Church 3/15/2026
Sermon message:
Thesis: God always makes time for you.
Jesus: My sheep know My voice.
Distinguish between His voice vs that of the world, the devil, and your flesh.
Question: Will you make time for God?
Oftentimes people’s schedules were busy. Jesus’s schedule also was busy. But He still made time for God.
Philip asked: will You show us the Father?
Jesus: if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father.
“Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”John 14:9 NKJV
Let’s first talk about Jesus’s busy schedule.
Jesus had preached and ministered to lots of people. Then He and His disciples went out on a boat. Jesus was so tired that He fell asleep. Then they went to the pagan side, cast out a demon. Then back in the boat to go back to the Israelite side to preach some more.
Point #1: When you are desperate, go to God.
No matter what is going on, go to God.
When Jesus fed the five thousand, it was probably more like twenty five thousand when including women and children.
So these crowds were actually significantly bigger than what was recorded.
Nonetheless, Jesus still had time for individuals.
Focus passage:
“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 twelve 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 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 Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” Now 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 she was healed immediately. 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.” 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. 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.”Luke 8:41-56 NKJV
If you’re prosperous and blessed, God makes time for you.
“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 twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.”Luke 8:41-42 NKJV
And if you’re poor and downcast, God makes time for you.
“Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,”Luke 8:43 NKJV
Point #2: When desperate, be determined.
(But also be humble. Pastor didn’t add this but I think it’s important. God doesn’t reward entitlement or entitled behavior. We still need to always humble ourselves before God.)
“came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.”Luke 8:44 NKJV
Her uncleanness didn’t go into Jesus and make Him filthy; His cleanness cleansed her.
Point #3: Jesus took time to deliver.
“And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ””Luke 8:45 NKJV
Jesus’s disciples: what do You mean, “who touched Me”?
Jesus: this is different. Someone touched Me with faith. I know this because I felt power go out of Me.
“But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” Now 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 she was healed immediately. And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.””Luke 8:46-48 NKJV
Point #4: God responds to faith.
“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.”Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
Point #5: God has not forgotten about you.
“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.” 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. 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.”Luke 8:49-56 NKJV
God still remembers Jairus and his daughter.
God has not forgotten the pain, disappointments, challenges, questions, etc that have been in your life.
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”Galatians 6:9 NKJV
Jesus raised two people from the dead prior to Himself: Jairus’s daughter and Lazarus. But those two eventually died later on. But Jesus lives forever. He rose from the dead and has not died since.
Note after the sermon: unfortunately, these notes aren’t quite the entire sermon. I wasn’t able to get the offertory scripture, nor the first three or so minutes of the message. After yesterday’s blog post, specifically my response to it afterwards, I felt that it was necessary to post the most recent sermon today. This message was a direct follow up to the message posted yesterday.
I would say that I do go to God specifically the God of the Bible regularly in my life. I would say that most of the time it’s not with thanksgiving, but with either a need or a complaint. Interestingly, a recent devotional in my Bible app focused on this verse:
I would say that I do go to God specifically the God of the Bible regularly in my life. I would say that most of the time it’s not with thanksgiving, but with either a need or a complaint. Interestingly, a recent devotional in my Bible app focused on this verse:
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!”Psalms 105:1 NKJV
The devotional broke down each of the components of the verse: 1. give thanks to God. 2. call upon His name. 3. make His deeds known to other other people/preach the Gospel. Additionally, this verse in the New Testament also has a similar formula:
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV
Here the formula is thus: 1. rejoice in God. 2. always pray. 3. give thanks to God in everything.
I think if yesterday’s post revealed anything to me, among other things, it’s that I’m still trying to reconcile what I know about God, Jesus, and the Bible, with the parts of my life where I really was truly let down, and from which I to this day am still recovering. How can I honor narcissists who God placed in my life but who never had my best interest in mind? How can I trust God who placed me in the family and situation that I was, in which the effects still linger to this day? How do I know that He won’t mess it up again like He did before? And, regarding my errors, I still put out the question: how was I supposed to know?
I don’t believe I’ve ever truly doubted that He is able; but I have doubted whether He is truly good, because I cannot see how somebody who places narcissists in my life to lord over me can truly be good. Yes, I am grateful that I no longer have narcissists directly in control of my life anymore. But now I have a community who frankly just doesn’t “get it.” And the community that I used to have did “get it,” but I felt like I was forced to give that up. So I don’t know what to believe anymore.
[Note: regarding the above two paragraphs, please proceed to my March 19, 2026 post for a response / update. In short, I repented.]
Regarding the second point, I felt compelled to add the parenthetical that I did during that moment in the service. I remember chatting with my now mother-in-law a few years back when she admitted to me that she was feeling rundown and not thrilled to face a Christmas holiday season of volunteering at church. From my counseling background, it was clear to me how I was going to advise her. I encouraged her to set boundaries. I firmly believe in doing the same. However, what ended up happening was, when it came down to it, she raised such a stink in the church meeting because they had decided to put it to a vote about whether they have Christmas Eve service or not. (I think it must’ve fallen out a weekend, which is why they were putting it to a vote in the first place.) They ended up having the service, and she ended up serving. More recently, like sometime in the last few months, it briefly came up in conversation between her and me again. Her perspective had defaulted to: she had made a commitment, so regardless of how worn down she was, she decided she still had to report for duty regardless.
(I disclose this publicly not to put her down. I am privileged to call her a friend, and I do consider her a great resource in certain areas. What this series of exchanges revealed to me is that, I have to be very careful about encouraging people in certain ways, otherwise they are liable to default to the flesh and become entitled and arrogant. I think in certain respects, when I encouraged people previously to set and defend their boundaries, they always handled it in a humble and mature manner. It did not occur to me until the last five or six years that there is a large swath of society that legitimately has issues with entitlement and arrogance, to where even the tiniest of encouragement will lead to it. We have a great country because of God and because of our current president, but unfortunately, the downside to “winning so much” is that we become full of ourselves. This is why, after the results of the most recent presidential election, I exhorted other conservatives not to gloat. Unfortunately, many of them have chosen to. Swinging our country back to a conservative value system is a great first step, but only revival back to an authentic faith and relationship with Jesus Christ can truly change our country’s fortunes for the better long-term. After all, only God can get any nation back on its feet. Once we forget that it was Him and not us who did that, we slide right back down again. And I pray that this doesn’t happen the way I fear it might.)
All that to say, it’s not wrong to be determined. But it is wrong to be arrogant. And I’m confident I’ve been guilty of both, as well as the opposite, where fear of being perceived as arrogant prevents me from being determined. It is why I firmly believe that on our own strength, we can never ever get it right. Only Jesus Christ himself can make it right, plus whatever strength He gives us at any given point in time.
The next two points are encouragements on what God does. These points in any given sermon are ones that bring me comfort and peace, because it focuses on what God does. Any sermon message that puts the focus on us, or even me specifically, by default makes me uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable because the way these points come across are as if we have to rise above our current position on our own strength. It assumes an expectation of agency in people far too often when it does not exist. Sometimes, I am genuinely doing the best I can with the knowledge that I have. And even then, it still often falls way short.
Therefore, focusing on God, which is what we should be doing anyway, actually goes much further regarding getting our mind off difficulties or challenges in our life. We’re supposed to be thinking about what God does, not what we ought to be doing, regardless of whether we have the ability or not! God did split the Red Sea for Moses’s Israelites to cross and then close it when their enemies tried to follow them. God did protect Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, as evidenced by there being a “fourth man” in the fire. God did direct the stone in David’s sling to go deep into Goliath‘s forehead and knock him over. God did stitch the lions’ mouths shut when Daniel was in the den with them. And God raised Jesus from the dead.
Finally, I am trying to get myself to believe that God has not forgotten about me. I’m aware of my sins. God is so holy that He and sin cannot coexist in the same space. And I’m also aware of the caliber of my sins. While, yes, some of them have been as a result of backsliding, others have been a result of knowing and not caring. I have been told to rejoice, to not long for the past, and to remove distractions. To date, almost a year after I received the first of those commands, I am not sure that I’ve been very successful at it. I can’t even claim faithfulness in this either. Have I tried? Yes. But there have also been times when I haven’t tried. I do understand the Bible says that God is not a man, therefore He cannot lie, nor can He repent. That alone, plus Jesus’s finished sacrifice on the cross, is the only hope I have for restoration, let alone eternal life. Because most humans that I’ve known in my life, particularly other Millennials, have chosen to leave me behind in the dust because of my sins. And when I look at it, honestly, I’m aware that I have deserved it and even worse. Only by God’s grace has it not been worse. (I’m not a typical Millennial, and neither is my wife; as such, neither of us have gotten along with most others from our generation, and it doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.)
Regarding also the point, “God has not forgotten about you,” this is not the first season of life where I’ve come up against understanding this reality. Fourteen years ago, I hit a form of rock bottom in my life where I realize that for my life to ever get better, I need to make some major changes; and for me to make any change, let alone major ones, I needed to do something drastic. That led to almost a decade of intensive counseling, which helped a lot. I got to a point where I was indeed able to graduate. Life was looking up. And then the challenges I’ve faced since then have put me back, in a sense, to where I was fourteen years ago. So I don’t know what change is going to need to look like now. The safety net that God provided then through family is no longer there. I understand now that God is not limited to certain methods of provision versus others. But I’m going to need it one way or another if I am ever going to get back to where I was six years ago when I was ready to graduate. And I think that, more than anything circumstantial, might be my prayer at this time.
It’s not often I post prayer requests online like this, but my wife quit her toxic job a week and a half ago without another one lined up (the boss’s toxicity necessitated this) and this is her last week there. I thank God I still have my job. But the road, already rough, is about to get even bumpier. So please pray that she gets another job quickly, but also that it is a good job and not toxic.