You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.
Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. We need to remember that God's delays are not necessarily His denials. So maybe you're praying for one thing, but God wants to do above and beyond that. Listen, God's at work.
He knows what He's doing. Wait on His timing. We live in an instant society. Heat up something in the microwave in seconds, not minutes or hours.
Get a message to someone on the other side of the planet in a split second, not days or weeks. Should it be any wonder then why we assume our prayers shouldn't happen lickety split? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says, as it happens, God's clocks run on a different schedule than ours. We'll see our timing is often impetuous.
His timing is always perfect. Let me start with a question. Have you ever been in a situation that seemed absolutely hopeless? Well, compare it to a tumultuous storm and you're out there on your little boat pitching back and forth in the waves and you don't see any way out and suddenly the storm stops and the sun comes out and the birds are singing. Or maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that had life going perfectly in so many ways when all of a sudden you were hit with a severe illness or the death of a loved one and you don't know how you're going to get through what you're going through right now.
Then I think you're going to find some hope in what we're going to look at together here in Mark chapter five. This is a story of two very different people. One was a man. The other was a woman. One was unknown. One was relatively famous. What they had in common was they both needed Jesus. Starting with this woman. She was in a helpless, hopeless situation. She had spent all of her money on doctors to no avail and she could not get rid of this horrible sickness that plagued her that we'll talk about in a moment. The second person in our story was a man who was a ruler of the local synagogue.
He had power and prestige but he needed Jesus too because his beloved daughter was at death's door. So the point of it is everybody needs Jesus. Every man. Every woman. Every old person. Every young person. Every middle aged person.
Every middle aged person who thinks they're a young person. Whoever you are, everyone needs Jesus. He is there for you. Now this story is a part of a trilogy here in Mark chapter five about the power of Jesus Christ. In the first movement of the chapter we see that Christ has power over nature as he stops a storm from raging with the words, peace be still. Then we see Jesus casting demons out of a man showing that Christ has power over evil. And in this message we're going to see Jesus has power over sickness and death.
The point is he can deliver you from whatever you are facing. And I'm also going to answer the following questions in this message. Number one. Where does sickness come from? Number two. Why does God allow sickness? Number three. Does God still heal today?
And fourth and lastly. Why doesn't God heal everyone? Let's look now at Mark chapter five starting in verse 21.
We read these words. Jesus got into the boat again and went to the other side of the lake when a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Then a leader of the local synagogue whose name was Jairus arrived. When he saw Jesus he fell at his feet pleading fervently with him saying, my little daughter is dying. Please come and lay your hands on her.
Heal her so she can live. Jesus went with him. And all the people followed crowding around him. A woman in the crowd who had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding and had suffered a great deal from many doctors over the years and spent everything she had to pay him but had gotten no better.
But in fact had gotten worse. Heard about Jesus so she came up from behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, if I can touch his robe I can be healed. Immediately the bleeding stopped and she could feel it in her body and she had been healed of her terrible condition.
We will stop there. 12 years. Very important time frame. 12 years this woman had been dealing with this horrible illness and 12 years was the age of this little daughter of Jairus. So while this young girl had experienced 12 years of relative happiness as the apple of her daddy's eye. I am sure he doted on her and loved her in so many ways. It is shown by his urgency as he comes to Jesus.
And this sick woman had experienced 12 years of pain, rejection, and tears. Yet on the same afternoon both of their lives were dramatically changed by their encounter with Jesus Christ. Now one of these people is a well-known ruler of the local synagogue and his name is Jairus. His daughter suddenly fell ill and he felt that he needed to go to Jesus. But as he is on his way home with Jesus to help him this woman sort of bursts on the scene. But as we will see this interruption became an opportunity. But let's focus a little bit on Jairus and what actually happened.
I already said this little girl was 12 years old and suddenly she is sick and he is trying everything he can to get her better and nothing is working. And he hears that Jesus is near. Now I don't know if Jairus believed in Jesus yet. If he had embraced him and put his faith in him.
He obviously was a Jewish spiritual leader. But apparently he believed that Jesus had the power to heal. So he approaches Christ and makes this amazing statement. Come lay your hands on my daughter and I believe she will be healed.
I mean that is a lot of faith. He just felt if Jesus can touch her I know she will be healed. So Jesus says alright. So they are making their way to the home of Jairus. The crowd is following and all of a sudden just seemingly out of nowhere some woman touches the hem of Jesus' garment which is no big deal. But it is that Christ suddenly stops and asks the question who touched me. Now how easily could Jairus have said, hey lady hold on.
He is with me. No cuts. Remember when you were in school. Some of you still are. And we would be waiting to eat that horrible food in schools. Is the food any better in schools today. It never was back when I went to school. Sort of like school food. Hospital food. An oxymoron.
It is not really very good. But boy if someone cut in our line we would say hey man no cuts. Jairus could have said that to that woman. What are you doing.
He is going home with me right now. But actually Jairus did not do that. Maybe it is because he knew well that is how Jesus rolls.
He always has time for hurting people. Jairus no doubt heard the story of how Jesus healed that demoniac of the Gadarenes and his life had been so transformed. He had heard the story of how they lowered the paralyzed man through the opening in the roof and Jesus touched him and forgave his sins. So he wasn't going to criticize Jesus and maybe we could say this was a test for Jairus. Maybe if he had failed this test it would have turned out differently.
I don't know. But if it was a test Jairus certainly passed it with flying colors. But sometimes God doesn't move as quickly as we want him to move.
Does he? You know God says my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. And God's timing is often different than ours. We want things now. We live in a day of getting instant information. Our phone buzzes or beeps and we get that news feed and we know what is going on as it is happening. We get things quickly.
We get food from Uber Eats and we get here and we get there. Everything happens quickly. And then God says well just wait.
Wait on the Lord and he will renew your strength. And we are thinking I don't really want to do that. You know maybe you are a young person and you are single and you are saying Lord when are you going to bring that man or that woman into my life. I want to get married.
I mean I am 17 years old. I am tired of waiting. Or maybe you are saying Lord when are you going to open that door of opportunity for me to serve you. Or you might be asking Lord how long are you going to let that person get away with that sin. Or maybe you are saying Lord when are you going to come back and judge this world and return and rule over us again. And sometimes in our impatience we may take things into our own hands.
But not Jairus. He is going to wait. He will just wait until Jesus does what he is going to do and then Jesus will come with him to his home and heal his daughter. Now I think we need to remember that God's delays are not necessarily his denials. Maybe I am talking to somebody right now that has been praying about something and it hasn't happened. As quickly as you want it to happen so you are thinking God is saying no. That may be true.
I won't rule that out. But maybe God is saying wait. God answers prayer in three ways. Yes. No. And wait.
And there is a reason he is having you wait. Remember the story of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They were close friends of Jesus. Lazarus died. Jesus showed up there in their hometown of Bethany.
And he said your brother is going to live again. See Mary and Martha were upset that Jesus didn't come to their town sooner when he found out their brother and his friend was sick. But Jesus sort of delayed his arrival if you will. So by the time he hit town not only was Lazarus dead but Jesus even missed the funeral. And he promised Mary and Martha your brother will live again. And they said well Lord we know yes and the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus said listen I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Listen they wanted a healing.
Jesus wanted a resurrection. So maybe you are praying for one thing but God wants to do above and beyond that. Listen God is at work. He knows what he is doing.
Wait on his timing. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's daily messages. God's word ministers to them and it often gets them through some of their darkest hours.
Hi Pastor Greg. I am calling to thank you for your ministry. Almost two years ago my teenage son passed away in a drowning accident. After that a friend gave me one of your books, Hope for Hurting Hearts, which really helped. Knowing that you lost your son Christopher and how you dealt with that has been a huge help to my husband and me.
We've been listening to your messages ever since. Your hard work in giving us the gospel has been such a blessing. If I'm not reading one of your books I'm reading the New Beginners Bible which I have read front to back a few times now. Learning as much as I possibly can about Jesus where my son is and where we're all going to go is comforting. Thank you Pastor Greg for all you do. If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries would you let Pastor Greg know?
Just drop him an email. And now Pastor Greg continues his message from Mark 5 called Everybody Needs Jesus. Let's listen. This woman touches the hem of the garment of Jesus. She had this medical condition. We don't even really know what it was but we know that she bled perpetually. Maybe it was some kind of a hemorrhage and no doctor could help her. And by the way the remedies back in these days could be really strange so I don't know if she ever had any proper medical attention. But she had spent all of her money maybe on quack doctors promising her a remedy or a solution. And she reasoned if I can touch Jesus I know I can be healed.
Actually we are told in Mark chapter 5 verse 26. She suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and spent all that she had and instead of getting better she only got worse. And she thought if I can touch the Lord everything will change. That brings me to my first question. Is it presumptuous to think that God heals people today? Let me answer those questions I raised a little bit earlier about healing. One of them was where does sickness come from? Why do we even have to get sick?
Well listen to this. It was never part of God's original plan. We weren't supposed to get sick. We weren't supposed to age. We weren't supposed to die.
It goes back to our first parents Adam and Eve there in the garden. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of that forbidden fruit we would not get sick. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit we would not age.
If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit I would have hair still. So we age and we have illness and ultimately we die. Romans 5 12 says as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. In this way death came to all men because all have sinned. But why does God allow sickness?
That is the second question. Why does God allow sickness? Short answer. There is a lot I could say.
Here is a short answer. God allows sickness in our life sometimes to bring us to Him. I have heard many stories of people that felt they had no need for God. But when they got ill on their death bed or maybe in a hospital room they asked for spiritual help and of course they found it. So sometimes it is to get our attention. The psalmist said before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept your word.
But listen. Sometimes God allows sickness in the life of the believer to keep us humble. Take the apostle Paul as an example. He was transformed with the power of God on the Damascus road and put his faith in Jesus while he was on his way to hunt down and put Christians to death. Then God used Paul of course to write a good portion of the Bible in his wonderful epistles. In addition to that he led many people to Christ. He established churches and God even healed people through Paul. And if that wasn't enough Paul had the amazing experience of going to heaven.
Of actually going to glory and getting a glimpse of what was ahead. And then he came back to this earth. This may have happened during one of the attacks against him when he was stoned in particular.
And they thought he was dead and he came back to life. That may be the moment when Paul went to heaven. And so when you have been to heaven and you have seen heaven and God used you to write epistles that is pretty heady stuff. So listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12. To keep me from becoming proud I was given a thorn in my flesh a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I asked the Lord to take it away and each time he said my grace is all you need and my power works best in weakness. Then Paul says, so now I boast about my weaknesses so the power of Christ can work through me. That is why I take.
This is crazy. This is why I take pleasure in weaknesses. In insults. In hardships. In persecutions. In troubles. I suffer for Christ for when I am weak then I am strong. A thorn in the flesh. God allowed a messenger from Satan a demon no doubt to bring hardship into the life of the great apostle to keep him humble.
Another reason God allows sickness is to be glorified through your life as you honor God even when you are struggling with the sickness. I think of two people that I have gotten to know that are so impressive to me. One is Joni Eareckson Tada. I mean she is literally a national treasure. This is a lady who as a young girl through a diving accident became a quadriplegic and she has been in a wheelchair now for so many years. But I will tell you God has used Joni to bring encouragement and hope to people all around the world. Not just disabled people.
But all people. And in many ways you could say Joni has turned a disability into an ability. A supernatural ability. Then I think of a friend of mine named Nick Vujicic.
Nick was born without his limbs. And God has used him to help people literally all around the world. Especially young people who are depressed and dealing with all the challenges they face. And there is Nick before them with all of his problems radiating joy and sharing Jesus. And so God can be glorified through your sickness. There are reasons He allows it that sometimes we don't understand.
But this brings us to question number three. Does God still heal today? Does God still heal today? And I believe the answer is yes. Does He heal everyone? The answer is no. Does He heal some people?
The answer is yes. But know this. God has the ability to heal. God has the desire to heal.
And we need to understand that. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus, He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. And we considered Him stricken by God, smitten and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions and He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.
Listen. And by His wounds we are healed. Peter commenting on that same verse in 1 Peter 2-24 says, Christ bore our sins on the tree and by His wounds you have been healed. And the word that Peter uses there for healed is a word that always speaks of physical healing. So can God heal?
The answer is yes. So why are some of us still sick? Are you ready for my super simple answer? It may be because you have not asked God to heal you. In the book of James it says, You have not because you asked not.
Simple as that. You have not because you asked not. Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given to you. Seeking you shall find. Knock on the door shall be opened.
And in the original language there is an ascending intensity to those verbs. Meaning keep asking. Keep seeking.
Keep knocking. Keep praying. Now Paul prayed three times that God would remove His thorn in the flesh. Then the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for you. But other times the Lord will say yes. Maybe not after the first time you prayed or the second or the third.
But maybe at a certain moment He says, Ok I am going to heal. That is what this woman did. She thought if I can touch him I will be healed.
And so that is what happened to her. Pastor Greg Laurie is helping us consider the great faith of the woman described in Mark chapter 5. Today on A New Beginning a study called Everybody Needs Jesus.
And if you weren't able to hear every word of this important insight, get caught up by listening online at harvest.org. And then it is a real privilege to make available a new book by Fox News anchor and chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream. You may have seen her on Fox News at night in the evenings. She has written a refreshing new book called The Women of the Bible Speak. Pastor Greg's wife Kathy is here with Shannon. Shannon, you dedicate this book to your grandmothers. And I just want to know what was the role that your grandmothers played in your life, in your journey of faith.
And maybe you could say a word of encouragement as to how women out there today might realize that they may have a very quiet role of parenting or grandparenting, but the impact that it can make on an individual. Yeah, so my grandma Nell lived to be a hundred and two and she was faithful. I mean, she was in church every Sunday. She had her pews. She wanted to sit close up front so she would hear the music and the pastor.
She always wore a hat. And every Sunday it was a family tradition that we would be with her and then we would have Sunday dinner afterwards. And just those Sundays together are such an amazing, fond memory for me that she was faithful and she trusted the Lord and she was feisty about it. I mean, she was somebody who her faith was her priority. Now, I'm still blessed to have my grandmother, my other grandmother, Margaret Weatherly, who is still with us.
She is 95 years old and she is somebody who has in the last few years really struggled health wise with other issues. But man, I can't have a conversation with her where she is not talking about the Lord's giving me another day. What can I do with this day? He knows what the timing is and I'm just going to trust him. He's with me. He's my companion, even when I'm alone, even when I'm struggling. And so for her, she continues to be that witness. And I haven't shown her the book yet because I want to show her in person the dedication and I can't wait for her to see it. And just to be able to thank her for living that consistent life of faith, especially in these days where she's really faced a lot of struggles.
And instead of turning or being bitter, I mean, she's somebody who said, Hey, listen, the Lord woke me up, gave me another day. What am I going to do with it? He's going to walk with me. I love that. And I'm holding in my hands this book. It is so beautiful. I'm a grandmother and I'm just thinking if someday someone would write a book and include me in an introduction or a dedication like that, I'd be so blessed. It is beautiful.
I love it. It's just very feminine, the flowers on there. But the contents of this book hopefully will inspire another generation of women to go forward with strength and boldness and courage. Even in the most difficult times, the encouragement is here. These women of the Bible really do speak to our lives. And I'm so grateful that you wrote this book, The Wisdom of Sixteen Women and Their Lessons for Today. And that is what's so amazing is the Bible is truly alive. The words are important and they are living and they speak life into us even today. Kathy Laurie, speaking with Shannon Bream, author of the new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. It's such a wonderful tool of inspiration for women and really for all of us. And we'd like to send this to you to thank you for your investment in the important work of bringing people to the Lord and bringing people closer to the Lord.
In fact, we recently heard this from a listener. I've listened to your podcast for nearly three years. You helped me accept Jesus. I'm currently receiving cancer treatment and your new believer's Bible is what keeps me going. I read your devotions every morning. Well, you know, your investment helps us reach people like this. It's an investment in touching and changing people's lives. And with your donation right now, you can choose the amount. We'll be glad to send you The Women of the Bible Speak. And we hope you'll contact us soon. We'll only be able to mention this a short time longer.
Just write a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. And we can take your call anytime.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey, everybody. Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship. It's a message from the Word of God.
You can watch it with your family in your front room, or you can watch it on the go on your tablet, on your phone or your computer. Take it with you. Take the word of God with you and join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, next time, more from Pastor Greg's study in Mark, Chapter 5. Good encouragement about how the Lord can touch our lives and meet us at our point of need. Join us on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others, or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.
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