Why we do what we do

Share a little about Elaine and Myself

INTRO

The importance of having a target illustration, famous archer boasts, hits a bullseye, but it was the wrong target.

He missed the mark, he missed his goal.

We have a goal as a student ministry

What’s your goal for CHBC students?

When goal goes, meaning goes;

when meaning goes, purpose goes;

when purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.

Carl Jung

In other words, as a student ministry if our goal to be disciples who make disciples goes, then our meaning goes, and if our meaning goes, we lose our purpose, and then we have nothing left.

We exist to glorify Jesus in everything that we do as a student ministry.

We exist to share the hope of Christ with a broken world.

This world needs Jesus, and we are commissioned as a student ministry to reach this world with the good news of Christ.

Today we are going to be reading one of my absolute favorite passages in scripture and we are going to be talking about humanities desperate need for Christ and what our response as a church to that need should be.

Today we are going to read the story of the woman with the issue of blood

Her issue went far deeper than blood though. See for this woman that we are about to read about, her entire life would have been disrupted by this bleeding that she dealt with.

Anyone who came into contact with this woman, according to Jewish law would have been considered unclean.

That means no one wanted to be around her, she would have been a social outcast, who suffered physically, but also suffered spiritually.

read with me today:

BODY

Mark 5:25–34 CSB

25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

There are a few core things I want each of you to see in this passage that will help us understand how we can better respond as a church to those in need of Christ.

#1 Our fleshly reliance on visible solutions

Every man lives by faith, the non-believer as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God.

A. W. Tozer

Chair Illustration

It takes faith to do anything, even before you sit down in a chair, you have to have faith that it’s not going to collapse under you.

Often, our problem is that we place all of our faith in visible solutions, this woman had endured much under many doctors.

See, she put her faith in the doctors and had given everything she had, and yet was not healed.

In fact, the passage says she got worse.

What are you putting your faith in today?

As we continue on in the passage we see that the moment that she reached out and touched Jesus clothes, she was healed.

In the same way in my own life, I constantly looked at the world for healing, but at 15 years old Jesus saved my life

When this woman fell before Christ she was healed both physically and spiritually.

Jesus set her free.

Jesus set me free.

What’s that mean for this student ministry?

As a student ministry we see that our community and school is broken, hurting, and largely without Christ.

Jesus is the only true source of salvation and our goal is to bring that salvation to them.

God has given each of you gifts, organizations, and a voice to glorify him.

We will passionately reach our community and build a faith culture in Christ.

#2 This woman acted on what she had heard about Jesus

Are we telling people about Jesus?

This woman went to Jesus for healing because she had heard about Jesus

Are we telling people about Jesus as a student ministry?

Application

Live it, tell people about the hope of Christ and the cross

Be about it, be intentional in what you are doing

Be passionate about this student ministry, each other, our school, and most importantly the glue that holds it all together, Jesus!

Have faith that Christ is going to work it all out, when you share the gospel, know that you planted a seed and that Christ is

CONCLUSION

As a student ministry today, we need to recognize that there are people like this woman all throughout our community.

They may not deal directly with the same issues that this woman dealt with, but they are broken, hurting, and feeling alone.

Christ is the only source of true salvation and we are sent by Christ to share that message with them.

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We want to be a student ministry that’s all about Jesus.

Ask yourself this week, How can I really be a part of God’s mission to reach the world with his salvation?