Humble Faith Allows Jesus to Heal the Issues

In one paragraph

This message walked through a pair of miracles from three gospel accounts, showing Jesus healing a woman with a long-standing illness and raising the young daughter of a synagogue official named Jairus. The pastor drew out how both healings turn on the same thing: humble faith meeting the power and compassion of Jesus. The baptism testimony given earlier in the service, from a woman battling...

Read together

1. 1 Peter 5:7 opening verse read aloud: give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you
2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness so the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped
3. Psalm 107 cited as the source for praise the Lord for his great love during the offertory song
4. Psalm 23:4 even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil, prayed during the baptism
5. Matthew 9 shortest account of Jairus's daughter and the hemorrhaging woman
6. Luke 8 Luke the physician's more detailed account of Jairus's daughter and the hemorrhaging woman
7. Mark 5 Peter's account via Mark, the longest and most detailed telling of the two miracles
8. Colossians 2 announced as the passage for Monday night's message on continuing to walk in Christ
9. Colossians 3 read as a closing benediction: as those who have been chosen of God holy and beloved put on compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience

Talk about it

1. Linda shared that her prayer crystallized into a simple plea to God while she was in the car battling cancer. Has there been a moment in your own life when fear or difficulty pushed you toward a more honest, stripped-down kind of prayer? What happened?
2. The pastor pointed out that when Jesus left the Gadarene shore, the people begged him to leave, but when he returned to the other side, the crowd was waiting and welcomed him. What do you think makes the difference between those two responses to Jesus, and which response do you find yourself closer to right now?
3. The woman with the hemorrhage had a theology that the pastor called not great, possibly even superstitious, yet Jesus recognized her faith and healed her. What does that tell us about how God responds to imperfect, reaching-out faith versus polished, well-formed belief?
4. When news came that Jairus' daughter had died, Jesus told him, 'Do not be afraid, just believe.' The pastor said he thinks Jesus says that to us a lot, and he is not sure we listen a lot. Where in your life right now is fear competing with faith, and what would it look like to actually act on 'just believe'?
5. The professional mourners went from weeping to laughing and mocking Jesus in the same moment, and the pastor connected that to pride, saying it is the definition of knowing better. How do you think pride shows up in the way we respond to what God is doing, and what did the contrast between Jairus, the hemorrhaging woman, and the mourners teach you about what humble faith actually looks like?