Encounters III

To that place of resurrection life Lord, thank you for that truth. May we lay hold of it Wherever we most need it to be effectual today in Jesus name Yeah You know, I have to laugh just a second at that And laughs the wrong word, but I I'm used a little bit Because we get communicators every week just about say why don't we sing the old hymns and It's just because people, you know, I don't know it's We only did three tonight if that's not enough. We'll try to do five next week We do them We do them almost every week we do at least one him every week and sometimes several Because they are so rich the lyric, you know, it's so real in different arrangements I wanted to pray for one more thing and I'm gonna ask you to stand back to your feet and join with me in prayer How many of you heard today that three Pittsburgh police officers were killed in the line of duty? If you didn't hear that, I'm sorry for the the shock. I'm sure it is to you It something I had learned later in the day Because I was kind of holed up in my office studying but I had an opportunity just to Hear the report on the news and listen to the news conference and just the tragic way in which these three brave men lay down their lives There's there's a whole lot of things I could talk about in terms of How they were partnered together and they they died for one another in different ways and But none of that really comes close to touching the tragedy of it all so let's pray for that this has been a violent week Went there two other major incidents that I can I know of and they might have been others There's one in Binghamton, New York and then the one in North Carolina Let alone all the unsettledness we just need to pray so let's let's as a church Let's let's do what the Bible says. Let's pray Lord we acknowledge to you that we are a fallen people your word says that if We your church humble ourselves And seek your face and turn from our wicked ways Then you will heal from heaven and forgive our sin And heal our land and Lord we pray that you would To whatever degree Lord we have withheld prayer. We've we've not been engaged in Sharing redemption Lord so that people find themselves in a situation where Despair overtakes them and then they take another life. God forgive us. We pray for comfort Lord upon those who? I'm sure are suffering the families of those who were slain today Or we pray for our city We pray that you would not Abandon our city Lord God we know that as long as there's evil in the world, there's going to be violence and we pray that we'd not be Ignorant Lord or dismissive of that but we recognize it and understand that we must Put on the full armor of God every day And be prepared or to face Evil and overcome it with good And so we ask you now Lord just to sustain us and Also God just to help us to learn from what happened that we might as a church more boldly proclaim The peace that comes from knowing Jesus Send your spirit now to comfort those who are mourning in your name we pray and everyone said Amen, you may be seated All right, I want to invite you to take your outline out of your notes and we're gonna continue on in our our study The topic of encounters and This being Palm Sunday weekend, I hope you caught that in the Different ways we have been declaring it in song and in Scripture and so on Palm Sunday is the historic time in Scripture and in the church when Jesus was being carried on a donkey into Jerusalem and being hailed as the king of the Jews And the Jews fully expected him to establish his kingdom Right then and there and to to free them from the Roman slavery that they'd been held in bondage to he was the king that they Were hailing as the one who would redeem them As we all know just a few days later those same people turned on him and then shouted crucify Which we will as a congregation on Good Friday evening Gathered to remember Both here at Wexford and in Oakland. I trust that you'll make time for that experience But have you ever been with people who Just had the capacity to draw a crowd, you know, like wherever they go I've been but those I mean, you know in our culture generally It's it's media type of folks or at least people that are seen in the media or celebrities or athletes that kind of thing Go to Monholl and have lunch with Scott Stevens Throngs follow him from no, I'm just kidding Some years ago I was In the Bible study group and those of you who are Stalwart Pittsburgh stiller fans will recognize the name Rod Woodson and and I would occasionally actually quite regularly have Breakfast with Rod in every place that we would go we try to go and sit in some corner but people would just always come over, you know and and ask for my autograph and I just said Rod just go I just but You know the people who draw the biggest crowds Even these days are the people who broker hope Who offer people hope that somehow there's a way to get through what it is. They're facing hope for a better future. Hope for relief from the suffering the pain What they're going through hope for? Reconciliation in a relationship that that's been broken. Hope for answers to life's most difficult questions and And this Message this third message in the series on encounters. We're going to see why Jesus was constantly now being followed by large crowds and The reason was is because he was clearly offering people hope Hope that no one else had ever been able to provide them now I don't mean to throw you off and I may have already thrown off the some of the folks because you're on your outline it talks about mark, but this story that we're gonna be reading and We chose this weeks and weeks ago actually appears in all three of the synoptic Gospels and synoptic means see the same so the Matthew Mark and Luke see The life of Jesus sort of the same way John sees a little differently We were in John last week if you were here, and if not, you can always Recapture the message by the way online In Matthew's gospel, it's almost like the cliff notes version, so I'm going to read it there If you have your Bible turn to Matthew chapter 9 I don't know that we'll have it on the screens or not because I didn't give the folks enough Lead time to do this, but it might come up if they're so talented. Look at this. There it is Even while I'm apologizing they're already ahead of me so here we go Now while he was saying this a ruler came and knelt before him Will later learn his name is Jairus and said my daughter has just died but come and put your hand on her and she will live and Jesus got up and went with him and so did his disciples And just then a woman who'd been subject to bleeding for 12 years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak And she said to herself if only I'm sorry if I only touch this cloak. I will be healed and Jesus turned and saw her take heart daughter He said your faith has healed you The woman was healed from that moment And when Jesus entered the rulers house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd he said go away The girl is not dead, but asleep But they laughed at him And after the crowd had been put aside outside he went in and took the girl by the hand and she Got up news of this spread through all that region Jesus wherever he went was changing The potential For people's lives To be altered forever, let me just read a comment on this By Wh van stone who was a a 19th century commentary here's what he says as he moves about he leaves behind him a trail of transformed scenes and change situations Fishermen no longer at their nets sick people restored to health critics confounded a storm stilled hunger assuaged a dead girl raised to life Jesus presence is an active and instantly transforming presence. I love that when we did again Jesus presence is an instant is an active and instantly transforming presence He is never the mere observer of this scene or the one who waits upon events But always the transformer of the scene and the initiator of events Lord that would be true of us not watching and not waiting but entering in and making a difference That's what we see Jesus doing now regularly throughout his ministry by this point Great crowds were following him now in your Bibles. I'm gonna ask you this Hopefully it might be confusing, but I just that's the short version mark tells us the long version It's it would take me too long to read but turn to mark 5 and we're gonna kind of pick and choose verses there because it The wonderful thing about the Bible for those of you who are learning to read it The same story same characters, but with a whole lot more detail and so you you get you know, it's like having sort of a the appetizer and Actually you get a peek at the main course and and marks the whole thing and there's a lot more detail and I could I could Spend so much time On this but I'm just gonna give you the highlights and then you can dig into it on your own as we go along See these crowds were pressing in the very first part of the stories in Mark now I hope you've turned there chapter 5 verse 21 and this will likely come up mark 5 21 says when Jesus had Again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake. That's a little Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret a large crowd Gathered around him while he was by the lake everyone say large crowd. I Want to say just off As a sidebar note here that that it may come as a surprise to some of you to know That the number one reason why people tell us that they don't come back to North way They'll come one time The number one reason they said they don't come back is not because of something we did wrong. He's just say it's too big And that may be true. By the way, if you're looking around In Oakland right now it My hunch is it's full I'm pretty sure if you're in the worship cafe, it's pretty full and for some reason People say you know, I just it's the crowds the crowds bother me and I want to say to those folks I really love and understand You know your situation here, but you you probably would have been really uncomfortable following Jesus and You might not want to you know, necessarily punch your ticket into heaven You're thinking I'm gonna have my own galaxy. I'm just gonna go, you know, I'm gonna hunker down my own galaxy in heaven Be by myself. No, I don't think so. I Think we're gonna be you know in communion. That was how we're designed were created that way What because people are drawn you see they are to where transformation can happen Why have we gathered today Sorry not to hear me speak Not for just the wonderful music that we hear in our different venues We're here for one reason really aren't we for the hope that maybe somehow Something might happen that could change something in us Through a connection and encounter that we have with Jesus by his spirit, isn't that true? I mean, why not do something else if you hear for any other reason, it's probably not the right one It's just not a good enough one There are other things to do but the possibility of a life-changing encounter can happen for you Is reason enough to Get yourself out and be here wherever you're participating and be part of that We've said this many times in this series. Jesus is alive today So those same things that were happening that we've been reading about can happen here. And by the way, I Feel real compelled to say this This passage is very very clear about healing But the presence of Jesus as in the quote that I read is about everything that has to do with life change so You know for some folks and I have these comes some folks are just hung up on I don't believe that healing for today. Well, okay, then don't get healed today, but But you might still need wisdom, you know for a decision or you you might need to know that there's hope for a Relationship. Ah, that's the point That's the point that I want you to get a hold of now How do we make this connection and how do we have these encounters? And and one of the things that becomes a very clear thread throughout it started when Pastor Scott Stevens began the series a few weeks ago and the friends of the paralytic demonstrated something last week we talked about how Mary and Martha demonstrated something for Lazarus and This week we see it once again And a sick Woman and a wealthy man and that's something loved ones is faith Faith is what opens the door to the power of God like jot that down if you're taking notes Faith opens the door to the power of God No people will often ask You know at this point after Nearly 40 years of walking with Jesus. Is there a real secret? Pastor J that you could put your is there you know, is there a key that that can really help me to know God better? And you know, what may what makes things really happen? And I come back and I said, I'm not sure that I know anyone one thing, but I know that without faith. It's Impossible to please God Now if I had to do all over again, I think I'd spend more time Understanding how faith works. I kind of learned it more by accident and by intentionality Here's a little key to this whole thing And our former house we had one garage door We had to two car garage and one that we used all the time and the other where I parked my little Play car, but I only take out in nice weather. I Was allowed to buy that Don't hassle me after I paid for all my kids to go to college and get braces and all that stuff But it didn't come out in the wintertime so I barely ever use that garage door and so when it when spring would come You know, I get all like just like we're almost there now when I could pull out the toy car and really have fun and I get the old garage door opener and I push the button, you know and That doggone thing wouldn't work And I say well, you know, it's been sitting on in the battery, but so I changed the battery out It wouldn't work I'm thinking oh, no, you can't I can't be broken as we haven't been using it It hasn't been open much at all once or twice, you know from by the door. I push the button, you know Just to go out take dress out or whatever, but it's been six months so it can't be like overuse long story short What happened is that the contacts inside? the remote Just got a little bit of Corrosion on them, you know lack of use and I Took the battery back out and put a little WD-40 on a rag. I'm a real mechanic. This is be serious, but clean those little contacts Suck that battery in Just smooth this off Important lesson here for some of us The first time that you ask God for something significant in your life That is exercising faith the first time you're gonna probably push the doggone button of faith in prayer and say Lord Please do this and you're gonna say it doesn't work doesn't work. There's something wrong with me God's room I you know, it's the sin that I did when I was 10 or 12 beating up my little brother and all those things, you know, we think and Here's what it is. It's There's a lot of corrosion in our life and it takes some time to get that cleaned off I mean some time in the word and some time of being around the people of faith as long as we're gonna look at But friends as soon as you've gotten that that first connection You're gonna go Wow this is a I prayed for somebody and they got better or I asked God for wisdom and somebody called me on the phone and told me exactly what I needed to hear or you know any one of a hundred different ways God answers prayer and Then you start taking the clicker out and you use it again and again and what you'll find is over time and this is This is just my experience and maybe I'm wrong, but it works for me. It's so much easier now because I just use it a lot It works all the time Faith is like that And so it's imperative Jesus looked at the woman and as if you recall the story the woman had been suffering and it says in Mark's account for 12 years she'd been bleeding internally and and and hemorrhaging actually and This was a horrible situation. I mean it could not have been worse for this woman in Mark's account if you're looking at Mark with me it says about this woman That she had been suffering from this issue of blood for 12 years and She said this She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and it spent all she had Instead of getting better she grew worse that's verse 26, so she was broke sick Chronically ill I mean 12 years and a woman and Trust me in that culture unlike this one a woman had no standing had no If she pushed to the front she'd get pushed right to the back again For her this was an incredible thing and Her her heart was like I have no place to go And I love Jesus words to her mark 534 Your faith your faith has healed you Your belief that if I just touched his cloak, I'll be healed somehow that was the time of pushing the button That clicked and she was instantly healed Jairus on the other hand a Rich man a ruler of the synagogue a man of influence And by the way, every commentator that I studied said you have to see both of these together in one story here There's a reason don't read them separately and you know, and just study each one individually because Jesus is making a point he's taking the two extremes a very influential ruler of the Jewish synagogue and a poor Chronically ill Outcast woman and he's saying friends listen no matter where you are in life spectrum Some of you here today are very well-to-do and you've achieved a lot and you're influential and you're over here You're like Jairus and some of you are like this woman and you feel forsaken and abandoned and broken and poor Male or female doesn't Jesus is saying it doesn't matter which side you are. I still care about you And He looked at Jairus and Mark's account he says to him when he hears that his daughter has died. He looks right at Jairus. He's Jolton He says don't be afraid just believe Their faith was directed not at some outcome, but at Jesus. That's the next outline blank in your outline. So remember that remember faith It opens the door to the power of God by keeping your eyes on Jesus number two faith shows persistence in overcoming any obstacle I think we've pretty much covered that I'll just just to again What are the obstacle? Well, the obstacle for the woman was to who she was and the chronic nature of that How many of you know the longer you bear something the harder it is to believe it's gonna get taken care of. Is that true? Is that true for you? I mean if you suffer with something for two weeks It's one thing if you suffer with something for 20 years. It's something altogether different, right? and for Jairus He was a Jew and by the way, he knew That for him to go to Jesus as a Jew would be something that would not be held up in very high regard In fact, he would lose his standing as ruler of the synagogue because of his willingness to expose himself But you see loved ones one of the things that you have to come to terms with is That if you really want to see faith operate in your life, you've got to persevere through these obstacles The woman had to find her way through this crowd and I'm sure she was weakened by the loss of blood The crowd pressing in and yet I love Mark's account because he said she said this if I just touch his clothes And to verse 28 I will be healed A little later on On Jairus's account Imagine him he Jesus agrees to go with him to heal her daughter and on the way the woman gets you know intervenes And slows him down we talked about timing last week So we won't get into that but Jairus has to wait while Jesus deals with this woman And while he's dealing with this woman He gets news that his daughters die Now here's a take a look at your bible here's a very interesting Thing that I picked up Jesus Recognizes that this is a jolt to him and here's what he said. This is the most important verse in the whole teaching Look at it verse 36 Ignoring what they said Jesus told Jairus the synagogue ruler Don't be afraid just believe I want to say that to us Individuals and us as a church wherever we are Ignore what's being said that's against God that's against what you stand for that's against what you believe Don't be afraid Just believe Watch how faith will conquer fear in every arena of life And I stand here as one who's had many disappointments just like all of you have had But Jesus has never failed me And he won't fail you either You've got to persevere. You cannot give up You can't allow obstacles to this To discourage you and defeat you number three faith is embodied in action in other words For faith, it's not enough to say. Well, I believe that Jesus can Are you with me on that? I don't believe that Jesus can heal a really sick person Every hand should go up. I don't believe that Jesus can Provide what you need financially But see that's not the same thing as having faith Remember I said how what people Really need in these days is a sense of hopefulness in the midst of all the negativity Hebrews 11 1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for in other words faith is the action that reaches out into the future and takes What is promised by God and makes it real today That's what faith does One of the most common reasons given for not believing that Jesus does Things like we're describing here anymore people say well, I prayed and nothing happened. How many of you ever said that? All four of you well, thank you The other 400 or 500 of you I I forgive you for I have said it I prayed nothing happened I've come to learn every time you pray something's happening It may not be exactly what you wanted, but something's happening We've all been there loved ones more and more i'm convinced That what the lord is doing is he's looking for actions That will demonstrate that we're really serious about our faith gyrus. Let's talk about him first. What how did he demonstrate his faith? well let's If you didn't note this when we read in matthew, let me read it here for you in mark jump all the way back up to verse 22 It says gyrus came and seeing jesus. He fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him You have to understand what a demonstration not i'm not going to get down right now on my hands and knees I'm going to be able to get back up Gyrus put himself in a posture that was humiliating For a man of his stature It was a posture That was saying lord. I am completely putting myself In submission to you believing that you can heal my sick daughter And then later on when the news came that she was dead He heard jesus say don't be afraid just believe and then as he walked by people heard jesus say hey, she's just sleeping Jesus says hey Don't worry about it. They laughed at jesus. They mocked him. They knew that she died And gyrus chose to believe by walking with jesus and it's very fascinating We'll come back to in a second. I want to show you what happened when jesus got to that moment for the woman She had to do all those different things. I talked about she had to press through the crowd She had to reach out and touch the garment. She had to do all those things that that aren't easy to do She had to give faith an action and I want to pause here and say It's time for all of us to just say lord In whatever area i'm trusting you for what action should I take that demonstrates faith, you know We've talked about this when it comes to our our finances and in the world in which we live today All of us know that that's a big concern You cannot trust god by saying god. I trust you for my finances and then just you know, lock down your wallet Your checkbook you got to trust by demonstrating it Show your faith And then give god something to work with plant a seed and let god demonstrate that he will come through and he'll surprise you With how he'll do this. I want to read a letter. It's it's I just got this letter, uh this week and it's from a North Way member. I'm not going to read his name I just just out of deference of honoring. Um Some of you know him for sure, uh, but here's what he writes and I want you to catch some of his language He says dear dear jay, I wanted to send you my testimony on how the lord has changed my focus How that's caused me to lean into my faith in god more than ever My testimony is not dramatic, but it is meaningful loved ones hear that that is true of many of you You don't have to have a dramatic testimony But every one of you who are listening to god is meaningful it's meaningful I've been in North Way since 1987. That's a long time And i'm amazed how my faith is still growing in the lord It's not a testimony on how the lord gave me a ton of money But it is one on total dependence on the lord. The lord continues to meet my family's needs and I am grateful In october of 2007 my dad's company closed down and I had to decide what I wanted to do for work My father had reopened a small remodeling company and could not afford to have me work there full-time So I decided to get trained to be a home inspector I was unemployed and I worked part-time with the inspections And part-time with my dad's company and all along. I did not feel at peace about this arrangement Then in august of 2008 Just about six months ago or so. I decided to quit the home inspections business and get start back with my dad's company full-time With as much work as He would allow Over that period of uncertainty. I learned now listen to this I learned how to not focus on where the next meal was going to come from But instead focus on every new day and what the lord had planned for me that day You have to understand that i'm the type of guy that likes to know what's going to happen Next but during that time I had none of that. How are you guys like that? I want to know what's coming, you know A lot of guys have their hands up. That's the way we are Just kind of like to know what's ahead. He said I couldn't do that. I just didn't know There were days I had no idea how I was going to pay for things or how I was going to have food for the week The lord supplied through my family friends and church outreach programs That came into play that that really taught me and humbled myself in that time of need I think it was the end of 2008 that you speaking of me was talking about having a breakthrough and told us To be expected for the lord to do great things I somehow at that point really started to believe That in a way that I had never believed before It was january of 2009 I was working with my dad and the lord started to really show me ways to help my dad's company I start my days with the focus that i'm working for the lord And the company Is the lord's as well And before I never really believed that but now I have a different view I started really seeking the lord about having a breakthrough in my life in the company I guess you can say the breakthrough is i've learned to listen to the lord and obey his directions The other breakthrough is that my dad's company is experiencing unusual success In the jobs it's bidding and we look like we're going to be busy through the end of 2009 That is a true blessing It's funny, but I never would have thought that I would be where I am today But i'm glad that the lord's taught me how to be humble about every day and everything and to go To him about everything in prayer And i'm glad that I now understand how to lean into my faith and how to expect great things from the lord And the lord continues to meet my family's needs and i'm grateful I just wanted you to understand how the lord changed me over the last year And I believe that he'll continue to do more to mold my faith Sincerely and he signs it and I asked him for permission to read it That is a testimony of an everyday kind of guy that's experiencing Dramatic faith persevering faith. His faith is in action And he is seeing god come through finally turning the island over number four faith Faith I Want to make a change here don't put the word desperation down scratch that those of you who jumped ahead Oh, no, no Change it Faith is driven by confidence That jesus is sufficient to meet whatever need one has It's One thing to be desperate we've already talked about the fact that gyrus and the woman were desperate And loved ones that is sometimes the place god allows us to slip to I'm looking around here and i'm meeting eyes with some people that I know your stories and you've shared them with me You hit the bottom you hit the bottom with substances. You hit the bottom with with relationships You hit the bottom in your marriage. You hit the bottom in your in your career path You hit the bottom sometimes god allows that so that the only place you can turn is to jesus But once you turn there you find that jesus is sufficient to meet your need Now If you learn to pray and you learn to have faith and you learn How to use your faith clicker every time you need it. Are you always going to get an answer to your prayer? No I wish it were so I wish every person I prayed for could be healed or whatever they needed But as long as there's evil and sin in the world, we're going to have a battle But here's the question. I kind of want to end with We have a choice to make As a church, I mean as a church all over this city. Here's a choice follow me on this now. This is important, please As much as this is an individual message about you receiving according to your faith like gyrus and the sick woman By the way When gyrus stutter was raised the bible says at the end of mark, I love this it said this When she walked out she was 12 years old. It says The mockers the laughers the scorners the scoffers. It says they were completely astonished You know what? Why don't you make it your prayer that god will do such a work in your life that the people who know you Will be completely astonished I know the gentleman that wrote that note told me that people have told him boy. There's a change in you And here's my closing Just challenge to us as a church. What if our whole church decided you know what this is going to be a place Wherever we are oakland worship cafe here in wexford wherever else we put Different campuses where the the normative environment was faith not fear Where we came to expect things to happen not just like hope that maybe it might And that we were surprised when it didn't happen more than surprised when it did How would you like to be part of a place like that how many of you would make a point of getting there Each and every time why because you would expect hey if I show up Something friends what's keeping that from happening? Next week is easter sunday And being raised from the dead jesus made a statement Not even death can prevent him from fulfilling his purposes I just want to submit to you What then can keep him? from answering your prayers And for fulfilling our lives with faith so that we can minister life to each other not one thing I want us to believe together that from this day on we're going to be a place where faith conquers fear And god works his miracles in our lives. Let's stand together and pray Lord I thank you for this and many stories like it Where you move in such power? And I pray now god Just as we close lord for those who need a touch from you Just with your heads bowed for a moment if you're here tonight and you have a physical need You're suffering with an illness It might be a chronic thing Arthritis or perhaps there's a Breathing disorder you've had or for some of you chronic headaches But you need god to heal you I just want you to lift your hand right now and say i'm ready to say lord. I need healed father in the name of jesus You see the scores of hands that are raised. You know the hearts of people Show them what they must do to demonstrate their faith and lord give them the confidence to keep pushing that remote until faith breaks through They Break through Anything that's holding them back And lord for whatever other need We trust you to meet it Lord, we're thankful. We say hosanna Save us lord Save us from faithlessness and unbelief Cause us to see faith Conquer fear in jesus name and everyone said amen Amen I want to remind you as kent comes up to share Uh that the elders will be up here to pray with you afterwards if you have a specific need You want anointing with oil elders and their wives will be here to pray with you. So you may be seated pastor kent Well, good evening everybody. Hey, uh It's great to be with you.