A Touch of Faith — Luke 7-8

0:00 Okay. Nice. Alright. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for your precious word as we open it and just we are humbled and awed by the power of you, Lord.

0:18 We're just grateful for just the revelation of Jesus Christ and the fact that you have made yourself known through your word. And Lord, I just pray that as we study this passage of scripture that, Lord our hearts may be softened to hear and to heed what you have for us this morning. I pray Lord that you may be glorified and that I would be used as a channel to communicate the truths of you. In Jesus name, amen. Now, this morning I will tell you my world was kind of turned upside down as I was getting ready to come up here with two to three witnesses and call out Mr.

0:57 Hilton for his pronunciation of the name Jairus. And in his messages in the past, he pronounced it Jairus. I thought it was Jairus the whole time until this morning just to make sure I was right. And I was, I found out I was wrong. And so I have to apologize to you, Mr.

1:13 Hilton as I was ready to call you out. But hopefully I can recover from that. So we're here in Luke chapter eight verse 40 through 56 through the end of the chapter. And before we read, I just think it's important to set up the scene as to where we are, where Jesus is. And so, let's make sure I have the right, oh wait.

1:37 Okay, I have to point towards the computer. And so the question I had is where is Jesus at this time? And so if we look through the study of Luke, in Luke chapter seven he goes from Capernaum to Nain where he's healing and doing miracles. He raises the widow's son from the dead. And he went from Nain to, as you see in the beginning of Luke eight, to various cities and and and we believe that also included Nazareth as his brother, his mother, brothers and sisters came to see him.

2:10 And going on from those various cities, he went to the Gadarenes, that's where Mr. Morris was in yesterday or not yesterday but last week. And so we see these connections also through the Gospels and so I need a visual representation. So what we're looking at here is just a map of the Sea Of Galilee. And so Jesus, this is the area of the Gadarenes here and this is where the demon was cast out and and the people asked him to depart.

2:38 And so the setting here before we start reading, Jesus is crossing over to the other side where we believe it's he's in Capernaum. Now Matthew chapter nine, a parallel to this passage in Luke, says that he went to his own city. And so it's important to differentiate between his own city and his own country. And so his own city was a place where where he was generally accepted there. Alright?

3:01 And so his own city is not talking about Nazareth where he grew up. Nazareth is considered his own country where he was not accepted by those. And so now we have this scene set. I hope you have a visual representation in your mind of where Jesus was, that this is an actual place Jesus actually crossed the Sea Of Galilee. And we can go into the passage here.

3:23 So starting in Luke verse 40, so it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed him for they were all waiting for him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Now a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years who had spent all her livelihood on physician...

4:22 And he said to her, daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher.

4:35 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, do not be afraid, only believe and she will be made well. When he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her, but he said, do not weep. She is not dead but sleeping. And they ridiculed him knowing that she was dead.

4:56 But he put them all outside, took her by the hand, and called saying, little girl arise. Then her spirit returned and she arose immediately. And he commanded that she be given something to eat and her parents were astonished, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Let me get a drink of water. That was a lot of reading.

5:21 So, this is a shorter passage of scripture and so now we'll be able to really dig deep and just cherish, really verse by verse and go and go through it. And so the first thing to point out is the welcoming multitude. The difference between the area of Capernaum and the Gadarenes. The Gadarenes were were, alarmed at Jesus. They were they were scared of him and they asked him to depart while the multitude, they were waiting for him and they welcomed him.

5:49 And I believe the truth that is revealed about about Jesus Christ, about God here, is that God will never force himself upon you. That God searches for people to freely accept him, freely choose him, and that he will never force himself upon you. And so that's important to remember here about God. And so, as we go on in verses forty one and forty two through 44, we read this, that for he had an only... Well, we'll start in 41.

6:22 And behold, there came a man named Jairus and he was a ruler of the synagogue and he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age and she was dying. But as he went the multitudes thronged him. Now woman having a flow of blood for twelve years who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any came from behind and touched the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. And so something to to remember here is that the difference between thronging and touching. So here we have this crowd, this multitude that that welcomed Jesus.

6:59 And as we as we read in Luke chapter, in the beginning of Luke eight from John's message, a question I have is what we might think the condition of these people's hearts were. That Luke in his, his, in the highlights that he had in the passage here, we see that Luke highlights the fact that there's a crowd here and they're thronging around him. If you look in Matthew chapter nine, isn't even a mention of crowd. And so Luke saw here that amidst all these people who were around Jesus touching him, but then there's one woman who Jesus notices that he touches her. And so this was a different touch.

7:42 This was a touch of faith. And so in our own personal lives as we look at the meaning of what it is to throng. I put the definition up there because there might be one of you who don't know what throng means. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not gonna say who it is.

7:58 But the throng is the crowd to swarm, to hoard, to surround. And so as we see what the heart condition of the crowd might have been, I think that the crowd might have been a condition of, of the rocky soil that is talked about in the parable of the sower and the seed that that they received the word with joy but they had no faith. And and in the end there was no fruit born from that. And so I think about in our in our application to us what this could, what this might point to is that in our own worship, in our own daily lives, are we thronging? I think about in my, you know, my own personal evaluation of times when I read the word and I study in my own quiet time and after I'm done reading a chapter or a portion of scripture, I realize I don't remember anything that I had just read.

8:53 In times in prayer when we're you know, going to God with request and and adoration and worship and and times I've I've realized that, I'm I'm I'm not there. That in prayer meetings when we're praying together corporately that my mind tends to wander and in those times are when when my prayers don't make it past the ceiling. That my prayers, they're they're not in spirit and in truth and that I'm still in my flesh. And so that's something that we can consider ourselves to be aware of is that even if we have, even when we have good intentions it's important to examine ourselves that we have a touch of faith. And so, as we examine the touch of faith, when faith touches, we can read in verse 44, what happened is, is that the effect was immediate.

9:51 The woman was healed immediately. And we see this that when we go to God in faith that it is immediate. He hears us immediately. I think of the passage in Daniel chapter nine when is when the angel told Daniel, as soon as you've humbled yourself before your God and sought to see... And sought him, his prayers were heard immediately.

10:11 That doesn't mean that they answered immediately, but he was heard. And and so God, we know it's immediate because he's seeking those from John five twenty three, I'll paraphrase it and butcher the quote, but God is seeking earnestly those who will worship him in spirit and truth. And so as we see, Jesus Christ is never unaware of a touch of faith. He's always at the ready and he's here for us to to hear us and and be there for us when we go to him in faith. And so, and the power of God is poured out through faith.

11:26 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the power of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Ephesians three twenty to 21. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

12:01 Amen. And so when we go to God in faith and when we have genuine real faith as this woman did, that we have the power of God working through us. This isn't, there's nothing that this woman had special about her. She just had faith and God worked through that. And I just struggle that in, is this a reality in our lives?

12:21 Is this a reality in in in my life that I have the act like we have the access to the power of God. God can work mightily through us if we just have a touch of faith. Going on, we read in verse 47 of a public testimony and so we see here what her testimony was in verse 47. When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how he was healed immediately.

12:57 I think this passage is, this woman is actually one of the, maybe one of the first examples of what a testimony looks like in the New Testament in the gospels. And so here we have, why was she trembling? I mean, now before you read Leviticus, okay, before you read this passage here, what are some reasons why you might think she was trembling? This is audience participation. Why would she be trembling?

13:24 Anyone know? This is Markovich. Weakness. Phil? Mhmm, yeah, yep.

13:35 Scared of being yelled at for touching on. Dad? Excited? Excited that she could be... Yeah.

13:42 Yeah. Totally. Yeah, Yeah. One more, Ms. Real and I saw it, was you.

14:07 She had this for so long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah and I actually, dad I never even thought about the fact that she was excited. She was clean, you know.

14:19 She was healed of her sickness that she had for twelve years of her bleeding. And so, I think it was a combination of that definitely and also just fear because we read in Leviticus fifteen twenty five to 27, this is the time where we're under Jesus, right, and the people, the Jews there are under Old Testament law. And so, Leviticus fifteen twenty five to 27, if a woman has a discharge of blood for many days other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. Every bed in which she lies, all the days of her all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity.

15:03 And whatever she sits on, she shall be unclean as the uncleanness of her impurity. Whoever touches those things shall be unclean. He shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. And so I think that a reason that that she was trembling before before Jesus was because she had made him ceremonially unclean. She had made him unclean until evening, by touching her.

15:30 And I think this is just a beautiful picture of of us in our relationship with God that when we go to Jesus we are a thing unclean. And he makes us clean at the price of him becoming unclean. In second Corinthians five twenty one it says, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And so we've been made clean. We've been cleansed and made whole by Jesus Christ taking on our uncleanness.

16:03 And so it's just a beautiful thing God. And keep in mind here that her condition prior to this was of no hope. She said the reason that she, the reason why she touched him. And so I believe that in the presence of all these people, I don't think these people, you know the disciples after the fact, they did a post interview like TLC does, you know, where they do a voice over, you know what I mean? I don't think they did that.

16:36 I think when she gave testimony, she told the reason why she had touched him. She told in front of all the people her condition before and what she did, and I believe she said that I knew that if I touched you I'd be made clean. And she then gave testimony that it was immediate. I was healed. I was made well.

17:20 This woman who has had no place in society, she had lost everything, she had spent all her money, her condition was not made well, and for twelve years, she did not belong anywhere. That no one no one could touch her, everything she touched was unclean. And Jesus, to a woman who didn't belong anywhere, she said he called her daughter. And I just think the beauty of Christ that he tells us what we need to hear. Sometimes that can be harsh, sometimes it can be convicting and challenging, other times it can be comforting.

17:58 And I believe that Jesus said to her daughter because she was in a place where she didn't belong anywhere, she didn't feel loved by anyone. And Jesus says, daughter, your faith has made you well. Or he said, daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well, go in peace. And so she's able to be of good cheer because, as we're, as it says in Philippians four:four, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.

18:27 I don't believe we're able to rejoice in the things of this world. They're changing. They're temporal. But we're able to rejoice in the Lord. We're only always called to rejoice in the Lord because he's unchanging.

18:38 He's someone we can rely on. And so that's why Jesus said be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. And I believe that when she left, she was going with the peace of God and peace with God.

18:54 That there's two kinds of peace that she was leaving with. Philippians four, I meant to be five through six or so. Five through seven. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And so we can have the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

19:20 No matter our situation, no matter what things we're going through, we can have the peace of God. Ephesians two fourteen through 17 says this, for he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross by which he extinguished their hostility. And so we now have, she left with the peace with God that that the dividing wall, the hostility between man and sinners, God has torn that down. Jesus Christ has torn that down.

20:02 As we go on, as Jesus was speaking, we have here in verse 49, while he was speaking someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, your daughter is dead, do not trouble the teacher. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, do not be afraid, only believe and she will be made well. Now if anyone here has had a a normal or mediocre childhood, I'm sure we've all seen the movie Elf with Will Ferrell. Right? I hope so.

20:38 Now, here I have a picture, I'll use a little little laser, of the clozometer. Now who remembers a clozometer? Okay, Phil and Colin. Colin, what do the clozometer do? Uh-huh.

20:53 Yep. Exactly. Exactly. Santa Claus cannot ride his sleigh unless enough people believed in him, right? And so that's that's not a picture of who we of of the God that we serve, the God that we worship and and trust in.

21:10 That that the the belief, faith of one person, one individual is enough God to work through, sick for God to work with. And so we read going on in verse 51, when he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her, but he said, do not weep, she is not dead but sleeping. And they ridiculed him knowing that she was dead. So I just want to point out here that that Luke doesn't differentiate between, he doesn't separate the two initial crowd that welcomed him and after the woman was healed, he left that crowd and came with Peter, James, and John to the woman's house.

22:26 And so something to get here is that in verse 49, the man came and said your daughter is dead, do not trouble the teacher. That there is a finality with death and just what a joy we have that Jesus Christ has power over death. He has a key to death in Hades. He was dead and raised again and death could not hold him. And so we know that when we die Jesus Christ is going to come again and receive us unto himself.

22:56 And to he's raise us to a new life, a new birth. And so we can just praise the Lord for that. But going on in verse 54, But he put them all outside, took her by the hand and called saying, little girl arise. Then her spirit returned and she arose immediately. Now we know that upon death the spirit, our spirit and soul, they depart from our body and so if there are some who have argued that that this woman actually wasn't dead but she was in a coma of some sort in a deep sleep.

23:32 And we know that in other passages of the Bible that sleeping is referred to as dead. And so this here though points to the fact that that she actually was dead and Jesus raised her from the life. Her spirit returned and she arose immediately. And now the charge of silence. Verse 56 or in fifty five and fifty six, And he commanded that she be given something to eat.

23:58 Once again, to prove that she was not a ghost, the parents were shocked and Jesus when he rose from the dead, right, he asked the disciples give him something to eat to show that he was not a ghost but he was in his resurrected body. Now this girl did not have a new resurrected body but she was just restored to life. Verse 56 though, well, and he commanded that she be given something to eat. Her parents were astonished but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Now coming across this passage, I, sometimes I don't know why God didn't, why Jesus didn't tell them, why Jesus told her and the parents to tell no one, right?

24:37 We see in Luke eight, at the end of Luke eight verses in verse 39 he says to the man who was healed from the demons, return to your own house and tell what great things God has done for you. Right? But now here Jesus is telling the people, don't tell anyone. And, some possible reasons I would, I would put here is, his command depended on the context of the situation. Too much publicity could hinder his ministry or travel.

25:06 And so Jesus was leaving the area of the Gadarenes and they had rejected him but Jesus told him to go and proclaim the gospel, proclaim the great things God has done for him. And because he was leaving that area maybe, In Mark one forty five, a man disobeyed Jesus when Jesus told him to tell no one and it caused such a ruckus that Jesus was no longer able to openly enter the city. Another possibility is he was already authenticated by the fourfold witnesses. Now a little bible trivia maybe. Anyone remember?

25:39 What are the fourfold witnesses talked about in John chapter five? If anyone wants to answer. If not, I'll just take the points myself and... The bible? The scripture?

25:51 John Baptist. Yep. And his works. Yep. Yep.

25:57 The fourfold witness. And so, that's a possibility there. Another one that I believe might be, might make the most sense is that Jesus wasn't seeking publicity. Now we're not gonna turn to these passages here but, for the sake of time, but an application to us is that when we do good works, we do things for the Lord, that we shouldn't shouldn't let our right hands know what our our left hand is doing. We should do things so that that the attention, the glory, the praise and the thanks is given to God and not to man.

26:33 I think a great example of this is my dad's mom, my grandma Sandy who died before I was born but I was just... He learned this about maybe eight months ago and I learned this a couple months ago that, all of her money that she was making from babysitting was being given to ministries and, and my dad never knew about that. No one knew about it and and that's what it that's what it should be like. That that is not letting a right hand know what our left hand is doing because when we, seek publicity, when we seek people to know what we're doing for the Lord, it takes eyes off of God and brings eyes to us And, that's what, we should avoid. And so, I'd like to spend some time now to go back to Jairus.

27:52 Why does God allow hardships, struggles, tragedies, tragedies and all sorts of evil to take place in this world? And so, I won't be answering this question, in full, but just some things that that came to mind here in reading this passage. Just five little points that we want to talk about. That the first thing, to cry out to him. That God allows us to come to a place like Jairus and the woman.

28:22 This woman who spent all of her belongings. She did everything that she could to heal herself but couldn't. You think about this man Jairus who he was a leader of the synagogue. He was probably in high standing in society and had access to medical and and medical help and doctors and things like that and they couldn't do anything. And I think, I believe that God allows us to suffer these things sometimes.

28:47 To bring us to a place to cry out to him. Acts seventeen twenty seven says, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us. What we read in the breaking of bread this morning, considering Jesus, he says, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Now keep in mind labor doesn't mean working forty hour. It's not the forty hour week.

29:11 That's not what Jesus is referring to. He's referring to those who are burdened. Burdened by sin. Burdened by the toils of this world. And he will give us rest.

29:20 John six thirty five to 37 says, and Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. But said to you that you have seen me yet do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out.

29:40 And so when we cry out to God, when we go to Jesus in faith that by no means he casts us out. In Romans ten thirteen, forever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so just what a precious thing we have here that that our suffering, the things of this world and the hopelessness that we experience brings us to a place to cry out to God. Point two, to display his power and reveal himself. In John chapter nine verse three, it says, this is about the blind man who was born blind from birth.

30:16 Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so the works of God would be displayed in him. John eleven four. When Jesus heard that, this is about Lazarus being raised from the dead. When Jesus heard that he said, this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the son of God may be glorified in it. And so God can use our terrible situations and he allows us to to go through terrible struggles to deliver us out of those things and display his power in it when we are without hope.

30:47 Second Corinthians twelve:eight-ten, I just wanted to point out that sometimes God doesn't always bring deliverance. Sometimes he doesn't answer our prayers in the way that we might desire or ask him to. And this is Paul when he was given a thorn in his flesh and we don't know exactly what that thorn in the flesh was. But it was to to to keep him humble lest he'd be become proud for the visions and revelations that he received. And it said, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

31:15 He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak, then I am strong. And so sometimes, at times when we are at our weakest, that is when God is able to work the most mightily within us. When we aren't relying on our talents, on anything special about us, that is when God is able to work the most.

32:17 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. And we'll just skip to the... Down to the end here. For we are saved in this hope, a hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees?

32:31 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. And so the things that we see in this world, disasters, the crimes, the depravity of man, the depravity of ourselves are used that God uses to embolden our hope and that we would wait in perseverance for the hope of us being given a new glorious body, for a new heaven and new earth when none of these things we will experience anymore. Four, remind us that life is as a vapor in the wind. To remind us of the frailty of man, I think of my own dad who used to be so strong but now I can beat him up as long as he doesn't cheat, as long as he doesn't cheat. And so we just think of the, I'm reminded of the frailty of man from my dad.

33:31 I'm just kidding, dad. Love you. But if it's in a wrestling match, I will win. But going on, in Psalm 39 it says, Lord, make me to know my end and what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, you have made my days as hand breaths and my age is as nothing before you.

33:51 Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up riches and does not know who will gather them. And now Lord, what do I wait for?

34:05 My hope is in you. And so I believe that the sometimes the pains of aging and, and us in our youth, I know I'm a young buck in my prime, right? But knowing that I will age, knowing that Lord willing if we're not, you know, raptured up and, or no freak accident that I will grow old. Well, I'm not gonna, my body won't function as well as I used to. I know Mr.

34:31 Glover, he just turned 39 recently. Just kidding. So he claims it's about, you know, 85 or so. I don't want to embarrass you, Mr. Glover.

34:41 I'm just kidding but I don't know if Mr. Glover would want, would be able to go to, you know, a trip in the mountains to Mexico. Correct? And so I think God uses these things that our life here is but a vapor and we only have one chance to live for the Lord. We have one life to live for God and before we stand before him.

35:07 Hebrews nine twenty seven to 28 says, and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. And so I believe that God uses our suffering and our pains to remind us that we will meet our maker one day. And we're gonna stand before him and give account to him for our life. And if we're in Christ, we know that we will, inherit eternal life through that and that we will be rewarded for the things that we've done for the Lord.

35:42 But those who are not in Christ, Hebrews 10 says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God because without Christ we cannot stand. And number five, I think this is one that is missed sometimes and difficult when we're in the midst of suffering to remember. I think I'm almost out of time. But to build up his church. And so God can use our suffering to build up his church.

36:37 But second Corinthians chapter one starting in verse three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation and our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

37:26 And so I think about this bleeding woman who we read about in Luke eight that she was in the presence of all. The people were watching her. They were watching and seeing her react, watching her attitude and in the midst of ourselves, I know there are many of us here who are going through struggles. We have crises. I think about, for example, Mr.

37:50 Woodham's, Mr. And Mrs. Woodham's and the difficulty in that and we see the suffering there. We see the toils and hardships there and we also see Mrs. Woodham's who is faithfully taking care of her husband and we're encouraged by those things.

38:04 And so I believe that God uses our suffering to build up his body, to build up the church. Our testimony, our attitude as all are watching can be used by God. I think about my grandpa, my grandpa Bingham who passed away of cancer And something that I remember starkly is that my dad told me that he was praying with my grandpa and my dad was praying for healing and while my grandpa when he prayed, he was praying that he would just remain strong and glorify God in it. And so when we see those among us who are suffering, when we see and I see your testimony and your hope in the Lord and your steadfastness in the faith that that encourages me, that builds me up and that causes me to seek the Lord and put further trust in him. And we think about our testimony among the world that the lost world and our own personal lives, people that we are in contact with that have not put their trust in the Lord.

39:14 And they see us in the midst of trials and tribulations that, and they see the hope that we have, the joy that we have in the Lord and how we persevere through that and continue to trust in God. God can use that to bring people to Christ. And so I hope that's an encouragement to you to that in the midst of suffering to keep these things in mind that God can use this mightily. That when we are weak, he is strong. And so in Romans twelve twelve it talks about being patient in tribulation.

39:47 Are we patient in our tribulation? Are we using our suffering as an opportunity for God to strengthen the faith of others? And is our testimony enduring through our suffering? Can we use it to bring people to the Lord? And I would say yes.

40:47 In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world. And so can we be like Jairus in a bleeding woman who have taken heart in the one who has overcome the world? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord we just thank you for the comfort that we can have in you Lord. The peace of God, the peace with God.

41:14 Lord we just pray that we would be, we would see ourselves as channels, as vessels of you Lord to be ambassadors of Christ. Lord and I just pray that we would just be used by you to work mightily to do mighty things for you to bring people to the Lord to build up the brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord we ask you these things in Jesus name. Amen.