Good morning. I want to welcome everyone to Lighthouse Baptist Church and invite you all to stand as we praise the Lord this morning. I want to wish all the moms and all the ladies a happy Mother's Day as well before we start this morning. Let's all sing. There's mercy with the Lord, and He will surely give you rest by trusting in His Word.
Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust. Him now he will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. For Jesus shed his precious blood, rich blessings to bestow. Plunge now into the crimson flood that washes white as snow. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now.
He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way that leads you into rest. Believe in him without delay, and you will. You are fully blessed. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now.
He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Come then and join this holy band, and on to glory go to dwell in that slaughter land where joys immortal flow. Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now. Only trust Him, only.
Trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Amen. Go around and make somebody feel welcome this morning. All right, as we continue to sing and praise the Lord this morning, come on, church.
Come, thou, fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some tongues above. Praise the mountain fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.
I raise my heavens, hither by thy help I come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, need to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. Hold to praise now, pray the deader, daily I constrain to thee. And let thy goodness, like a pleasure, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to lead on, God, I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and seal it, seal it for thy course of love. Amen. Let's give the Lord a hand this morning.
If you're excited to be in His house, say amen. Amen. That's a good amen. Galatians 2, chapter 2. Chapter 2, verse 20 says, I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Church, let's lift up his name this morning. What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give.
He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom, my steadfast love, my hope and boundlessness. Let him up this morning, church. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to His. Oh, how strange and divine I can sing.
All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me. The night is dark, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior he will stay. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need, his power is displayed. To this I hold my shepherd will defend me through the deepness valley will lead.
The night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me. No faith I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future sure, the price that has been paid for Jesus went and suffered for my pardon, and he was raised to overthrow the grain to his sin has been defeated. And Jesus now and ever is my plea. Oh, the chains of Released, I can sing, I am free, and not I, but through Christ indeed with every breath, I love to follow Jesus.
For He has said that He will bring me home, and day by day I know He will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne. To this, I hold my hope is only Jesus. All the glory evermore to Him when the race is complete. Still, my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me to this I hold my holy Jesus, all the glory evermore to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me.
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me, yet not I, but through Christ in me. Let's give the Lord a hand again this morning. Amen. Well, we want to welcome you today on this beautiful Lord's Day to the lighthouse. What a joy it is to gather together.
And uh Wonderful, wonderful day to celebrate Mother's Day. We are so thankful for the mothers in our lives. If you're a guest today, thank you for coming out. We have a gift at this time just to place in your hand to let you know how much we appreciate you coming to worship the Lord with us today. And so, if you're on my right side, if this is your first time to lighthouse, just raise your hand.
And we got some guys coming around, and they'll just place that gift in your hand. Hand and so thank you for being with us. Just keep your hands up and they'll get by and give that to you. And anybody on my left side, first time to Lighthouse, just raise your hand and these guys will get by. Yeah, just keep that hand up and these guys will get by.
Let's give our guests a hand today. being with us. Thank you so much. It's Brother Matt Whitehead, if you could come ahead and open us in prayer. Thank you, sir.
Guys, pray with me. Father, we just thank you for this glorious day. We thank you for your grace and your mercy upon our lives. We thank you for all the mothers who sacrificed and fed and put uh love into our Children. Lord, I pray that you put a hand and bless them this special Sunday.
And Lord, I pray you just bless the service, bless Pastor as he brings a message. May he bring it with boldness and power, and just may your word be preached. Throughout the world. Father, we thank you for the love of Jesus Christ. We thank you for what He's done on the cross.
And may we just clear our hearts and our minds and focus on you. Lord, we love you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Man, you may be seated today.
So much could be said about the role of mother in our life. We're so thankful. You know, I was thinking today The 650 or so people that come out to church on Sunday mornings at nine months for each birth. You would have to have 488 years of pregnancy just to have church on a normal Sunday at Lighthouse. Let's give our mothers a hand for that sacrifice, right?
I was thinking if it was up to men, we would only have about 650 people on the planet. It just wouldn't have worked out. And we do believe in mothers and not birthing persons. Abraham Lincoln said, No one is poor who had a godly mother. John Wesley the great Preacher said, I learned more about Christianity from my mother.
than from all the theologians in England. And uh what a what a blessing the gift that God has given us. in the role of mothers. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 31, verse 10: who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.
so that he shall have no need of spoil. It goes on to say, She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but Thou excellest them all.
And he concludes by saying, Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. And so we're so thankful for our mothers. And we have a gift at this time, and I'll have you come up here in just a second, Dean. I don't want to keep you standing up here too long, so you can be seated on the front row. But we have a gift for the mothers today.
Um And we gave three gifts away in the early service, and we'll do that here in the second service to the oldest mother, to the youngest mother, and to the mother who has the most children or family members here with us.
So let's start off with the youngest mother. Is there any moms in here today that have a child less than one year? One years of age, just raise your hand. I see a hand in the back there. Anybody else?
Any other hands? Is there anybody, anybody on this side, make sure I'm not missing you, wave your hand. Any is there only one over here? All right. Uh and what's the age of the baby?
Five months. All right. Yeah.
Well, you have your pick of one of these flowers up here. This is a fake one, but these other three. After you can get that at the very end of service, make sure you come up here.
Now let's go to the other extents, the only time women will declare their age. The oldest mother in the room.
So we had a 90-year-old in the early service. Do we have any 85? 80 year olds, let's start with 80 year olds and up. Uh eighty year olds and I've got a few hands. They're they're like this right now.
You wait till it gets down to the end. They'll be like, It's me, it's me.
Okay. Seven. Yeah.
And you look like a darling today, Jolie. You could... You're just as sweet as honey, I tell you, she is a And and how how old? Eighty nine, eighty nine, hey, men. The prettiest 89-year-old I've ever seen.
She's a darling. I love her. You'll go home and tell my wife. I called a woman pretty today. She's like, who was it?
So and then let me give the So the Mother who has the most family, and you can include yourself. That would include every woman who does that.
So, yourself included. How many people do you have with you today that's in your family? Add those up. Add those up. I think in the early service, we had somebody who had 12 family members here.
So, yeah. All right, we got one with nine. Anybody have more than nine? 11. All right.
Anybody more than 11? Eleven going once? Eleven who who had eleven over here? All right, yes, the Morrises. And so, 11 family members here, let's give them a hand as well.
Amen. Great, great, great.
Well, we love our moms, and what a blessing. 488 years. Pregnancies to pull today off. And there's probably more than 650 here today, so praise the Lord. At this time, I'm going to have Kevin and Dasa come ahead, and they're going to share their testimonies.
They're coming today to join the church. Love these guys. God has brought them to Lighthouse, and they got connected to Lighthouse actually through our, I think it was our radio station. We were on the radio three different times on Sunday mornings, Saturday nights. And so make Kevin and Dasa come feel welcome as they come ahead and share their story.
Thank you, guys. Yep. Please bear with me because I grew up in California, homeschooled along with 12 siblings. This is how I got saved back in 2005 when I was 12 years old. Growing up, my life in our blended family was fun and beautiful, but quite dysfunctional.
My parents were Christian, and I appreciate the values they instilled in me. I am also thankful to my father for always being zealous about God and praying out loud in his living room, and I'm thankful for my mother modeling intimacy with the Lord and reading the Bible and having a relationship with the Lord. But she read the Bible alone in the bathroom all the time. With all those kids, it was the only place of refuge to escape from us.
However, being raised with Christian parents didn't stop the enemy from bringing division, strife, and chaos in our home. As for me, I was in an internal state of emotional pain, though I was young and might have seemed like a good kid on the outside I was uh evil but I did not know the extent of my wickedness because I didn't have Christ yet. I had a lot of sin in my heart. I dealt with internal anger, harmful thoughts, dishonesty, to get out of trouble, a lust in my mind on a daily basis. I handled conflict poorly with my siblings.
The most important thing I was bearing a lot of pain, sorry, most important thing in my life was doing good at home. I worked to please my parents. Things seemed normal, but I was bearing a lot of pain inside, feeling worthless, and I was also struggling with sexual confusion. One night, the pain in my heart and what was going on in my personal life was so bad I could not continue on. I did not know Jesus was.
God at the time, but I cried out to God. on my bed at night in my room. and cried out to the Lord to help me in total. Am I sorry I was uh Sorry, I was I'm sorry, I was for everything I ever did. I didn't know if he would forgive me.
After that conversation, I felt a big peace come over me. The pain and the heaviness, the sadness was lifted up. I think I began to read the Bible for hours every day so I could know how to be saved and to learn more about Jesus Christ. God's word revealed to me how guilty and unworthy I was. when I read the verses James 2.
10 food. Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. And then Romans 3.23 stood out to me at that time, for all I have sinned had come short of the glory of God. After reading the whole New Testament, uh With the verses like Romans 10, 9, Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart thy God hath raised her from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I officially ask Lord to my life and to come into me today.
and to come in and be my Lord and Savior. I was not perfect, but God did change me. He graciously delivered me in my youth from going in the wrong direction. He delivered me from the hidden sins that were turning into addictions. I had depression, self-hatred, anger, anxiety.
It gave me a purpose in life. to live for him and I began to see my siblings, my parents and people through his eyes. In 2011, I I when I was 18 I got baptized in Indiana. Uh that was uh 2012, sorry. But uh fast forward to 2020.
The Lord bless me with a wonderful husband. And we both continued going to Dayton Baptist Church. It was a blessing to serve there, but we were not getting much out of the teachings. At the end of 2022, our marriage was not in the best place. My husband was led to Lighthouse Baptist Church, Zinha.
After hearing it on the radio several times, we both appreciate the very powerful. and educational preaching directly from the Word of God. We appreciate the adult classes and children's ministry. Lighthouse has been a blessing to our marriage and family. We hope others will be impacted by this church and become part of what God is doing here.
The seed of Christ was planted in me at a young age, but it wasn't until March 3rd, 2019, that I began to truly surrender and become devoted to the Lord. It wasn't until then that my life began a real change that reflected the character of Christ. Before then my life was in a constant downward spiral spiral. I was completely trapped and entangled with drug addiction. It was a miserable cycle of bondage, chasing my tail, seeking to fulfil the lusts of the flush.
I was blessed to have a father that has a testimony of being saved. At twelve years old, although the tragedy of divorce may have derailed this commitment to the Lord to a degree and had many other negative consequences that led into my life as a child. Despite the negative things that could be discussed about my parents, the Lord wants me to honor them. and focus more on the positive. Aside from the darkness that was passed down to me, My family overall has expressed a strong love for me and for that I am thankful.
The evil I experienced throughout my youth led me down a dark, wide road. This could be a very long story, but we don't have enough popcorn for that. I went to a Christian school from kindergarten to eighth grade, then to a secular public school for the rest of my life. school years. The Christian school planted the seed.
Along with my dad talking about Scripture from time to time, along with giving glory to God in various ways. Unfortunately, I lived a deceived life. Clinging on to Christ superficially, I thought that because I believed Jesus died for my sins, and rose again that I was good to go and that's all that I really or that's all that really mattered. I believe Jesus as my Saviour, but not as my Lord. This is why I went twenty-three years of my life living for my own will.
failing to see the need for repentance. It's possible if there had been a consistent biblical guidance. and proper godly example in in the home when I was younger. not have beards so far, of course. This is why as a parent I have learned setting a good example is more powerful than words.
For the majority of my life, my mother did not have a strong Christian influence on me. that drastically began to change around 2019. when her hunger for God is rekindled. One night when we were drinking alcohol together, she told me she wanted nothing more than for me to read the Bible. And later gave me my first adult Bible for Christmas.
Not too long after that, she invited me to church. During the sermon the Lord used a message from John 15 that astonished me. and changed my life forever. It was about the vine and the branches. And the Lord revealed to me that I was the dead fruitless branch that was going to be tossed into the fire.
This is when I got on my knees in my bedroom on March 3rd, 2019, and acknowledged my need for Christ's intervention. lordship over my life. God started to reveal himself to me in ways I have never experienced. The Bible became alive to me. Before it was just a boring history book.
Before this took place, I had a vulgar and dark sense of humor, using every curse word as if they were any other word. along with a destructive porn addiction. These were the first things the Lord cleansed me of. It was an immediate supernatural transformation by the grace of God. My coworkers were astonished, or they were astounded by The change in me.
My drug addiction was a different story. I became severely depressed after I was baptized. It was clear the devil was doing everything he could to deter me from God. And I realized drugs had been a major part of my identity. I didn't know how to part ways with it.
But the Lord gave me a good reason and the strength to began removing them from my life. I have struggled with the stronghold of substance abuse for the majority of my walk with God. But I can say he has been doing the work in me and enables the option of victory. I was in an ungodly relationship with an older woman for a number of years. She wanted to get married, but did not commit herself to God like I had.
I knew I didn't want to marry her, so I gave it over to the Lord on a Sunday morning and that same day she randomly asked me, if I still wanted to be with her and that was the end of it. Only a few months later, I ended up meeting the best gift besides eternal life the Lord has ever given to me. which is my precious wife. From there the Lord had me take a leap of faith to move from my hometown of New York. to Ohio to be with my wife.
The Lord affirmed I was doing the right thing in various ways. He blessed our efforts, although we still had our challenges like everyone else. I started hearing Pastor Josh every Sunday morning on 93.7 the lake. While driving church fan for another church. Started being Raw on to LBC.
after being continually blessed through the solid and compelling preaching being delivered by Pastor Josh. After my first visit, I knew this is where the Lord wanted my my wife and I. Be for spiritual growth. I'm thankful for the amount of support offered. at this church along with serving along with the serving and learning opportunities that are available.
I'm looking forward to becoming closer to my brothers and sisters at LBC. The verse that resonates with me is Philippians 1.6. being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you I will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And I know my mother is watching online, so I just wanted to say happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you.
I love these guys, and they have a big heart for the Lord, very studious in their lives, and so thankful.
So, all in favor, receive Kevin and Dasa into the Fellowship and Membership of Lighthouse. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Wonderful.
If our men will come today, we'll receive our morning offering. And as they come, A couple of things, real quick, in the bulletin. One is: if you're a guest today, if you wouldn't mind filling that gift or guest card out and leaving that in the offering basket when that comes by, that we could have a record of your visit. Also, this Thursday, we have a police awards ceremony we're going to be hosting here at Lighthouse. And so, we're glad to be able to do that for those in law enforcement.
If you could help out with desserts for that night, there's a sign up in the foyer there. Also, we're having Tim Lee, Marine veteran and evangelist, lost his legs in the midst of battle and conflict in Vietnam. He's going to be preaching for us, 40 years of active ministry, spoken in 49 different states. And he speaks to tens of thousands of new Marine veterans at Paris Island every year. And we'll be having him on June 4th.
And so, he sent me a text a few weeks ago. He said, You mind if I can come in and preach in the early part of June? I said, Brother, anytime you can come in around town, we're glad to have you in. He's a powerful preacher. Last time he was with us was w right the week COVID hit.
And I said, man, I said, COVID hit. I said, how do you feel about coming? He said, I tell you, I lost my legs in Vietnam. He said, I ain't scared of no. Virus.
He had zero fear. He never had.
So we're thankful for him, and so we love our veterans as well. Brother Dean, if you want to come ahead and pray for us, the offering, thank you, sir. Let's pray. Father God. Thank you for this day.
beautiful out on a beautiful Mother's Day. Lord, we'd like to thank you for all of our mothers. We'd like to thank you for everything we have. Lord, we pray for this offering. that everyone would give a little back.
That you would use it to further your kingdom, and that souls would be saved. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Before you close your eyes to sleep, I have a promise still to keep as I hold you in my arms. I pray your little frame grows strong and that faith takes hold while you are young.
This is my prayer for you. Hold my hand. I'll teach you the way to go through the joys, through the fears, the journey of these years. May you trust him till the end. May you trust him in the end.
This world is not as it should be, but the Savior opens eyes to see all that's beautiful and true. Oh, may His light fill all you are, and the joy of wisdom come. Crown your heart. This is my prayer for you. Hold my hand, I'll teach you the Way to go through the joys, through the tears, the journey of these years.
He is with us till the end, he is faithful till the end. You'll travel where my arms won't reach as the road will rise to lead your feet on a journey of your own. My mistakes not hinder you, but his grace remain and guide you through. This is my prayer for you. Take his hand and go where he calls you to.
And what other comes, seek him with all your heart. This will be my prayer for you. Father, hear my ceaseless prayer. Keep her in your care. Amen.
Amen. Wonderful. Thank you for that beautiful song. If you have But turn with me and your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel chapter number 9. Matthew 9, verse 18 down to verse number 26 is our Text for today, and when you find your place, if you would honor God's holy word, and we'll stand and read those passages.
We've been doing a study through the Gospel of Matthew for the last couple years. What a joy it's been. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 9, verse 18: While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler. and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead. But come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. Behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood. Twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about.
And when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place. For the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.
and they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. and the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. Father, your word is Such a joy beyond words that we can have this truth before us. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
Thank you. Just in the last hour A young man called out to Christ. in our class, what a joy to see One who saw their need to be saved. I pray right now, if anyone in this room doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would not know the moment after their. Life comes to an end if they would be in heaven, that you would awaken their soul to the desperate need that they have of Christ.
Thank you that you bring hope to the hopeless. May you bless this service now, we ask in Christ's name, and God's people said, Man, you may be seated today. Everywhere one goes, he finds the. Gaping graves swallowing up the dying Just next door to the church, we have a cemetery with hundreds of Tombstones. When you drive out to the Dayton National Cemetery and see thousands of white tombstones, it is a sobering sight.
Tears of loss, separation, final departure stains every face. Every table sooner or later will have an empty seat. Death is been called the great leveler. King's corpses look no different than the pauper The rich and the famous may have a more expensive casket and headstone, but their bodies still lie six feet under next to the unknown beggar. The wealthy lay next to the poor, the powerful lay next to the weak.
Death is not prejudice. Takes no care of what you did in life. Its blatant will cut down everyone who has ever been born. One thing that is certain about life is it will certainly one day come to an end. We can be so confident, it seems, in our younger years with health and Seemingly years in front of us, but the Bible lets us know there's two things for sure, for certain.
two things we know for sure. That life is brief and it will come to an end sooner than we realize. Job spoke of man's life as being just a few days that are full of trouble, he says. will come forth like a flower and is cut down and flees away like a shadow. The psalmist asked in Psalm 89, 48, What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?
Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?
Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1 and 2, To everything there is a season. Never and a per time to every purpose under the heaven.
So there's a time to be born and a time to die. The joy of those who are born inevitably will end one day with a sobering eulogy read over their life. Moses said in Psalm 90 that man's normal life would be 70 years or perhaps 80. But he said it's filled with sorrow and labor and soon cut down. James, the brother of the Lord, said in James 4:14, for us not to boast of tomorrow.
He says, For whereas. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and vanishes away. He says, You don't know what's. lays ahead tomorrow.
Isaiah, James, Peter, they all speak about man's life being very short, being very brief, very fleeting. Psalm 102, verse 3 says, My days are as consumed like smoke. Death becomes of much greater significance also the older you get. It trails us in life, and we have seen our loved ones pass on. We have attended funerals.
We have wept. We have mourned. We have sorrowed. And death is no respecter of persons, it claims everyone. Death casts a long shadow upon our lives, as the Bible says in Psalms 23, verse 4, that We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Death can end people's dreams, their hopes, and fill them with fear and dread. I've seen in my personal life Folks who've saved up all their life to get to retirement and enjoy their finances and enjoy their golf and enjoy their hobbies. only to find when they got to the end of their working years and came to retirement. Their money was there, but their time had run out. Death.
claims all and it binds all under its great power.
Solomon rightly noted in Ecclesiastes 8, verse 8, that no one can defeat death. Hebrews 9:26 27 says, It is appointed unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment. Death is spoken of as an enemy. 1 Corinthians 15, 26 says the last enemy that shall be destroyed.
is death. In light of death's reality, it was the Canadian scientist G B Hardy who was an unbeliever at the time. He said, when I looked at religion, I said, I have two questions. One, has anyone ever conquered death? And two, If they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death as well than to follow them?
He said this, I checked the tomb of Buddha and it was occupied. I checked the tomb of Confucius. And it was occupied. I checked the tomb of Muhammad and it was occupied. And then I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty.
And I said, There is one who conquered death. That answers the first question. And the second is, did he make a way for me to follow? And he said, as I opened the Bible and I discovered that Jesus said, because I live, you shall also live. G.B.
Hardy became a believer in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the only one who conquered death. And I stand today before you as one who is a Christian, who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus alone is Lord. He alone is God. And beside him there is no Savior.
He is the only one who made death his servant. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Jesus allowed death. in his own life so that he could defeat death on death's turf.
And to free us from the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14 says, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. I talk to people who don't know Christ and they have such a fear of death. But when you're saved and you know Christ, you don't have to live with fear because death is literally what ushers you into the presence of God and into eternal paradise. Today, in the passage before us in Matthew 9, Jesus...
faces two individuals who We're in some desperate situations. A little girl was dying. A tw a woman who was The dealing with uh Hemorrhage. Was facing a critical situation in her life. Death was at her doorstep.
And in this passage today before us, we find that there is a God in heaven that makes himself both accessible. and is also compassionate. He cares about their needs. Today we're looking at a message I've entitled When Desperation meets hope. And it starts with the desperate father in verse 18.
It tells us here: while he spake these things, he had been in a discussion with some people who were arguing with him. As he spake these things, and then behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is. Even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. This certain ruler that Matthew speaks of, and this story you need to know is a condensed version of the story in Matthew's Gospel. It's also repeated in Mark and Luke's Gospel accounts, and in their records it's an extended version of this story.
So I'll be referring to their record of this story throughout this day. But it calls his name Jairus in Mark and Luke. And he was the ruler of the synagogue.
Now, a synagogue was different than the temple. A synagogue was birthed out of the Babylonian captivity. When the Jews went into Babylonian captivity, Nebuchadnezzar had the Jewish temple destroyed, so the people needed to learn the word of God, so they created these synagogues. The synagogue is like the Jewish version of the Christian church. Jesus would go and teach in synagogues.
He would Preach the word of God to them. There were often many synagogues in towns. There was only one temple, but many synagogues. They didn't make sacrifices at synagogues. They taught the word there.
They would aim the synagogue toward the Jewish temple. And in Jerusalem, it is said that there were over 480 synagogues in Jerusalem during the days of Christ. Mark and Luke's account also refer to Jairus not only as the ruler of the synagogue, but the arch synagoges in the Greek, which means he was the chief of the synagogue. He was the chief ruler of the synagogue. Which means he was really the most important person in Capernaum religiously.
And really socially because they're religion and so their social status really held hands. And so he was he was really the highest ranking Jewish leader at Capernaum. And at this time, the religious establishment, which was led by both the Pharisees and Sadducees, Had pushed against Jesus. They were antagonistic against Christ. They did not believe in him.
So for this man to come to Jesus to ask for help was going against the grain of the religious establishment. That's why verse 18 it says this. Behold There came a certain ruler. If your Bible doesn't have the word behold, it should. It's in every Greek manuscript.
Every word of God is pure. Behold, there is a ruler. The word behold there is like a divine highlighter. It is designed to excite admiration. to pay close attention.
Don't miss this. This act of humility by a religious leader before Christ was shocking. This went against their prideful, pharisaical, religious views of Christ. But this Pharisee, this father, I should say, did not come that day as a Arch synagogues, he came as a broken father in desperate need of Jesus to intercede for his daughter. 1 Peter 5:5 says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
Friend, have you humbled yourself before God? Let me ask you, when in your life did you get to the point where you stripped yourself of your pride and self-sufficiency, got on your face before God and said, Lord, I need you to save me. Jairus was a desperate father who would have heard Jesus teach in the synagogue at Capernaum. He would have witnessed the miracles of Christ, no doubt. The word would have gotten back to him.
That there was a Widow in the city of Nain, which was only 18 miles away from Capernaum. Where Jesus came to a funeral and raised a dead widow's son. back to life and presented that boy back to his mother. This man must have thought if he could do that for her, then perhaps he could do that for my precious little girl.
Now there's two facts that the book of Luke records concerning his daughter that are not mentioned in Matthew. Luke 8, 42 says, For he had one only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she lay a dying. I grew up with three brothers. I didn't have any sisters. I didn't really know what a girl was like.
But I have learned. My mom always, she grew up with four brothers and no sisters.
So she wanted a daughter.
So, after one boy and two boys, and I tell my brothers: listen, I know my mom wants to meet a big girl, but I. I am a boy. But I have a younger brother. I said, she may have wanted me to be a girl, but she would have dressed you up, boy. She really wanted you to be a girl.
So she landed with four brothers. Sisters for Sons, no daughters. And then Now they have like eighteen grandkids. Kids everywhere. And I just remember when I first held that precious little girl, God gave me a.
Not only one daughter, but now four daughters. And I feel like the most blessed man in the world to have four daughters. People have teased me at times through the years, like, Oh, I feel sorry for you having all those women in your house. And I I just think I'm actually the blessed one. It has been the joy of my life to raise those girls, man.
I feel like I have just been dumped on with blessing. It's just fantastic. And they're like, wait till they get to be teenagers. I'm like, it's actually gotten better. Like, it's just great.
It's been great when they're little, it's great when they're older. I love seeing what they've grown up to become. They're not perfect, but I just I just love it. It's just a joy beyond words. I also know I will never die in a nursing home.
If you have four boys, you may end up in Cuba. You have four girls, that ain't gonna happen. They are precious. Tell you what, you get that little girl, you could have a bad day, you come home, that little girl climbs up in your lap, gives you a hug, you don't remember the first thing about your problems. They do something to a father's heart.
I can tell you after having girls, I uh I look back on, I had no understanding as a teenage boy growing up that is somebody's daughter. I had no comprehension in this brain. I grew up with all brothers. Uh yeah. You protected dad.
Yeah.
I've got a 12-gauge shotgun.
Somebody comes over, I say, just write your name on that bullet just to make sure you know how we work, you know, young man. Love those girls. And when I read this story... about a father who had His only daughter. And and his only daughter Who is 12 years old, Mark tells us, and Luke also adds, Twelve was a very significant age for a girl in the Jewish culture.
It was what they called their bot mitzvah. Their coming of age. For boys, it was called the bar mitzvah, which when they turned 13. 'Cause girls matured a little bit earlier. And it sounds weird in our culture, I get it.
And the reason is, is we've delayed the maturity of kids. We have this Adolescent seer time. Where kids basically go to school or they play games and they do things and they don't really grow up. But I can tell you, kids at that age, when they were 12, 13, 14 years old, were probably like a 25-year-old in maturity in our day. That would be a very close comparison.
And I don't believe God intended us to wait till we're 25 years old to get married or 27, which is the average age. I believe He designed for us probably in our mid-teenage years to get married, because that's when you are able to have children. And that sounds weird in our culture because you have been Americanized. I can tell you, this was not like it was back then. You read about some of the people back in the day, like.
D. L. Moody, who when he was twelve years old, left his house, went away for two weeks at a time to make money at the railroads and bring that back to help provide for his family. Twelve year old today couldn't cross the street to get gum. That's probably a little cold.
I know. I just.
Okay, sorry, sorry, don't write me a letter. It's not going to do any good. It's just what it is, all right? You just need to understand that this was a very significant age for this girl. This was like the year they were going to be excited, but there's no rejoicing in the house of Jairus.
There's no celebration of the bat mitzvah for her. She is dying. In in desperation causes people to be frantic. I mean, let me ask you: what length would you go to to save the life of your dying little girl? How much money would you spend?
Would you empty your bank account? There's no second thought on that, is there? How many nights would you stay up? How far would you physically travel? You you would do what's needed, right?
I mean, you would lay your life down. This is Jairus. This is his only little girl. He's desperate. And some in this room know what it's like.
when a doctor comes into the room. And they tell you There's nothing more that we can do. Those are heavy words. All hope feels like it's gone. The medical world can no longer help.
And this man knew that his only hope was in Jesus. Verse 18 tells us that when he came to Jesus, he worshipped him. This desperate father falls before Jesus. Not blaming him. Not saying, how could you let my daughter?
Die How could you let her be so sick? Rather, he comes to Jesus and falls down and worships him. This reminds me of Job. You know Job when His children died and everything was lost. In Job 1, verse 20, it said, Then Job arose, rent his mantle as a sign of mourning among the Jews, shaved his head, fell on the ground, and worshipped.
It goes on to say in verse 22: In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. You know, when we blame God for the pains of life, that is a foolish. Sinful thing to do. I've had people say, you know what? They act as though God needs to ask for their forgiveness.
That is such an evil thought. God never needs to Hmm. Let me ask you a question. If you had a 12-year-old child that lived 12 years and died, who gave you that child? As painful as the loss is, is heartbreaking.
It wasn't God that. That killed them. It was God that gave them life. And I can tell you, if God said, I'll give you this child for 12 years, would you have taken them? Would you have taken that child?
Yes. You would have loved that child and you would have cherished that child. And you know what? When that child is in heaven, you haven't lost the child, it's just a temporary separation. And if our loved ones can't be with us, where else would we want them to be within with the Lord?
Amen?
So he came and he worshiped, and Jesus received worship because Jesus is God. Jesus Emmanuel, God with us. And he falls down and worships in verse 18 and says, My daughter is even now dead.
Now, Matthew condenses the story because the girl ultimately dies. But Mark and Luke's account say when he first met Jesus, he said she is dying. Like she is she is breathing her last breath. She you need to get there. And the father's faith is so strong.
In verse 18, he says, Come, lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. This father is expressing what I call vicarious faith. It doesn't say the girl said, Hey, go get Jesus. The father is going to Jesus on behalf of the girl. She became a beneficiary of a father's faith.
Back in Matthew 8. It was the centurion who went to Jesus on behalf of his servant, and his servant was blessed because of that man's faith. The four men who carried their paralyzed friend in Matthew 8, the man was blessed because of his four friends' faith. Do you understand your faith can bless others? Are you blessing other people with your faith, or are you hindering them with your lack of faith?
I think it's beautifully powerful and wonderful to see that Jesus was accessible to them. They were able to reach him. Not only is he accessible, but look how he responds in verse 19. It says, And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. Not only is the Lord accessible, but he was also compassionate.
He cared about their need. Charles Spurgeon said, Our king in whom is vested the power of life and death yields at once to the petition of faith. And sets out for the ruler's house. The Lord follows believers, for believers follow their Lord. Such is the order of verse 19.
So, you have the determination of this father. Secondly, we see a delay. There are two things that Delay the process of Jesus getting to this house, and one is from the crowd. Both Mark and Luke. Give us the record that Jesus was being thronged by the crowds.
He's trying to get to the man's house, but there are just so many people. I mean, Jairus is having a 911 call to Jesus. Jesus is on the ambulance. We need to get him. But the crowds just won't clear the way.
It's like pulled over in the right lane crowd. Let him through. Could you imagine Jairus yelling, get out of the way, my daughter's dying? Get out. I mean, he would have been frantic.
Not only does he have a delay from the crowd, but then he has a delay from the woman. Who shows up in verse 20? And she is in a hopeless situation. It says in verse 20, And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind and touched the hem of his garment. This was a uh severe hemorrhaging health issue that she had for twelve years.
She had to live with severe physical effects from her condition. Blood loss will lead to fatigue. being being worn out, it could eventually lead it to death. But besides her physical effects were the social effects. Among Judaism in that day, a woman with this kind of a bleeding issue was considered ceremonially unclean.
In the Jewish culture, she was not allowed to go into the temples. She was not allowed to go into the synagogues. If you were part of her family, you could not touch her because you would become unclean. She lived a physically painful life, but socially it was also painful. The stigma that went around her She was so desperate to find a cure.
That according to Luke's account of this story in Luke 8:43, it says, She spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. She spent everything she had to get better, and she got no better. In Mark's account, he says that she suffered many things at the hands of the doctors. All the remedies they tried to help. Help her with.
caused her more physical pain and no healing in any measure. She's the woman that the doctors would have said there's nothing more we can do for you. She is hopeless. And in the midst of her hopelessness, A ray of light bursts through Mark's account in verse 27 and Mark 5 says, When she had heard of Jesus. She came In the press behind.
Someone must have told her about this man who is from Nazareth that is in Capernaum. And he has the power to heal. And so she comes in her desperation. And it says that she came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said in verse 21: If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
She had faith that all she had to do was touch the border of his garment. The Jews wore tassels that would hang off the. They were white and blue threads. On the four corners of their garment. And it was warned to remind them that they belonged to God, that they were to obey God's commands.
Commandments. There were also massive crowds around Jesus. This lady knew her condition. And she would have been known by the people in the community since this was 12 years. She knew if she bumped into people, they would have been unclean.
So for her to get to Jesus. S she clearly would have veiled herself. She wanted to get in and get out. She wanted this to be secretive. She wanted to go under the radar.
This was a covert operation. And Jesus responds to her. The condensed version is in verse 22 of Matthew, but the extended version is in Luke 8. Listen to what Luke 8 verse 45 says after she touched him. And Jesus said, Who touched me?
When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee, they're bumping against you. And sayest thou who touched me? And Jesus said, Someone has touched me, for I perceive that virtue or power has gone out of me. You know, this is such an amazing statement. Because it gives us insight into the heart of God.
What Jesus is saying here Is that When she touched him, And that power came out of him. He felt it. And we we hear that, we think, you know, was he more tired now? Tee fatigue, you know, the order you get, you go out and do work, you you feel the fatigue more. Because we we get tired.
We wear ourselves out, but with Jesus, that's not the case. He is omnipotent. He doesn't give power. He is power. Psalm 62, 11 says, God hath spoken once, twice, have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.
I mean, there's more energy. Created, there's more energy dispensed from the sun in one second than man has created in his entire existence on this planet. The power that is driving the universe has been. put there by God, and what kind of power must He have? This doesn't mean that he is expending power in a way that he's losing power and he's getting weaker.
Rather, it's just saying that he felt it. Here's a great truth you need to understand. When God's power works in our life, it is personal with God. He feels it. He feels it when it flows into our life.
Do you realize the day you got saved, God felt that? As he saved you and delivered you from the eternal consequences of sin and made you his own child, wrote your name in the book of life, gave you everlasting life, he felt that. God's power flowing through you is personal. You're not some generic person. But specific, known, loved, and cherished by God.
It is very personal with Him when it comes to you. Verse 47 in Luke 8: the woman gets discovered, and it says this: And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came. Trembling, she's terrified. Falling down before him, she declared unto him and before all for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. The people would have known her.
You know, she bumped into me, you know, she touched me, now I'm unclean. Luke 8, 48. Jesus says this, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace.
You know, there are three ways that Jesus healed this woman that day. The first was she was healed physically. He immediately healed her body. There was no more physical effects. And then you have to ask the questions.
Like, why did Jesus make a big deal about this? She's trying to be secretive. She's trying to come in, touch his garment, get out. Why did Jesus make a show of this? It seems kind of unloving.
It seems kind of. Uncompassionate. Like just let her go Like, why are you making a scene here? This poor lady's trembling. Like just Don't, Jesus, don't put people in uncomfortable situations.
Like Jesus, I thought you loved people. Why would you want to make someone feel uncomfortable? Right? Why is he making a deal out of her? Why is he wanting to expose her?
Well, because he didn't want to just heal her physically. He wanted to heal her socially.
So that when he and her are standing there and everybody's around. He gets to tell everybody, this girl has been healed. Welcome her back into everything in society. It's the only way it could have been done. That's the level of love and grace and mercy Jesus shows us.
I love when people tell me, you know what, I Need to get baptized and But I'm so afraid to get up in front of people.
So afraid to talk in front of people or to get baptized, that'd be just terrifying. I'm like, great. Love that. Does it make you nervous? Yeah, it gets my heartbeat up.
Do you feel like your hands will sweat? Yeah, could. I hope you're like sick and you're stomach nervous. Yes. You know why?
Because that lets Jesus know you actually love him. Jesus died on the cross. Bruised and beaten and battered on the cross, naked for me and you and Will we get up and even testify, yeah, I've trusted in Jesus? Or are we too ashamed of him to do that? Are we too afraid to do that?
If he could die for me, surely I could live for him.
So, when somebody tells me they get nervous for Jesus, praise God. And he wants you to get nervous. He's not afraid of you trembling. That's good for you. I mean, Kevin and Dasa, who are quiet and shy and sweet-hearted people, to get up here and to confess I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Praise God for those testimonies. Because I can tell you this: Jesus said, If you're ashamed of me in this world, he said, I'll be ashamed of you when you stand before my Father.
Well, my faith is just private.
Well, then you don't know the Jesus of the Bible. Do you hear me? Jesus said, If you are ashamed of me, and if you don't confess me before men, I won't confess you before my Father which is in heaven. There is no such thing as closet Christianity. It's all open.
It's all bold. That's why he says, get baptized, do it in front of everybody. That's why he does that. And this woman, Jesus wanted to be known, so he heals her physically, socially, but also spiritually. The phrase Thy faith hath made thee whole is a common New Testament statement of salvation.
He called her daughter. It's the only place recorded in the New Testament where Jesus refers to a lady as a daughter. John 1.12 says, But as many as received him, To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to the believe on his name. You become a child of God, a son or daughter of God. You want to know something?
When you come to know Jesus in true desperation and faith believing, You will get more than what you came for. This woman came for a physical healing. She got healed physically, but also socially and spiritually. On the other hand, if you don't come to Christ... If you don't surrender your life to Jesus, you will miss more than you realize.
She wanted a private faith. Jesus called her to be public. And today some of you have never been saved because you're too afraid of what other people think. You need to get to the point where you only care what God thinks. And not what other people think.
Amen. Thirdly, we see not only the desperation and the delay, but thirdly, the death. Luke Accounts tells us In the midst of this blessed healing of this woman, someone comes from Jairus' home and gives him the worst news of his life. Luke 8, 49 says, While he or Jesus spake to this woman, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying, Thy daughter is dead. You know, we have some law enforcement in our church, quite a few law enforcement agents.
I've always had law enforcement come to me and they say, you know, Josh, I uh I'd like to come to your church, but I've arrested quite a few of your people. Like, that's great. Jesus died among the thugs. Amen. I love it.
It's where the cops and robbers come together in Jesus and they both need him. Amen. It's wonderful.
So Some of the police officers, though, in our Church have had uh Take the heavy responsibility of knocking on that mom and her dad's door and say, I just need to let you know your child's been in an accident. Th those are those some tough, tough things to do. Words that a parent would never want to hear. This man hears the phrase, Thy daughter is dead. And they go on to say, Don't bother the master anymore.
Don't bother Jesus anymore. There's nothing Jesus can do. It's too late. He didn't get here in time. I mean, the crowd, the holdup of the crowd, and this woman of 12 years of blood, couldn't you have held off?
Because your delays have now. become fatal to my daughter. Maybe that's you today. Feel like the situation you're in feels hopeless, helpless. My marriage is over, my rebellious child, there's no hope, my family struggle, my health, my finances.
You just need to understand when things feel totally helpless, it is not hopeless when you have Christ. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 8, verse 50. This is so fantastic. It says, but when Jesus heard it, when he heard them tell Jairus, your daughter's dead, he got the worst news of his life. Look what Jesus does.
And he answered him, saying, Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. I mean, the father hears the worst news of his life. Jesus. Don't say, I'm going to wait till the dad gets there and then I'm going to really shock him and surprise him by raising his daughter back to life. Rather, Jesus wants the father to have peace now.
He's like, I need to. They said she's dead, but you need to listen to me, Jairus. Fear not. Believe me. This is what I would call the divine perspective, right?
I mean, the world says she's dead, and God says your eyes must be blurred. Your definition, you don't even understand what death is. The power of death is in God's hand, and he's about to show up and show you who's the master. Jesus Came to her house, but before he did that, he wanted Jairus to have peace. And you know where peace was found for Jairus?
It wasn't in the bad news from the world, it was from the good news from Christ. And today, some of us are living with all the negativity, all the downtrodden, all this bad news all the time.
Sometimes we got to turn the news off from the world and start turning the news on from God. Lord, what's your word say about this? You ever read the news and feel more peaceful? You know why you laugh? Because it's insanity.
So, why would I fill my heart up with insanity and think I'm going to have peace for the day? Let your mouth talk more about the greatness of God than the greatness of the problems of America. Is America a mess? Duh. Yes.
But boy, isn't God powerful? Isn't He glorious? He still sits on the throne. And I can tell you, I've read the end of the book, Jesus Christ Will Win. And let's Go to the last point, the delight in verse 23 through 26.
It says this in 23. And when Jesus came to that ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, Uh you need to understand, like, funerals in our day are very quiet and sober.
Sombre. In their day there they were like Chaotic scenes. They had hired people. It was just a normal thing they did, like Female singers would come and they would screech and yell and tear their clothes and they had flutes that would play in an unorganized way. It was just a loud, chaotic scene.
Jesus shows up. This whole mourning is going on because a funeral has started. They buried people the same days that they died. And I love what he does in verse 24. He comes in, he sees all this.
Chaos. And he says, give place. That phrase is literally, you guys get out. Leave the room. Go.
Like like you need to go. And he says, For the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. This funeral has been premature. She's not going to be dead for decades. The maid is not dead but sleepeth.
And then it says, and they laughed him to scorn. You know the people who laughed? It's these hired musicians. It's a hired people who have no faith in Jesus. You know when Jesus showed up Some things had to leave.
When Jesus comes on the scene, there's some things that need to be removed. He says, take all the faithless people, take all the scorners, take all the ones who don't believe I have any power, they're not going to see my power. You don't believe I can raise people from the dead? You'll never be resurrected to eternal life. You don't believe Jesus is the Son of God?
You'll never be in heaven with Him. You don't want to believe, you won't get any of him. He says, get them all out. Take them all out. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, you come in.
Also, in Luke and Mark's account, he brought the mother and father in with him as well. He goes in and The Bible tells us when the people were put forth, he went and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. The Bible tells us in Luke's account, in Mark's account, that the parents were just astonished. It's hestomai in the Greek, exhestemai, it means like it literally blew their mind. They're like, they could not believe it.
And I love what Luke's account of this says. In Luke 8:55, he says, Give her meat. But give her something, the compassion. Jesus is like, she's hungry. I bet this girl was sick for a long time, probably went down to hardly weighing nothing and but when Jesus healed her, she immediately had an appetite.
When he raised her from the dead, she's like hungry. And And so they got her some food, and then he says something else, which is so fascinating. In Luke 8.56, it says, And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. I believe the parents were so excited they wanted to burst out and tell everybody what just happened.
So, why didn't Jesus say, why did Jesus say, don't publish this? I mean, there was a funeral going on, like, they were going to find out, right? I mean, they're having a funeral. When the girl walks out, they're probably going to fall down and then get back up and be like, she's alive, you know? I mean, they they they they would have found out, so why does he say don't don't publish this yet?
I believe I believe he does this because he says I They're going to find out soon enough. They're going to find out the moment you walk through that door. But I want you to give your daughter some food and I want you to just spend some time with her. You just you just love that little girl. I want you to enjoy the life and the family that I gave you.
That's the kind of God that we serve. You don't need the interruption of all those people. You just enjoy time together right now. You know in heaven the Bible says we don't have to weep as those who have no hope, for when Jesus comes, he's going to be bringing back with him all those that were true children of God, and there's going to be a sweet reunion day. And we're going to see grandma and grandpa and son and daughter and mother and father, and that moment will be a joy that is beyond anything the world has to offer.
And it's coming. Jesus said, I am coming back for you and I will bring I'm going to prepare a place. I will come back for you to receive you into myself, that where I am, there you could be also. He's going to return. This is going to be a day beyond words.
It was when the famous preacher D. L. Moody was young, he was called to preach a funeral service and he searched all the gospel records, a true story, to find out what message Jesus preached at a funeral. He said every place I found Jesus was at a funeral, he'd raise the people back to life. I like what Arthur Brisbane Says he had pictured the funeral of Christians as a crowd of grieving caterpillars.
They're all wearing black suits. As they crawl along mourning their dead brother and carrying his cocoon. to its final resting place. Above them, fluttering, and flying is a beautiful butterfly looking down in utter disbelief. You know, when a Christian dies, it's not goodbye.
So I'll see you later. And what you see in the casket is not that person. Because they're with the Lord, the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present. With the Lord. Jesus Christ.
Friends. is the one who has the keys of death and hell. Today you could come to him. Let me ask you a question. Are you going to be in heaven with your mom?
Are you going to be in heaven with your mom? You're going to be sitting in heaven with your grandparents. You're going to be there. You're going to be in paradise. Jesus called heaven paradise.
And if heaven's paradise, how how good do you think paradise would be if God refers to it as paradise? How amazing do you think that place will be? First two chapters of the Bible, there's no death, sorrow, no cancer, no leukemia, no death, no hospitals, no wars, no guns, none of that. Last two chapters of the Bible, the Bible says there's no more tears, no crying, no pain. All those former things are passed away.
So why is there suffering, death, heartache and pain? Because of sin. Who's the only one who never sinned? God. Who's the only one we could never blame for that?
Then God. Who's the one who can, who's the only one that can deliver us from the consequences and punishment and pains of death, Jesus?
So who's the only one we should ever worship? Christ. Today, if you don't know him, listen, death will defeat you. You may feel like you have the rest of your life, but I can tell you this: every single day that you live without Christ, you're living. and risking eternity every moment of every day.
Let me ask you what Are you ready to meet the Lord? If you were to stand before God today and He said, Why should I let you into heaven? What would you say, friend? What would you say? You know, the Bible tells us we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
The Bible tells us that sin is breaking God's laws. One of God's laws says, Thou shalt not take God's name in vain. If you've ever taken God's name in vain, that's called blasphemy. God said, I will not hold them guiltless who take my name in vain. One of the commands says, love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Jesus said that's the most important command. If you've ever put something before God, that's idolatry. If you and I lie, that's lying. We'd be guilty of lying. If you and I sin three times a day for a year, that's over a thousand sins.
One day you and I will stand before God, give an account of our life. And the Bible says even all liars would have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
So let me ask you today: if you stood before God, if you would be found guilty, you would be separated from God, what are you going to do to be saved? Your good works can't save you. Going to church can't save you. Prayers can't save you. Giving can't save you.
What can save you? The Bible says there's only one thing that can save you, and it is not a thing, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. You must come and humble yourself before Him. You must confess that Jesus is Lord, that He died for you, that He rose again, and salvation is not intellectual. It's not just something you, information you agree with, and you agree with that information.
Yes, I believe that, I agree with that. It is surrendering your will to the king. Salvation is saying, Jesus, you sit on the throne of my life. People say, oh, I've been saved. Oh, have you?
If I took the 10 closest friends in your life and said, is this person a believer? Would they say yes? If they say no, then you're not a Christian. Jesus said you'll know them by their fruits. I mean, all you do is have to look out, and if there's no leaves coming out of that stick you placed in the ground last fall, it's dead, right?
You can have a dead faith. Jesus said, Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, but I will say unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worked iniquity. You were never one of my You called me Lord, but I wasn't your Lord. If you're saved, he's the Lord of your life.
I just talked to a man today who I said, what do you love to do? He said, bowling. He said, I love to bowl. Bowling is like the number one thing. You just love bowling.
And I went through the gospel with him. I said, you know what salvation is? Salvation is saying, God, I would be willing to give up bowling the rest of my life to have Jesus. I will give up Everything in my life. I said, Would you be willing to give up everything in your life, even bowling, to trust in Christ?
He said, I'd give it all up. Jesus said, Count a cost. Count the cost. You think some little repeated prayer in five seconds is going to take you to heaven? You're mistaken.
Salvation is you surrendering your will to the King. Saying, Jesus, you own me now, doesn't mean you're going to be perfect, but Jesus Christ is your master. He's the one who calls the shots. That's why Jesus said, that's why the Bible says: if you say you know him and don't keep his commandments, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. 1 John 2.
But if you keep his commandments, it evidences that his spirit is inside of you. You're a child of God. It doesn't mean you're perfect, but it means that you're on a new road. Means that you love Jesus more than the sins of the world. No, you may fall down, you keep moving forward.
Some of y'all have been like, man, I messed up this week.
Well, yeah, because we're not perfect. But you know what? You're here. Right? You're here because he keeps drawing you and your faith is evidenced by your continual following him.
But if you're here today and you have no desire for the things of God, no desire for church, no desire for the Word of God, no desire to share Jesus with others, and you think you're saved, you're deceiving yourself. You need to know that right now, so that when you stand before God, you'll never say, Pastor Josh never told me. I'm telling you right now, you need to be saved. You need to come and trust in Jesus Christ. You need to say, I don't even care what everybody in the world thinks.
I don't care if everybody in Xenia laughed at me. I don't care if everybody mocked me. I would stand up for Jesus. If I was the only one in the state of Ohio, the only person in this city, I would declare Christ. Let them mock, let them laugh.
I believe in Christ, and I am unashamed of that. If you want to be saved, that's the kind of spirit that you come to. You say, Christ, I love you and I want you more than anything else. We have this easy believism in Christianity that says, just say these five words and you'll go to heaven. That is not found in this.
There is no salvation if there is no Lord. Today, you could come and be saved. We'll have men and women standing at both these doors. I'd love to talk with you after service. Why don't you come and be saved?
And, mom, dad, is your kids going to be in heaven? You can't save them, but you can pray for them, right? You can go on their behalf to God and pray for those kids. Pray for your loved ones. We get so busy in the world.
The world needs Christ. Let's not be busy about what they're busy about. There's eternal things going on, and we need to be busy about that. Let's all stand today. With heads bowed and eyes closed, if God spoke in your heart, friend, I would challenge you to come and make a spiritual decision today.
Make the decision to turn your life over to Christ. And with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you say, Pastor, I know I'm a saved child of God. Praise God for his salvation. I know if I died, I'd be in heaven. Not because I'm good enough, but because Jesus has saved me.
Would you just raise your hand as a testimony of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ today? Praise God. Thank you. You put your hands down. If you're here today and say, Pastor Josh, could you pray for me?
Because if I stood before God, I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know 100% sure that if I stood before God, I'd be in heaven. But could you pray for me? Because I need to be saved. And with heads bowed and eyes closed, if that's you today, would you just raise your hand that I might know to pray for you?
I'm not going to come to you, I'm not going to embarrass you, but I'd love to pray for you. Just raise your hand today. Thank you. I see you. Thank you.
I see you. Thank you, I see, I see probably a Eight or ten hands this morning that came up. If you're an altar worker, you can make your way down here in the front row. But if you're here today and you say, Pastor Josh, I... I need to be saved.
I'm going to pray for you. We're going to sing a verse of invitation. We have men and women that can just pull you aside in a private room and just sit down and show you from the Bible that you can know when you leave this place that you'll go to heaven, not because you're good enough, but because Jesus' word is true. You can believe it. You know, Jairus' daughter would have died that day if Jairus didn't go.
That woman would have died of her disease if she didn't come to Jesus. And what would you and I be missing out on if we don't come to Christ? Don't miss out. Don't miss out. Be desperate today.
Understand your need. Father, we thank you for your word today. May it not return void, bring salvation to the lost. Glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray even parents and loved ones would pray for their family and friends today.
That they might be saved in Jesus' name. Amen. As we sing, if God spoke into your heart, friend, would you come now? Would you come and trust in Christ today? Would you do that?
It is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father. There it With no share. Fred, you can just walk down and Ask one of these workers, hey, I'd like to know how to be saved, and they'll pull you aside. They'll pull you aside. Been thou forever will be great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see all I have needed, thy hands hath provided great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Amen, amen.
Well, let's give the Lord a hand again for his mercy in our lives. Praise God. And get by and let Kevin and Dawson know you're excited about their decision joining the church today. And again, thank you, mothers, for 488 years. They deserve a steak today, don't they?
And when you leave, there's a nice gift we got for all the moms, a nice little hand satchel bag that you could take. It's a nice gift that we've put together for all the adult ladies today.
So really any ladies 18 and over, so around that range, we give those to you. Thank you so much for being with us today. If you're a guest, I'd love to meet you. I'll be out in the foyer there. Stop by that guest welcome center.
Stop by there. They have a gift for you, a lighthouse shirt. And so, Brother Roger, if you could close in prayer. And then, if you won these gifts up here, make sure those precious moms will come up and get those. Thank you so much.
Let's pray. Father, we just come before you. Lord, we just thank you so much for this day that you created for us just to gather in your house. Father, we just thank you so much for the godly women in our lives, Lord, whether it be mothers or grandmothers or just women in general, Lord, that have taken us and led us and pointed us to you. Father, we're just so thankful for them.
Lord, we're so thankful for our pastor who stands up and preaches your word, Lord, and doesn't water it down, Father. I just pray this morning that we have listened to your word, that we're, Lord, convict our hearts, Lord Jesus, and just set us on fire. Father, we love you. Thank you for your precious gift of salvation. And if there's anybody here that doesn't know you as their Savior, Lord, I pray that today is the day of salvation for them, and they will not leave here without making that decision.
We love you and praise your name. In your precious name, I pray. Amen.
