Mark 5:21–24 NIV

When Jesus had again crossed over by 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 Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Mark 5:35–42 NIV

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, 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.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

I See a Door

Introduction

Can I poll the room before I start…

How many of you have a New Years Resolution?

It’s not for everybody, I know…

How many of you have already broken their New Years Resolution?

That’s OK… 2025 will be YOUR YEAR…

New Years bring us New Opportunities. Whether you want to admit it or not, there is something about the new year that gives us the gift of a new opportunity.

Transition

And today I want to speak to the opportunities in your life that God wants to bring.

The Door

In the scriptures, an open door symbolize opportunity.

Here are some of the scriptures in the New Testament where the writer, Paul, uses the word door to describe a God designed opportunity:

1 Corinthians 16:8–9 (NIV)

But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

2 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)

Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,

Colossians 4:3 (NIV)

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

I want you to notice that Paul would ask the church to pray for Open Doors. What Paul knew, and what we want for you to know today is that there are doors that will not open until you start praying.

Your charisma is not going to open that door.

Your degree will not open that kind of door.

Your application and resume will not open that kind of door.

There are doors that are supernaturally opened when we begin to pray for them to be opened.

This is why we are leading the church into a time of prayer and fasting. And if you have been on the fence about joining us in this season of prayer and fasting, let me ask you something. Are there any doors that you need opened in your life?

Some of you need to stop playing games with God and start praying.

Some of you need to stop trusting in the ways of man, and start trusting in the ways of God.

I’m wondering if there is anyone here this morning that needs God to open up a door?

Is there anyone here today that is tired of doors being closed in your face, and enough is enough. You don’t have time not to pray. You don’t have time not to fast. You need to stop sleeping in and make prayer a priority.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

If that door is not opening and you haven’t been praying, then stop expecting for that door to open.

The Text

Now I need to take you to the text because if prayer is what is going to open the door, I want to teach you how to walk through the open door.

In Mark we encounter the story of Jairus and his sick daughter.

Jairus is a leader in the church. He’s a person that everyone would recognize when they saw in the streets. His position was important and he was esteemed by others.

How do I know that?

Because the writer, Mark, made sure to give us this detail. Whenever a writer gives us this much detail, he does it to cause us to see what they saw.

Jairus was an important man…

But when we find him he is a broken man. His daughter is sick, and even with all of his resources the doctors couldn’t make her better. Even with his connections and influence, there was no cure for her sickness.

Jairus is now out of time and he’s having to do what he never would have done - and that is to go to Jesus.

You see Jesus was loved by sinners but he was not received by religious leaders.

Jesus was a disrupter.

And now the crowds that used to came to the synagogues have left and they are flocking to see this son of a carpenter from the little sleepy fishing town of Galilee.

If Jairus is running to Jesus it is because he is out of options and he is desperate for Jesus to do something…

Let me ask you, church. Have you ever desperately needed Jesus to do something for you?

Then you can relate to what Jairus is feeling.

Faith Over Fear

Now Jairus convinces Jesus to come to his home and to see his daughter, but the worst kind of news hits them while they were on the way.

We read in verse 21 that someone from the house ran out to them to tell them it’s too late. Your daughter has passed away. You don’t need to bother Jesus anymore.

But here is what I know about Jesus… He’s not bound by time and whatever is impossible to us is possible for him.

As a matter of fact, late isn’t even in His dictionary. Jesus is always on time. You might think he’s late, but when Jesus shows up, he shows up right when He intends to show up, because Jesus always is on time…

But Jesus doesn’t say that. What he says, and I believe he said this looking straight into Jairus eyes, “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

Do not fear… Believe… Have faith.

Jesus’ response actually has nothing to do with the health of the little girl and everything to do with the condition of Jairus.

In the same way I believe that when doors appear to be closed it is because Jesus is doing something in you.

I know at this moment, some of you are more concerned about what is on the other side of the door, but have you stopped to ask yourself what is God doing in me?

Jesus is dispelling fear from Jairus.

And Jesus had to do this a lot in the scriptures.

The phrase do not fear is in the scriptures 365 times. That’s one for every day of the year. And that is not a coincidence.

Everyday you get to stand on the promises of God’s word that tell us that we do not have to be afraid.

And then Jesus says, Only Believe. Belief is a choice we make in spite of what everything around us looks like.

All hell can be breaking loose around you, and you can chose to believe that the God who was able to help you in the past, is the same God who is able to help you in your present.

I don’t need perfect conditions to believe.

I don’t need to see it in order to believe.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

My belief is the evidence that I serve a God is more than able.

My belief is the evidence that I can rise above whatever seems impossible

My belief is the evidence that I am a child of God.

So you have to have faith over fear.

People of Faith

In the very next verse that we read it says that Jesus no longer let the crowd follow him and only Peter, James and John were allowed to go with him into Jairus’ house.

You see it was the crowd that told Jairus, “it’s too late… don’t bother Jesus anymore.”

But Jesus was getting ready to walk through the the door of Jairus’ house.

You can’t walk through open doors without people of faith.

Some of you are believing that God is going to do a new thing, but you’re still doing the old thing.

You want to hang with the crowd, but there are haters in the crowd.

You want to bring your crowd, but there are people in your crowd who don’t really believe in you.

They don’t want to see you walk through an open door because they’re not ready to deal with the reality of their dysfunction.

Jesus shows us that not everyone gets to walk through the open door. You can’t pray a door open, and bring people with you who can’t even spell pray.

And if you think this is strong, let me remind you that the people that Jesus didn’t bring through the door were the people who said, “It’s too late. Don’t bother Jesus.”

So what are we going to do?

We are going to get some people around us who are going to pray with us.

We need people around us who are going to fast with us.

We need people around us that are going to help us press in to the promises of God.

And if you don’t know where to find them, let me tell you where to find them.

They’re the ones waking up at 5 AM to get to 5:30 AM prayer.

They’re the ones making plans to get to church early on Sunday for prayer.

They’re the ones showing up on a midweek for prayer.

It’s not that you can’t find them, it’s just that you’ve been looking in the wrong places.

People With Love

So now Jesus has walked through the door… and even though he left one crowd on the other side of the doors, there’s another group of people he has to contend with and that’s the people who are inside the house. Jesus walks in and they’re crying and wailing loudly. That’s how Mark described the scene.

But Jesus asks them, “Why are you all being so extra? The girl is asleep and not dead.”

Now pay attention to what happens next… they laughed at him.

Just a second ago they were crying and wailing… the next minute they’re laughing

So are you mourning or are you laughing at Jesus because you can’t be doing both.

Here’s my commentary on the text. The people who showed up for Jairus really didn’t care if the girl lived or died. They were there because Jairus was important, and they wanted to rub shoulders with him. The crying and the wailing was an act.

That’s why Jesus asked, why are you all being so extra.

Immediately, their motives were revealed as they laughed at him.

And in that moment Jesus did one very important thing - he exposed who the people were that did not really love Jairus or his daughter.

And the very next thing Jesus did was kick them out.

Like Martin used to do to Tommy, Pamela and Cole on the Martin show.

“Now get to steppin!”

Everyone laughing just revealed their age… and we’re also the group that needs to take an aspirin every morning.

Jesus kicked everyone out and he only took Jairus and his wife and they now went into the room where the little girl was sleeping.

Here’s the application…

If you are going to walk through the open door in your life, not only is it going to require people of faith, but you also are going to need to walk with people who love you.

I’m talking about the selfless kind of love, with no other motives than to see you win.

People of faith, and people who love you.

This was how Jesus walked through the Open Door.

Our Prayer for You…

And the prayer of our church is that this would be the year that you would take full advantage of the door before you.

We hear God saying to Lighthouse that 2024 is a season of new opportunities because God is going to Open Doors that have been closed.

The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, informs us that He died for us to have new opportunities.

We were dead in our sins, and new opportunities were non existant before Jesus came. But Jesus has come to make all things new again.

I’m not preaching self-help this morning, I’m preaching the good news of the Kingdom. The good news of the Kingdom is that He makes all things new again. Jesus is actively renewing the hearts and minds of those who love Him, so they can bring this message to the hearts and minds of those who do not know him.

This open door gives us a second chance to open doors for others.

What’s it going to take?

You have to have faith over fear.

You need to surround yourself with people of faith.

You need to surround yourself with people who love you.

Call

I want to pray for people right now who need a door to be opened this year. Is there anyone here that needs a door to be opened up in 2024?

If that’s you run down here right now. We’re going to open up these altars to pray for you.

If there’s anyone here at our church that want’s to be that person of faith, and you want to come and pray with people here in need of an open door, then I want you to come forward as well. I am going to release you to find someone and unite with them for prayer. I want your faith to activate their faith.