Speaker 1: 0:01

Now Luke is trying to point something out. They were in real danger. Luke is saying they were not freaking out. Sometimes when we get in storms in our own lives, we might freak out and in hindsight be like I was a little bit of a diva there wasn't I? But here Luke is justifying it 100%. He says no, these seasoned fishermen who have been on boats their whole lives, this is how they make their money. They've seen storms come and go and they knew for a fact they were going to die. They wake Jesus up. They tell him Jesus, we're going to die. And Jesus wakes up and he kind of does what I do. When my kids wake me up at 2 in the morning, he rebukes them. You know the wind and the sea. He says go back to bed. He says it's all done and that's what Jesus does. And the storm calms and this kind of shows his divine authority over creation. Yes, up to this point, the disciples, those following him, they've seen some weird things, right. They've seen people raised from the dead. They've seen different miracles and healings. But this is also pretty freaking impressive, isn't it? Jesus comes and he says stop and the storm stops.

Speaker 1: 1:12

It is a moment in which you kind of look around at the other guys and gals in the boat and say did he just tell the storm to stop and did that storm listen? Well, let's talk about this part Again. If you grew up in and around the church and you've heard this story before, you probably have heard a teaching on the where is your faith part. Where is your faith? Because it feels like a rebuke, it feels like a criticism, it feels like Jesus is calling them out. Oh ye of little faith. That's actually not what's happening, you see. In other cases Jesus says oh ye of little faith. In other cases, jesus calls people out for not having faith, but in this situation, jesus is asking about its location. It's whereabouts Jesus says. I know you all have it, you all possess it, but where is it? It's like Jesus is reminding them you all have faith, but where is it? Did you forget about it? You see, let's be reminded.

Speaker 1: 2:28

The disciples didn't end up in the boat on accident. Jesus told them to get in the boat. Jesus cast a vision. This is where I want to go. Get there. And yet, following Jesus's commands, they faced a storm. They faced a life-threatening storm and just like those disciples, I want to assure you that you can follow Jesus into storms. If you're facing a storm in your life right now, it's not because necessarily you're doing something wrong or you're off the path that God doesn't want for you. You read this story and you see that following Jesus led them into this situation and circumstance. Had they stayed on the shore, they would have missed the storm, and I know that's what we prefer. Who would like a nice day at the beach, right? And instead Jesus has them loaded up in a boat in the middle of a sea and the storm hits.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Well, unless you're fishing out on Lake Mendota or Monona, you probably aren't going to get caught very often in a boat during a bad storm. But I bet for some of you there's a health crisis and, despite best efforts, there's a diagnosis which has turned your world upside down. I mean, you might be the person who eats healthy, you go to the gym, you get all the sleep and yet, despite all of that, your health isn't where it should be or where you want it to be. Maybe it's financial. I know many people over the last five years. You were careful planners, you budgeted, you saved and the economy turned and there were layoffs and things happened unexpected bills and now, financially, you're in a storm.

Speaker 1: 4:11

There are relational storms in our life. Maybe there's a fractured marriage and the fracture keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and the space between you and the person you love feels like this uncrossable chasm, might be a broken friendship. And despite your best efforts to hold that friendship together and you're trying, you send the text messages and you call and you're doing everything you see that the other person just doesn't want it and it's slipping through your fingers and you call out to Jesus, like those disciples did in your own storm, and you say Jesus, where are you? Well, let me remind you that these storms aren't about punishment. They're about the journey, this journey in following Jesus. And in these moments, jesus says where is your faith? Not as criticism, but as I know you've got it. So where is it? Or did you forget? You possessed this.

Speaker 1: 5:11

When life's storms rage, it's easy to lose sight of the one who commands the winds and the waves to cease. But Jesus is still there, he hasn't left you. You see, faith isn't about avoiding storms, but rather turning to Jesus to get through them. And so when you hear Jesus ask his disciples the question, and maybe yourself this morning, as you're in a storm, you're saying Jesus, where are you? And he responds where is your faith? Hear it as an invitation. Remember who you are, remember what you possess and remember the God you follow. Calms the storms not just outside of you but inside of you.

Speaker 1: 6:04

Well, after calming the storm, the Tim and the disciples they land on the other side, where they encounter a man who is tormented by demons. And this story is completely wild. We could probably spend five or six weeks alone studying this one, but I want to focus on the miracle in and of itself. The man was in complete spiritual bondage, possessed by, upwards to what we are told, a thousand demons. I mean, this is as bad as it gets. So far in Luke we've seen people demon possessed and Jesus heals them and casts demons out. But Luke is pointing this one out. He says this is the granddaddy of them all. This is the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1: 6:43

Jesus finds this guy who is chained to a cemetery. The town took this man outside, they took him to where all the things go to die and are buried and they chained him up there, said get out of here. And when Jesus approaches him, jesus finds out there's a thousand demons in here and we read in verse 28,. As soon as he, this man who was possessed, saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him and then he screamed why are you interfering with me, jesus, son of the Most High God, please I beg you, don't torture me, for Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out. The demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs, so Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned the man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him home saying no, go back to your family and tell them everything God has done for you. So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.

Speaker 1: 7:54

This story, like I said, it's wild, and these are just tidbits. You can read the whole thing later. This story is wild, but what it shows is that Jesus was spiritually outnumbered. Story is wild, but what it shows is that Jesus was spiritually outnumbered. Jesus won or three, depending on where we're going with this, versus a thousand. But even though Jesus is outnumbered, he is not outdone. It might look like he's going to lose the fight, but he doesn't lose the fight as a matter of fact, with very little said and very little to do, jesus wins this fight. This man was isolated and controlled by forces beyond his power, but even the demons recognized and respected and honored Jesus's authority, showing that, no matter how bad the spiritual battle is that you are going through today, jesus reigns supreme in your life. Now, I'm guessing not many of us today have walked by a cemetery with a man chained up to a stone and he says, hey, I'm possessed by a thousand demons, but that doesn't mean spiritual warfare isn't real. Spiritual warfare is real, it just doesn't look like that.

Speaker 1: 9:09

I think there are ways that spiritual warfare plays out in our own lives, like with our anxiety and our fear. Many of us battle anxiety about the future, the fear of failure, and sometimes, sometimes, spiritual warfare can make those struggles worse. And sometimes in that spiritual warfare, when it comes to fear and anxiety, it can lead us to doubt God's presence in our lives and even his goodness. Another form of spiritual warfare I think that we see people face has to do with temptation and addiction. Another form of spiritual warfare I think that we see people face has to do with temptation and addiction, whether it's substances, unhealthy relationships or distractions like materialism. These temptations can pull us away from God and being close to God, division and disunity. The enemy uses division to weaken families, friendships and, yes, even churches. Spiritual warfare often exploits this to create disconnection and isolation, depression and hopelessness. Many people face spiritual battles with depression and hopelessness, and the enemy works to keep us focused on our pain and circumstances rather than Jesus, the source of our freedom. Now I want to sidebar this for a moment.

Speaker 1: 10:23

Many of us, myself included, we do struggle with depression and anxiety, which can be and is oftentimes rooted with different biological mental health illnesses. Just because you have anxiety, you experience fear, you're dealing with depression, does not mean you're demon possessed or going through a spiritual battle. Sometimes those things are just medical and it's important to seek professional help for these struggles and, in some cases, medication. But I do want to point out I don't want to be naive either that spiritual warfare can intensify the things that are already going on in our lives. You might already have anxiety, but the enemy can exploit that and it's not just anxiousness anymore, but it disconnects you from your church, from your city and from God. You might already be depressed, but then the enemy uses that to isolate you and cut you off from God and then it turns into this spiraling cycle. You're not broken because you're dealing with anxiety, fear, depression. Those things happen. I get that, I experienced that myself. But we put ourselves in a bad situation when we let the enemy manipulate those things and negatively impact our relationship with God.

Speaker 1: 11:43

The key takeaway here for us today is that Jesus is bigger than your spiritual enemy. You may have and deal with anxiety and depression the rest of your life. You might fight this battle with addiction the rest of your life, but in Jesus we can have victory from the spiritual one who would have those things ruin us, to put us down and out. Just as Jesus told the man to go home and share what God had done for him, we are called to proclaim God's work in our own lives. Why? Because spiritual warfare thrives in secrecy. Spiritual warfare loves when you are isolated and when you are alone. Satan would love to pick you off by yourself and it's why Jesus says no, no, no, you can't come with me. You got to stay here. You got to be with your family, with your friends. Now the man probably had some questions too, like, do you mean the people who chained me to the cemetery? Like, yeah, tell them about what's happened. And the man does it. And by proclaiming what Jesus has done in our own lives, we remind ourselves and others that no one is beyond God's reach no one.

Speaker 1: 13:05

The final story here two more miracles. In Luke 8, we encounter Jairus' daughter and a bleeding woman. This woman, we're told, has been bleeding for 12 years. And despite these two having different statuses you see, jairus was a synagogue leader, this woman was an outcast. She would have been ceremonially unclean so had to be put to the fringes of her city, her physical city, just like the man in the cemetery was kicked out of the social circle. She also would have. The woman seems like she's beyond hope. And the man, his daughter, is dying and so time is running out on him. So let's read the woman's story here.

Speaker 1: 13:45

A woman in the crowd had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe and immediately the bleeding stopped. Who touched me? Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and I love Peter's answer here. Peter's the disciple. I think I relate to the most. Peter looks at Jesus and says the whole crowd is pressing up against you. What do you mean? Who touched you? Yes, all of them touched you. You can imagine? You can imagine Jesus. Somebody, jesus says, deliberately touched me, peter, for I felt the healing power go out of me. When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she touched him and that she had been immediately healed. Now listen to this Daughter. He said to her your faith has made you well. Go in peace.

Speaker 1: 14:53

So here's a woman who has this medical condition that the doctors can't figure out. It's made her a social outcast, an economic one. She would have not been able to have a job. And here she touches Jesus. And obviously Jesus, who has the power to heal someone without looking at him, knows who did it, knows who touched him, but he still asks her come forward, own it. And she does. Because the point is, jesus didn't just want to heal her soul, he didn't want to just heal her body, he wanted to recognize her. Do you get that? She could have touched him, been healed, and Jesus could have let it go. He did the hard part. The hard part is healing. But he says who did that. And when the woman realized she had no other choice but to say it was me. Jesus says my daughter, my daughter and I think some of you need to hear that my son, my daughter, I don't just take away the sins, I don't just heal you, but welcome to the family. This. Let me restore your identity. You see, the rest of these people may not even want you to be in the city, but you're part of my family, daughter.

Speaker 1: 16:04

Now Jesus is on the way to Jairus' to heal his daughter. And can you just imagine being him for a second? Your daughter is dying. Time is running out. And here Jesus stops everything to ask who touched him. Jesus, we gotta go. There are places to go, there is someone to see. This is literally the difference of life and death. I'm not exaggerating, but Jesus stops Now while Jesus was still speaking to her.

Speaker 1: 16:35

Here's the worst case scenario A messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader in the synagogue, and he told him your daughter is dead. There's no use in troubling the teacher. Now she's dead. Could she have been saved? Yeah, maybe, if Jesus didn't stop to heal this outcast with what he would probably consider be a little problem. Oh, it's uncomfortable. You have to live on the outskirts of town. Boo hoo, my daughter is about to die. At least you have a life.

Speaker 1: 17:05

You can just imagine Jairus just foaming with anger and then kind of the disrespect or not disrespect. But you can hear the messenger say why bother Jesus anymore? Here's a miracle worker, here's the teacher, he's got more important things to do now. And Jesus heard what had happened. He looks at Jairus and says don't be afraid, just have faith and she will be healed. And at that moment her life returned and she immediately stood up. And then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

Speaker 1: 17:44

You see, in this story all hope was gone, it was dead. Now you might be like in this story, just like the woman desperate, isolated, suffering on the fringes of society and wondering if you belong. But her story is a powerful reminder that Jesus sees you. Yes, he can heal you, he can forgive you, but he sees you, you belong, and calls you daughter, calls you son. He restores your identity and your dignity.

Speaker 1: 18:20

But Jairus' story reminds us that even when people say it's over and even when science says it's not possible, and even when medicine says there's nothing that we can do, even when all the doors are closed, jesus is the one who possesses the ability to open any door he wishes. All things are under his authority. You might be in a situation right now in which something feels dead. Well, jesus, if you would have done something last week, last month, last year, 10 years ago, that would have been great, but I don't know where you were or what you were doing. But now it's too late. Isn't that what happened in this story? Jesus was doing something else, and so someone died. And yet Jesus says your timing isn't mine. I'm not bound by time like you are. You see, there's no situation that's too dead for me to bring back to life.

Speaker 1: 19:22

And both stories of miracles teach us that faith is about trusting Jesus in the face of hopelessness, whether you're like Jairus in the face of hopelessness, whether you're like Jairus watching hope slip away, or the woman worn out from years of struggle. Today, jesus invites you to have an enduring faith. He's always at work, even when it seems too late. Trust in his timing. Trust in his timing. Have faith in what God is doing and reach out with persistence, knowing that Jesus always, always, always brings life when all seems lost. So, as we've seen in these stories, whether it's calming storms, healing a demon-possessed man, restoring Jairus' daughter and the bleeding woman, Faith isn't just something we believe. It's not just something we believe, it's something we live out, especially when life feels overwhelming.

Speaker 1: 20:28

In each story, we see disciples, those who knew Jesus well. We see strangers, people who had only heard of Jesus. We see a woman who knows if she knew anything about Jesus. We see different people from different walks of life facing obstacles that I know you're familiar with Fear, spiritual oppression, illness, hopelessness and all of them could have chosen a different route Isolation, self-reliance. I got this, god, Leave me alone. We're fishermen. We'll get this boat back somehow. We'll just see one more doctor my daughter's dead. I'll just go bury her Dead. People don't come back from the dead. They all had options, but instead they turned to Jesus.

Speaker 1: 21:16

And so, in your own life, as you're here today and you're dealing with fear, oppression, illness, hopelessness, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, whatever it is that you're dealing with, what will you do? Will you have the faith to trust and to turn to Jesus when life's storms crash down on us, when you're facing spiritual battles, long-term suffering, moments, when it feels like all hope is gone, what will you do? Will you retreat inward, try to fix things independently, find a way to numb the pain, or do we choose, like those in these stories, to reach out to Jesus with our crisis, with our trauma, with our grief? Everyone in these stories the disciples, a demon-possessed man, jairus, a bleeding woman chose to trust Jesus when everything didn't just seem out of control. Luke wants you to know it was objectively out of control. And every time Jesus met them with healing, deliverance and restoration. And it's no different for you today. These aren't stories 2,000 years ago that belong in the book of Luke and they're nice to read and encouraging but rather they tell the story of a reality, of a God who is still active in your life today.

Speaker 1: 22:45

James reminds us when troubles of any time come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. And in Romans, paul encourages us to rejoice in our confident hope and to be patient in trouble and to keep on praying. These passages remind us that trials don't mean that God is absent, but rather that, despite our trials. They're an opportunity for our faith to grow deeper and to grow in maturity. For us to grow in maturity. Growth comes when we actively turn to Jesus in our time of need. Paul and James, they don't just say you're gonna go through hard times, hang on. They say when you go through hard times, choose joy. When you go through hard times, keep praying. The answer is to keep turning to God.

Speaker 1: 23:39

And so this week, I want to challenge you to take an intentional step of faith. Maybe you're in a storm, battling spiritual forces. You've been suffering for a long time. Maybe it's two out of three, maybe it's three out of three, maybe it's four out of three. There's something else going on. Will you trust Jesus, even when the answers don't seem clear? Will you reach out to him instead of isolating yourself? Will you reach out to him instead of carrying your burden alone? Carrying your burden alone. Ask yourself this week what am I doing with my pain, my grief, my trauma? Am I taking it to Jesus or am I trying to manage it in my own strength?

Speaker 1: 24:23

All of these stories and radically different. If the characters in them decide I'm good, I don't want to trouble the teacher anymore. Who knows if they even make it in Luke. And what I want to encourage you, then today is to be reminded that this week, when you do reach out to Jesus, that's what makes the story, that's what makes it in to Luke, that becomes part of your narrative that you share, on how God did something. Luke isn't writing about the people who didn't turn up to did something. Luke isn't writing about the people who didn't turn up to find Jesus. Luke isn't writing about the people who were sick and said I'm not going to bother Jesus or oh, he can't heal me. Luke doesn't write about them, but he writes about those who step out, and Paul encourages us.

Speaker 1: 25:09

We can rejoice, too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of you. See, if today you find yourself suffering, god is working to bring out something beautiful. If you will allow him to, the choice really is yours, because he is eager. Will we turn to Jesus in our struggles, trusting him to bring peace and hope where everything in our lives seem lost? So this week, take your storm, take your battle, take your hopelessness and give it to Jesus. Reach out, touch the fringe of his robe and let him do what only he can do. And be reminded Jesus is always ready to meet you. He's always ready to say who did that? Who's reaching out to me? The challenge is simple, but it is profound. Will you trust Jesus with your life today?