The Nobody Who Became Somebody

   At church yesterday, our pastor gave a sermon called 'The Nobody Who Became Somebody' that really spoke to me. (You can listen to it here under encounters with Christ.) The scripture the sermon revolves around is Mark 5:21-34. The rest of this post will be bullet points of things I learned.

• Jesus made this nobody somebody without even including her name in the Bible. For people to talk about her they have to tell her story, to recount the miracle Jesus worked in her, to remember the power of God before both people know who they are talking about!
• This women had the worst disease ever because she was constantly bleeding. When a woman was bleeding she was unclean and therefore all her life this woman couldn't have a normal marriage, go to the temple to pray, be alone with someone, and was shunned in public. And also, it was incurable.
• In the passage in says that she spent all she had on doctors but only got worse. I feel like this is a reminder that nothing good will come from trying to do the impossible without the power of God.
• This women spent every penny trying to find a cure for her physical disease but many people spend all the have on their soul disease. They buy stuff, go to social events, date/remarry ect, only to discover their disease is incurable. Thankfully we know that only Jesus can heal the incurable. (Cool thing about this is that one of God's names is the Great Physician!) In regard to this woman, her illness was incurable but her spirit was indomitable.
• This women hadn't met nor seen Jesus until the same day she slipped into the crowd to touch his cloak, she had only heard about Him. How can a woman who has only heard about Jesus have enough faith in Him to know that His clothes will heal her while I, who know Him, have trouble putting my full faith in Him with small things? It's incredible!
• Again, this women heard about Jesus. This woman who was publicly shunned had heard enough about Jesus to have so much faith in Him. Jesus was being talked about! Back then the name of Jesus effected so many, why aren't we saying it now?
• Ways to bring up Jesus at any conceivable time would be at any lull or connecting point in a conversation to tell something you've read, talk about what great things God's doing for a missionary, organization, in a true book or movie, ect. but be excited about it and tell it like that. Just add it normally to a conversation but with excitement. There will never be need for apologetic build up or anything before, just fit Jesus into your conversations. There is no time or place where it would be bad for a person to hear the name of Jesus.
• When she touched His clothes, Jesus felt power go out of Him. Ministering cost Him something yet He was willing to do them for us! And when He felt that, He found her and gave her His full attention, all of Himself, and I'm sure she'll never forget when Jesus was focused on her.

   So, I found so much of this extremely convicting but chose a couple things to really think about this week. One, focus on faith. I'm constantly doubting whether I'm really hearing God's voice or if God will do something when I want Him to. Also, I'm not talking about Jesus as much as He deserves to be talked about! So my focuses for the week are:

1. When I hear God speaking to me, I will immediately go do what He asks so I won't have time to start doubting.
2. I will try to talk Jesus in almost every conversation I have so that it becomes habit. 

Romans 2:1-Passing Judgement

   Towards the end of last school year, I really started to focus on not judging people, and it was helping a lot! Not to the point where I actually didn't judge but when I started to, I could catch myself and stop pretty early on. What this resulted in was less judgement (obviously:)), less gossip, and better relationships with other people. Unfortunately, I stopped focusing so much on it over the summer and ending up doing a little backsliding, which I didn't realize until my quiet time about 10 minutes ago when I read Romans 2:1, 
     You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
    It made me think a lot because while I might not sin in exactly the same way, I do sin, and because of that, the very action judging them is a sin. I knew that before but needed the reminder. Thank you God! :)
    One way thing that causes me to judge in cursing. When someone curses, my opinion of them automatically, and often subconsciously, goes down. However, I have one friend that I really like but she isn't a Christian and has absolutely no interest in any kind of faith. She does different thing I don't agree with (because I'm looking through Bible eyes), including curse. But often, instead of judging her when she says things, I judge the word she's just said. And if I can do this with her cursing, why can't I do it with everyone and every sin.
    What I'm not saying is that we should ignore that a certain person is doing something. We shouldn't. We need to keep in mind the ways different people are challenged so that we can be there for them if God ever asks us to, or share of verse we're feeling led to share with them. What we shouldn't do is hold the sin against them. After all, if everyone held each others sin against them and let it get in the way of relationships, we would have no close friends. (That said, pick your close friends wisely.) 
     So, in conclusion, don't judge people, judge actions. Don't see someone you don't want to be like, see something you don't want to do. And always be willing to encourage others if you feel God is calling you to do so.