The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated Saturday: Pastor Ben Stuart

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

Standing in Awe: The Power, Purpose and Priorities of Jesus The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To learn more about how God is moving at Eleven22, visit coe22.com.

to see you all. Man, I appreciate. Thank you, Jovey, for the moment to collect myself after that video. Golly, that was emotional. Let me say this, before we jump into the word, and I'm excited about what the Lord has for us tonight. I just need to say, I love your pastor. And I'm grateful for him and his friendship in my life. Yeah, you got a good one, family. And he was gracious enough to come and preach in D.C. several months ago. And he asked me at the outset, he's like, hey, do you think like my style will fit. You know, I'm a little in my two country for D.C. And I was like, no.

So people there are from all 50 states. Half of them are from the south, and you'll sound like home. Half of them are from the north, and you'll be like a novelty, like an exotic, like at the zoo. And they loved him and loved him because he's so winsome and funny, but also because he handles the Word of God so well. And so I'd say all the same stuff. I love listening to your pastor preach.

I really do. I enjoy listening to his preaching. I'm just so grateful to be here with you guys. I love this place. It's so fun. So, honor to be here with you. If you've got a copy of your scriptures, we're in Mark, Chapter 4. And I'm going to read what to some of you may feel like a surprising amount of scripture.

Others of you, if you're around here a lot, you'll go, no, it's about normal. But I'm going to read to you several different moments in the life of Jesus. We'll pray and then talk about them together. But I just want to load them into our minds as we begin. So, Mark, I'm going to begin in chapter 4, verse 35. Mark chapter 4, verse 35. If you don't have a copy of your scriptures, just, we'll just listen, because I'm about to read it. So here we go.

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? And he awoke and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

And he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? And they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the gyracines, and when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there came to him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,

for he had often bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles and pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and felt. down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me, for he was saying to him,

come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, what's your name? And he replied, my name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there's a great herd of pigs who's feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him saying, send us to the pigs, let us enter them. So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd numbered about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, drowned in the sea. The herdsman fled and told it in the city and in the country, and people came to see what it was and what happened.

And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion sitting there, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. and they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him and he did not permit him, but said to him, go home to your friends,

tell them how much the Lord has done for you, how he's had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him in everyone marvel. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Gerius, by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and he 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 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 and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. And she'd heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch even his garment, I'll be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body she'd been healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving it himself, that power had gone out from him, immediately turned around in the crowd and said, who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him,

you see the crowd present around you? And 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, someone who said, your daughter's dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? But over hearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue,

did not fear, only believe. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion of weeping? Child's not dead, sleeping.

And they laughed at it. And he put them all outside, and he took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and he went in where the child was. And taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha Kumi. 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 he told them to give her something to eat. Well, Father, thank you for a few minutes around your word, and I just ask for your grace now. Would you help us understand it? So quicken our minds, God, that we can focus. And I pray we'd not only understand it, but we'd be affected by it.

God, I pray we could see you differently and see ourselves more clearly as a result of these few minutes. And I feel it right now. I can't create that. So we're asking you for help. I just want to ask you family, if you're up for it, to take a minute and you pray and ask him that. Even if that's not your normal thing, I just want to ask you if you're willing to just talk to God and ask him. Say, Lord, please teach me tonight. And then if you would, please pray for me as well, but the Lord used me and I'd be helpful to you.

Well, Father, we love you, and we trust you. Use this time, and we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, my wife and I have been married 20 years, as of a few months ago. And yes, thank you. All right. And so 20 years ago, on our honeymoon, we went to Jamaica. And we were excited about going someplace tropical,

but we were surprised when we got there and began to snake along these narrow roads along the country. that all the resorts had these big walls with spikes on top. And ours was no different. And we learned later that it was, you know, to keep danger out. But the effect it has, it made it feel like a luxury prison. So we were in prison there for a few days. And, you know, it was fun.

I mean, it was our honeymoon. Come on. But, like, the food was okay. The beach was all right. There was no one swimming in the water. And after a few days, we're like, Jamaica's just fine. It's kind of like Panama City or something, I guess. But after a few days, we were like, that just doesn't feel right.

And so we had one full day left, and so I said, we just got to change this. And so I remember I hired a taxi for the day. And so we went out and got in the car. There was a 70-year-old man named Sylvester driving the taxi, and he says, where do you want me to take you? And I said, I just want to see Jamaica. And I remember as soon as I said that, it was like, that was the right thing to say to Sylvester. because this man had lived his entire life on this island, loved his country, and so he just turned around and was like,

and within five minutes, it was like, there's the white sand beaches, there's the turquoise water, there's the lush green jungle, and he's watching us get excited about it, and he's getting excited, and then after a minute he goes, do you want to try a jelly coconut? And I was like, yes. Like, I don't know what that means, but yes.

And so he just pulls over, and this guy just emerges from the jungle with machete, and climbs up a tree, cuts down a coconut, cuts it open, and we start eating out of it. And it's not that dry chalky coconut. It's soft, almost like ice cream. And we were like, this is amazing. So we drive a little further, and he's like,

do you want to try sugar cane? And we said, yes, and he pulls over. And a guy emerges from the jungle with the machete. It sort of became like a theme. And he cut down some sugar cane, and we start gnawing on that. I'm like, I will never stop gnawing on this. I don't care what it does my teeth.

And we just spent the day he took us to the Blue Lagoon, and there was no one else there. It's just my wife and I swimming in the Blue Lagoon. And then we went to this waterfall I really wanted to go to. And I remember when we got there, it was closed by the government, but we went anyway. Which I'm not advocating. I'm just telling a story. And so I remember we kind of snake up there into the jungle and he parks the car.

And then three men come out of the jungle and surround the vehicle. And they start talking to him really fast and with a heavy accent. So I can't understand anything they're saying. And so the vehicle's kind of surrounded. It feels a little tense, a little strange. And then after a few moments, Sylvester turns around to Donna and I, and he goes, all right, you're going to go out to Rostoman. You're going to take it to the falls. I'll be right here when you get back.

And I was like, I'm sorry, did you just say I'm going to go with the Rostoman into the jungle and you're not going with us? And I remember I was like, huge mistake. Like, I've been married for three days. I've got one job, protect this woman. I'm going to disappear into the jungle. Like, what did I do? And so we ended up going. Renee ended up being just a super nice guy.

40, a couple kids took us down to this waterfall. Don and I swam in the waterfall while he sat on the shore and smoked a huge joint. Again, not advocating, just telling story. But anyway, so he brings us back and we get there back in the car. And I remember as we're driving back to the hotel, I mean, we're still damp with the waterfall on us, eating the fruit of Jamaica, laughing. He's laughing.

We're celebrating. And I remember as we were just laughing and enjoying it with the water still on us, I thought we were so close. to leaving Jamaica and saying it's fine. And I realized in that moment what had happened to us, those first few days, we had been in Jamaica, but we hadn't been in Jamaica. But when we really got into it, the experiencing became celebrating. It was so easy.

But to really experience it, we had to leave our shallow and safe version and head out into a deeper and more dangerous one. Now, why am I telling you this? For this reason, statistically speaking, we as a generation are not doing particularly well. Gene Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who's done extensive research on all the generations alive today in America, and she has been one of the best people to put a spotlight on concerns about us, particularly the youngest youngest among us. that she reports that over the last 10 years,

students, the age 12 to 17, students with major depression, have risen dramatically. And that couples well with data from the CDC that indicates 44% of high school students in America today indicate they feel persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. 44% of high school students say, I don't feel hope, I don't have confidence

that good is coming in my future. the youngest among us who should have the most hope. And yet some people hear this and go, well, okay, they're sad, but teenagers get sad. Maybe this generation is just better at talking about it. But if you look at hospital visits from self-harm and suicide, they've increased among young people, particularly among ages 10 to 14, an age group where self-harm used to hardly exist at all. And the self-reported number of students experiencing loneliness has increased dramatically,

over 30% from 2011 to 2015. and a rising number of students agree with the statements, I often feel left out or lonely. I can't do anything right. My life is not useful. I do not enjoy my life. Now, we went fast through these stats, but I want to show you, as you look at them, the common denominator.

All these negative outcomes spiked dramatically beginning around the year 2012. Which begs the question, what happened in 2012? That was the year when the majority of Americans, particularly teenagers, got social media. Not cell phones, they already had those since 2007, but social media, which strangely is good news,

because that means there's not something structurally wrong with you if you're a high school kid. It's not like, well, your parents didn't need enough iron, so you're just a constitutionally weak people. Sorry, like, no. What's a matter with you is something that's happened environmentally. A massive shift in the human experience took place during your most developmental years, and it's cost you.

It's hurt you. And it's not your fault. It is your problem that you will have to deal with, but it's not your fault. And so Jonathan Haidt, who's a social psychologist at New York University and an atheist, has done extensive research among young people and how social media has impacted them. And he says that when kids get what he calls experience blockers, that is phones. He said they constantly call to them. And it's like the effect of being constantly tapped on the shoulder.

you have to look. And he says that constant interruption impedes deep thinking. But it's only in depth that we find meaning and feel less empty. He says the problem, not just with young people, but for all of us, is we are bombarded with triviality. And yet in the midst of that, what's happening to us is we constantly dwell in shallow, trivial places when deeper frequencies are needed. And so the problem is we're like fish growing up in a rain puddle. We never reach our proper size. And yet here's the craziest thing that Jonathan Haidt said. He's an atheist and he was in an interview and as an atheist, he said, you know my greatest concern about the young people in America? He said, they stand in awe of nothing. And he said, my concern is that he did a research paper with

a co-worker on awe. And he says, awe is necessary for healthy human development. And he defines all as this. Perceived vastness that requires a accommodation, that I perceive something that's so beautiful, so powerful, so virtuous, so overwhelming that it does not fit in my current mental structures. And so it doesn't move, I move. That I am changed by the experience. And he says, there's just something about human beings. It's the weirdest thing.

We are meant to stand in awe of something more powerful and beautiful than us and be changed by the experience. And you're like, huh, I wonder where that came from. That we are made to stand in all. We need it as human beings because we are made by Him and for Him. We're made by God and for God, and we are designed to stand in awe of his power and his beauty. That's why Moses, when he wrote Genesis, didn't start with a list of rules. He started with God's spinning creation into existence while the angels didn't sing.

They shouted for joy because it was overwhelming. We're made to stand in awe. And so as I was praying about tonight, like what we want to do tonight, I thought, you know what? I want us to talk about what it means to do that. Because my concern for us is if Christianity is boring to you, it's because we made it so not God. That we haven't been stunned by his beauty, arrested by His holiness,

completely overwhelmed by His grace. I think my fear is for many of us that we could leave this amazing weekend and then just settle in for a caged-in, safe little version where we say, yeah, Jesus, he's fine. It's great. It's awesome. But you're made for more than that. So I want to be, just for the next few minutes, your 70-year-old cabby.

And I want to get you out from behind the walls. And I just want to, I'm praying that we can experience all. And there's places we could go for that. We could go to the dawn of creation. We could nestle up with Moses and the rock as God's glory passes by. But we're told in 2 Corinthians 4 that the same God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

So what I want to do is I just want to look at him and hope as we look at the King of Kings we experience all. So the passage I read, if you didn't catch up where we are in the story, Jesus had just told a bunch of parables about the kingdom of God, that it's at hand, but it's not going to be the way they expect.

He said it's not going to come like a military coup. It's going to come like a mustard seed. It's going to be real small, keep your eye on it because it's going to grow one day and be really big. And for his disciples, that's real disorienting. They're like, this isn't really what we thought we were signing up for. So they're not sure what they're going to do with this guy.

And so then Mark tells us about these multiple moments where they get to watch Jesus go to work. And these three moments we typically preach separately, which honestly makes a lot of sense. But the reason I did them all together is because I don't know if you picked up on this while I was reading it. This all happened in one crazy boat ride with Jesus. And so that's the ride I want to go on. And as we do it, we'll see three things. We'll see the power of Jesus, we'll see the purpose of Jesus, and then we'll see the priorities of Jesus.

And while I'm at it, let me just give a shout out to the late Dr. Tim Keller and Daryl Bach, whose thoughts on these texts so influenced my own. But the power of Jesus we saw in that first story, that in verse 35, it says, on that day when evening he had come, he said, let's go across the other side. That was the day he'd been preaching. He'd preach from a boat to get some distance to preach to a crowd, and he said, hey, let's just paddle over. And so they start paddling to the other side of the lake.

And as they do that, it says, a great windstorm. storm arose, which is common on that lake because it's kind of a basin that sits among mountains. I've actually been caught on a windstorm in that lake. But this one was called a great windstorm, and it's so bad that the waves start breaking into the boat and filling the boat. At night was no artificial light. And yet Jesus is in the stern asleep, and it says they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? This storm is so bad, it's rattling the pros. The guys who grew up fishing on that lake, say, we're going to die, and in the midst of their panic,

notice what's certain to them and what's uncertain. What's certain is, we're going to die. What's uncertain is, do you care, and will you do anything about it? Notice whenever they face fear and uncertainty, they're convinced the storm is absolute reality. What they're not sure about is whether God sees, loves them, or cares. And yet in that moment, what happens? It says that Jesus woke and he rebuked the wind

and told the C, peace, be still. Now there's two words that use there, peace be still. There are two Greek words that basically both can be translated, be quiet. The first one's in the present tense, which means right now, the second one's in the perfect tense,

which means completed action whose implications go on today. And so literally a great translation would be Jesus got up and said, be quiet and stay quiet. Which is a weird thing to say to weather. And what's weirder is, it obeys.

And it says in this passage, the wind stopped, which could have been coincidence, but then it says there's a great calm, dead calm, it becomes glassy seas. It's the strangest thing that they're like, ah, the storm's flopped on the boat, we're all going to die.

Jesus, do you care? And he goes, shut it. It's dead calm. And in the quiet, he looks at them, and the story ends with him going, do you guys really not know who you're dealing with by now? Right? And Mark ends the story with them,

filled with great fear, saying to one another, who then is this, that the winds and waves obey them? And then he ends with that. question, just lingering out there. Who does that? Who tells nature what to do? And it does it. And the question's left hanging for you to ponder. Who does that? And if you know your Bible, you've got an answer. Because Psalm 89 says, oh, Yahweh, God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, you rule the raging of the sea. And when its waves rise, you still them. Only God can do that.

God is in my boat. And what I love that Tim Keller points out about this is he says, that closes the door on you listening to the words of Jesus and trying to decide if they're going to work for you or not. I don't know, we'll see. No, this guy commands reality and tells it what to do and it obeys. That means Jesus is Lord, whether you like it or not. whether you acknowledge it or not.

He is the king. He tells reality what to do, and it does it because he made it all. That's who we're dealing with here. Jesus rules this place. The forces that are stronger than you are not too strong for him. And yet notice what happens in that moment.

Did it make the disciples feel safe? Did they go, that Jesus, he did it again? We were all going to die, and then Jesus took the wheel. He took it from my head. Is that what they say? It says they were more afraid. They were afraid of the storm

and then when he does that, they're more afraid because there's only one thing scarier than a storm that'll kill you. It's a person who can control storms that will kill you. Because look, honestly, for many of us, why are we so anxious? Why are we so angry? Because forces outside of our control

are messing with us. Politically, socially, culturally, this world scares us and it makes us angry. but to think someone has control over your experience and what's happening to you, and you don't get the control you want, that's a scary thing,

because we want control and we like it. And for some of us, you can be honest, you're like, hey, I don't like this sermon so far. Like, Jesus is my Lord, whether you like it or not, like I hate this. Like, I wish I wasn't here because you've had some people have authority over you and they weren't good. And they used it to exploit you.

And you go, but nobody's going to do that to me again. And I understand that. Let me just tell you, he's Lord whether you like it or not. That's the power of Jesus. Reality submits to him. But before you blow him off,

you need to see the purposes of Jesus. And that's the next story. And you see in chapter 5, verse 1, it says they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the garrisons. And when Jesus stepped out of the boat, immediately they met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.

I love that because the story of the road trip up to that point, for the disciples was the story. Like, they were getting out of the boat. They're like, that's the story. We're going to tell when we'd go home. Like, dude, that was crazy. We thought we were going to die.

They're getting out of the boat like, dude, you were crying. Oh, Bartholome, you were crying. And off and all, they're going. And then suddenly, a naked, demon-possessed man starts running right towards them. And they're like, anyway, they're like, ah! Because life with Jesus is never boring. And so the way this is shaping up

is you think this is going to be another display of Jesus's power. He's got the Holy Spirit. This guy's got an unholy spirit. about to go down, this is going to get crazy, and the fight never takes place. The guy comes running up and falls at the feet of Jesus, right? There's no crossing of lightsabers here. Jesus wins. And this man begins to fall down and beg him for mercy. And in the midst of that, Mark slows the text down and gives real estate to describing the condition of this man. That's the point of the story. Mark slows it down and says, this man had an unclean spirit.

That word unclean means defiled. violated. And then every word he uses emphasizes how pathetic his situation is. He said he lived among the tombs. What he got into and what got into him defiled him. And so he's isolating from community and from society. He lives among the dead things. And no one could bind him anymore. That means they used to be able to. That means he got into some things that he thought he was playing with him and he realized, no, they're playing with me.

And there's some stuff in my life that I used to think I had control over, but when I got into this, it has defiled me and I am out of control of what I got into and no one can bind him anymore. And so night and days,

he's out in the tombs, crying out, he is tormented and without peace, and he's cutting himself with stones he's become self-destructive. And in some sense, he's a metaphor for all of us. Like the Bible says outside of the grace of Jesus Christ that we are children of the devil, objects of wrath. We're completely not what we're meant to be

outside of the saving grace of Jesus. And yet for some of you, you feel this really deeply because you got into some stuff. Online in a relationship to cope with stress. You got into some things that you thought would bring you life for freedom or relief or comfort and you thought you were playing with them

and now they're playing with you and you're defiled, unclean and you feel isolated and you cry in the night. And my question is what does Jesus do with a person like you?

What does he do to this guy? Jesus uses that power to set him free. Because the power of Jesus is in service of the love of Jesus and he takes a man filled with legion and gets him seated and clothed

in his right mind. What is the purpose of Jesus? He is powerful over all things, but you need to understand how he uses it. Jesus uses that power to set you free. So I remember for me, when I was a kid, we used to play kickball on my cold sack.

And I remember all the kids would come out and play kickball, and I went inside once to get a drink. And when I came back out, and then I'm playing kickball. And I'm like, what's going on? They're all standing in my yard. I'm like, what are y'all doing here? And they were like, well, we were playing kickball. And I was like, yes.

And they were like, yeah. And then they were like, hey, he came out. And I knew who they were talking about. They were talking about this guy that lived down the street that was a grown man that was a bully. He used to pick on us as kids. And he was bigger than us. He's an adult. And they were like, yeah, he came out.

and he wanted to do something in the cul-de-sac. So he just walked into the middle of our game, scooped up our ball, threw it in his trunk, and shut it and started laughing at us. And again, I'm like, this is not new information. I'm like, that's just a normal Saturday for us, that this guy does this kind of stuff. And yet they're all breathless.

Tell me the story. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Ben, all that was the same, but your dad saw him. They said, your dad was coming home from work and saw this man doing that, and they're like, Ben, your dad got. out of the car and started walking towards this man, and they said veins started popping out in places

we'd never seen him. And they said, he walked up to this guy, and this dude just melted onto the chunk of his car. And he's like, my dad's not a screamer. They said, your dad just said something to him. Like, you quit messing with these kids. And he's like, man, this guy immediately was like, apologize to my dad, apologize to the kids, unlocked a car. Here's your ball. Here's some money. They said it was the craziest thing. And they're telling me this story. And it was the most awesome thing. I'm like, you're talking about my dad. that this thing that had power over us is powerless before the strength of your father.

And I remember hearing that story and I'm like, that feels so good. Like the man who's associated with me has power over that for the rest of my life whenever guys started to talk about like whose dad can beat up, whose dad? I never said anything. Literally. Guys would just go like, well, we all know Ben's dad would win.

I would submit my dad as number two for the following reasons. And on it would go. But as a kid, you can imagine what that feels like. The thing that has power over me is powerless before the one who loves me. What scares me doesn't scare him. What dominates me, doesn't dominate him.

And here Jesus shows up with the power of Almighty God to an unclean, defiled person, and he doesn't shame him, he doesn't put him down. He uses that power and service of his love, and that's what he does here. That's what he's doing tonight. He says, I'm going to use my power to set you free. That's what he does.

And some of you feel like, I just don't know that I will ever get out from the thing that is dominant. me, and you can't on your own, but the good news is the stronger one is here. And he sets people free. His power is in service of his love. And I love it. At the end, Jesus tells him, go home and tell people what happened to you, and everyone marveled at a God like that. They marvel at a God like that. And yet I know some of you hear that and go, well, Ben, that's great. He sets people free. Hallelujah. That's awesome. But you know what? I ask God to solve my problems. And he didn't do it.

so what do you got for me? It's great hype speech, but I got some issues I brought to him and he didn't solve him. Well, I want to look at the priority of Jesus. Let's be close. Last story. Jesus crosses again in the boat to the other side. Great crowd gathered around him and he was beside the sea.

So they don't want him here because he killed all the pigs. That's fine. So he just crosses back over to the sea and gets out on the other side. And as he gets there, there's a big crowd of people. And verse 22 says, and then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Gerius, by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet. Demon possessed, naked, defiled guy, and successful, influential synagogue ruler, both fall at the feet of Jesus, because everybody needs to.

If you want life, if you want to know God, that's where life's found. And yet, Gerius falls at the feet of Jesus, and he utters what I think are the most tragic words in any language. He says, my little girl is at the point of death. a little girl, she's right there. But I know if you come touch her, she'll be healed. He's got faith. I believe you can solve my problem, Jesus.

And Jesus consents to go. And you're like, this is amazing. And so they start to go. And then in verse 24, it says, a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And you go, well, that's the tension in the story. My little girl's at the point of death. Jesus has agreed to reach her.

But this crowd's thronged around. Honestly, can we get them there in time? Come on, geez, we had to go, everybody moved. And you go, that's gotta be the tension of the story. And then all of a sudden Mark just down shifts into an extensive recount of the medical history of some random lady in the crowd. Oh, there's this one lady, she's been bleeding

for like 12 years. So embarrassing. And it's hard because she suffered so much under multiple doctors. I mean, she's gone to several doctors, and she's not gotten better, she's gotten worse. And, you know what, she spent all of her money. And you're like, okay, fine.

But if she's been suffering for 12 years, we got a little girl at the point of death, like, give it a second. Do something, just hold on for another day or two. And then she's like, but if I could just touch his garment, I'll be made well. And you're like, fine, do it from behind. he's got to go. There's a sick little girl, like touch him back, just touch and go and just bail.

Like, get out of the way. And so the craziest thing happens, she does it. She just touches it. It says immediately the flow of blood stops. She feels in her body. She's healed from his disease. Okay, yay, you got what you wanted. But then in verse 30, it says, but Jesus, perceiving in himself, the power had gone out from him, immediately turned around in the crowd and said, who touched my garments? And the disciples, say, the crowd's pressing around you, and yet you ask who touched me? Like, are you being serious right now? And then it says he looked around to see who had done it. Wait, hold on, no, hey, everybody stop. No, stop. Hey, hey. Somebody touched me, y'all. Somebody touched

me, and we're not going anywhere till we figure out who it was. Like, and the crazy thing is, nobody wants this. How does Jerry's feel? Jerry's like, my little girl's like, what are doing? The lady didn't want it. She just wanted to touch and go. It's touch and go. It's touch and go. It's Jesus that won't let it go. Why is he like this? Why is he doing this? Why is he making gurious weight? Why is he making her come forward? Why does he, why does he mess with us like this? Finally, the woman knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, and she fell down before him, as everybody's meant to. And she told him the whole truth. And he says to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace,

be healed of your disease. Now why did he do that? She already knew her body had been healed. The text said earlier, she already knew she had. That was not new information. Why was this so important to him? It's the first part. He wanted to call her something no one else ever has. that he's never called anybody else in the text. He calls her daughter. And then he tells her, it's your faith that heals you. I don't want you to think you need a little religious mysticism

to solve your problems. I need you to understand. You didn't get a little religion to get over some bumps in the road. I need you to know you had faith in me, and that's what made you well. What's the priority of Jesus? It's faith. I've got power over all that is.

That powers in the service of love. You may not understand all the ways I move, but my priority is I want you to trust me, and it's your faith that's made you well. Wally speaking, some people come up from the ruler's house and say, it's too late, man. Your little girl's gone. And what does Jesus say to Jerias?

Don't fear. Believe. The man had faith, but Jesus says, yeah, but I'm calling for another level. I'm calling for you to trust me, even in the face of death. Why does Jesus do this? He wants you to trust him, and when you trust him that he is strong enough to heal, loving enough to want to, and wise enough to know when and how and why,

you can go, you know what, I trust the, when I can't trace his hand, I trust his heart. Because here's what we know is going to happen. This woman just wanted a problem solve. I just want the blood to stop. What she got is she got an audience with the king. She got to look in Jesus' face as he called her daughter. What Gerius wanted is just a sickness to be healed. What he's going to get is he's going to watch Jesus raise the dead.

And some of us, God's going to make you wait longer than you want, and he's going to test and strengthen that faith so you can see the power of God in a unique way that you're not ready for. So he comes into that house, and as he walks in, there's people laughing. He says, hey, she's not dead. She's sleeping. They start laughing at him. He says, you're laughing at me?

You don't get to see this. Bye. And he pushes them out. And he says those beautiful little words, Talitha Kumi, little girl, I say, rise. And she gets up and begins to walk around. And they are overcome with amazement. They know he could heal. But we did not know he had the power over death.

Not just over sin, not just over sickness, but death isn't strong enough for this man. That's the kind of faith he's calling for. Will you trust me when death set your door? He is strong. He is loving, and he wants you to trust him. That's arcane. Do you believe he's powerful enough to calm your storms? Do you think he's loving enough to set you free?

Do you think he's wise enough to know when and how? Some of you are in some storms that you go, God, I just don't know if you cared. do you care that I'm perishing? And he wants you to acknowledge. Yeah, he's a sovereign Lord over your circumstance. Some of you are caught up in some addictions and you say, this is too powerful for me. Stronger ones here.

And he is loving enough to set you free. He's not here to shame you and neither are we. The gospel of Jesus Christ sets you free. And some of you are in the midst of storms and in the midst of sin and you go, I am asking him to solve a problem. Why won't he solve it? And he's saying, because I want you to trust me.

I am moving the pieces on the board. board and if you can't trace my hands will you trust my heart and for some of us what we need tonight is a trick quit trying to work the angles yeah I just trust it last story so several years ago I went to Italy I was in college or just out of college and my sister was there and she was living overseas at the time and she was like hey I'm about to go travel in Italy but we've made no preparations we don't know our way around me and a friend are going unchaperoned and so meet us in Rome by the statue that one guy. And she knew that as an older brother, I'd be like, ah, like it would stress me out, and I would plan, and that I would be there to protect. And so certainly I did. And I showed up there,

and I showed up there, and it was her and a friend just traveling around Rome with no clue what they were doing. And in the midst of that, she said, hey, her friend, she began to unpack with me, she's got a degenerative disease that affects her joints, that literally all the, they're basically gone in several parts of her body is just bone-on-bone. And Rome is all cobblestones. It's a beating Italy is that. And so she said she's just suffering, it's difficult. We're gonna have to walk pretty slow. So we're walking with her through the streets

and I remember at one point we show up in this beautiful little town on the coast that's on this steep hill and it's called Cinque Terre is the name of the area. And as we get there, we show up and again, clueless and we get there, this is a very popular town, there are no hotels, there are no guest rooms, there are no hostels, there is no place to stay.

And so I am going and looking everywhere online, trying to find a place for us to stay, And finally, the guy at this little cafe we were sitting in takes pity on us after hours and says, you know what, I will stay at a friend's house. I will rent you my house and your little group can go up there and stay. Great. And so he gives us the address, we punch it in, and his address is at the top of this hill. And it's late.

And I remember we go, we got to get up there. And we start to walk up this hill and this girl that had been so proud so I can do it. so I don't need help. I got this. She begins to go. And for the first time in the whole trip, she starts crying. Because it's just a lot. I don't have what it takes to get where I need to go. And so in the midst of that, and look, I don't like stories around the Jesus figure. This is frankly, the only one I got. I turned to her and I was like, look, we have got to get there. And I'm going to have to carry you. And so she consented to it. And so I put her on my back and began to walk.

And as I'm trudging up this hill carrying her, there comes a moment where she just starts moving, like a lot. And I'm just like getting thrown around. I'm like, what are you doing back there? Like, what is, and I remember she's jerking me around. And I was like, stopped and said, what are you doing? And she said, I'm trying to help you. And I said, that's not helping.

I need you to stop. And let me carry you. And we got up that hill. And for some of you, can we just be honest? Like, I love this. I want us to walk out of you and say, I'm going to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth, but to be celebrators of his grace,

you've first got to be experiences of his grace. And to say, look, I don't want just a little shallow, safe version of religion of I'll be a good person. I want to reckon with a holy God who's stronger than I know and loves me even when he sees the worst parts of me. and he asked me to trust him in the most difficult of situations. I want to know a God like that. And when you know him and when you meet him in those moments,

you will do what these people did. You will fall at his feet and you'll be overcome with awe. And when you go out into the city, you will tell the people what he has done for me. Do you know him? He is strong. He is loving. And he is wise.

So Father, thank you. That we don't preach a message of get your act together. try harder. Yes, there's work for us to do to make war against sin, but we do it from victory, not for it, from acceptance not for it. We do it because we've been loved. And so, God, I just pray for us tonight

as we wrap up this amazing conference that we say, what's going to sustain us to love our neighbor? What's going to empower us to keep confessing sin and bringing into our life the disciplines to overcome them? It's by being a people who regularly step out of a safe little version of religion and say, I want to reckon with a holy God whose power overwhelms me. And it overwhelms me so much I'm scared to come to him with my sin and confess.

And then I'm shocked and overwhelmed that when I do, he doesn't destroy. He loves and he sets me free. The power is in service of his love. And then he asks me to trust him. And I want to do that. And friends, we're going to open up the altar in a moment. I say in a moment, I'll be done in a moment. You can start coming to the altar now if you want.

I just think some of you, you're in some storms in your life, and you've been asking that question, God, do you care that we're perishing? And maybe just what you want to tell Jesus is I'm going to acknowledge this storm, but I want to acknowledge it, trusting that you have power over it. You are stronger than what's stronger than me. Here's my external circumstance.

Here's the storm that surrounds me, I just want to offer it to you and say, I trust you. Others of you, maybe it's that second moment that got you. You're like, no, I, it's not some external storm. It's I have gotten into some things and I feel dirty. Through a relationship, through a pattern of behavior, through an addiction, I feel defiled. And it was hard for me to even show up here.

And I want you to know, friend, we are so glad you're here. And Jesus is strong and he is loving. and he uses his power and service of his love to set you free. You are not too far gone. There is no legion that can overcome our king. You come and confess your sins and find grace and mercy because he paid for those sins on the cross. He can offer grace to you.

And some of you, maybe it's just a call to faith. You've never put your faith in Jesus to be your forgiver, to be your healer, to be your savior, that when you face death, that you go, but I got hope. I'll see life on the other side because I know the one who has power over death because he died and he beat death.

So I trust him even in the face of death. I want to offer him what he wants. I want to give him faith. Some of you need to put your faith in Jesus for the first time, say I'm yours. And if that's you, you come forward. Let us pray with you for you. But wherever you are tonight, family,

I just want to invite you. But don't leave this room without doing business with a God like that. Let's step out from behind the safety of a small religion and say, I want to reckon with the maker of all things who knows my name, and I want to be holy because he has made me holy.

I want to be confident because I trust in him. I want to face the storms of life with strength because I know the one in the boat is God himself. Let's just pray to be a people who stand in awe of him and are transformed by the experience. So when our neighbors see that we are not shaken and we are not enslaved, and they ask us why we don't tell them a technique,

We tell them about a king. They say, I have seen him. I've experienced him. I know his grace, and it has changed me. And may they come to marvel at the one who is strong and wise and loving. King Jesus, we love you and we trust you. Minister to us, God, as we seek your face. In Jesus' name.