A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: Sometimes God doesn't move as quickly as we want Him to move, does He? If we're out of touch with God or just out of touch with His plan, we'll no doubt be out of sync with His timing as well.

I think 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.

Guest (Male): 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 should 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.

Greg Laurie: 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, but 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. 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. 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.

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 them, 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'd been healed of her terrible condition.

We'll stop there. 12 years, a 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'm sure he doted on her and loved her in so many ways, it's shown by his urgency as he comes to Jesus.

The 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's on his way home with Jesus to help him, this woman sort of bursts on the scene. But as we'll see, this interruption became an opportunity. But let's focus a little bit on Jairus and what actually happened.

I already said his little girl was 12 years old and suddenly she's sick, and he's 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's a lot of faith. He just felt if Jesus can touch her, I know she'll be healed. So Jesus says, "All right." So they're 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's that Christ suddenly stops and asks the question, "Who touched Me?" Now how easily could Jairus have said, "Hey lady, hold on, He's with me, no cuts!"

Remember when you were in school, some of you still are, and we'd 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's not really very good.

But boy, if someone cut in our line we'd say, "Hey man, no cut." Jairus could have said that to that woman. "What are you doing? He's going home with me right now." But actually Jairus did not do that. Maybe it's because he knew, well, that's 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's going on as it's 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're thinking, "I don't really want to do that." You know, maybe you're a young person and you're single and you're saying, "Lord, when are You going to bring that man or that woman into my life? I want to get married, I mean, I'm 17 years old, I'm tired of waiting!"

Or maybe you're 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're 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's going to wait. He'll just wait until Jesus does what He's going to do, and then Jesus will come with him to his home and heal his daughter. I think we need to remember that God's delays are not necessarily His denials.

Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that's 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's a reason He's 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 at 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 in 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'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.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's such a blessing to hear from listeners who take time to express their appreciation.

Guest (Female): Pastor Greg, I was in a dark place years ago. I was raised in the church but had fallen away from God. That's when I found your teachings on TV and then online. Since then, I've turned my life back over to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I think you're one of the best pastors, and your sermons are so easy to understand. I thank God for you, Pastor Greg.

Guest (Male): When we hear from you, it's not only a blessing, it also confirms that the program is touching lives. Would you consider sharing your story? If so, send an email to Pastor Greg. Send it to Greg@Harvest.org. That's Greg@Harvest.org. And now Pastor Greg continues his message from Mark five called "Everyone Needs Jesus." Let's listen.

Greg Laurie: 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 reasons, "If I can touch Jesus, I know I can be healed."

Actually we're told in Mark chapter five 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, right?

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, and this way death came to all men because all have sinned." But why does God allow sickness? That's the second question.

Why does God allow sickness? Short answer, there's a lot I could say, here's a short answer. God allows sickness in our life sometimes to bring us to Him, and I've heard many stories of people that felt they had no need for God, but when they got ill on their deathbed or maybe in a hospital room, they asked for spiritual help and of course they found it.

So sometimes it's 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's maybe the moment when Paul went to heaven. And so when you've been to heaven and you've seen heaven and God's used you to write epistles, that's pretty heady stuff. So listen to what Paul writes in second 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... that is why I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, and persecutions and 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're struggling with the sickness.

I think of two people that I've 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's been in a wheelchair now for so many years.

But I'll 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. And 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's 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 first 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've not asked God to heal you. In the book of James it says, "You have not because you ask not." Simple as that. You have not because you ask not. Jesus said, "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened."

And in the original language, there's 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, "Okay, I'm going to heal." That's what this woman did. She thought if I can touch Him, I'll be healed. And so that is what happened to her.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie is helping us consider the great faith of the woman described in Mark chapter five. Today on A New Beginning, a study called "Everyone Needs Jesus." You know, sooner or later, we all realize that truth. We need the Lord for forgiveness of sin. We're sinners in need of a Savior. Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who knows that they need to come to the Lord?

Greg Laurie: I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know, it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months, frankly it doesn't even take hours, it can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God, "I know I'm a sinner. I know that You love me. I know that You sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead, and I want Him to come into my life." So here's my question to you, have you done that yet?

Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now and He's knocking and He says, "If you'll hear My voice and open the door, I will come in." Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven? Do you want Christ to come into your life right now?

If so, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me? Say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. But I know that You are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name, Amen."

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says if we will confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you, you've made the right decision, the decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And as you begin to live this new life, we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's an easy-to-understand translation, plus hundreds and hundreds of study helps especially for those who are new to the faith. It'll answer the questions you might have.

So get in touch for the New Believer's Bible, we'll be glad to send it your way free of any charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org and click Know God. Well, Pastor Greg, we got a great letter from a listener that I've just been anxious to read to you.

Let me do that now. It says, "Pastor Greg, I'm a 54-year-old widow with two children who've been raised with Pastor Greg Laurie. I wrote you almost 20 years ago to tell you that you played a part in saving my life. I wanted to die after my husband and son were killed in an accident. You and my brother, who is a Christian, saved my life all those years ago.

I hung on every word you preached and you still are blessing me daily with A New Beginning and your podcasts. Thank you for all your years of faithfulness as a pastor, teacher, and a husband and father to your family. I was heartbroken to hear about your son Christopher. I can empathize with losing a son. I'm so sorry though for you and Cathy's loss.

Thank you for bringing a light and a hope into my life and helping me to be a mother to my children when I had lost all hope. You asked us to write you a letter tonight in the podcast that I was listening to. I wanted to let you know that I have been a monthly supporter for a long, long time and will continue to do so. God bless you and your family. Your sister in Christ."

Greg Laurie: Isn't that a great letter? Oh my goodness. Wow. What is her name, Dave?

Guest (Male): Her name is Cindy.

Greg Laurie: Cindy, if you're listening, I want to thank you for that beautiful letter. That letter pretty much sums up why I do what I do because when I hear a story like yours and realize that it made a difference, it brings great joy to me. And I'm so sorry for your loss of your husband and your child.

But you know, we know that we will see our loved ones again. They're not just a part of our past, they're also a part of our future. But thank you for sharing that letter because I think it's going to bring hope to people out there that might be in your shoes right now.

Maybe they just heard the worst news imaginable, that their loved one died. Maybe it was an accident of some kind, or maybe they knew it was coming. Whatever it is, when you hear that news, it's just absolutely earth-shaking and life-changing. But we have Christ with us to walk with us through these difficult times, and we have the hope of future reunion. So thank you and may God bless you and keep you and continue to strengthen you.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And listen, you can send your own comments to Pastor Greg at Greg@Harvest.org. But you know, we receive so many letters and comments that speak of how people have been encouraged and how their lives have been changed through this ministry. And we hope you might join our support team so we can make this kind of difference going forward.

Let us invite you to become what we call a Harvest Partner. Our Harvest Partners are close friends of the ministry here at Harvest. They're passionate, just like we are, about evangelism and discipleship and they invest in that work each month with a donation in whatever amount they choose. And we thank them in some special ways.

Want to get more information by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 number 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to Harvest.org. Well, next time, more from Pastor Greg's study in Mark chapter five. Good encouragement about how the Lord can touch our lives and meet us at our point of need. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.