you guys all next week [ Silence ]