Be Healed
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to Celebration Church. We are so glad that you are here. Thank you for worshipping with us today. If there is anything we can do for you and your family, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We are a family and we are with you. If you are joining us online, welcome. We are so glad that you are here. If you are in the area, we would love to invite you to join us for our in person gatherings where we have a safe, clean and socially distanced environment for you and your family.
Series Recap
Series Recap
Our pursuit determines our experience. Pursue means to seek to attain or accomplish. Synonyms include chase down. Go after. Fully engage. Seek. The heart of who we are and what we do is connected to our pursuit. Our mission statement is we are God’s Family, Pursuing God’s Kingdom. What that means is we are not called to passively sit back and wait to experience what God has for us. We have to pursue it. Our pursuit determines our experience. (Relationships, Community, Purpose) Matthew 6:33
Background (Mark)
Background (Mark)
Marks Gospel is growing to be one of my favorite. He focuses his writing on Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God. In his Gospel he shared how the message of the Kingdom of God was preached and the sick were healed. He zeros in on three main groups of people: the disciples, crowds and religious leaders…none of which really understood Him. Profoundly influenced by Peter, Mark is about action.
In chapter 5, Jesus has amassed a reputation as a miracle worker so there is expectation everywhere He went. He just demonstrates remarkable power by quieting the storm and has now arrived on the “other side”. He encounters a man that is possessed. They have tried everything to hide him away, contain him but Jesus shows up. Ultimately, Jesus heals the man.
Scriptures
Scriptures
15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
People were afraid. It is a common theme after an encounter with Jesus. Fearful of what it means. Fearful of what it requires. Many times it is easier to stay comfortable in dysfunction then to be uncomfortable for a season so that you can experience true freedom…wholeness. People won’t always celebrate your freedom if they benefit from your bondage. The man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus wanted the man to take the Gospel to his home!
21 When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the sea.
22 One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet
23 and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live.”
24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.
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.”
35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 When Jesus overheard what was said, he told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.”
37 He did not let anyone accompany him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother.
38 They came to the leader’s house, and he saw a commotion—people weeping and wailing loudly.
39 He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”
40 They laughed at him, but he put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was.
41 Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum” (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up”).
42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was twelve years old.) At this they were utterly astounded.
43 Then he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and told them to give her something to eat.
Prayer
Prayer
These passages are loaded with enough content and revelation we could do a whole series on each one, but today I want to highlight a few themes so that we can grab a hold of what God is showing us. Today, we will continue in the series and I have entitled the message, Be Healed.
Lord, your Word encourages us in Luke 19:10 where you state for this reason you came…to seek and save the lost. Salvation, restoration, wholeness. Your desire is not for us to survive, but to thrive. To live a life of total freedom. I pray that you speak to us. Give us open eyes, ears, and hearts.
Illustration
Illustration
Roughly 15 years ago, my family and I went on a road trip with my family. We had roughly 6 hours left when we got caught in a massive snow storm. Our car slid all over the road before gently colliding with the guardrail. After sitting for some time, a good Samaritan agreed to help me get back on the road. We pushed and shoved but no success. What we did manage to do was almost rip the door off. What was a minor scratch turned into something worse. I was beside myself. I wanted to get it fixed IMMEDIATELY. I spent the next 2 weeks in Delaware and avoided driving my car. We got back and I had an unexpected bill come up. Then something with the kids, came up. Then…I just got comfortable with it. I began to make adjustments. I parked so you would only see the “other side”. I got good at showing the “other side”. I eventually got so comfortable, I forgot it was there. Took it to the car wash and the water leaked on the inside. What was outside began to impact the inside.
Transition
Transition
Quite interesting isn’t it? The parallels can’t be ignored. In life we have so many goals and destinations. However, there are moments when storms seemingly happen out of nowhere. (death of loved one, pandemic, jobs, breakup, people leaving) We lose control and crash. We try to self manage, then we make excuses. We compartmentalize. We divide our life into sections. We show off the good side. Then eventually, there is a leak. (energy, relational) The damage has spread to other parts. We try to function with dysfunction. Whether it is a broken cell phone screen, cracked windshield, or something relationally, we learn how to navigate around it and look past our brokenness.
Truth is, God never intended for us to live compartmentalized lives where there are portions that are good and the damaged portion that we keep hidden. (man with withered hand) To be whole means to be complete. Not fragmented. This is biblical peace, shalom…nothing lost, nothing stolen. That is God’s plan for you.
10 A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!
You are not meant to live with partial freedom. Partial freedom is still bondage. You are called to live a life of abundance. Wholeness. A life of substance. Freedom. Jesus didn’t die for you to survive, He died so that you can thrive. So that you can be free. Be whole. Be healed.
Observations
Observations
This entire segment of scripture shows the power of God and His desire for us to be whole. Complete. Free. The disciples are delivered from the threat of death at sea. The Gerasene demoniac is liberated from the demonic powers and restored to civil life. The woman with the hemorrhage is delivered from her shame and uncleanness after twelve years of suffering, and Jairus’s twelve year-old daughter is returned to life. When Jesus does battle with the powers of evil, he does so in order to give life, and the power He exercises is the power of the coming kingdom.
Points
Points
But it is a process. One of the renderings of the word healed is therapizo. It’s where we get the word therapy which means the process of being made well. It can happen immediately or it can happen over time. Our responsibility isn’t to look at our watches, it is to position ourselves in His presence and watch Him do it. Sometimes we have to position ourselves in church, community, therapy, counselors, etc.
We are all on a journey to wholeness. I have 3 things I want you to keep close to serve as fuel.
Be Humble
Be Humble
Humble means having and showing modest estimate in ones importance. In all three instances, there is a moment when the recipients position themselves on their knees. This is a posture of submission. Surrender. It is hard to get free if one doesn’t know they are in bondage. As a young man, I would say I was a good person. However, I still needed Jesus. I think pride is the main ingredient that stunts our growth.
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
The text says that Jairus was a leader but he came to Jesus. He had influence, but he came to Jesus. He had followers, but he came to Jesus. There are moments when it is clear we need Jesus but it takes humility to do something about it.
Be Persistent (crowds)
Be Persistent (crowds)
To be persistent means to continue firmly in spite of opposition. It means to endure. To have perseverance. Grit. To push through it. Scripture tells us in Mark 5 that crowds played a crucial part of building the tension. There was a crowd that would chain the man up. There was a crowd that would not have accepted the woman with the issue of blood in their community because she was deemed unclean. There was a crowd that told Jairus that his daughter was dead and pursuing Jesus was a lost cause. We all have crowds. People that want to restrain our dreams. People that don’t see our value. People that will say it is a lost cause. It can be friends, co-workers, family, or even our own thoughts that can try to keep us in a little box. You have to push through it. Don’t settle. Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, etc. Don’t accept a no, when God has said yes. Push through it.
Be Faith-filled
Be Faith-filled
Whatever you are full of, is what you will be led by. We have to change our appetites. Whatever you eat, you digest and what you digest you metabolize. What you metabolize is what you are filled with. We can be filled with fear. Stress. Disappointment. Filled with unforgiveness. However, when you consume the word, you metabolize faith. You have to speak the language of faith. “If I can just touch the hem of His garment”. You have to walk by faith. Jesus told the man, keep believing. Let’s walk it out. Walking by faith is not blind optimism, it is believing God in spite of opposition.
Closing
Closing
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This passage highlights the triune nature of man. Paul says may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound. In other words his prayer was that they would not be fragmented or compartmentalized. God wants us to thrive. Each person healed reinforces this. The demon possessed man was found sitting in his right mind. (Soul) The woman with the issue of blood was healed. (Body) Jairus’s daughter was brought back to life. (Spirit) God’s heart for you is for you to be healed.
Altar/Response
Altar/Response
This chapter shows us how Jesus was willing to go to some uncomfortable places and encounter what others deemed unclean. You are not too far for God to reach you. You haven’t done too much that God can’t heal and restore you.
However, we have to pursue it. We have resources for you. (Freedom, Churches that Heal, Community, Care)