Untitled Sermon (12)

Believe #1

Jamey Mills

Northside Church

3/14/21

Testimony by…. Misti Southard

Northside… it’s good to be with you all… My name is Jamey and I am the lead pastor here at Northside Church.

If I asked what the most difficult thing in life you’ve ever faced was… what would you say?

For me, there are two that come to mind… One was a time that my wife Brandi had suddenly gotten incredibly sick. She began bleeding internally… a lot. And spent a ton of time and money at the doctors… doing test after test… and getting the same answer which was… we don't know.

The schedule of my life during that time felt like this… wake up, get the kids ready, take them to school, go to work, get out early, go pick up the kids, help them with homework, fix dinner, help them get to bed… try to help Brandi… try to be a youth pastor…

It seemed like she was getting worse everyday… she couldn’t get up the stairs without feeling like she was going to pass out so she spent a lot of her time on the couch…

There was one appointment I remember really well, they were keeping close track of her blood levels… and after it we headed home. As we pulled into the driveway I got a call… I was surprised it wasn't the nurse, it was the doc. He asked where we were and basically said, I need you to turn around and safely bring her back as dast as you can.

Her hemoglobin levels were dangerously low… We had to scramble to get people to pick the kids up from school, and we spent the majority of that night in the hospital as Brandi was receiving blood.I want to say it was 5 units of it.

Easily… one of the most helpless and desperate times of my life. Not having answers is the worst. It’s amazing how in times like that, you can be surrounded by people and feel completely alone.

We are in the second week of our series we are calling “why I believe”.... Looking at what it means when the bible uses the word belief and looking at the impact the presence of Jesus had on the belief of those who interacted with Him. a

We talked about how biblical belief is not just the cognitive acceptance of God’s existence, but that it infers a belief that is properly applied… that impacts the way we live our life and spend our days.

And I mentioned to you all that belief and faith have this interesting relationship…

And that there are days when belief is hard… and for some of us, the difficulty might be a big part of what we are talking about today.

Mark 5:21–42 (NLT)

21 Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore.

Jesus had just healed a man of demon possession… sending the demons into a herd or gaggle of pigs who immediately ran down the hillside, into a lake where they drowned… I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you all to the pig roast happening in late August…

But here is the deal… and for some of this, it's the hard part of belief. Jesus… was not normal. He was and is outside the box of the way so many of us think. Jesus was fully man… He knew temptation, He knew pain, He showed emotion but He was also FULLY God. He had power over creation, over evil, to do miracles…

Crazy things happened when Jesus was around… and for some of us… this is where belief stops. We have this tendency to want to tame Jesus… to make Him acceptable to ourselves if not to others… by doing things like… pretending he didn't walk on water… but the minute we tame Jesus… is the moment belief loses its meaning and its power.

It’s telling to see how the people of that day reacted to what Jesus did.

We see things like this… as soon as the people saw Jesus heal the demon possessed man and the pigs drown, they basically said, dude, we are freaked out and don’t know what to do with you… it's time for you to go.

So Jesus left. And went back to Capernaum… which was sort of where His headquarters during the majority of His ministry. It's where Andrew, Peter, James, John and Matthew the tax collector were from. The people of Capernaum saw some stuff… and they voted with their presence. When they saw Jesus coming… A HUGE crowd came.

22 Then a leader of the local (in Capernaum) synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.

Jairus was a highly influential, highly respected guy. He was likely an elected official in charge of the local synagogue… The center of worship. With that came all kinds of responsibilities. It would also mean that he was close to a group of religious leaders known as the pharisees… who constantly tangled with Jesus and were threatened by what He said and did… they would certainly pressure Jairus away from connecting with or supporting Jesus at all. There was far more on the line that you and I might think… Livelihood, respect, position, influence….

So when Jairus came and threw himself at the feet of Jesus, you can bet the people were watching… and we are left asking why… what would cause someone like that to do something like this…

23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”

Jairus… was desperate. Even though he faced pressure to stay away and even teach against Jesus… Why do you suppose he went anyway?

If anyone… questioned Jesus or had anything to gain by questioning Jesus… it was Jairus. It’s such an interesting thing to realize that this dude who had so much to lose… saw Jesus in that moment… as the hope of the world. The hope of his world. To the point he was willing to put himself out there… and face whatever consequences would come… and they would.

24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”

Can you imagine Jairus… at this moment… you’d think he’d set a pretty swift pace… marching with purpose toward his dying daughter… when all of the sudden Jesus stops and says… “who touched me”. Are you kidding me. My daughter is dying and we are doing this whole touch thing? How many of you would be losing it right about then.

And this lady… this is crazy… she has been bleeding for 12 years. Her condition was likely terminal… she had tried everything else… and the doctors were unable to help… even made it worse… she was LOST, scared, hopeless, broke… it says that she HEARD about Jesus… and with that would have to make the decision… whether or not to believe it. Whether or not to act. It’s the same decision we face today.

31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Her reaction… she was freaked out about what had just happened. And she responded the way you’d expect someone to respond who had just been given their life back.

The role faith… that belief plays is huge.

Jairus and this woman… both… believed enough to authentically seek Jesus out in the midst of their desperation, fear, anxiety… publically. Which to me means… This is something they were already thinking about. They had seen and heard enough… to believe enough… to bring their fear and heartache to Him on their knees.

James 1:6–8 (NLT)

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Belief… that seeks out Jesus like that… at that time and in that place by those who had seen and heard… by one who was supposed to be against Him… makes me that much more confident in bringing my stuff to Him too.

These people… who lived in the town Jesus sort of operated out of… who had seen and heard as much as anyone would have… seen and heard enough… to face scrutiny… potential punishment… possible rejection... to bring it to the feet of the one who they saw as their only true hope. The only one who could do anything about their everything.

35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

36 But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” 37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed.

Jesus was not lying… the language actually means something like… take courage, her condition isn’t permanent.

And they laughed why? Because they knew she was dead… and they knew what that meant.

We learn a ton from this…

That crazy things happen in the presence of Jesus and the belief that He is able.

We learn that deciding what to believe based on what we have seen and heard about Jesus matters and that it is a choice that is before us even now.

We learn that Jesus has time for us. For our sickness, heart ache, disappointment, and desperation… and even though we may not get the answers we want, Jesus cares. Period! You cannot outrun that amazing truth.

We learn that Jesus has the power over life and death. That He came to bring real life in Him.

We learn that what Jesus provides is greater than anything you’ll get from public opinion.

One was given more time, the other… more time with his daughter. Both were given hope. Both were willing to step out in faith at what could have been a great price.

For Jairus… it likely meant the end of his time as the leader of the Synagogue and the end of some of the power and influence he enjoyed. For this woman… it was likely her last hope.

How did these interactions with Jesus change things?

Honestly… we don't know a ton. Wouldn’t it be cool to see some sort of where are they now kind of documentary?

But their reactions… may tell us all we need to know. One hit their knees trembling over what they had experienced and the other was completely overwhelmed with amazement. I think it safe to say that their interaction with Jesus only served to form and confirm their belief and faith.

It sounds like this lady literally tried everything before she came to Jesus. It was only after she exhausted everything else… which tells me maybe her faith wasn’t some huge substantial thing… and Jesus still met her… which gives me hope. Even then… Jesus cares about you and what you're going through more than the situations surrounding us and that’s often so hard for us to understand, but this is not the only example of it in scripture.

Jairus… was driven by desperation and fear. Weighing out the superficial from what really mattered to Him… and He put it all on the line for his daughter.

For me it’s a reminder to consistently live out my faith… living out my belief in front of, with, and around those I like and love… allowing them to see where my hope is… allowing them to know what I stand for… and that I will seek Jesus on the behalf.

These lives were radically changed by their belief and faith in Jesus… and their belief and faith were made stronger because of their experience. The lives of those who saw their faith lived out were also radically challenged if not changed… changed by the presence of faith and belief that led to real action in jesus.

Has your faith and belief led you to throw yourself at the feet of Jesus with lives most sacred things? To live out this extreme gratitude that those things even exist in your life?

They looked… stepped out in faith… and found it well placed in Jesus.

Where are you in that process? Stepping out… trusting… believing… willing to step out even publicly to declare where you hope really is?

There was a time when some that followed Jesus came to this crisis of faith… the truth is, they didn't like some of what Jesus taught… so much so that they got up and left. Jesus turned and looked to the 12 that were closest to Him and said...are you going too. This is what peter said.

John 6:68–69 (NLT)

68 “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

WHERE else can you go with life’s most sacred things? If we go to Him with that stuff.. Shouldn’t we bring the small things too?

Belief… faith… Hope… Peter at this point had pretty much given up everything to follow Jesus… and he knew… that belief, faith and hope put in money, in work, in government… was misplaced. Peter… knew it couldn't be… wouldn’t be… found in any other place.

And that's exactly what Jairus would have said… and this lady too.

What do you say?

Communion:

Every sunday we offer the opportunity experience communion… It’s something that Jesus instituted and set aside for those who believe to connect with Him and reflect on Him through some powerful symbolism.

Symbolism that reminds us of God’s heart… care… and intentions for you. That you would experience what He calls new life in Christ… a work that He does in those who believe … not just that He exists… but that He is worth living for.

Jesus took the bread and broke it and passed it around and then took the cup and passed it as well… reminding us of His death on the cross that brings real life and forgiveness.

If you’d like to take communion, its on the back table. You can grave it and sort of spread out and take it anytime during the next two songs.

Pray

CLOSING:

Wanted to take just a moment to encourage you. Easter is typically a time when people are far more open to visit a church than most any other time. I would LOVE for all of us to consider who it is that we are inviting… to attend and to sit with us…and I would encourage you to give them an invite… and follow up. Those things matter more than we often realize. I cannot tell you how many people I know that have that have come into a relationship with God that way. 2