[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to church. You doing all right?
Anybody? Glad to be in the house of the Lord this morning. I'm so glad that you're here. Welcome.
Go ahead and take a moment. Welcome in all of our friends watching online from all around the world. Come on, High Ridge family. Give them a warm East Texas welcome. We're glad you're watching. We're glad you're here from wherever you're watching from. Welcome to church. Grab your Bibles. Open it up to Mark Chapter five. It's where we're going to spend all of our time today in Mark Chapter five. I want to say, as we're turning over there, if you are not able to get into a group, and I know that there are so many people that have crowded into our groups, they're overflowing. It's been such an awesome thing to watch. So many of you wanted to dive in, deeper into the message, deeper into community. It's a beautiful thing. But if you are not able to get into one of those groups, but you still want to do the Bible study along with us. So we have gone back to the printer. We've made 90 extra books for those of you that just are able to just grab a book and able to do this on your own. It's still a wonderful devo tool. And so that will be available for. Available for you in the lobby at the end of the service. And so that's our free gift to you. We'd love to have you participate in that. It's going to be a great thing. But Mark Chapter five is where we're going.
I also want to say thank you for those of you that have prayed for my Dallas Cowboys. Apparently the Lord heard your prayer last week and we're good. I thought I was going to have to preach fire and brimstone this week, but we're good. We're good.
Mark Chapter five. We're going to continue on with our series called Moments.
Moments. Life happens in moments. Life happens in defining moments.
I would venture a guess that many of your defining moments, the most desperate moments of your life, really did have that key word in there, desperate. Lots of the things that you just said, these are. These are Major moments in my life were predicated by a sense of desperation. Maybe the reason why you joined the military or the reason why you got married or the reason why you made some big decision in your life was because you knew something had to change.
And often a sense of desperation will lead us to make some real change.
What happens when you get desperate? That's what we're going to focus on today. What does desperation really bring? What is this supposed to bring in the life of a believer? And so in Mark, chapter five, we're going to focus in on just that, what desperation brings.
You know, your spiritual life will have divine moments as well where God shows you just how powerful he is, where he shows you where our desperation should lead us.
And so as we're digging into God's word, there's several things that we're going to discover today that I think are so important for us right here today. Because often what happens is desperation will lead us to do dumb things.
When you get desperate, often we don't make the right decision, do we? Sometimes it pans out.
It makes us have. Maybe you got lucky. But often desperation leaves us to dumb things. We see a lot of that in our world today.
When people get desperate, they do crazy things. Sometimes if someone was desperate enough, they might go rob a bank instead of just finding a job. You know, you get desperate, you might do something dumb.
Hey, before we do that, maybe donate some plasma. That might be a good way to get you some extra cash. Don't just rob a bank. But often desperate people do desperate things. I've seen some people that are so desperate to get married that they end up marrying a robot. Have you seen that?
That is happening, by the way. Some of you are like, that could be a much better option than what I've got. I don't know.
That is not the message for today. Some people are so desperate for a ring. And let me just tell you, we call them the Dallas Cowboys. And I am part of that.
But here's what we know. God often uses our desperation as a beacon for us to come home to him, as a beacon for us to seek his face, as a beacon for us to come from not just a place of awe, but to a place of intimacy. And if we can allow our desperation to lead us to the presence of Jesus, you're gonna find something special. There's.
You're going to find intimacy.
And that is really the hope of this entire series, that you would be closer to God than you've ever been in your life. That you would Seek his face, that you would want to know him. You would have a hunger for the things of God. And hopefully at the end of this series, you can say, pastor, I'm closer to God than I've ever been in my life. You're going to see miracles happen. As you begin to seek after the Lord, what you're going to find is in your seeking, you'll realize that God has been seeking after you too. God has been drawing you unto Himself, that His incredible love is right there. Jeremiah chapter 31 echoes this. It says, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Did you know that this is God speaking that over every single person? He says, I love you. I've loved you before you were even born, before you committed your first sin. He said, I loved you.
He says, and therefore I've drawn you with my loving kindness. God says, I want to lead you closer to me.
You know, the nearness in our relationship with God doesn't end the moment that we get saved.
But there's supposed to be a daily walking with Christ, a daily moving towards intimacy. God wants to know you better. God is constantly drawing us unto Himself, wanting us to come closer to Him. And so he says, I've loved you with an everlasting love. I've drawn you with my loving kindness. And I want you to know, beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are loved today. Love deeply, by your Father, by the One that created you. He created you on purpose and for a purpose.
He wants you to love Him.
And so he draws us with his loving kindness. He's drawing you today because he loves you. He's drawing you into a deeper relationship with him than what you settled for. Is that okay, everybody?
So Mark chapter five. I want you to see what happens when a desperate woman, when a desperate situation comes face to face with Jesus. And in a powerful moment, something incredible happens that still has great ramifications, great, fantastic, wonderful moments that we can glean from today.
Verse 25. Pick it up and follow along, if you would. It says, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. How many years?
Some of us would say, I am desperate at about the 12 minute mark.
God forbid we go 12 hours. This woman goes 12 years.
Don't just breeze past 12 years.
It says she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had.
Yet instead of getting better, she got worse.
And when she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd. She touched his cloak because she thought, if I Just touch his clothes.
I will be healed. The old saints used to say in the King James Version, oh, if I could just touch the.
You were there. I remember when I was little, I'm like, is there a her of his garment? I don't.
We don't use that word, the hem, unless you understand clothing. But she said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I know I'll be healed.
Look what happens when she touches Jesus. Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from. From her suffering.
At once, Jesus realized that the power had gone out from him. This is important because this is the only time that this appears in scripture where Jesus felt that power going out from him. And he stops everything. He said, something happened, something's different.
And Jesus calls attention to this woman that's pressing in through the crowd. He said, who touched my clothes?
Who touched me? Look what the disciples around him say. You see the people crowding around against you. They said, and yet you can ask, who touched me? How. How can you ask that? There's a. There's a huge crowd. Everybody's touching you.
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. And then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, she came and fell at his feet, trembling with fear, and told him the whole truth. I think it's time for maybe some of us to have some moments with Jesus where you. You tell him the whole truth.
She tells him the whole truth.
Notice what Jesus says to her. He said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.
You know, we've heard this preached many different ways. Undoubtedly, if you've been in church for longer than a few years, you've. You've heard someone teach from this passage. It's a very common passage, and generally they will focus in on. On several of the wrong things.
I think what we're focusing in today is going to show us something powerful that's still applicable to each of us right where we are. You see, power flowed out of Jesus, not by proximity. That's what's taught a lot. Oh, if I can just get in the presence of Jesus. If I can just get around Jesus. And we believe that God dwells in the praises of his people. I'm glad that you came here today, but remember this. It says many people were crowded around Jesus. Only one got healed.
Only one. Why? Because it was intentional reaching out in desperate faith.
Lots of people touch Jesus. Lots of people crowded into Jesus. Lots of people can come to church and not be in faith. Lots of people can come into his presence and not worship in faith. Not really seeking to find Jesus. Church has become an outlet for lots of things. And there are a lot of good things, let me tell you. If you were just around Jesus in that day, you might see water turned into wine. You might see fish and loaves be multiplied. You might see great healings, wonderful things that you could see. But only one got healed that day. Only one made Jesus stop in his tracks and say, who touched me? Something powerful has happened because somebody was desperate enough to reach out in faith and touch the hem of my garment. Somebody was hanging onto their last hope.
Somebody was desperate enough to do that. What does it tell us? It tells us that Jesus stops for those who dare to reach.
I wonder, is that you today?
Are you desperate enough to reach for Jesus? Are you still stuck in the. And I'm gonna fix it myself. I can do this. I'm capable. I'm strong. I'm confident. I can do this. I wanna show you through the word that there. There could be a much better way.
So we find a woman that's been suffering for 12 years that gets to a place of desperation.
And that desperation leads her to the hem of his garment.
And she finds healing.
And I believe there's some healing that needs to happen for us right here today.
Here's three things that I think are so important for us that still echo out of God's word into our lives today.
The first is this Real desperation should lead us to find Jesus.
Real desperation, not fake desperation. Oh, I just gotta have some coffee. I'm desperate. That's not real desperation.
You're like, you don't understand. Trust me, I understand. I'm addicted to one thing and one thing only. I do not want deliverance. Do not pray for me. I love coffee.
Don't talk to me before I've had coffee. I won't speak the way that I need to speak. I might say things that are wrong, but I'm not desperate. Come on. Real desperation should lead us to one place. Not to coffee, to Jesus.
Notice it says here that she had suffered a great deal. She had spent all that she had. She went from doctor to doctor to doctor, and instead of getting better, she. She got worse. She's trying anything, she's trying everything.
And it's not getting better.
And now she finds herself broke and alone. Levitical law would say she's unclean. She's cast out of society. She can't be around anyone. That's real desperation. That had Lasted not just for 12 minutes or 12 years. 12. 12 years is what we're talking about today. A long time.
Here's what we know is that there are lots of people that are desperate.
And we can be desperate and we can be hopeless. We can be hopeless but still not have faith.
Lots of people have zero hope, but they don't put their hope in Jesus. There's lots of people that just can't take anymore, but don't ever let them come to church that, no, no, no, I'm not that desperate.
We can be desperate, we can be hopeless and still not have faith.
Remember this, by the way. There's some bad doctrine that will tell you all kinds of strange things, but when Jesus walks to the pool and sees all these people laying around the pool that would wait for the angel to come and stir the water so they could jump in, Jesus crosses over all of them to find one.
Not everybody there got healed one. And Jesus says, do you want to be made well?
Do you want to walk?
Only one got healed that day. Only one in this situation out of all that crowd finds healing. Why? Because there's something powerful that happens when desperate faith meets a loving Jesus.
Here's what we know is that learning to reach for Jesus in life's critical moments is a marker of true discipleship.
And we still see this as an issue in the church. When things go crazy for us, when life gets a little messed up, when we find ourselves sniffing desperation, often we will do anything but go to Jesus.
We see it in the status of our world today. When we get anxious, when we get angry, we go to social media first.
Your social media is full of it. Your feed is full of it. In a lot of ways, it's full of it.
We will do anything but go to Jesus.
And it says, this woman has tried anything and everything until she gets desperate enough to go to Jesus. Here's what we can. What we can learn is, is we don't have to follow her pattern of waiting 12 years to become that desperate. We can simply read the story and say, you know what?
Perhaps I don't have to wait that long. I'm just gonna go to Jesus on the front end.
And if desperation can lead you to Jesus, that's the marker of what it means to be a true disciple of Christ. I go to him first before I emote on social media. I go to him first before I call my doctor. I said, lord, would you show me something? Is there something simple before I take this to my physician?
Learning to talk to him first is a marker of being a true disciple. Lord, what are you saying? What do I need to do?
And this is exactly what Jesus wants. For each of us to have true intimacy with him. Talk to him. Press in.
Don't reach for the world's remedies. Reach out for the redeemer.
Talk to him first.
Prayer first. It's not our last resort. It's our first.
Our first response.
Talk to Jesus what you're going to find in a lot of those situations where you're freaking out, he's not afraid.
And he'll say, hey, can you calm down for a second? I'm doing something. And we're like, okay, long as you got this. Just making sure. Didn't know if you knew. Lord, this is what's happening in our world. I got this. Okay, I'm gonna calm down.
Don't just reach for the world's remedies. Reach for the redeemer. He knows what he's doing. And what the world couldn't fix in years, Jesus fixed in an instant. We serve a powerful God that could do incredible things, and he still does.
Now, in this woman's case, according to Levitical law, which was the ruling law of the day, when she has an issue of blood that can't be stopped, she's declared unclean.
And so because she's unclean, she is cast out of society. She can't be in community. She cannot go to church. She can't have normal friendship. No one can touch her. She can't touch anyone else. Why? Because anything that she touched is now deemed unclean.
So think about desperation. It leads her to walk through a crowd where she's not supposed to be.
It causes her to defy these religious norms because she's desperate. And her desperation leads us straight to the hem of his garment.
Here's what we see is that she reaches out and touches Jesus.
Now, first of all, she's not allowed to touch a rabbi. That's illegal.
So for her to touch Jesus is a big deal.
And because the law says anything you touch will now be deemed unclean, that was a big deal for her to not just break the law, but to touch Jesus. But here's what we see is that her touching him did not make him unclean. It made her whole.
Because Jesus defies and has fulfilled the law, he overrules the law.
And so when we bring our stuff to Jesus, it doesn't make Jesus less than it makes us whole.
This is where we find healing.
This is where we find restoration. This is where we find Identity. Jesus is doing something incredible in this woman's life. You see, here's what I. Here's what I want you to see. Power doesn't come from desperation. It comes from who desperation leads you to.
And some would say, oh, as long as I'm desperate, that's what I have. My best ideas. I need to get down to nothing.
Do you?
Could it be that desperation was designed to lead us to Jesus?
And so for 12 years, this woman lives in isolation. She's cut off from physical touch, cut off from community. She's socially invisible, spiritually excluded. She's broke, she's alone, she's down to nothing until Jesus.
Let me say it this way. Desperation brought her to the end of herself, which is exactly where God does his best work.
For some of us, we've never seen the kind of things that God can do because we've never allowed this to be desperate.
We've never come to the end of ourselves.
I'll always find something different. I'll always find a new idea. Always find somebody else to borrow the money from. I'll always find somebody else to marry. I'll always find some other new idea. I'll just find another job. We never come to the end of ourselves.
Let me step on your toes for just a moment.
What does it take to bring us to the end of ourselves? Does it take 12 years of suffering? Are we that hardheaded?
Some of us are. Like, you don't have any idea who I married because you are talking to him. You are talking to her. It doesn't have to be that way.
The end of ourselves is just a choice to submit and to surrender and say, lord, I can't. I'm not enough.
But my confidence is in you that you will help me.
You'll show me what to do.
Real desperation should always lead us to Jesus. Here's the second key that we see. Real faith stirs the heart of Jesus.
What does it take to move the heart of God? Oh, real faith, real repentance, real trust, real dependence. He loves those things. Real faith stirs the heart of Jesus. Verse 30 says, Jesus realized that the power had gone out from him, and he turns around into the crowd and asked, who touched me?
One of the craziest things about this moment is not just that this woman got healed, but that she was trying to remain anonymous.
And Jesus says, ah, no, no, no, no, no.
They need to see what just happened to you. They need to hear what happened to you. It's important Jesus doesn't let that miracle stay private.
Why? Because now you've got a testimony.
And he calls this woman out of anonymity.
He calls her out of obscurity. He calls her out of a place of secret desperation, into public praise.
He says, tell them what happened, what's going on?
And she tells a story. I've been sick for 12 years, used everything that I could possibly use, tried every method that could be tried, but I just touched your clothes.
And Jesus did in an instant what no one else could do.
Jesus stops everything for a nameless, marginalized, unclean woman. And in a world that ranks people by status, Jesus prioritized the unseen and the unheard. He prioritized the outcast, prioritized those that didn't fit in, that couldn't be part.
What does it show us? It shows us that what others look, what others overlook, Jesus makes time for.
And that faith that she has stirred the heart of Jesus. He said, people need to hear your story.
I wonder what that could mean for your story.
Has God done incredible things in your life?
Oh, I would bet if you grew up in church like me, you grew up with at least maybe a Wednesday night that had open mic night. Do you remember open mic night?
You get what you get in open mic night because sister so and so will sometimes stand up and start confessing sins and naming names, and you're gonna wish you didn't have open mic night.
But it was a chance for people to stand up and tell the goodness of God and what God had done in their lives. And we would draw strength and faith and encouragement from the things that God was doing within the body of believers.
God's done great things for you. I wonder how much of that has stayed private, how much of that was not intended to stay private. But God said, I did that for you for a reason. I've given you a testimony so that other people can see that they're not alone.
And for those that are on the outside, that don't feel like God's ever gonna notice me, I'm just a face in the crowd.
I can say, no, I see you. And what I've done for them, I can do for you. For those of you that know some of my story know that when I was in high school, I'd been homeschooled most of my life. And I was the top student in my class of four brothers and sisters. And going to a 5A high school in Texas was a massive culture shock for me. Just a sea of faces.
And when you go from being, you know, pretty good at the top of Your class feeling like, you know, I can do all my work and be done by about 11:30 in the morning, you know, that's how homeschool is. Just get it done.
Then you go to a massive high school, you're like, I don't fit in here. And you just kind of become facing the crowd.
And so I tried to step out in extracurricular activities. I played football and played baseball. I played basketball for about 10 minutes until this guy comes and just dunks over the top of my head in a game. And I said, you know what? I'm gonna lay down that dream of being the first Mexican to play in the NBA. That is probably not my calling.
When you've heard all your friends and all your family and all your co students, when they're all around you and they're all just going at the same time, ooh, like, I think I'm done.
But, you know, I enrolled in a music class in our high school, and it was because my sister was also in that class. And because she's the only person I knew, I thought at least we could have one class together. And so we both enrolled in a music class. And within a few weeks, there was a fantastic teacher there that told me and my sister, you guys got something. You got something special. You really do have talent. You have giftings. And if you'll let me, let me help you develop these things. And for the first time in a while, I. I felt like somebody noticed me, somebody saw me and what others had overlooked, a teacher could see that there's potential there. Made me believe that could be more than just a face in the crowd.
This is what Jesus does for this woman that wants to be anonymous, that just wants to be comfortable being anonymous.
Jesus does something special, you see. Believe that your faith matters. Even the world says that you don't.
Your faith matters.
Here's the third and final thing I'll share with you. Number three.
Real faith in Jesus.
Real faith in Jesus redefines everything.
It redefines everything.
It's interesting that when this happens, when this miracle happens, she reaches out and touches the hem of his garment. She gets healed. And she wants to remain anonymous. Jesus doesn't allow that to happen. No, no, no. Come here. Tell me everything that just happened. She tells the whole story. At the end of it, Jesus gives some profound words.
And often we'll tell this story and we'll preach on it from the wrong perspective. We'll preach on it from the words. Your faith has healed you. I think that's the wrong Words, because it's not really about your faith, as it is the one you put your faith in.
And people talk about, oh, if you just have enough faith, you can do this. If you have enough faith, you can do that easy.
I think you're missing the point.
The most important words is the worst is the word daughter.
Daughter.
You know, this is the only time that you're going to see that word appear in scripture, where Jesus calls someone a daughter.
Because more than just healing her body, more than just calling her out of a crowd, he says, I'm giving you something beyond a physical healing. I'm giving you a place.
I'm giving you a family.
I'm calling you out of obscurity right into a place where you can see I belong here. And he restores her publicly where she had been excluded for 12 years.
Jesus says, you're now part of my family. You have a. You have a place here. You have an identity. He redefines everything because of her real faith in him.
Everything changes when Jesus calls us into his family.
And I wonder if that applies to you today. For some of us, we come into a church and we have this mindset. And I know exactly what that mindset looks like because I walked into church feeling that same way. Like everyone else is good people. I'm the one that's really messed up.
Everyone else has this weird smile on their face. They all act like they're happy. A bunch of hypocrites, but I'm the one really walking through stuff. These people are a bunch of fakes. Is that not you? No, nobody like you. That's for the weirdos in third service. That's for the ones watching online. We would never behave that way.
And we miss the point that when you're a face in the crowd, God still sees you.
And when you put your faith in him, he says, you have a home, you have a place.
Instead of being on the outside looking in, he says, no, you're on the inside looking out. And you're looking out with a changed heart, saying, they need to come in here. It's better here.
Jesus redefines everything. He gives her identity. He gives her a place. He calls her daughter.
I love what the Word says in John chapter one. It says, but to all who did receive him, him being Jesus, if you received him, he said, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become somebody. Say the next words with me. Children of God.
Another scripture says, and that is what we are. We have a place, we have a home. We have an identity.
He doesn't let us just remain anonymous.
There's no private miracle here.
You were designed, you are purpose to go public with your faith, even if you'd rather just shrink back to be another face in the crowd. It's not just about healing your immediate needs. It's about restoration. It's about identity. It's about a place Jesus calls her daughter. Here's what we know is that faith in Jesus doesn't just save us, it gives us a new identity.
I'm changed. I am not the same.
Why? Because I'm a son of God? Because you're a daughter of God. We are children of God.
So Jesus says, daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.
When we talk about your faith has saved you, I think it's important that we focus on what it means when he says, your faith has saved you. Your Bible may say your faith has healed you. Nevertheless, it's the Greek word sozo. Sozo is an incredible, powerful word because it doesn't just mean your faith has healed you and it doesn't just mean it's saved you, but it means your faith has restored you. Your faith has given you identity. Your faith has given you worth. It's done more than just heal your body, it's healed your soul. It's restored you to a place. It's given you an identity. See, Jesus doesn't just fix what's broken, he redefines who we are.
And when you put your faith in Christ, you're gonna notice that you start looking and acting a lot less like you and a lot more like him.
And this changes the way that we respond to desperation. It changes the way that we respond to when life gets tough.
We start responding more like Christ and less like culture.
You'll know that that begins to change when the things that all your friends are doing, you decide that's not for us.
That doesn't feel like Jesus to me.
And when the world demands that you do this and demands that you stand up and say that you're like, what are you saying, Lord?
Could it be that I'm not supposed to be like everybody else? Could it be that you called me to be salt and light?
Could it be that when everyone else goes left, you're asking me to go right.
When we start responding like Christ, we see that something's changed.
We are in the world. We're not of the world.
We're called to look more like Christ and less like me.
I found that what King David said is still true today. He says, lord, your nearness is my good. As close as I can get to you. That's where my goodness comes from. It's from my relationship with you. I've gone from a place of just being in awe of God to being an intimate relationship with God. Why? Because you've changed me. You've redefined me. You've called me to become something better than what I've settled for.
Jesus finds a desperate woman willing to step through the crowd, to reach out with intentional faith.
And she gets healed.
God takes great care of those that he calls family. We know God takes good care of his children.
He's in no danger of neglecting you.
As we finish up this story, it's important to know that this story is not really alone. Mark and Luke both kind of put these two stories together. You see, Jesus is on his way to raise a little girl that has died.
As a matter of fact, a 12 year old girl.
It's interesting that they sandwiched these two stories together.
One lady has been suffering for 12 years.
One little girl is 12 years old and she's just passed away. And anytime you see the repetition of that number in scripture, it's important that you take a good look at why it's there.
That number 12 is a biblically important number. And I'm not a big numbers guy. People get lost in all the numbers and numbers, numbers, numbers. I'm not a math guy at all. And so it better be simple for me to understand it. But you know this, that when the number 12 appears in Scripture, it's important. It signifies the status of God's people.
Why? Because there's 12 tribes of Israel. That's God's people, God's chosen people. There's 12 tribes. Jesus, when he comes and he calls his disciples, he calls 12 disciples. There's old Testament, New Testament. And so we see that number 12 repeated in scripture. Both times we see that oh God saying to us about the status of his people. He's saying to us something about us and the number 12.
And so we see in the 12 years of this woman's suffering, the law would say she's unclean. But she reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus garment and the law is reversed. She doesn't make Jesus unclean, He makes her whole.
Jesus is telling his people what the law can't do, I can do.
The law can call you unclean, but it can't clean you up.
The law doesn't give you a place, it throws you out. I pull you in.
Jesus is on his Way to heal a little girl that has passed away after 12 years of life.
They say in the law declares her dead. The law says you can't touch anything that's not alive. Jesus said, I came here to give life and life more abundantly. The law can't bring you life. I bring you life. Do you see how the number 12 is saying beyond the scriptures? It's taking us deeper and deeper into his presence, where it's just not the awe of the story, but it's intimacy. We have a deeper understanding of what Jesus is doing, what he's showing to people like me and to people like you. He said, you can't follow the rules.
Follow me.
Those rules don't bring you life.
That legalistic view, if I follow all the rules, God's going to love me more. That's not true. The law is like a mirror.
And when you look into that mirror, all that you can see is how dirty you are, how messed up you are. But you can't clean your face with a mirror.
Jesus says, I am the answer.
And if you're willing to intentionally reach out to me, I will do what the law can't do.
And you don't make me dirty.
I make you clean.
I restore your life.
God takes good care of his children. He's provided a savior for us all.
If you're willing to reach out, if you're willing to let your desperation bring you to the end of yourself, I believe what's on the other side is an intimate relationship with the Lord like you never thought possible. And my hope is at the end of all of this, you would say, pastor, I am closer to Jesus than I've ever been in my life.
He's drawing you with this loving kindness, saying, come closer to me. There's more for you.
And as you seek him with your whole heart, you're gonna find Him. Can you receive that, everybody? Is that okay? Go ahead and take your Bibles and put them down next to you, if you wouldn't mind. And put your phone down next to you. Let's just have a moment where we respond to the Lord. Let's have a moment where we ask Jesus to show us what it is that we need to know.
And perhaps you're watching online today and you say, pastor, that was a really, really good message. I want you to know that there's something that I would ask of you that's a major, A huge step, one of these huge helps that you could do for us. If you like what you're hearing today, use your Social media to spread the word. Click the share button. It's a big deal when you do that. We have almost 4,000 people that are watching these messages from all over the world. Many people do not have a church to go to. Many people are stuck. Many people are listening, desperate, hoping for some word that the Lord will speak to them. And when you share this message online, it makes a massive difference.
And so I wanted to say thank you for doing that. Thank you for sharing this. It's a big deal. It's helping. You're making a difference whether you know it or not. There are people that you may never meet this side of Heaven that are getting encouragement, getting strength, might even get saved because you're willing to use your social media and redeem it for a godly purpose. It's a big deal.
As we finish up today, would you bow your head and close your eyes?
I want to invite you to pray a very powerful prayer.
The prayer is this. Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
For some of you, you've realized today that God has been drawing you with his loving kindness. He's been drawing your heart back to church, drawing your heart back into a relationship with Him. Today's the day that you respond and say, lord, I'm here.
I'm here. Lord, I hear you.
For others, you're in this place. And say, pastor, I've been looking outside.
I've been on the outside looking, looking in.
And it's time for me to make a commitment to a church family.
My friend, if you've been kicking the tires around here, it's time.
It's time for you to call this home and to help people just like you find a home for others, you'd say, pastor, I'm in a desperate place in my life.
I don't want this to last for 12 years.
I want to just reach out for Jesus today, my friend. I want to help you do just that. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to invite you to just spend some time with Him.
Lord, I'm seeking your face right now. Just pray this with me, Lord, I'm seeking your face. I need your help. I need you.
Would you come, Lord Jesus, would you meet me here?
Father, you know the ins and outs. You know the end from the beginning. You know everything in between. You know the details, the things that I don't know, the things that I don't understand, the things that I can't figure out. Lord, you know, and so I just submit to youo to ask for help. Will youl help me?
Lord? My desperation has led me here, and I put my faith in youn. I put my hope in youn, Lord. I'm not gonna try to fix it all. I can't, Lord. I am not enough.
But yout're enough.
So, Lord, I just reach out for you today and ask for you to help, believing that you take good care of your children.
You've not forgotten me. You've not left me.
You're right here.
You love me. You're gracious and kind, and you're willing to help.
Thank you for loving me.
And now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you came here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I am so far from God right now. I need a relationship with Jesus. I.
I need Him.
Or maybe, like me, you'd say, pastor, I. I was raised in church. I've done all the things, but I've been so far from God. I've. I've turned my back on Him. I need to come home.
My friend, you are in the right place. God led you here today for this reason. Maybe you're even watching online, saying, I need to come home. How would I do that? My friend, it starts with a prayer, the prayer of faith.
Reach out for Jesus with a prayer of faith.
So if you want a relationship with Jesus, I'm going to invite you to pray this prayer with me. I'll tell you the words to say, and as a matter of fact, we're all going to pray this together so you don't feel singled out, you don't feel like somebody's trying to embarrass you. I would never do that. But if you want a relationship with Jesus, it starts right here in this moment with this prayer. So, everybody, let's say this prayer together. Just say Jesus.
Come on, let's say it like we mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for my sins.
Please forgive me and I'll give you my life.
I'm all in.
Now say this with me, friends. Say, Jesus, thank you for loving me.
In Jesus name, we pray with heads bowed and eyes closed all across this place. I'm not looking to embarrass you in any way, but if you prayed that prayer and you meant that prayer, if you're saying, I needed a fresh start with Jesus, but I prayed that prayer in faith, can I just See your hand all across this place. Would you lift it up nice and high and proud. Good, good, good, good. I see you up top. Good for you.
Yes, sir. I see you. Yes, ma'. Am. Good for you. Today's a day of new beginnings. It's a fresh start and you need this. Good for you.
For those of you that prayed that prayer, and you may be even watching online, there's a phone number that's just appeared on that screen. There's a phone number on the screen behind me. If you prayed that prayer, I want to invite you to text me, text the words I prayed to that phone number. And I'm going to send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next. It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet and know Jesus.
Let me help you.
For everybody else, go ahead and look up at me if you would, then let's stand to our feet together as we finish out this service. I'm going to invite our elders forward, and if you're walking through a desperate situation of life, we would love to pray for you.
So these are the best prayer warriors that we have right here at the very front of this platform, and we would love to pray for you. So as our service ends today, these guys will stay right here to be available to pray for you. And then for everybody else, let's pray again for our Dallas Cowboys. Let's intercede on their behalf.
Now. Let me bless you and send you out. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week following after your heart, being led by your spirit, walking in your grace and goodness all week long, and in Jesus Christ's mighty name, all of us said together, Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
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We appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
