Oh, the Lord bless you, dear
brother. Come and preach for us. Yeah, I've never heard better.
I've never heard better. I've heard some good preaching.
I had a mighty good preacher. I heard him preach on that. But
you'll never hear better. Bless my heart. And I didn't
hear what you just said. I didn't hear it. I'm hard of
hearing. Did you say that didn't get recorded?
Is that what you said? Is that what you said? Blessed are your ears. They hurt. That was meant for us. But now
I thought, Brother Mike, if you'll give me your notes, I'm going to take that home and
preach it. Yeah, absolutely. My dad says
if somebody preaches a better message than me, I'm going to
take it and I'm going to preach it. Right? Better yet, you come preach
it, okay? Come preach it for us. Wonderful. Turn to Mark chapter
5 with me. Mark chapter 5. You know every
message we preach is a life and death message. Did you hear me? I didn't say that. The Lord said
that through the Apostle, didn't He? He always causes us to triumph. He manifests the savor of His
knowledge by us in every place. It's a savor of life to life
or death to death. It really is a matter of life
or death. Like that ark, you're either in Christ or you're not.
And this is how the Lord puts people in that ark. This is how
the Lord puts people in Christ. Of God are you in Christ. And the power of God that he
uses to put you in Christ is this gospel. This is the power
of God. This is what the world calls foolishness. But unto us
which are saved, we've experienced this power and wisdom of God
in choosing preaching and the power of God. We've felt its
power, haven't we? It's not the man. It's not the
preaching. It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by Spirit
in it. But this is the Word of God. This is the voice of Christ.
He said, My sheep will hear My voice. And that's how they hear
it, through a preacher. It's not the man. It's not his
ability to do it. That's not it at all. We're not
making much of preachers. We're just a bunch of sinners,
just like you. But the Lord saved us the same way, didn't He? Didn't
He? I was dead. Dead. And buddy, one day the gospel
came and I was alive. Next thing I know, I'm alive
unto God. My ears are open, my eyes are
open, my heart. Right, Clarence? It's a miracle. It's amazing grace is what it
is. My, my. In every single audience,
every single congregation, there's the dead and there's the living.
Right? We're all born Dead, aren't we? We're all dead in trespass and
sin. We come forth from the womb dead,
and we're all dying. That's what the Lord said about
Adam in the garden, Adam and Eve. He said, the day you eat,
you'll surely die. Dying, you shall die. You'll
be dead in trespass and sin, and then you'll die someday physically.
We're all dead and dying. We're dying. Every one of us
in here, we're dying. That's why this is vital. I have preached several times
to people and the next day they're gone. Then what? Then what matters
really? What matters? Nothing. But Christ, when we say He's
all, it's true. There was a man years
ago who said, I preach as one that may never preach again. As a dying man to dying men. But so, and there's an urgency
here. This story here in Mark chapter
5, look with me. Mark chapter 5 beginning with
verse, oh my, how wonderful our Lord is. What great lengths He
went to to save one sinner. He had the disciples who never
knew where He was going. He had them get in a boat and
cross the ocean to save one maniac. That's what He did for me. He
crossed this great gulf to come to this demoniac, saved one fellow,
and said, get back in the boat. And he crossed back over again. Well, after that, he came here,
and look at verse 21. He passed over again by ship
onto the other side. And as much people gathered unto
him, he was nigh near unto the sea. And behold, there cometh
one of the rulers of the synagogue. Jairus by name. And when he saw him, when Jairus
saw the Lord, he fell at his feet. I mean he fell at his feet. And he besought him greatly with
all his heart, pouring out his heart, saying, little daughter is going to die. But it is serious to Him, wasn't
it? The title of this message is, Two Dying Daughters. We're going to look at two daughters.
One, the daughter of Jairus, and the other one, the Lord's
daughter. He called her daughter. Two dying daughters. One young,
one old. One about 12, the other one 50
or 60 or something. An older woman. There's always
both in one crowd. Always. There's always a young
girl who's dead and trespassed in sin. There's always an older
woman who doesn't know the Lord. She's dead too. As good as dead. And this ruler came. Now look
at this. This ruler came to the Lord.
Behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus
by name. Matthew says a certain ruler.
Don't you love where the Scripture says a certain woman, a certain
ruler. Our Lord said, All that the Father
giveth me will come. It's certain. Salvation is not
a possibility. Christ didn't come to make salvation
possible. He came to make it. certain.
A certain Savior was sent at a certain time to save certain
people, and He most certainly did it. We preach a salvation that's
certain. Aren't you glad? So that's our
hope. People say, if I only believed
the elect were saved, why preach? I believe it, and that's why
I preach. Don't we? I believe it. That's why I preach.
Our Lord said, I have sheep and this is what I use. Preach. Somebody's
going to come. It's certain. His Word will not
return void. Can't. It's living Word. It's
His voice. It's His voice. He said they're going to hear
it. You know, we draw a bow at a venture, don't we? We choose
a passage at a venture. And we don't know who the Lord
is going to use it on. We don't know when He's going
to use it, do we? It's like seed. Sow and seed. It's incorruptible.
It will not die. It may lay dormant for a while,
but it's going to bear fruit. Mike, that gives us courage. There was a story of a young
fellow in the Scriptures. A young fellow in the Scriptures. It was a fight. Ahab dressed
up like Jehoshaphat. And there was not one single
era that flew that day. There was no battle. Well, some
young boy got a bow and arrow, a brand new bare bow he'd never
shot before. You know, you got a gun when
you was a kid, and you were out in the wood and didn't see a
squirrel or didn't see a rabbit, so you said, I'm going to shoot
a tree. You ever do that? Bam. So you can shoot that thing.
Well, a young one fella got that bow and arrow, and he said, I've
got to shoot something. And he just shot it up in the
air. OK, let's go. And that arrow went, swoop, and
hit King Ahab just like the Lord said would happen. One arrow
flew and it entered in the very man that the Lord said, that's
what's going to happen. I'm shooting an arrow at adventure.
And I may be aiming at Bruce. I hope it hits you, Bruce. And
I missed. Oh, shucks. Because it ain't me. It's not
my word. It's not my power. It's not my
ability. If I could, if I could, I'd get
that boy right now, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Right now. Come to Christ. Wouldn't you? But I can't. But He can. I know
He can. If you want to get somebody, I'll get somebody. This certain
ruler cometh. Oh, all that the Father giveth
me shall come unto me. And it said, he saw the Lord. When he saw Christ, he fell at
His feet. Now, he had to hear of Him first,
didn't he? He had to. Or he wouldn't have fallen at
His feet. He knew who it was. He'd already heard. Faith cometh
by hearing. You need to hear His voice. And like John on the
Isle of Patmos, when you hear Him, you'll turn and you'll see
Him. You'll turn to see the voice. And bless God, you'll see Him,
won't you? And if you see Him as He is, if you see who He is,
if you're dead, if your daughter's dead, if you see Him, He's the
only One. He's the only One. There is no hope but in Him. You'll fall at His feet. Nobody
ought to tell you how to pray, Willie Mike. Come down front
and play the sinner's prayer. Throw you on that crap that's
giving Billy Graham the glory, isn't it? Oh, if you ever hear His voice
and see Him, who He is, you're only hope, my daughter's only
hope, if you know that this Gospel's her only hope, you'll bring on
Him. He'll say, Lord, speak to them. Lord, speak to them. My daughter is about to die. Right? Anybody got a dead daughter?
A dying daughter? Anybody? Everybody does. He fell at His feet. But this was before he asked
Him anything. Like the Syrophoenician woman.
The Syrophoenician woman came to the Lord for her daughter,
who was vexed with the devil. Anybody got a daughter vexed
with the devil? If someone is not led by the
Spirit of God, they are vexed with the devil. You're led by
one spirit or another, aren't you? There's no halfway point.
You're either under the bondage and captivity to Satan. Now she
might not have been a raving lunatic and all that. She might
have been a good girl. But she might have been so consumed
with this world and people and things and all that. That's people
that are captive to Satan and the things of this world, right?
You're either led by the Spirit of God or you're not. And the
Syrophoenician woman came in the same way, didn't she? It
says she saw Christ and she fell at His feet and she worshipped
Him. She worshipped Him. Before she
asked Him anything, she worshipped Him, didn't she? This man, before
he even asked something for his daughter, he worshipped him then.
He fell at his feet. People, if you ever see who Christ
is, and see what you are, an unworthy, unworthy, unworthy,
you'll fall at his feet, and the first thing you'll do is
you'll worship him. I remember as a young man, the
Lord was dealing with me. I didn't know it. I sang it.
Didn't know it. But I remember coming, and it
was a long time. I had no interest, no interest,
no interest at all. And one day, I kept coming, kept
coming, and I thought, I love this. I love to hear of my Sovereign
Lord. I love Him. I believe I was worshiping. But I thought it would be presumptuous
to think that I could be one of His people. Surely not me. I believe He has an elect. I
don't think I'm one of them. Now worship Him. Before you make
any request, you'll worship Him. Before there's any favors, you'll
worship Him. Before you even think you're
saved, you'll worship Him. Won't you? You'll worship Him. Like the Syro-Phoenician woman
again, before the Lord even spoke to her, she worshipped Him. He ignored her. Like the proud religious lost,
you know, they make claims, don't they? They're Lord. They're Jesus. They make claims.
And they say things like this, if you'll do something for me,
then I'll worship. I'll come to church if you'll
do this or do that. My wife and I went to a school
that my daughter was in. We put her in kindergarten. My
daughter is 31 or 32 now. I took her to school to visit
the school and the principal was a woman. We were talking
to her and she said, she said, I didn't have any children. I
never had any children. And she said, but when I get
to heaven, I'm going to ask the Lord, why didn't you give me
children? Like make demands. When I get
to heaven. God's people don't talk like
that. They think, if, if, if I get to heaven. Here's what I'm going to ask
the Lord. Why me? Why me? When I get to heaven, God's people
don't make demands of the Lord. They're not presumptuous. They
fear the Lord. They're reverent. They seek Him. This man says
he besought Him greatly, didn't he? He sought the Lord greatly,
didn't he? Jeremiah said, Jeremiah 29 said,
Seek me, you'll find me. When? When you search for me
with all your heart. All your heart. He said, I'll
be found in you. And he went on to say, I know
my thoughts toward you, thoughts of peace. And you're going to.
He said, they're going to. They're going to seek me with
all their heart. And you know what he said, Brother Fred? He said,
I'm going to hear them. He had this fellow come. He's
going to hear him. He gave him this horrible trial,
didn't he? To make him follow his feet and
call on him. Why? He's going to hear him.
That's why he's come. But this man's going to think,
he didn't hear me. This is wonderful. It's too good
for me. Bruce, pick this up and take it. It's too good. I'm speaking
thanks to a wonderful man. He came and fell at his feet
and he besought the Lord greatly. He said, My little daughter lies
at the point of death. As I said, is there not one thing
needful? As the Lord says, there is one
thing needful. Look at Jeremiah 9 with me. I
do want you to see this. Jeremiah chapter 9. There is
one thing needful. One thing needful. What do you
hope for for your children? What do you want for your children? Do you want them to have a good
career? Or do you want them to know Jesus
Christ? You want Him to be their career.
That's my life. That's what that means. Career. Answer me. Which is more important? Which matters? You want them to have it all
or for Christ to be all? Huh? But I tell you this about all
of us, all of us, our children and all that, it's all going
to end. We're going to die. And then what? Then what matters? Nothing matters. It doesn't matter
who they married. It doesn't matter whether they
had children or not. It really doesn't, about them. It doesn't
matter about them. It doesn't matter what they attained
to. It doesn't matter if they had education, didn't have education. Did they know Jesus Christ? In Christ? That's it. That's it. Do we realize that
our daughters are dead and dying? Do we realize that? Do we seek
the Lord greatly? Look at Jeremiah 9, look at verse
17, the Lord said, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye,
and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send
for the cunning, that's the wise women, that they may come, and
let them make haste. This is serious, and the matter's
urgent, it's short. Take up a wailing for us. that
our eyes may run down with tear, and our eyelids gush out with
water, a voice of wailing heard out of Zion. Oh, we're spoiled,
like Brother Mike's been preaching. We're so comfortable. But we're confounded. The land's
forsaken. Verse 20, Hear the word of the
Lord, ye women, women and men. Let your ear receive the word.
Let it sink down deep in your ears. Teach your daughters wailing.
You start wailing, teach your daughters wailing. What did our
Lord say when He was carrying that cross to Mount Calvary? When they started weeping for
Him? He said, don't weep for me. If I don't do this, there's no
hope. Don't weep for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. This man, you know he was weeping.
And I don't put much stock in tears, really. I don't. I get
upset at myself when I get emotional like that, and I do. But I tell
you what, it's hard not to sometimes. Because it's that serious. But this man, he sought the Lord
greatly. It's a life or death matter for
him. His daughter's dying. She said, she's at the point
of death. And our little daughters are too. Now, this young girl
is 12 years old, it says. Scripture tells us that. And
men take this and run with it and say, this is an age of accountability.
There is no age of accountability. The Lord deals with people individually,
doesn't He? According to His wisdom. But
if a child is old enough to hear this and reject it, If a young person is old enough
to say, nah, I'm not interested. They're old enough to be held
accountable. Right? I don't want that. He went with him. Look at this. He said, verse 23, My little
daughter Liza, at the point of death, I prayed thee, I begged
thee, come and lay your hands on her. You're my only hope that
she may be healed and she shall live. Isn't that our greatest
desire? I asked you what you want for
your daughters. You know, if they can, here's
what we had a daughter, an only daughter, the apple of our eye,
the joy of our life. She was just, oh, we loved her
so much, do love her. So much. Now we have two granddaughters.
And I can say the same thing for them. That our chief desire
for her and for them is that they might know the Lord. We
do want them to marry well. We want them to marry a man that
knows the Lord. We want them to marry a man that
knows the Lord because we know He'll love her like Christ loved
her. He'll love her almost like I
love her. It won't quite come up. And we
got one, don't we? The Lord provided us young gays. Wow, couldn't have picked. Well,
Marvin and I did. We did arrange that. We arranged
that. Anyway, you wanted to marry,
well, marry a man that loves the Lord and for your son. Marry
a woman that knows the Lord and to have children, that's a good
thing. It's a good thing. That's what the Lord told the
first couple in the garden. First thing He told them, multiply. First thing. Because it's a wonderful
thing. Wonderful thing. And that they
worship the Lord together, and if they both know the Lord, nothing
else matters. Does it? If they live in a trailer. And people, some of you did. We did. And if you love each
other and have the gospel, you've got it all. Don't need anything
else. That's our problem. Isn't that
our problem? Don't all our problems start
coming when we get too much? We had food and rain, but had
Christ and each other. What more could you ask for? I'd rather my daughter marry
a garbage man that loved the Lord. and them worship the Lord
together than a congressman. Well, that's for sure. Let me
get a better illustration of that. A doctor or a lawyer. Not a lawyer. I wouldn't want
that. A preacher. That's worse. Serious. I'm serious, aren't
we? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter
at all. Nothing ever accumulated. It
doesn't matter. Do they know the Lord? Our daughter does. But our two granddaughters, not
yet. And we don't know. That's our
greatest concern. Our greatest concern. School,
is that important? Well, yes and no. Oh, may they enter the school
of the discipleship of Christ. Well, this man asked the Lord
greatly, and the Lord, verse 24, he went with Him. He went
with Him. He's going home with Him. Would
the Lord Jesus Christ come home with you if you asked Him? The
Lord Jesus Christ. He did. He asked him, would you
come home? Yes, I will. It wasn't a hesitation,
Bruce, was it? Will you come home with me? Yes. Did he say that? Don't you know? Did you say yes? Well, people
thronged him. A crowd, a big crowd, everywhere
he went. Oh, this is what's so wonderful about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, no man like this ever. Thousands
of people thronging Him. Thousands of people clamoring
after Him. Thousands of people asking Him,
you know, to do this and do that and feed us and heal us and save
us. Oh, He never grew weary of that.
He never grew weary. He was never imposed upon. He
was never irritable, my friend. You ever get irritable? It doesn't
take much for me to be irritable. We had one daughter and I got
irritable. One wife, so I only had a thousand. The Lord never, nobody could
ever impose upon Him. Could never bother Him. I don't
want to bother Him. That's why I came. Isn't that
amazing? Ain't nobody like Him. I want to be like him, but I
just don't think I ever will be like that. Yes, I'll go home
with him. But they thronged him. And verse
25, a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve
years and suffered many things, a menaced physician, sorry physician,
quacks, and spent all she had and was nothing better but grew
worse. And when she heard, she heard,
He's here. Everybody said, He's here. Who? Jesus of Nazareth, like old Bartimaeus. He heard. Who is it? Who is it? It's Jesus of Nazareth
passed by. And she heard like Jairus heard.
He came. He came. South Venetian woman
heard. She came, didn't she? She came. This woman with the issue of
blood, she crawled. She came. We say, you know, we
need to do this, and they do that, and have an altar call.
We've got to give people a chance to be saved. Are you kidding
me? They're looking for a way to get there. God's people aren't
they? You don't have to tell them you
need to do this, you need to do that. They'll come. They'll come. They'll crawl
if they have to get there. Won't they? You can't keep them
back. She came. She came. She heard
of Him. Faith comes by hearing. She came
behind. Now, she had an issue of blood,
Scripture said, for 12 years. She had this issue, this dying
issue, something in her. We don't know what it was, but
it was something in her blood that she was dying from. People,
that's all of us. That's all of our daughters.
That's us, isn't it? We've got this issue in our blood. Brother Mike was preaching about,
your pastor preaches about, this issue called sin. It's very real,
isn't it? And we're born in it, dead in
it, and it's killing us. And it's why we're going to die.
It's why we're going to die. This issue that's in our blood.
We got it from Adam, didn't we? And Adam all died. This is the
issue. Isn't this the issue? Sin and
what can be done about it? Isn't this the issue? A woman
told my lady in our church one time, some religious woman, she
said, you all talk too much about sin. She said, I heard him preach. You know, they give out CDs and
all that. And the woman said, that's all. You all talk about
it and sin. That's why Christ came. That's
the source of all our troubles. All pain, all suffering, all
sorrow, all death, death, death. This is the thing that we're
all scared to death of. Isn't it? This is the thing we
don't want to happen. It's going to happen. Why? Sin. Well, what can we do about it?
Nothing. There's only one that can. And that's what we do, isn't
it, brother? We've been bitten by that serpent.
What are we preachers going to do? One thing, Brother Mike,
one thing. We're like that pole, aren't
we, Brother Fred? The only thing we're good for is holding up
Christ. If not, we're just dead wood.
This pulpit's dead wood if Christ and Him crucified is not preached
from it. You won't get a thing. But if Christ is preached from
this place, if Christ said, if I be lifted up, Somebody's going
to get healed. Yes, sir. It's certain. It's the power of God. It's His
voice. You say, why are you screaming,
Preacher? I don't know. That's just what preachers do. Because it's exciting. It really
is. And he told Isaiah, somebody
just read that. Lift up your voice. You read
it. Lift it up with strength. Tell them. What? Behold your
God. God is God. Don't listen to religion. Their God is not God. He can't
save. He wants to save. He wants to
save and can't. He is not God. You better call on another God.
Don't cry to a God that can't save. We are preaching a God
that saves. You need saving? Your daughter
needs saving? Your daughter needs saving. You need saving? Call. Like this man, Jairus. Would you come home with me?
Yes. Yes, I will. As I said the other
night, if you're not saved, you haven't called. Don't blame it
on the Lord. Oh, I believe in saving. I believe
only the elect will be saved. And if I'm one of the elect,
He'll save me. Now, if you don't call Him, Is that right? I didn't say that. God said it. Whosoever calleth on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. What's your name? Brad. Oh, what's
his name? That's good. It would be good
to forget our names, wouldn't it? What's your name? Brother
Fred read Ezekiel 36, what all God said, I will do, I will do,
I will do, I will do. Then He got down to the end.
What is that? You're going to ask Him to do it. Every one of us. They're going
to call on Him. Jeremiah 2 says, Whosoever shall
call. Who does? Whoever the Lord calls. But this is how you know He calls. They call Him. You don't know
otherwise. But if I'm saved, I'll be saved. You're going to call. And if
you call, you shall be saved. Isn't that a wonderful promise?
What's hard about calling? He didn't say climb Mount Sinai.
If you call and climb Mount Sinai, no, just call. And like Mike
said, We have been saved and being saved. I'm still calling,
aren't we? We're still calling. And buddy,
if He's called you, you'll keep calling until the day you die.
Call. She'd suffered many things. I've
got to hurry. She suffered many things, many positions. She heard
and she came in the press behind him and touched his garment and
said, if I could just touch his clothes. Oh my, what a message
that is. His clothes. You know, later
on, they cast lots for his clothes, didn't they? And somebody got
his clothes. This seamless robe. Bruce, somebody,
the lot was cast in the lap, but somebody got his clothes.
And they were covered with it. I want His clothes, don't you?
That's His righteousness. His robe of righteousness. I'm
naked like Adam and Eve. I need His clothes. I need the
clothed man. See, if I just touch His clothes,
the hem of His garment, Matthew said, the hem of His garment.
This is the high priest. He's got bells and pomegranates
on his garment. The hem of his garment. It's
different than the rest of those fellows. He's got bells ringing. Touch me! Pomegranate. Fruit. Bearing fruit unto the
Lord for us. I need somebody to go to Him
for me. My great high priest. That just touches the hem of
His garment. She did, buddy. She did. She said, I'll be whole. And
straightway, verse 29, the fountain of her blood dried up. And she
felt it in her body. She was healed of the plague.
The fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt healed. Now, before you feel anything, there
is faith. Before feeling, there is faith.
Feeling is not salvation. It is faith. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Like I said, I believed,
but I didn't really feel like I was saved. If you call, if
you call, and you come, and you love what you're hearing, sounds
pretty good to me. Whether you feel it or not, doesn't
it? That sounds pretty good. We preachers have this blessed
privilege sometimes of seeing the Lord do a work on somebody,
like old Eli on Samuel, you know. Samuel came running. Did you
call me? No. No. He knew who did. And isn't it a privilege to see
the Lord work? They don't often know it, do
they? They don't know it yet. The Lord's calling them. He's
talking to them. Life has already begun. It's
already begun. They don't feel it yet. They
don't feel it yet. But they're going to. They're
going to. Like this woman. Her fountain
was dried up. Her sins are gone. You know,
my sins were put away when Christ died on that cross. Long before
I was born, weren't they? Had to come a time when this
gospel really touched me, didn't it? It opened my heart and my
ears and my eyes. I'm not saying by feeling, but
if it's a hard work, you're going to feel it. You're going to feel
it. You're going to feel your sin,
your exceeding sinfulness of sin, aren't you? You're going
to feel that. You're going to feel a need for Christ, aren't you?
You're going to feel that. You're going to hear the message. It's going to meet your need.
You have a need. You're going to feel hunger. You're going
to feel thirst, aren't you? You're going to feel pain and
sorrow. You're going to feel poor in spirit. You're going
to mourn over your sin. You're going to feel all that. But her blood and her issue was
dried up before she felt it. She felt it. I've never felt this good before
in my life. That's what she said. I've never.
She felt, for the first time in years, peace, joy, rest. She's a picture of a religious
woman. You've heard this. A religious
woman's tried so many things, false positions, and just worse. But those that come to Christ,
hear this message of Christ, those that have been under legal
bondage are worse. And they come and they hear Christ,
and oh my, the joy, the peace, they've never had it before. Look on with me. I've got to
hurry. Somebody said, You see the multitude. And our Lord turned
in verse 13, knowing in Himself virtue had gone out of Him. Now,
power comes from Him. Who touched My clothes? He said.
Disciples said unto Him, You see the multitude thronging Thee.
Sayest Thou, Who touched Me? And He looked round about. He's looking for one person. He knew. But she's going to say
it. She's going to tell it. She's
going to confess it. She's going to tell everybody
what she was and what great things the Lord had done for her. And
he's looking around, and he's doing it this morning. Looking
around, but he's got somebody he's looking on. He saw her. And verse 33, the woman fearing
and trembling, knowing what was done in her. Who did it? He did it. In her. In her heart. Came and fell down. There she
is, falling down again. Before Him. And told Him all
the truth. Like that sorrowful, penitent
woman. Truth, truth, truth, truth. When you hear Christ, who is
the truth, everything you hear is the truth. That's the truth.
That's the truth. The preacher will get up and
call you a worm. Yes, that's the truth. They call you no good. That's the truth. They call you
a dog. That's the truth. Read on. He said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace. It's not her faith. You understand, don't you? Sure
you do. It's not anything she did. It's what Christ did. What
came out of Him. All faith is is looking to Christ.
Besides, it's the gift of God. Go in peace, behold of thy plague."
And while he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue.
Remember Jarius? They thronged Jarius. They thronged
our Lord Jarius. He was coming home with them.
He was coming home with them. He was so happy. He was overjoyed.
The Lord was going to do something for my daughter. And they thronged
him and he lost sight of him. And he got caught in a crowd
and he couldn't see him again. He's not coming. He's not coming. And the Lord
was doing something with somebody else. And he thought, He's forgot
about me. Jairus thought, He's forgot about
me. That ain't possible. Don't you love that? It ain't
possible. You said your father and mother
might forget you. But I can't. I've got you engraved
right there. I got you engraved right there.
Like you said, right there. But he thought, he's not coming.
He said he was. He lost sight of him, Brewton.
He lost sight of him. He said, I can't see him. You
think the Lord lost sight of Jairus? You think he ever took
his eye off of Jairus? Huh? He's looking over here.
He's looking over here. He's omniscient. He's looking
at this woman with the issue, but He sees all His people. He never takes His eye off His
children. Never. He's got seven eyes. He's lost
sight of them. He's not coming. He's not coming.
And they came to Jairus, verse 35, and they said, Your daughter's
dead. Don't trouble Him. Like I said, Like the Scripture
says, you can't trouble the Lord. John 11, when he came to marry
Martha, their brother died, you know. And it says, he groaned
in spirit and was troubled. And the margin says, he troubled
himself. You see, this is why the Lord
came, because of our trouble. He came and troubled himself.
He put himself through a great deal of trouble. In fact, He
bore our troubles. He came to bear all our troubles.
We're in trouble with God, so He was made sin for us. He bore
our trouble, so we'd be out of trouble. You can't trouble the
Lord. You can't trouble the Lord. That's
why He came. That's why He came. Well, He came. The Lord heard
and the Word was spoken. He said to the ruler of the synagogue,
Be not afraid, only believe. What does that mean, preacher?
I'm not sure I know. I really don't. I've tried to
preach on it many years. I do believe, but I sure got a lot of unbelief. Be not afraid. Only believe. Trust me. He suffered no man,
verse 37. Let me bring you something. Something
I forgot to bring you. Let me ask you this. And this
is good. told Jairus he was going to come
and deal with his daughter. But he didn't, and his daughter
died. But he went to deal with his
daughter. He called her daughter, didn't
he? Daughter. He went to deal with this older woman who had
a pressing issue. She had a pressing issue. And
the Lord dealt with her. She's an older woman. She's dying
too. And He went to deal with her first. Let me ask you something. If the Lord dealt with somebody
else's daughter rather than yours, could you rejoice? Could you? He might. Is that alright? It's a wonder He saves anybody. And I'll tell you this from experience.
It's true. His grace is sufficient. And
now listen to this. There are more pressing issues
than me, than us, than other people. That's why Paul said, think on
the things of others. Our Lord never thought of Himself.
He thought of others, didn't He? More pressing issue. True
story. 18, 19 years ago. My daughter was 15
years old, 18 years ago. She was about 15 years old and
didn't know the Lord yet. We were greatly concerned for
her. She's getting to that age, you know. Before she goes out
in the world, we want her to know the Lord. Well, she didn't
know the Lord yet. Well, there was another young lady in our
church, 25 years old. Shannon was her name. She didn't know the Lord either.
And we were calling on the Lord to save both of them. Both of
them. And bless God. And this girl,
Shannon, was a troubled girl. She was beautiful, beautiful. So all the guys were after her,
you know, and there's some sorry fellas after her. I'm telling
you, some sorry fellas. And the Lord revealed Himself
to her, and she wanted Christ, and wanted to be with His people,
and loved to hear the Gospel, and she wanted to follow Him.
But now she's single, she's out in the world, she's working a
job, and all those troubles, you know, troubles, and all these
guys pulling at her, the world's pulling at her. I believe she
knew the Lord. She was a troubled young lady,
troubled, troubled, troubled, all the time troubled, wasn't
she? by the things of this world, by our own sinfulness and all.
One night coming home from work. She worked at a supermarket.
Coming home from work, beautiful, 25 years old. We loved her dearly. The only daughter of the couple
in the church. Coming home from work, fell asleep
at the wheel. Dead. It's a more pressing issue. and
my daughter. I didn't know it. But Brother
Bruce, I'm telling you, isn't it so? When the Lord revealed
Himself to Shannon, it wouldn't have been better if He had said,
it's your daughter. It wouldn't have been better
at all for you. We were thrilled. Thrilled He answered our prayers.
Could you? Bless God, he answered both.
He delights to show mercy. More pressing issues than me. He came, look at verse
37. I said I got to quit. Remember Brother Mitchell used
to say, I'll be brief. He said, you know, all men are
liars, aren't they? Verse 37, Peter, James, and John,
the brother, he took Peter, James, and John, the brother John, the
brother of James, took them with him. There's three preachers sitting
right there this morning. The Lord sanctioned these three
men, Peter, James, and John, before the eyes of the parents
of this daughter, saying, these are my men. They're coming with
me. Your daughter is going to be
raised. They're going to be with me. You see what I'm about to say?
God is pleased. Like He said, He's raised up
pastors after His own heart. And the Lord's in heaven now,
isn't He? But He sent out these men. And
He's got men whom He sanctions. And how He sanctions them is,
they preach the truth. And buddy, if your daughter's
going to be raised, it's going to be through the
preaching of the gospel. That's right. Who are these men? The
parents may have said, they're my men. If you don't receive
them, I'm not coming in. Right? But if you receive them,
I'm coming in. I'm coming in. And he came in. And the people,
you know, were all wailing and all that. Why make you this do?
Verse 39, Why weep ye, the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth? And
they left him to scorn. Nothing's changed. You know that?
When Shannon, that blessed girl, we held her, people that didn't
know the Lord were there weeping and wailing. People like to show
you how much they're grieving, don't they? We were grieving. Her parents were grieving. Oh,
were they grieving. They were grieving, but they
weren't weeping right then. They were smiling. They weren't grieving. They were smiling. And people say, what's wrong
with you? And what we're saying is she's
not dead. She's not dead. You're dead. My sister, the Lord took my sister.
She's not dead. Danette's not dead. It's your
mother. The Lord took your daughter, didn't He? She's not dead. We're in the land of the dead.
She liveth. Ever liveth. Right now. Oh, that I might go. They said
that about Lazarus, didn't they? Let's go die with him. Now, Dad
wants to die so bad. Anybody know anything about that?
Oh, he wants to die so bad. He'll die right now if he could.
How many people want to die right now? She's not dead. And then the
opposite is true. When we tell people in the world,
your daughter's dead. Oh no, no, she's not dead. She's
got it made. She's got a degree and she's
got a good husband and children and all that. She's got it made.
She's living the good life. No, she's dead. It's just the opposite. Men are
confused. It's not the land of the living, it's the land of
the dead. Right, Delper? That's the land of the living. They left him to scorn, but he
put them out. Get out. And he taketh the father
and the mother and the damsel and them that were with him and
entered in where the damsel was lying. He took the damsel by
the hand and he said to her, when the Lord saves us, He is
going to talk to us personally. Oh Lord, take my daughter by
the hand. Take my granddaughter by the hand. Take my husband
by the hand. Take my wife by the hand. Take my son by the
hand. Would you please? Take him by the hand, or her
by the hand, and would you speak to her? Would you quicken her?
Would you speak to her? Because if you do, she'll be
quickened and she'll arise. And he did. Damsel, young lady,
I say unto thee, arise. And straightway. And the damsel arose, and what
did she do? Walked. The Lord saved somebody that
walked by faithfully. You know, she was 12 years of
age and they were astonished. Astonished. Astonished. Salvation
is astonishing. Our astonishing Lord. Amazing
grace. Not just grace, it's amazing.
Not just grace, it's great grace. Great mercy. Great love. And
He charged them straightly that no man should know it. And He
commanded that something should be given her to eat. Is she alive? Is she alive? Yes, she is. How do you know? She's walking. Is he alive? Yes, he is. Look
at him, he's walking in the... You used to have to drag him
into the church house. And you'd get him in the pew,
he'd fall prostrate, not at the Lord's feet, on the pew, asleep. And I was walking, willing, walking
in there with the people of God, walking into the house of God,
wanting to be there, loving to be there. Give him something
to eat. What's he eating? Straw. No, not healed. Surely not healed. This is astonishing. That old
boy, that's what they said about me. Ain't no way. Ain't no way. That's what they said. Yeah,
there is a way. There's just one. It's this way. That's what happened to me. The
Lord spoke to that. And here I am, eating straw. May the Lord bless you. I love
you. Thank you so much.