Everyone Needs Jesus: The Lord Is Always Within Reach

You are listening to a new beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God. Visit our website and learn more about harvest partners@harvest.org is drawing near to God and he will draw on the air you use chargeable in the first century just a touch of the Masters and show many lives were changed after Gregori's vision you have been in the 21st century talk to somebody right now who would say I would love to have Jesus touch me, but I don't feel his touch. If you're not feeling this touch reach out to touch him. He someone you can reach out to right now. We will board is ready to reach out. Would you often were jostled and humbled by the world around can't seem to climb out from under the dog while you today of a new beginning for Greg Laurie hopeless drawing ration practical instruction from appearing of stories in the New Testament, Jesus touch just the right people at just the right time. Everybody, whether your Bible now because you have a message from the rupture read this series in the gospel of Mark that were calling the gospel for busy people and were in Mark chapter 5 turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5 the title of my message is everyone needs Jesus. 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. Let's look now at Mark chapter 5 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 the leader of the local synagogue's name was gyrus arrived when he saw Jesus he fell at his feet, pleading fervently with them, saying, my little daughter is dying.

Please come and lay your hands on her healer so she can live. Jesus went with them and all the people follow crowding around him.

A woman in the crowd would suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding and had suffered a great deal from many doctors over the years it's been everything she had the p.m. but I got no better, but in fact it got 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 could 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, Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him and he turned around to the crowd and said, who touched me and the disciples turned and said, Lord, this crowd is all around you. How can US who touched me, but he kept looking around because he wanted to see what done it, then the frightened woman trembling that the realization of what happened or came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And Jesus said daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over the doom of that story who touched me. The disciples basically say excuse me Jesus who didn't touch everybody's touching you the grubbing youth are pulling on you. They want to be near you know but someone touched me in a different way. Because power went out of him. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now who would say I would love to have Jesus touch me, but I don't feel his touch then be like this woman, if you're not feeling this touch reach out to him and touch him.

The Bible says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He's touchable he someone you can reach out to right now so there's this woman she's healed in Jesus want to commend her. She probably thought oh no I'm I'm scared.

He's is going to be mad at me. He was a mad he wanted to see the lady way to go. This was an act of great faith, what you did. Meanwhile, as this beautiful story is unfolding something tragic happens. Go back to Mark chapter 5 verse 35 while he was still speaking to her messengers arrived from the home of gyrus, the leader of the synagogue and they told him your daughter is dead.

No use in troubling the teacher now though Mrs. next verse. Jesus overheard them and said to gyrus, don't be afraid, just have faith. How devastating that must've been for drivers to hear those words. Your daughter is dead. I've stood in the shoes of gyrus not losing a daughter losing son.

Our son Christopher went to be with the Lord. 12 years ago.

He died in an automobile accident, and I remember distinctly the day I heard the unthinkable news that he was no longer with us to see my life changed is an understatement, and I bring this up from time to time.

Maybe someone would say Greg you know you maybe should stop talking about it. Maybe you need to get over it. Let me just say to you, if you know someone who's lost a loved one, especially a child never say that them you need to get over it that's in operation. You see we we know that will lose grandparents in time. We know that our parents will die in time, we know even the spouse could potentially die but we never make plans for our children preceding us to death. It's out of the natural order that is not something the parent gets over, even decades after it happens, he still remembered it still painful, but you can get through it and that's why I bring it up because whenever I bring this topic up. I'm flooded with responses people write me. They they call me and they they asked me for help because you know when you've heard that your child has died. You almost feel as though your life is over, and your world is ended and you don't know how you're going to get through it and so what I want to say to someone I know if you've lost a loved one, and especially a child you can get through this by hanging onto Jesus Christ is your only hope at a time like this gyrus are those dreadful words. Your daughter is dead but I love the response of Jesus.

He said don't be afraid just FA you see gyrus had to choose which voice he was going to listen to our you listen to the voice of the man that just said your daughter is dead. Are you gonna listen to the voice of Jesus who said don't be afraid, just have faith and in the same way we choose every day what voice will you listen to how you listen to the voice of God as he speaks to us in Scripture through our Christian friends. Maybe even to this message are we listen to the voice of the culture, or even the voice of the devil who would save you your worthless. You'll never amount to anything. You're pathetic, you're a failure. You shouldn't even be alive.

Your life isn't even worth living. He's a liar.

Don't listen to the boys listen to the voice of God who says I love you.

I have a plan for you. I have a future for you.

Trust me, don't be afraid. You know gyrus could beat himself up over this and said this is my fault.

I should have been more persistent. I think when a child dies, the father may react differently than the mother. The father feels he needed to fix it. You know dad fix things right.

You know what a child wants assurance to go to mom for a hug, but when they need something done. Need some money or something. Repair dad can you do this were used to fixing things and it's very frustrating when you can't fix the child who is left to and so he probably felt horrible about this, but it's amazing to me because we don't see them seen anything like that.

We see him trusting the Lord and waiting on the Lord and it's kind of an amazing thing. That gyrus approached Jesus and humbled himself and begged Jesus to help him listen. It's hard for us to understand this, Jesus was not high on the cultural ladder gyrus is very high on the ladder is a spiritual leader of the local synagogue. He was a somebody. Jesus, he was in the like, the son of a carpenter and wasn't he from Nazareth, not a city with a great reputation as Nathaniel said to him any good thing come out of Nazareth. Yet this man of prestige and power humbles himself before Jesus because he recognized Jesus was not the son of a carpenter. He recognized Jesus was a son of God and Jesus is the ability to heal my daughter but now we need something even greater than the healing he needs a resurrection and is waiting on the Lord to do his work. I love what Christ says don't be afraid.

Go on believing there in verse 36 that you be literally translated, keep on believing your great glory will have the second half of this message in just a moment. Sometimes, we can always make sure here's the good news church is coming to you is coming due on your TV screen or on your tablet or your computer or even your phone. We do it every weekend and it's called Harvest at Home. We worship we have a message of the word of God. You want to find out more, just go to harvest.org enjoy this this weekend for harvest at all. Well, we're in Mark chapter 5 today as pastor Greg is leading our study of Jesus healing of gyrus's daughter. By the way, today is our last opportunity to mention our featured resource a book called the women of the Bible speak by Shannon bream get it by calling one 808 21 €3300 pastor Greg once again.

So now they come to the home of gyrus. What a tragic and depressing scene they come to they have all these whalers who are moaning and crying and playing musical instruments. This is a make sense to us today… Can this culture depending on your level of income by one. Someone died. You would bring in literally professional whalers.

I don't know you found them.

Maybe you googled and it was like whalers are us. Like I don't know, but these people would come and they would play musical instruments and scream and moan and so that's a scene Christ comes to all these people lamenting and crying and the music is playing, then Jesus walks in and here's what happens. Look at Mark chapter by verse 38 when they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. He went inside in the wildest commotion and weeping the child isn't dead.

She is only sleeping them as an expert in the crowd laughed at him. What all they went from morning to mockery in a nano second unbelief laughs at God's word, but faith believes for a miracle.

Clearly, this environment was not conducive to what Jesus wanted to do so. He tells all these people get out leave the room or all of said taking the musical instruments by blown the flute a couple extra times to sleep. I don't want any of you here, Peter, James, John, come on guys with the going to see this amazing sight of what Jesus is about to do. Jesus says the child is not dead, she's only sleeping you know death for a Christian is often compared in the Bible to sleeping. By the way that analogy is never used of death for the nonbeliever only of the believer. The Bible talks in first Thessalonians, about those that sleep. Speaking of those that are that are in the graves you know when I was little kid I hated it when someone would say to me it's time to take a nap. Hated naps as a kid. Now if my wife's is great once go take a nap. I'm like yes so it's all how you see it, but but we don't have to be afraid of sleep for a nap when even Stephen the first martyr of the church was put to death by stoning a violent way to die. The Bible says he fell asleep so Jesus says she's only sleeping and then he raises her again repair market. He goes to the little girl and he says to her little lamb arise and immediately life comes back into her body and we read that she's walking around and I love this detail.

Jesus said, give her something to eat and a great guy you raise from the dead, probably hungry have something to give this girl a sense in which amazing story. How my heart would have rejoiced if someone would've said to me, your son has risen from the dead, but that didn't happen for me.

I've never shared this detail publicly, but the fact is, after our son died, we wanted to go see him. His body and we were told he was unreviewable so I never got to see him in any way after he passed into eternity. I was given a plastic bag with the things that he had with them had his watch. It had his wedding ring and it had his wallet in his wallet. There was a little card for a carousel he would take his daughter Stella on his just was heartbreaking and I and I held this watch and this is a watch I gave to him and on the back of the watch I inscribe these words. Jeremiah 2911. I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope and know my son is gone. I'm reading the Scripture on the back of his watch and I'm thinking where's the future in the hope of the future in the hope ultimately is in heaven isn't it's been with Jesus and though it was devastating that day and it still heartbreaking to this day I have that hope still in Jeremiah 2911 is still one of my favorite verses because I know I will see my son again because death is not the end of the road. It's just been in the road that leads to heaven.

Recently I was asked to go see a lady from our church who was dying of cancer and I remember this lady in particular she was in her 60s. She would often sit in the front row lifting her hands and praise the Lord. She was one of the most joyful people I've ever seen. She's even a little dance. She kinda did what she was worshiping the Lord and now she's in a bed in hospice at home ready to pass into eternity. So I went over to her home and her family was gathered around her and I spoke to her. She was not conscious, but maybe she heard me and I shared Scriptures with her about the hope that was before her as she entered into God's presence.

I spoke to her family about the hope that we have in Christ that our loved ones to proceed as they have and are not just a part of our pastor also a part of our future and we had prayer together so look sometimes God heals and it's a glorious thing when he does not. I've seen people healed as we prayed for them and we give him the glory. Sometimes God allows the sickness to remain so we can be glorified through it. Sometimes he does a little more slowly than you would like them to.

And sometimes he just allows our life to follow the natural cycle. The Bible says there's a time to be born, and there's a time to die and then were all going to pass into eternity. The Bible says our life is like a vapor of smoke. It appears for one moment and vanishes away of vapor of smoke. Life comes and goes so quickly. The Bible says life is like a story that's already been told.

But what really matters is the after the afterlife, which goes on forever. The before life for life were in no is pretty short in comparison isn't we don't know when this life: what we want to make sure of is that we have a relationship with God as glorious as it was at this woman was healed of this medical condition. She ultimately died did is wonderful as it was that the daughter of gyrus was brought back to life. She died and gyrus died and we all die. Christ died and rose again from the dead because he died and rose again from the dead.

We don't have to be afraid to die.

As Christians, doesn't mean we have a death wish. It doesn't mean we don't take care of ourselves. But what it does mean is we know that we will go to heaven one day and be with him. I want to ask you enclosing if you were to die today tonight, would you go to help, you might say well I hope so.

I hope so.

I've lived a good life. Try to be a good person well you know what son about being a good person because the reality is you and I am all of us are sinners and we've all broken God's commandments. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people and the only way you're going to get to heaven, and the only way I'm to get the heaven is not based on what I've done. It's based on what he did what he do Jesus died on the cross in your place as the apostle Paul said he loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus summed it up this way for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son. And whosoever believes in him should not perish but have ever lasting life. Christ died so you can live and you can come into a relationship with him right now and know with certainty. Not all know that you go to heaven when you die. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Is he okay wall, I want that I want Jesus in my life when we need to do. Number one, you need to admit you're a sinner. The Bible says all of sin and fallen short of God's glory.

Just own it admitted don't make excuses for it. Say I know I've said in a broken God's commandments number two recognize Christ died on the cross for your sin. That's why he went to the cross.

It wasn't an aberration or an interruption of his beautiful ministry. It was the focus and purpose of his ministry he came to the little manger in Bethlehem to live a perfect life and that the die a perfect death recognize Christ died for you. Thirdly, you need to repent of your sins. The Bible says God is commanded people everywhere to repent.

What is that mean I need to change your direction. It's a military term that means to do an about-face so you turn away from your sin and turn toward God and then you must receive Christ into your life, you must see Jesus coming to my heart, forgive me of my sin.

I want to be your child Jesus as he stands at the door and he knocks it up will hear his voice and open the door he will come in, have you asked Jesus to come into your life. It one last thing, do it now.

Don't do it tomorrow. Don't do it in a month don't do it in 20 years.

Do it now. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. I'm telling you right now you can pray a prayer with me and then as a result of that, no, that your sin is forgiven and know that you go to heaven when you die and start discovering God's amazing plan for you. So if you want Jesus to come in your life you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to go to heaven when you die if you want your guilt taken away.

I want you to pray with me right now.

That's right right now I want you to pray with the effect you could pray this prayer I'm about to pray out loud after me just pray these words Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner but I know that you aren't the Savior who died for me, and rose again from the dead. Jesus come in the my life.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord is my God. In Jesus name I pray important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie were those were asking Jesus to be their Savior today. If you just pray that prayer will first of all we want to welcome you into the family of God and we want to help you as you begin to live this new life of faith.

We want to send you our new believers] it's a collection of materials to help you get started in your walk with the Lord is free of charge. So ask for the new believers] as you write a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. We are here to take your call anytime 24 seven. Again, dial 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click know God and it's a privilege to have Shannon bream with us today.

You may recognize the name. She's an anchor at Fox News and also their chief legal correspondent she's just released a brand-new book called the women of the Bible speak.

The subtitle is the wisdom of 16 women and their lessons for today and that Shannon, you mentioned in the book that one of your favorite stories is that of Deborah, who appears in Judges 4 and five. Why is she your favorite. I love her because she box the message that so many people who are intimidated by the Bible or by religion or by Christian faithful, single women are respected but the truth is Deborah defies every wrong thought, and how the Bible about women's role in the Bible because she was the leader of Israel. She was a giant she was leading at that time and the people had gotten away from the Lord.

If all of this until in our lives and they really need help Willie how Deborah is a judge that she settling disputes she's getting and guidance.

And God comes to her and says I want you to lead Israel. I want Israel to go in battle against the Canaanites within a pressing man and she goes and gathers their military commander Barack and says hey guys that were supposed to take on these people get the men together. Let's cow, I'm so sorry Mike. Well well well were not in their favor by any stretch but he said I'll only go if you go with me and she says okay I will go by, you will not get the glory and getting the opposing general Sisera. He will be delivered into the hands of a woman because you're making me go with you on a Sunday and that's really neat day now. Later on in the story said there are two powerful women there who were leaders on here. Deborah is leading the entire nation Israel and is called into battle and doesn't question God against all lot. She says okay let's cow and I hope I would be more like Deborah and I just think she's a great example of leadership as she really is a bold catalyst for change in such an example for women today and the book is filled with one example after another.

True heroes worth following. Today they're all captured in the new book the women of the Bible speak by author and news anchor Shannon bream will send you this new book to thank you for your investment that helps us continue to bring these daily studies and to help touch lives.

Listen to this comment. I've been listening to your podcasts since I was quarantined at home, having contracted covert. 19. It was a depressing time for me because I felt fine, but was confined to my home over Christmas. Your studies brought me joy in precious time filling my heart and mind with his truth. I love your sense of humor and that you preach the truth is you're listening today, countless others are as well. Many were facing challenging times and your investment in these studies helps us continue to reach out and with your donation right now in the amount of your choosing will thank you. With this new book the women of the Bible speak and today is our last opportunity to mention this, so get in touch right away. As for as you write a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24 seven phone number 1-800-821-3300 or just go online to harvest.org next time as Pastor Greg continues our studies in the gospel of Mark look at faith. How is the key to a fulfilling walk with the Lord. Join us here on a new beginning. Everybody thinks or listening beginning. This is a podcast made possible by harvest partners. So for more content can help you know God and equip you to make him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a harvest partner. Just go to harvest.org