If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Mark. We have been in a series called "Dream". A lot of us need change in our lives and during the beginning of the year, a lot of times we will set goals, or look at different targets that we would like to hit. I think all of that is important and valuable because you really can’t have change in your life unless you have a plan. There always has to be a plan. There has to be a decision that is made. We talked last week about diligence; one of the best friends of a dream is a person that is willing to be diligent every day.
We are also going to talk about being determined. I believe the two bookends of the dream that God wants to give you and seeing the dream come to pass in your life is determination, being determined. A lot of times we can talk about a dream and for some it ignites them. There is a spark on the inside because there is this feeling of I have a dream in my life; I have a dream about getting married. I have a dream about this creative idea I feel like has been given to me. I have a dream about being used of God in my workplace. For other people, sometimes you talk about a dream and it can be a depressing thing. It can add hurt because they feel like someone has stolen their dream or that their dream has been wounded or that their dream has been lost. All these things can take place in our life, but we have to, at times, be able to focus on God’s promise because God has promised us in this book of truth, this Bible that we have, which is, I believe, God’s divine journal for us. I believe that in this Bible, God offers you and me a dream. He offers us a life and purpose and mission that is beyond just existing, just living as a zombie. There is more to life than just functioning.
One of the scriptures we talked about is Jeremiah 29:11, "For 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." The other scripture we looked at is Hebrews 11:6. It tells us how we have to walk in faith. That if we have a dream; if we have a hope, if we have a promise in God’s word that we have a future; that we can have a purpose in our life; that we can live in God’s will. One of the things that have to merge with that promise is the element of faith. Faith is where we rely on God and trust in God. Even though we can’t see it, there is this feeling that we are going to trust God. This is what the scripture says in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." The rewards of God are given to those who diligently seek Him. I believe God wants us to dream a big dream.
I learned a little something about this. We were getting ready to start Healing Place Church and one of the men who have helped shape my life is Pastor John Osteen. He passed away a few years ago. We would go over there to Lakewood Church and speak for them. One weekend we were there and Pastor John wanted me to share about seven minutes at the church about what God is doing among your people. I was nervous and he said, "You have seven minutes, not eight." DeLynn was going to sing a couple of songs and she wasn’t nervous at all. I spoke as fast as I could. It took about five minutes. When I was walking down the stairs he said, "Blessed are the short winded, you will speak again." I was sharing the dream about South Baton Rouge and I was kind of fumbling through it and he looked at me and asked, "How big is your dream?" He said, "We serve a big God that has a big dream. You need to get a hold of a God-size dream."
I find out the more I think about it that many times the consequences of our life are determined by the size of our God. A lot of times due to schedule and due to life, we have shrunk our God. Our life says that we serve a tiny Jesus, but in reality we serve a gigantic God. Can I have a better Amen? That ministered to me. He wrote the first check that was ever given to Healing Place Church. What is your dream? What do you want to see happen in your life? How big is your "want to"? How tiny has God become based on the condition and the circumstances that you face? What is the story that you want to see written across the pages of your life? There comes a time where we’re going to have to be determined if we are going to see the dream of God come to pass in our life. I like being around people that are determined; that are willing to go through change; that are willing to pay a price; that are willing even at times to suffer so the dream of God can come to pass. I see them all the time here at Healing Place Church.
You hear stories of people and all of us have our issues and challenges. One of the things I am always reminded of is when Jesus had encounters with people. When you read the New Testament you see these encounters over and over again that Jesus had with individuals when their dream had been stolen in their life due to one hundred different reasons. A lot of times when I read the New Testament, and I read the scriptures, it’s almost as if we are able to peak over the shoulder of Jesus as He has an encounter with someone that was just like us. You know what I have learned? The truth that was represented in scripture then, is truth for us today. The Bible says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. We are able to look at these windows of scripture and we are able to be encouraged about the dream in our lives, just like many of you have.
One of those windows is in Mark 5:24. It says, "So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him." This is the story that begins with a different encounter that Jesus has. He gets out of the boat and there is a large crowd. There is one that interrupts the crowd by the name of Jairus. He was the ruler of the synagogue and a very popular individual in that community. He gets Jesus’ attention and asked Jesus to come and heal his daughter. Jesus, full of compassion, wanting people to know that they matter to Him, begins to go with this who’s who in the community. Everybody wanted to be there to see His miracles. The Bible tells us that when Jesus is headed to take care of this little girl, it switches scenes and tells us that a woman was there also. It gives a little history. A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors. She had spent all that she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.
Have you ever had a problem that got worse? There are times that we go through things that seem to get worse. Here is this lady that had been to every doctor and they did not help. Socially no one wanted to have anything to do with her because she was viewed as unclean, as unfit. She was viewed that she had a problem. Do you know what? This young lady was not even welcome in the synagogue. She had been labeled. Isn’t it amazing how people can define your failure way beyond the actual failure? This is what took place in her life. The Bible says that somewhere hope emerges in her. The Bible tells us, and then she heard that Jesus was in her area. She came to Jesus. I don’t know what type of guts that took. Could you imagine being a type of person that no one wanted to have anything to do with you. You had lost your dream. Here she is dealing with that situation, but somewhere deep in her heart, she decides that I cannot live this way. I am determined that these things have to change and she hears about a Physician that had good success with incurable diseases. He had done real well with the blind and the lepers. She had this urge that maybe this Physician can help me.
The Bible tells us that when she gets close to Jesus, she realizes that there is a crowd around Jesus. The Bible says that people were pressing Him. That didn’t stop her because there are times in our lives when we have to reach through the crowd and reach through the opinions of others to get a hold of the dream. She did this. The Bible tells us that she begins to reach through the crowd as Jesus is passing, she begins to reach through the crowd and she can barely see. Everyone is pressing. She is determined that if she can touch Him, she will be made whole. She said, "If only I could get a hold of God in my life. If only I could get a miracle, I could be whole. I could be normal. I could go back to living my dream". There are going to be obstacles to every dream in this house. Every single person has a dream. How many knows that when you follow the dream, you are going to have to jump some hurdles? She has this hurdle of all these people. But she manages to reach and she sees just a part of His garment and she gets a hold of that thing. The Bible says, immediately she was made whole. The bleeding stopped. She stood there in amazement.
Then it shows Jesus, as He is walking and all of these people are around Him. He turns around and says who touched me? He is saying, someone grabbed hold of who I am. There were all kinds of people touching Him, but there is only one person that grabbed Him. In life, sometimes you have to grab hold to what God has for you. Somebody grabbed me. He stops and He begins to look for her. He knows that something has happened. Suffering always stops Jesus in His tracks. It says, she came before Jesus trembling and she kneels down and tells Him everything. Jesus looks at her and says, "He said to her, ’Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’" That was the first time that Jesus called any woman daughter. Do you know what those words would do to a woman’s heart that had been expelled from family? I love these last words, "and be freed from suffering."
What an amazing encounter. She got her deliverance because she was determined and she would not be defeated by the crowd. Jesus gave her dream back to her. The dream that she can live again and she does not have to settle for second-class living. This is what tradition says, that she was one of the ladies at the foot of the cross. There is even tradition that says she walked with Jesus her whole life all the way to the cross. When God does something like that in your life, it changes everything. Many of you are here and you have been through a time where you lost your dream and you lost your hope. God wants to give you back your dream. If He did it for this woman with an issue of blood, He will do it for you. He will do it for your marriage. He will do it for your children. God is a dream builder. He wants to see the dream built and to see you live a life that glorifies Him. Isn’t that a great window to see the Jesus that we serve? Don’t you want to live for Him? Don’t you want to be obedient to Him? Don’t you want to surrender everything to Him? Don’t you just want to give Him your all? I do. I just want to serve Him. Amen
