Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on February 16, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
All right. Okay. This is for a show of hands today. Do you ever have conflicting priorities in your life? Have you ever had seven must do things on your list today, but you only have time for six? Or someone that you dearly love or that you work for asks you to do something for them when your schedule is already full, does that ever happen? Or there’s the unexpected emergency arises that upends your plans for the day, the week, the month, or even possibly for the rest of your life? Anybody had that happen to you? Priorities conflicting with one another are part of our lives all the time and what we’re going to be seeing. In the passage today, there were some conflicting priorities, and everybody thought Jesus needed to attend to their priority first. But what we’re going to learn is that Jesus went by his own priorities. And we’re going to see how he lived his life out under God’s priorities and not under the priorities of others. And we’re going to be looking at some ways to help us to live like Jesus did. Jesus lived as a human so that he could empathize with us. He knows what it is like to deal with conflicting priorities. And because he lived a life like us, he’s able to pray for us. He feels for us. He knows what we’re going through. How did he deal with conflicting priorities? And what can we learn from him about handling conflicting priorities? Today, let’s turn in the Scriptures to Luke chapter 8 as we read verses 40 through 55. When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Just then a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus feet and pleaded with him to come to his house because he had an only daughter about 12 years old, and she was dying while he was going. The crowds were nearly crushing him. A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years, who had spent all she had on doctors and yet could not be healed by any, approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped. Who touched me? Jesus asked. And when they all denied it, Peter said, master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you. Someone did touch me, Jesus said, I know that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before him in the presence of all the people. She declared the reason she had touched him and how she was instantly healed. Daughter, he said to her, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, you Daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore. When Jesus heard it, he answered, don’t be afraid. Only believe and she will be saved. After he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. Everyone was crying and mourning for her. But he said, stop crying. She is not dead, but asleep. And they laughed at him because they knew she was dead. So he took her by the hand and called up, out, child, get up. Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And then he gave orders that she be given something to eat. Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened. May we pray. Heavenly Father, as we look at your word today, help us to see how it’s meant here to help us, to assist us to live our lives according to your priorities. And in doing that, we know that we are always doing and saying the right things, moment by moment and day by day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. My priorities are always paramount. Doesn’t matter what your priorities are. Mine are most important. That’s. That’s how most people look at life. And we have the crowd here to start with. They had a priority. It says when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. They wanted to see more miracles. They were wondering, is he the Messiah? And while he was going, the crowds were nearly crushing in on him. Even Peter said, master, the crowds are just hemming you in and pressing against you. Jesus was a celebrity by now, and everybody basically wanted to get his autograph. Okay, you kind of have the idea, like at a concert or someplace. Not literally, but they were so eager just to be around him. They wanted to see him do a miracle. They wondered if he was the promised Messiah. And the least concern in their life was this woman that was bleeding. They had no knowledge she was there. And they probably weren’t even really concerned about Jairus and his daughter. They had a priority just to see Jesus. Then we have Jairus, who comes along in verse 42, who had an only daughter about 12 years old, and she was dying. He had a very different priority that was paramount to him. This little girl who was very dear to his heart, only about 12 years old. We would say, she’s too young to die. And Scripture tells us that she was so very ill that she was to the point of death. And his desire was that Jesus would come. Not just strolling along, but he wanted Jesus to run, to come to his house and to heal his daughter. The man was in A great position in life. He was the leader of the synagogue. He was probably wealthy. He had everything possible that he could spend on his daughter to bring her back to health. But neither his prestige nor his wealth were able to relieve her from the crisis that she was in. The crowd wants to see Jesus, wants him to stay there. Jairus is wanting Jesus to come with him. And then all of a sudden, we learn of this woman who in verse 43 says that she was suffering from bleeding for 12 years. She had spent all that she had on doctors, but she couldn’t be healed by any. How old was the little girl? About 12. And how long has this woman been bleeding? We don’t have any comment about that in Scripture. But in my mind, when that child was born and she began to bleed, God was looking 12 years down and seeing that both of these situations, their paths were going to intersect and they were going to bring glory to him and faith to those that were involved. What was life like for this woman? Well, according to Jewish law, she was going to be unclean because she was bleeding. And once she stopped bleeding, she would be unclean for another seven days. No one was allowed to touch her or they would be unclean. The bed that she slept in was unclean. The couches that she sat on were unclean. Any dishes that she touched were unclean. Any pots or pans that she touched, any doorknobs, anything that she touched would have been unclean. So imagine she was possibly a mom. What did that mean for her family? They were just continually unclean all the time. We don’t see any family in the picture here, probably because they were unable to live with her. But not only was she unclean in her house, but she couldn’t go to synagogue, which would have been their church. She couldn’t go out in the marketplace because anything she touched there would be unclean. She was living in dire straits. There was no more medical help. There was no more money for her. There was no more social or religious life. She couldn’t have friends and family come up and hug her and say, we feel so bad for you that you’re having this ongoing problem, this medical problem. She was completely alone. She couldn’t work because any job that she did would make her touch things and make them unclean. And she couldn’t make anything to sell because all of those things would have been unclean. You see how dire her situation is. She has a priority in her life that is paramount and most important to her. She just wants to do what she wants to See Jesus, and she knows that if she just touches him that she will be healed. So we’ve got all these priorities going on. Jairus wants Jesus to go that way. This woman is wanting to be healed. The crowd just wants to be him. We have immediate priorities. We have ongoing priorities here. The immediate priority is this girl is about to die. And the ongoing priority is that this woman’s been bleeding for 12 years. Can she wait another day? Can she wait a few more hours? When Jesus goes and takes care of the little girl? I probably would have run to take care of the little girl first. But Jesus had a priority that was paramount to him because he was following the will of God the Father. And instead of going to Jairus, he stopped. He didn’t just let the woman be healed, he stopped. It tells us in verse 44, she approached from behind and touched the end of his robe, and instantly her bleeding stopped. Jesus took time to acknowledge her. Who touched me? He asked. And when they all denied it, Peter said, master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you. In other words, how do you know that just one person touched you? Everybody is touching you. But Jesus said, someone did touch me. And I know that power has gone out from me. That’s as if you have an ambulance with someone that’s dying and they’re rushing to the hospital. You got this immediate problem. And then the ambulance driver stops and gets out of the car to help someone go across the walk. We wouldn’t understand that. But here Jesus, priorities are always paramount. He knows what is most important to do because he’s following God the Father. Verse 47. When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling. She fell down before him, and in the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched him and how she was instantly healed. I think that we have a man’s point of view here. He just gave the basic facts. But I just wonder if she didn’t stop to tell her whole story, how she’d spent all her money, how she’d been to all the doctors. And Jesus is there listening to all of this, while Jairus is anxiously thinking, why don’t you leave and help my daughter? But Jesus had intention there. He didn’t just want the woman to be healed physically, but he wanted her to be healed spiritually. And that required him to stop and talk to her. And he said, daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. He took time to talk to this woman. He wanted her to be healed physically, but more importantly, that she would be healed Spiritually to go in peace. This woman’s illness had an eternal purpose that was far more important. Jesus gave her more than any doctor could have given her if the doctor had healed her physically. And Jesus gave her salvation that far outweighed everything that she had gone through for the prayer Previous 12 years, completely unclean, broken, separated from family and society. This woman is a picture of the spiritual condition that all of us are in. We all need to be spiritually healed by Jesus. And if she had never suffered, then she might never have come to Him. And, and if she had not reached the end of her rope, she might have still been looking to doctors for help instead of looking to Jesus. Same way it is with us. God allows difficult times in our lives that are intentioned to bring us to him, if not for salvation, just to make us draw closer to Him. Therefore, we know that ongoing physical problems can always be used by God to draw us back to Him. Jesus had a priority of real paramount importance, and that was to stop that day and talk to her that she might have spiritual healing. Let’s go to John 5:19 and let’s see how was it that Jesus priorities are always paramount. And what I want you to see in these verses are that Jesus is so close in his relationship with God the Father, he knows exactly what God wants him to do. And sometimes that means that what appears to be a number one priority should really move down the list to number two or to number three. Jesus said in John 5, Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things. In other words, Jesus was continually asking God, what do you want me to do today? What do you want me to do tomorrow? What do you want me to do in this situation, his decisions about his priorities were always based on what God was leading him to do. But it wasn’t only about what he did, but also everything he said. Jesus lived the same way. In John 12:49 we read, I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me, has given me a command to say everything I have said. Jesus priorities were always exactly in line with the Father’s in what he did and in what he said. How did he choose to stop that day instead of going to heal the daughter of Jairus, he asked the Father, what do you want me to do? You know, God wants a similar relationship with us, because true Christianity, it’s not a religion, it’s a relationship with God. We’re continually communing with him. He speaks to us through his spirit to let us know what we should say and what we should do. And we need to learn from Jesus. It’s a possibility for us because he demonstrated it to us. Now, it won’t be perfect like the father son relationship, but it will help us to navigate all of our priorities if we focus on listening to what God wants us to do and listening to what God wants us to say. Let’s go back to Jairus now. While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, you, daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore. Again, here’s Jairus. He’s not so concerned about the Father’s priorities, he’s concerned about his. And I just imagine that he’s thinking, jesus, why did you stop and talk to this woman? Why are you slowing down? Why didn’t you get there? My daughter could have been healed. We’ll hear this later on with Martha and Mary when they talk about their brother. When Jesus didn’t show up because he was following God’s priorities instead of people’s, why are you letting the crowds slow you down? Iris felt devastated. I’m guessing that Jesus had not done what he thought was most important. But when Jesus heard it, he answered and he said, don’t be afraid. Only believe and she will be saved. And after he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. Everyone there again was crying and mourning for her. But he said, stop crying because she is not dead but asleep. And they laughed at him because they knew she was dead. Just like the woman had come to the end of her rope and the end of all hope that anyone could help her. Jairus is pretty much at the end of his she’s dead. What can be done now? But Jesus said, don’t worry, because he knew that his stopping was still going to be rewarded by God. The Father’s action with this little girl, you know, he could have healed the girl from a distance. He’s done that in other cases. But he was wanting to let her die so that she could be raised to life, which would then bring faith to her, faith to her parents, and bring glory to God the Father in a way that would not have happened if Jesus had healed her before she died. Verse 54 says, he took her by the hand and called, child, get up. And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And then he gave orders that she be given something to Eat. Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened. Jesus priorities are always paramount, even if they don’t go in line with the way that they we think that they should be. How can we live in a relationship with God the Father like Jesus did, so that our priorities are always in line with Him? Let’s think first of the key of knowledge. We need to learn more and more about the character of God the Father. Deuteronomy 32, 3, 4 We have this characteristics when we’re thinking about God’s priorities. God’s priorities, they’re always correct. We’re never going to find that there’s wrong with them or that there’s any fault. In Deuteronomy we read, I will proclaim the Lord’s name, declare the greatness of our God the rock, meaning he can’t be moved. He is a certain foundation for us. His work is perfect. All his ways are just. Faithful God without bias. He is righteous and true. And then in Psalm 18:30, we read, God his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is pure. If we’re following God the Father’s priorities, we know that doing his priorities that are always correct mean that our priorities also are always going to be correct. Because he is a rock, he is perfect, faithful, just, righteous and true. Keys to proper Knowledge let’s look at Isaiah 46, 10, 11 and I want you to see that God’s priorities are always completed. We don’t have to worry about them not coming about. In Isaiah 46, verses 10 through 11, we read, I declare the end from the beginning and from long ago what is not yet done, saying, my plan will take place and I will do all my will to the least thing. Like calling a bird to pray from the east, to calling a man for my purpose from a far country. Whatever I do, God says, yes, I have spoken, so I will also bring it about. I have planned it. I will also do it. If we’re following God’s priorities instead of our own, they will be completed. We all have to do lists. Some of us have honey do lists. But God doesn’t have a to do list. You know what kind of list he has? He has a done list. Scripture tells us that before the creation of the world, he knew all of those that would come to him in salvation. And their names are written down in the book of life. And second Corinthians, chapter one, verse 20 says that every one of God’s promises is yes, meaning he doesn’t promise something and say, oh, I’m so sorry I couldn’t work that out today. Or, oh, something popped up and I couldn’t finish it. If God says it, if it’s one of his priorities, it will be completed. And understanding that God has priorities are always completed will help us to follow his priorities also. The next key in the knowledge is that God’s priorities are always good that day. Jairus may not have thought that Jesus priorities were the best, but they all worked out for good because Jesus was working about the Father’s priorities all the way back in Genesis chapter one, we see that God is good because day after day, everything he created, God said, it’s good. And then when the ultimate creation was finished, he said, God saw all that he had made and it was very good indeed because everything God made is good. We know that God is good in his nature. Romans 8:28 tells us that we know. We’re certain that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. No matter if you’ve had a disease for 12 years or if someone that you love in your life is about to die, whatever your circumstance is, God is working all these things together for good. And if we try to rearrange our priorities according to the way we want them to work out without going to God first, we can’t be certain that our priorities are going to do the best thing for everyone involved. But God in His omniscience, knows what to do first. He knows how to work things out so that everything works together for good, for everyone who’s called according to his purpose. The first key to having proper priorities is to learn more about God, to have knowledge about Him. But the second thing is to have a proper attitude. Let’s go to Matthew, chapter 6, verses 25 through 34. Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. In other words, don’t make these things in your life the main priority in your life. Don’t make these things be the main concern in your life. The basics of food and drink and clothing. Instead, Jesus tells us in verse 33, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be provided for you. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Don’t prioritize the wrong things in your life. There’s one priority that we’re supposed to have according to this, and that’s to seek first the kingdom of God, and then all these other things will fall into in line when we want to have the right attitude in following God’s priorities. Let’s go to Matthew, chapter 22, verses 37 through 40, where we read about the greatest commandment, which again has to do with having a proper attitude. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. If you want to have a relationship with God, you need to make him the love of your life. He needs to be more important to you than your grandchildren, more important than your children, more important than your spouse, more important than your job or your sports or anything else. If you’re going to come in line with his priorities, you need to establish a love relationship with him so that you’re continuing continually communicating with him. And in your love for him, you desire to do his will. You desire to please him, you desire to know his priorities. We want to have knowledge about God. We want to increase our knowledge of God and his character. We want to make sure that we have the right attitude. But Scripture also tells us another key to having proper priorities is to act on that knowledge and then to act on that attitude. First Corinthians 10:31 Whether you eat or drink or whatever, you do, do everything for the glory of God. God starts out with these small things in our life that we’re supposed to start choosing, that we do each of them for God’s glory. We need to acknowledge God’s glory in all these things. It’s really easy to drink a glass of water, say, God, I am drinking this water out of thankfulness to you, and I ask that you will help me to somehow be healthier today, to glorify you. It sounds simple, but God tells us to start doing these actions in the simple things in our life, so that when more difficult problems come along, then it’s a lot easier for us to say, I’m now doing this for your glory. According to Psalm 19:1:4, all of creation is created to act in a certain way, and that is to declare the glory of God. We read there that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. They do it day after day, they do it night after night. They pour out speech. They communicate knowledge, and it tells us there is no speech, there are no words. Their voice is not heard, but yet their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. If creation, that is Inanimate is able to declare the glory of God and is created for that purpose. How much more are we who are made in God’s image supposed to glorify Him? What actions are we supposed to take in glorifying God? We’re supposed to talk about him to others. We’re supposed to express his glory. In Isaiah 43, we read, Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who bears my name is created for what? For my glory? Because God says, I formed them, indeed, I have made them. Your entire being was created in order that you might glorify God to take action in doing that. It comes about in different ways. Let’s read Matthew 5, 16. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Now, when you do a good work, you can either get the praise for it yourself or you can do what you can, give glory to God. We need to act on this. If we’re going to live within God’s priorities, we need to make sure that our priorities that we know for certain are straight. And one of them is giving glory to God in what we say and in what we do. I got a little chart up here you’ve probably seen that people talk about. Let’s arrange our priorities. You know, we’ll put God first and then family and then others. Or someone might say, God first, family and work. And then some people might draw these circles and say, well, God’s in the middle. And then your wife is next and your kids. I mean, you see all types of diagrams. But I want to show you what I think Jesus example for us. And it looks like this next diagram. The only thing that he was concerned about was that bull’s eye in the center. He wants to make God his priority. And if you focus on God as your priority, then he’s going to share with you what you need to do for friends today, what you need to do for family, what you need to do for yourself, what you need to do for work. But we’re not supposed to be concentrating all these things. We don’t even need to sit there and think, okay, is family always first? Is church always third? Just concentrate on making God the main thing in your life so that your priorities will be straight. And sometimes that might require that you have to leave your kid’s ball game to go help someone that’s a friend. Or it might mean that there’s an emergency that you have to take care of. It’s not always Set in stone the way we think. That’s why we have to depend upon God to know how he is looking at the situation. So an application today. Let’s think about the three things that we talked about that you can do. You can increase your knowledge. You can work on having a right attitude, and you can work on acting out, glorifying God. How could you increase your knowledge today? You could determine, you know, I’m going to start reading more scripture. I’m going to read the Bible once a year. Any of y’all willing to do that? You might say, God, I need to spend some time reading youg Word every day this week, or maybe just three days or five days, make a decision and do something so you learn more about God. And that comes in His Word. We have plenty of opportunities here at church, and there are things on the radio and on the Internet where you can attend other things together. Increase your knowledge about God’s Word. Take advantage of all those Lake Wisconsin Bible Institute Men’s Breakfast ladies Bible study, what, whatever is going on. Great books out there to learn more about God. All of these things, you need to be in attendance to those. And when you attend those things, participate, get involved. Don’t just be a lump on a log, you know, but be involved in what’s going on. As you learn more about God, you’re going to learn how to put your priorities in line according to His. Also, how do you have a right attitude about this? Well, you’re not going to be able to stir it up in your own power. You’re going to have to pray and ask God, God, help me through your spirit to have the right priorities in my life because I’m unable to do this myself. And you might even enlist someone to be accountable to tell them, hey, I’m praying about my attitude that I want to do what God tells me to do instead of what I want to do. Hold me accountable, discuss this with me, pray about it. You might need to choose someone today in your mind and say, hey, this next week, I’m going to talk to so and so and ask them to help me pray about my attitude. And the third thing is, take some type of action. I mean, even when you leave today, if you go eat a donut, pick it up and say, you know, I’m eating this donut today for the glory of God. Is that scriptural? It is. Start doing it in these little things that are simple in life so that it becomes a natural thing for you to do. Make some plan how you’re going to do that today, but don’t just think about it. Make sure you, you implement it it because we can have the right attitude, we can learn the greatest knowledge, but if we don’t do something about it, it’s availing nothing and giving glory to God the Father. So we end today as we’re going to be singing a song that you need to think through this. What are you going to do? Not next year, what are you going to think about? What are you going to do this week? So that if I ask you next Sunday, what did you do this week in order to get your priorities more with God, you can say, well, I read this, I went to this, I met with so and so, or you could tell me, this is what I did this week. I ate a donut and I said, I’m doing it for the glory of God. But you should be able to tell me or anyone else next week how you acted on what God’s word is teaching you today. May we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have not left us without direction, that we have your word to guide us in how we are to live our lives. And you have indwelt us, your spirit within us. Father is wanting to lead us and direct us, if we will only listen to him. Help us to know what we can particularly do this week that we might glorify you our attitudes and in our actions so that it’ll be visible to others. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.