Desperate Faith

A dad is racing the clock to save his daughter, and a woman who has suffered for twelve years is trying to disappear into a crowd. Mark 5 puts those two stories on the same road, and the tension is the point: faith gets tested when Jesus seems “interrupted,” when timing feels delayed, and when the outcome starts to look final.

We talk through what we call desperate faith. Why does comfort so often make us drift, while pain makes us pray? Jairus comes with urgency and risk as a synagogue leader, and the woman comes with quiet courage after exhausting doctors, money, and hope. When Jesus stops and asks, “Who touched me?” we dig into the difference between being near Jesus and reaching for Him with intention. That moment leads to one of the most personal themes of the conversation: proximity without relationship, and how Jesus restores a person’s identity, not just their circumstances.

Midway through, we spotlight Straight Street Ministries, a local nonprofit serving people in crisis through Backpack Love for food insecurity, Street Impact accessibility builds, and the Beautiful Feet residential program helping adult women escape sexual exploitation. It’s a reminder that Jesus still notices individuals inside big needs, and the church can reflect that same care through prayer, giving, and hands-on service.

If you’re wrestling with fear, waiting on a miracle, or wondering what to do when it feels too late, this one is for you. What would it look like for you to “only believe” this week?

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Transcript

Welcome To Jet Fuel Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Jet Fuel Podcast, a series of Concord conversations. In each episode, our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week. These are honest, practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency. Or, in other words, this is Jet Fuel for your soul.

SPEAKER_05 0:25

All right. Well, welcome back to Jet Fuel Podcast, where we're fueling faith for everyday life. Here with my man Eli. Very excited to be back. Very excited. Man, I'm glad you're here. Now, for some of you, you know, we took a couple week weeks off with Easter and some other things. So thanks for hanging with us and joining us back today. We're going to jump into Mark chapter five today. But before we get there, like always, one of my favorite things that we do, Eli, is a question from off-screen. From our live studio audience. Our live studio audience of an additional three people in the room. But uh Bray, what's our question

No-Prep Talk Question And Banter

SPEAKER_05 1:02

today?

SPEAKER_03 1:02

All right. So if you had to give a 30-minute talk on a topic that you did not know, you're already in the I'm already adding a lot of people. I know, I know, already challenging you. But 30-minute talk on a topic that you don't have time to prepare for at all, what would the topic be? And it cannot be biblical because we all know that y'all can talk about that after ages.

SPEAKER_05 1:26

30-minute talk, no prep time. Somebody's saying the platform go. What's our go-to? And it can't be Bible faith related, just uh another topic. Eli, what are you thinking, man?

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Um I think if I had to choose It'd probably be disc golf, to be honest. Yes, I know. And it doesn't seem like there's a lot to go off of. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

That's one of my throw a frisbee into the woods, end of talk.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Well I guess that's fair.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

Like I said, it's it'd be a struggle to get 30 minutes, but we'll we'll figure it out. 30 minutes, half an hour. I don't know that I think it's a good idea. Or golf. Like regular golf. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great. I know what Herndon's would be. He's over there filming right now. It would definitely be Mario. Like Mario Kart, Mario Games, all of those things. Uh he has a Mario poster in his office.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Or Georgia football.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

Or Georgia football. He does have obscure knowledge of Georgia football. Like obscure knowledge. So he could feel 30 minutes for sure. For me, I'm going to go one of two ways. First one would be uh shoes. I could talk about shoes. I know that sounds like a lot of people. You do have a lot of shoes.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

I have an extensive uh Would it take you 30 minutes just to name all the shoes in your closet?

SPEAKER_05 2:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Uh specifically Nike related or for sure.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

You know, the difference in the ones and the fours and the original eras, the mismatched. Yeah, I'm not that cool. Oh, it's great. It's thrilling. I could I could do that uh for a long time. Um another one uh would be probably uh trucks and um working on engines and stuff like that. I worked at an auto parts store in high school, so I could talk about that. Yeah. And how I keep my truck.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

So if someone needs their oil change, they can just pull up to your house and it reminds me.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

Yeah, what are you doing this Saturday? No, my truck's got uh a little over 180,000 miles on it, and you don't get that unless you take care of your truck. And so uh that's good stuff. Great question, Bree. Thanks. Fantastic.

Mark 5 And Desperate Faith

SPEAKER_05 3:29

Well, let's jump into Mark chapter five. And as we do this, um, I know for you, you were telling us when we were doing some sermon content or something that this has a big, big place in your heart.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Well, it's funny is that that question, you know, she she added the caveat, not Bible, but if the caveat wasn't not included, this would actually be my 30-minute. Because uh for those of you don't know, Pastor Clint encourages all of us to have what's called a pocket talk or a pocket sermon. Anything that if you're ever asked to give a devo or like a five-minute, fifteen-minute, twenty, thirty-something with no prep, you can just pull something out that you already have prepared. You've got notes for, you kind of already have. But yeah, this is actually my my pocket talk because it is like highly pivotal to my testimony, and we can we can get into that as we go into that.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

That's so cool. I love it when I mean all of scripture is so important for us to study, to understand it's living. Um, it's so useful in our life. It's the way God speaks to us. But when there's that extra personal connection and you can go back to a time, because I bet all of you listening, you can think of a sermon, a talk, a passage of scripture where you're like, man, God spoke to me in that moment. And this is when, you know, I knew uh this is what I was gonna do with my life, and I knew this is how I was gonna make it through this tough time, uh, and this is that for you. So I'm excited. Now, uh with Mark, I love our study of Mark. I mean, we are uh double-digit weeks in to this study now in our year. Um, and I love Mark as a writer, as an author of a gospel. He is so different from Matthew and Luke, just in how they approach it, very similar stuff, and then John altogether. But Mark's got this interesting way, and he he's a master storyteller because what we're gonna see today is a story inside of a story. Yeah, it's like two stories that are sandwiched together almost. And and it's crazy because you know, this isn't something that's just made up of, for instance. This is something that happened, but he's got this story inside of a story, and they parallel, they cross over, and they're happening simultaneously. And so I hope as you study along in Mark chapter 5, 21 through 43, you're really gonna get to see how masterfully the spirit led Mark to write this.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Well, it's so good because like you get the first part of the first story, then you get jump into the second story, and it's so in-depth and detailed that you almost forget there's another story outside of it happening. You come back to you, like, oh, well, I forgot. We're like in the middle of something here.

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Right. And and even in this, you see a man and a woman and a child. And it's just so evident that even in this, whether uh you know, as a guy, you're approaching this and you can find yourself in J. Iris's shoes, or you're a dad, and you understand the desperation of a child being sick, or you're a woman who's struggled with this, or a kid. And uh there's so many levels, so many on-ramps that Mark gives us to how Jesus is gonna move in their life.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

So before we get in this, you're you're camp J. Iris or Gyrus?

SPEAKER_05 6:26

Aaron Powell I'm a J. Iris guy. And so how do you pronounce it? Uh I normally lean towards gyrus, but Okay, well, let's do this. We are going to put in the comments. We are gonna commit to using it differently. All right. So I'm gonna say J. Iris, and you're gonna say how is that wrong? J Gyrus. Gyrus, okay. He just ignores the A in there. And so uh, the entire podcast. All right.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

So if there was no A, it'd be Jairus. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

Here we go. All right. And so uh tell us a little bit about the common theme that we're gonna see running between these three people in these two stories.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Yeah, the the the theme that kind of ties both these together is like a desperate faith. We see both of these people come to Jesus in desperate need. Um gyrus comes in immediate, his daughter's dying, and he's like, Jesus, I know that you can heal her. I know that you can do something, you gotta do it now. She's on the way out, you gotta come do it. And then you have the woman with the bleeding condition coming in, being like, I've exhausted all of my options. I've done doctors for 12 years, I've exhausted all my money. Jesus is my last hope. And they're both coming to Jesus and saying, I know that you can do it. And he does in both cases.

SPEAKER_05 7:34

Well, that that idea of faith in urgency and desperation. And uh, we're gonna explore some of that because it is so relatable. Everybody listening can think to a point where they have come to the bottom of the barrel. They have come to the end of their rope, they have been in a situation that they thought there is no other way. And so there's gonna be a lot of anchor points. Aaron Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

Why why do you think we're gonna go ahead and start with this question? Why why do you think that desperation is something that more often lends itself towards faith other than like comfort? Like, why is that our first, you know, we wait till desperation happens or we get caught up in desperation and then we lean into faith versus if we're comfortable, we kind of lean away from faith.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

Aaron Powell Well, that's a big question, and it's probably a hurtful question to walk through because what we say we would do and probably how we act are two very, very different things. Uh I would say this. I heard this statement a while back, Eli, um, and it just says this that comfort is the enemy of growth. Like comfort is the enemy of growth. When we get comfortable, when we get satisfied, when we get full, when everything is working well, there's this mixed theology that just goes, hey, this is how things are supposed to be. But when we're not challenged, when we're not, you know, having to stretch and move, it's kind of like working out. You know, you tear your body down so it will grow back, it will have the scars that will make it bigger and stronger. But I think comfort's the enemy of growth. I think it was Franklin Roosevelt who said a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. And that is so true. And none of us want that. But when we get in desperate situations where we absolutely have no way to put our hands on it and fix it, um, unfortunately, a lot of times we wait till the last possible moment, and then that's when we turn to Jesus because we've got to fully depend on something outside of ourselves. We have this weird pride that says we can handle and fix almost anything.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

Especially in the United States, where it's like, you know, pick yourself up by your bootstraps, you can do anything you set your mind to. If you can dream it, you can do it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:42

And and there is some, I mean, I I don't want to completely demean and demoralize those statements. There's some good things in there, but it is kind of toxic to a degree when you go, I am the be-all, end all of handling stuff, but we get to situations where God allows in our life where we totally need him, and that's when we turn. And so that's that's a scary part. And we see that um in the store story of J.R.S. Let's back up a little bit and and and who is this guy? I mean, yeah, who is this leader that's coming to Jesus?

SPEAKER_04 10:16

So he's actually a leader of the synagogue, which is very interesting the fact that he's coming to Jesus, because at this point in his ministry, Jesus and the synagogue leaders of the Pharisees are kind of at odds. And so this is a very impivotal moment, and for especially for Jairus' faith of, hey, I know what my camp thinks about Jesus. I know what has been said about him, but I have faith that he's the one that can do it.

SPEAKER_05 10:37

Right. Well, and I think that goes to show you uh we talk all the time, and I don't know if you do this in your family, but like we when Lauren and I were first married, we we set some rules and how we argued. And one of them was we can't use infinitives. You know what an infinitive is? Like always, never, and going, you always react like that. Well, that is never true, right? Like, you know, and so you have to add some of this of, hey, I feel that the last couple of times this has been your response. Well, that takes away some of that infinitives. And I think when we look at the religious folks that Jesus was interacting with, when we read the Bible in 2026, we go, all of the religious leaders were against Jesus. Well, maybe not all of them. The majority, yeah. The m maybe the majority, but you've got a guy here who is in the synagogue, and these synagogue leaders were responsible for the scripture readings, the service orders, you know, who would come and teach in the synagogue. And so maybe he's he's organizing these and he's seeing and he's listening and he's hearing Jesus, and all of his boys are like, oh, this guy's bad news. And he's going, ah, but there's something different. And I've seen him heal a man with a withered hand, and I've seen him cast out a demon. And so maybe his experience, even though he's on the other camp, like some people are in different political parties, you know, and you're like, oh, well, all Democrats, all Republicans, all and we kind of group people together sometimes, but you've got this leader who has maybe seen or heard Jesus, his guys are against him, but he knows there's something different.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Yeah, because this is this has been where Jesus has kind of been doing his ministry, right? They're back in Capernaum because they went they went across the Sea of Galilee to the Decapolis. Where the pigs were the pigs we talked about last week.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Um, and then now that they've come back across, but it doesn't specify where, right? Right. If I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

Well, I I'd have to look into it, but they've gone back across the sea. And Jesus' home base in the Galilean ministry was in Capernaum. And um But what is J. Iris walking through right now that he is coming to Jesus?

SPEAKER_04 12:42

His daughter's sick and she is dying. And he's he knows that she's dying, and he comes to him and be like, Jesus, my daughter's dying. You gotta help.

SPEAKER_05 12:51

And it's very desperate. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And he asked him, lay your hands on her that she may be made well and and live. Like this is, I mean, not only an exercise of faith, Eli, but like you talked about earlier, that it's urgent. Yeah. Like he's going, she is There's a ticking time clock, and we gotta beat it. We need rescue, we need help, we need a miracle, we need anything. Yeah. And he's looking at Jesus as a miracle worker, as a teacher, as someone different, and time's running out, they're on the clock.

SPEAKER_04 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:21

And so um, so I think desperate situations drive us to Jesus. Um, I wish for most of us we would go to Jesus first, not last. Yeah. Um another question um that you got there.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Yeah, yeah. Have you ever experienced this kind of this urgent moment that's kind of pushed you in faith towards Christ?

SPEAKER_05 13:44

Well, let me tell you, I I have a heart-wrenching story about this. And so if you're a parent um, or maybe you're in a relationship, family, something like that, um Lauren and I were new parents. First child, um, we were doing everything right. We had read the books, we had made the plan, we had grandparents, we had the whole deal. Um, and our firstborn got sick and stopped eating and was getting weak and all this kind of stuff, and we end up in the hospital. And when you end up in the hospital with your new baby, first baby, you don't know what to do, and they telling us she's dehydrated, she's sick, and this whole story unfolds of we had to have six or seven different medical professionals try to get an IV drip in her arm. And they do it with a nurse, and then they do it with a NICU nurse, then they do it with a doctor, then they do it with a uh what's the the blood people, the phlebotomist, and then they have to go get a surgeon because every time they do it, they miss the vein or the vein blows out, and you've got a screaming child that's weeks or months old. And I mean, our hearts are wrecked. And just in that moment, we felt so helpless. You're just holding the screaming child, and you know they're sick, and even the medical professionals can't help. And there's a desperation of going, God, only you can do something.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

So you're really like able to empathize with this moment.

SPEAKER_05 15:17

This is a big deal. And I think most people, whether it's with a kid or not, you can think of times where you have just come to the end and you're like, God, if you do not move, I'm wrecked. I I'm at the end of my rope. And so I think there are moments that push our faith deeper. And just as Christians in America, we are conditioned to look for comfort. We're conditioned to look for the path of least resistance rather than if God entrusts us with a storm, why not me?

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Yeah. I I remember that was a couple weeks ago when you we preached on that. I was, you know, Laura and I were walking through the midst of the storm, and that was a very pivotal sermon for her to be like, God's got it. Like we're in the middle of it, but you know, God's also here with us in the middle of it.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Yeah, I love that you say that because I had a very humbling moment with one of our staff members. Like they had asked me how I was doing, and I was a little upset about something. So I was just like, I can't believe I'm gonna do that. And the staff member literally looked at me and goes, but why not you, Clint? And I was like, Amen. Oh, you got me with my own words. And so I think that is something to remember. Well, as uh J. Iris comes to Jesus and he says, Hey, will you heal my daughter? Jesus agrees to go. And so they're just back on this side of the sea. A crowd has gathered. J Iris comes and falls down, humble before Jesus and begs him, help, help, help. And Jesus goes, You got it. I'm going with.

The Woman Healed In The Crowd

SPEAKER_05 16:46

And as he turns to go, a woman comes up and grabs the hib of his robe.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Yeah. It's an incredible moment to where everything kind of just slows down. We see everything happening because you know, Mark always uses the word immediately over and over again. He's a very fast-paced in terms of story to story to story. Love that. And then, you know, as we we could have easily inserted another immediately of, you know, Jairus asked Jesus for his help. Jesus says yes. They go to the house, and that's a great story. But then it slows down and turns to a different story with this woman who's been bleeding for 12 whole years. 12 years. That's a long time to be sick. And it it as well of in the Jewish custom, you know, with her her condition, she's been unclean for those 12 years.

SPEAKER_05 17:33

She's been unable to So unpack that for a little bit because that's not something that maybe we see in our culture. Maybe there's more stigma than actual things. But when you look at the Levitical law back in the Old Testament, uh, there are things like leprosy and and bleeding and stuff that make somebody unclean. What for the people that are listening, what would that be like for somebody's everyday life? I mean, number one, they have to announce to everybody. They have to disclose what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

They have to be isolated and vulnerable. They can't be interacting with anybody because if they touch someone as well, the uncleanness that they have goes to the other person as well. We talked about that with um the man with leprosy, how instead of Jesus inheriting uncleanness, yeah. So that's that's a that's a huge thing of she has been isolated not only from the temple, but also from just people in general for the last 12 years.

SPEAKER_05 18:29

So this lady, uh, because it says that she spent everything that she had on doctors and she hasn't gotten any better, she's actually gotten worse. So isolated. Think about that word for a second, isolated. I mean, she has been isolated physically from other people. I mean, without touch, without a hug, a high five, those kind of things. She's isolated uh socially. Family and friends have to keep distance from her. She's isolated in her faith. She's not allowed into the women's court uh of the Old Testament. She's she's isolated. I would feel emotionally, feels abandoned, feels worthless. She's going to doctors, can't get any help. This woman is at the very end of her rope, and week after week, month after month, year after year, finances, relationships, faith, um, family, all of these things have been removed from her. And at the very last end, she goes to Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

I know he can do it in in her faith. She has heard all of what Jesus has done, has never really experienced it for herself. But after hearing of all the things that he's been doing in Capernaum, she goes, that's the one I need to go to. Right. And so she falls down at his feet, touches his garments, and she is immediately healed because of this faith.

SPEAKER_05 19:53

Well, it is it's a quiet faith. And I think a lot of people, Eli, correct me if I'm wrong, because you you work with this generation that's currently um, you know, college students, young adults, uh things like that. I mean, very active and powerful in their faith, really leading the charge of the church. And and you look at them, and some of them have this big, bold faith. Others have a quiet faith, uh uh but it's it's it's m less noticeable, but it's still anything. Yeah, and I I think the interesting thing is is she doesn't set an appointment with Jesus, she doesn't cut him off in front of she sneaks through the back of the crowd and just like, I don't even want to interact with him. I just want to uh touch the the hem uh of his robe. It's it's a powerful because as soon as she does, and so you just said in Mark's great thing, he says immediately she was healed. Like she could feel the difference. That's a big deal. And so what stands out to you about this woman's faith? Like what's when you look at her faith to go, I've just heard I've just heard reports about him. But maybe he'll be different than anybody. What stands out about her faith?

SPEAKER_04 21:06

I think realistically, what really stands out is just how much she trusts in the power of Jesus, like not even just the person of Jesus, if that makes sense. Of he is so powerful and he is, you know, has all this authority that I've heard about that even if I just don't even interrupt him, he doesn't have to speak a word, I just have to touch the hem of his garment, which is the bottom edge of it, right? That he has healing in the bottom edge of his garment.

SPEAKER_05 21:32

Which is wild because everything that we've seen is he speaks directly to the demonaic. He reaches out and touches the leper. He does all these things where he's interacting. And for her, she um literally comes up and goes, He doesn't have to speak, he doesn't have to touch me. If I can just there's such power in him, if I can just touch the cloak that he's wearing. I mean, that's uh that's a bold face.

SPEAKER_04 21:59

It is. It reminds me a lot of my wife Lauren. She as much as I am outgoing and loud, she is very much so not. Um, but she she has this quiet faith of, you know, it's it's gonna work out because God's got it. Like, and she's she's inherited that from her parents, who are both uh a little bit more reserved as well. But like Dave instilled in her, like, you know, the Lord is He's all powerful, and if he's in it, it's gonna, it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 22:25

Well, let me ask a just uh maybe like a Bible study question. What is the reason Jesus stops and addresses her when he feels the power going out? Because he could have just kept walking with J. Iris. He said, I'm going with you, I'm gonna do this. This is my mission, this is my task. What's the reason that Jesus' ministry is interruptible?

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Well, I think part of this is like Old Testament study as well of you know, when someone has a condition that keeps them outside of the um assembly of Israel, like whether it be leprosy, a bleeding condition, or or whatever, whenever they were healed, they were supposed to go present themselves to the priest, right? And then they'd be like basically given a clean bill of health to where they can come back into the fold of Israel. Jesus is the high priest, right? We see the book of Hebrews, we're doing that with our Larkar's college students this semester of Jesus is the perfect high priest. And so he in this moment, I I really think, you know, reading between the lines here, of is he is restoring her back to the assembly of Israel and the family of God because of you know this immediate healing that she has. And I think he wants to say, Hey, who who was that? And I love Peter, he he always asks the question.

SPEAKER_05 23:40

Those guys uh we look at him and we're like, what a bunch of knuckleheads, right? Like, you know, hindsight is 2020. We can read scripture and be like, guys, come on. I mean, we knew it, but they're living it, and Jesus stops and he goes, Who touched me? And it's like it's like you're at Disney or something. There are thousands of people everywhere bumping into you, you know, taking pictures, smiling, you know, and you're just like, What do you mean who touched you? Everybody is touched you, they are pressing in. There's crowd. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Yeah. And then Jesus, he repeats the question again. Who touched me? And this is part of the story that's like super pivotal in my testimony.

Touching Jesus With Intention

SPEAKER_04 24:21

I was uh senior in high school, was going to Bible camp um during the summer, and I I was in the midst of my six months of I can drive now, so I'm gonna be a little bit rebellious. And uh my Bible study leader, the first night we were there, he shared this story with us, and he's like, Look, out of that whole crowd who touched Jesus, because he's he's emphasizing the fact of disciples are like, What are you what are you talking about, Jesus? So many people touched you. And he's like, but only one of them touched Jesus with intention. And he's like, you know, if if you're here this week and you want to be healed, touch Jesus with intention. And like literally that night, Jesus was like, What the heck are you doing? And I was like, That's my bad guy.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:00

And it was just an incredible, like, 180 moment where you know, I was, you know, I I'd been saved. I was just doing something stupid, didn't really, should not have been doing it. And the Lord used this story, and um, my Bible study leader would be like, Hey, you you've been you've been just brushing past me for the longest time. You've been, you know, doing the whole church game.

SPEAKER_05 25:20

You've been in the crowd, you've been near, but there's been no intentionality.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

There's been proximity, but there's not been relationships. Oh. And so the the the this story was a very pivotal, like night and day difference.

SPEAKER_05 25:31

So wow, I love that. What a what a testimony. And I'm I'm sure so many people can relate to that of going, hey, we get good at being in the crowd.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

We we become professional crowd people. Like we can say the right things, be in the right place, get the right t-shirt, do just enough to be in the crowd where Jesus is. He's moving, he's working. I mean, I think about our church right now. I mean, how many people have been baptized in the last seven weeks? How many uh kids have been dedicated, how many men's groups are going on right now? And God has just been so faithful and gracious and kind. And people can come and be a part of that, but not intentional with it. Yeah. Not back there helping. Uh, we've got a baptism coming up in a couple of weeks, and um a lady's being baptized, and the woman that is discipling her, she's like, This is who I want to baptize me. Because you have an intentional relationship uh with someone. I just think that intentionality, I love what you said, it's more than just proximity, but it's intentionality, and I think that's a big deal. And so this woman knows. Yeah, like I mean, the whole crowd stops, he turns around, there's people everywhere, and he's like, Who was it? Like, somebody's gotta fess up. And I love this because some people will read this text and go, Jesus didn't know. Yeah. I'm of the firm opinion that this is kind of a repeat of what happened in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve are in the garden where they sinned against God. They hear him coming in the cool of the day, they hide themselves, and God says, Adam, where are you? It's not that he didn't know, but it was a time of Adam having to respond to the authority of God and go, I'm right here.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

And you see this beautiful picture unfold of them being covered by the skins, God providing, then you get all of the curse that comes out of that. But Jesus here is something that we've seen before goes, Who was it? And it says, This woman comes with fear and with trembling, and she tells him everything. Um and I think it's such a testimony of going, This is this is who I am, this is what happened, and um it it's a it's a big deal. If I I just read this real quick. In verse 31, his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing in on you, and you say, Who touched me? And he looked around to see the woman who had done this, but the woman, fearing and trembling, aware that what had happened, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And then this happens. Watch the lie. He said to her, Daughter for a woman that's been isolated from family, from faith, from finances, left alone, suffering. And that's where Satan gets us when we're isolated, when we're alone, when that zebra gets pulled out from the pack, it's when it's most vulnerable to the lions. She's been isolated, and he gives her a family term of endearment of daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. Took care of the inside and the outside.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Because for the last 12 years, her identity has been this condition that she's been walking.

SPEAKER_05 28:46

Her identity has been unclean, unacceptable.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

And Jesus changes that.

SPEAKER_05 28:51

Yeah. And how many of us have lived a life where we go, I'm unclean, I'm unacceptable, that God would want nothing to do with me. He loves you, he cares about you, and he wants to take what has been broken our sin inside of us, and his son Jesus paid for it, and we can be restored and made new. I mean, it's just such a beautiful picture. Um and so he doesn't just heal her, but he restores our identity. So um what are let's let's take on a couple more questions here.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

Uh what do you you know, this is the story we've been talking, our first um sermon series through Mark was called uh Crowds and Calling, right? Focusing on these crowds that Jesus are amassing. Uh now we're seeing the power of Jesus in the midst of another crowd. How how do you think this story should inform us of the way that Jesus views the individuals within the crowd?

SPEAKER_05 29:48

Well, I I think this is it's one of those things, you know, in Christianity, we have a lot of things that we would acknowledge with our mouth and our mind, but our lifestyle denies. And we would say, Jesus cares about the one. He would leave the 99 and he would go for the one. And we would say that, and we would agree that. And I think a lot of people actually believe that, unless they're the one. And they're like, I'm insignificant, I'm a face in a crowd. Church is about numbers and crowds and rows of people, and how many of this and how many of that. And they forget that Jesus knows every head uh hair on their head, he knows everything about them, he created them, he designed them, he knit them together in their mother's womb, and he cares for the individual. So I think in the midst of this, you have this crowd, well, it says thronging around Jesus. He is headed to a very important man's house to do a miraculous thing that we're about to see. And this one insignificant woman as she feels, he stops and he gives her attention and he takes care of her heart and her body. And I think what we see about Jesus is he cares for people. Every single one of them. And I think that's something we would acknowledge, but we have trouble believing when it comes to us.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

I think also on the flip side of that is you know, sometimes we we say, Oh, Jesus leaves the 99 for the one, and sometimes we feel like we're the 99 of Jesus only cares about that one person who's been wayward for Yeah, I'm number sixty three. Yeah, we feel like the the older brother in the uh the prodigal son. Yeah, where it's like, well, I've been here doing the hard work, I've been doing all these things, and yet you're gonna throw him a feast who's wasted all of your inheritance, he's gone off, he's cursed you to your face, and you're gonna welcome him back in love. Where's my party? Where's my parade?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:42

And so, I mean, even here we see that you know Jesus is going through the crowd, doing something for Jairus, but he stops to intentionally have someone from the crowd be like, your identity has been restored.

SPEAKER_05 31:53

It's incredible. Well, let's

Ministry Highlight Straight Street

SPEAKER_05 31:55

do this. Uh, we've got uh a big miracle to cover here in the end, but I want to stop right now and do number another one of our ministry highlights. Hope you guys see an incredible connection that God is using through Concord with this ministry.

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Okay, we are back with another one of our ministry highlights. I'm here with Scott from Straight Street Ministries. Good to have you. Thank you. So um just to start off, tell us a little bit about who you are and how you got involved with Straight Street Ministries.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Um thank you all for having me uh come in. Um my name is Scott Soper. I'm the director for Straight Street, and I got involved with the organization about 18 months ago. I became the executive director. Um, spent most of my career in the private sector and healthcare. And um, one of our board members, uh I was going through a job transition, and he said, Hey, we're looking for a new director. Would you be interested? And I'm on part-time staff at my church and an elder, so I understand a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Um, but I'd never been in this direct nonprofit space. Um, but I was very intrigued. The opportunity to serve, the opportunity to help. Um, and um I came on uh September of 24.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

So that's great.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

And that's about the time I met you guys. Um because we've partnered with Straet for a little while. And so we got connected. And tell us a little bit about what Straight Street Ministries is. Because I know it can be a little confusing for people because you guys have a few different umbrellas under what you do ministry. So tell us a little bit about what it is.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Straight Street has three different programs where we minister to different population groups that are all in some form of crisis. Um the different programs started at different times. Okay. Um so if you ask when did Straight Street start, well, it depends on which program. Um the uh initial program was our backpack love uh program where we feed school children over the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yes, which is what our people would probably be most familiar with because we've done that a good bit. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Um even most recently, y'all packed uh uh 50 or so bags for you.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Yes, I think our kids ministry is the most recent. They did um our kids packed about 50 bags for you guys for their missions opportunity for the month. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

That was uh we're so grateful that y'all did that. So Backpack Love works to identify uh children in the school in the Hall County school system that have the most critical food insecurity. Okay. Um and we send home food over the weekends because there it started with a group of teachers at Chestnut Mountain that actually realized their students were coming in on Monday starving and they hadn't eaten all weekend since their lunch.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

Oh, yeah, because they're probably like free and reduced lunch at school and different things like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Um so we uh grew from initially five bags to a peak in 2024 of over 850 bags per week.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Wow, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

It is a lot. And we have since reduced that number as we've evaluated the program to make sure we're on mission. Um we don't want to be a food bank.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

We want to target those children and families that have the most critical need and also be a good steward of the resources that our church partners and other partners have allowed us to utilize for the program. So we it's cut back in a healthy way right now to a smaller number per week. Um but we have volunteer teams that pack the bags and volunteer teams that deliver the bags to the schools every Thursday or Friday during the school year. Okay. Um and it makes it unique because the students don't have to go somewhere to get the food. Yeah. We take it to them.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Um and we through directly and our church partners, we serve all the schools in Hall County, Gainesville City.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

Yeah, so that's a lot of schools. It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

It's it's pushing forward.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

Yeah, that's awesome. That's super cool. So that's Backpack Love. And then what's the next one?

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Um the next program is called Street Impact.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

And um we've actually had quite a few um Concord members and maybe that have now gone to Yona community also that have served with our Street Impact teams. And that program works, it it emphasizes assisting handicapped individuals with accessibility. Got it. Um we prioritize and specialize in building ramps so that they can get into their home.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

And bathroom renovations so that uh individuals can um are able to either get through their doorways with walkers or wheelchairs.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

Yeah, because that needs to be a lot wider for that.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

It does. And zero barrier showers.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Um, because a lot of times they can't get in and out of their tubs. Sure. Most homes aren't built for that. Correct. Um, so those are our two main projects ramps and bathroom innovations. We do other critical repairs and needs as determined. Um, most of the time when we're on site, a lot of times um you'll see something else that needs to be done. If we're building a ramp for an individual, if the landing isn't good enough to support the ramp andor the wheelchair, of course we'll take care of that at the same time. Yeah. Um again, back to uh the bathrooms. A lot of times when you start ripping out subfloor and uh walls, when plumbing's involved, there could be other things that need to be done here.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

For sure. So I'll kind of take care of that in the broad spectrum for handicapped individuals.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

And our coordinator for that program, um, he vets the projects. We only build the code, we only build our rampster code um so for the safety of the uh family, and of course for liability purposes.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Absolutely. Okay, so it's the backpack glove and then street impact.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

And then the last one's a beautiful feet, because um our beautiful feet program is probably our it's our most intense. Um we we work to rescue women from sexual exploitation. Yes. So adult women, not not minors, is is our focus. Um and that can take any form um under that umbrella of exploitation. So um pornography, prostitution, trafficking. Um a lot, unfortunately, it's a lot of those subject matters that people don't want to talk about. Yeah, for sure. That um maybe don't even know exist or are going on.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Um, I think a lot of people would like to believe that's not happening in this area.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Um being completely transparent 18-ish months ago, I had no clue.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Until I became a part of the organization to really understand. Uh, and I've just scratched the surface what's going on out there.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Um the average age in Georgia for a young lady, a young girl to be exploited is in the 10 to 12 year old.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Yeah, that's horrible. And it is. Isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 39:10

The trauma that they uh that they experience. It's unique for every one of the ladies that go through our program. Um I'll just say it's horrific. Yeah. I think we'll leave it at that. Unfortunately, I think we can kind of surmise what I'm referencing.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Right. Without going into those details.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Um, so the our program is a 12-month residential recovery and rehab program. We have a home in the South Pole area. Um, and uh it's a Christ-centered biblically based program. Yeah. Where these ladies are um they're brought in. There's a transition time frame when they're trying to just move from the world they've been in to there's a there's a place where I'm safe.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

There's a place where I have a meal every day, multiple meals. I I I can get health care. Um it's a very different, it's a very hard transition, true.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Because many of them have not it they just haven't experienced any type of love in their lifetime. Um and um so it it's it's the hardest program by far.

SPEAKER_03 40:31

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Um it has the most direct impact. I know that that being able to get into your home via a new ramp or a meal is direct. But this, the ripples that come from the Beautiful Feet program that can change not just that that woman's life, because most of the time they have children and they have a family that they can impact for generations.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, and it's actually cool because I think we had for Beautiful Feet for our serve day, we had a group of ladies come to the home and kind of do some activities with the ladies there. And then actually, before I started working at Concord, I was with a group of college students from uh Troop McConnell, and we came and cooked dinner with them and hung out with them. And it's just really cool to see how they come just from a very broken lifestyle, um, but how the Lord can change their hearts and their lives and bring them to come to know him and hear just their testimonies. Because I think there was a few ladies when I went um that were kind of on the back end of their time in the home. And so they um were willing to share kind of a little bit of their story and their testimony with us. And so it's really beautiful to see how God is using you guys in those ladies' lives to kind of bring them out of that broken lifestyle and help them kind of just re-enter into a normal life with regular skills and different things, but then also how you're pouring into them spiritually to see um how the Lord uses that. So that is a really cool ministry. Um so, with all of that, that's a lot to oversee all through ministries. So um, if you had um one or two things that you would ask Concord to pray for you guys about um or for you specifically, what would that be as y'all are seeking to do ministry in these three different areas?

SPEAKER_02 42:25

Um I would say that uh each of uh each of our ministry, so each program has a ministry coordinator. Um and we as a leadership team um we get we ride the wave just like somebody who works at a in any ministry rides the wave of emotion, yeah. Of look at the victory and oh my gosh, this is hard.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

Here's another thing, yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_02 43:01

So um prayers of encouragement that we we sometimes don't even know we need. Yeah, we know we need. Um so that would be one thing uh for the ministry that as as leaders, we continue to feel strengthened to do the work, to serve these individuals. Um and then I I guess I would say if there's a tangible uh way that if any of your anyone who sees this would want to become involved with the ministry in e any of the programs, um there can be opportunities for that. Okay. Certain, for example, the Beautiful Feet program, there's certain requirements, of course, to participate in that ministry. Um but uh if they wanted to be involved directly with their hands, um, or if they felt led to uh contribute to the ministry, you know, we are completely donor-funded. Whether it's individuals, churches like Concord or businesses organizations. So we we operate a little bit just like a church, right? We operate on the donations of members, so to speak.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

Absolutely. Okay, yeah, that's good to know. Praying for you guys for encouragement as you do hard work. And then if there are any of you guys that are listening and you would like to be involved, you know, more than what we are as a church together, and you want to do something individually with Strip Street, feel free to reach out to me and I can get you guys connected. Um, but definitely be praying for them. Um we support them monthly and then do these odds and end service projects and things with you guys. And so thank you so much for coming and being a part um as this ministry highlight. And this has been another ministry highlight, and back to the podcast.

unknown 44:54

Highlight.

SPEAKER_05 44:56

All right, here

Jairus Daughter Death And Hope

SPEAKER_05 44:57

we go. Back to Mark chapter five.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

Yeah. So while Jesus is taking the time to acknowledge this woman and be like, who touched me? We hear news of Jairus' daughter. Servant from the house comes and goes, Jairus, your daughter is dead. Don't bother Jesus anymore.

SPEAKER_05 45:15

I can't imagine like the crushing grief. Like he knew, he knew this was a possibility, but now it's a reality.

SPEAKER_04 45:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

And I mean, just along with that crushing grief, you probably got to think that he was just like, Man, if we would have moved sooner, if we wouldn't have done this, why this lady out of nowhere, she could have waited her turn, like she's sick, but my daughter's now dead.

SPEAKER_04 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:37

You know, and I gotta think there's probably some frustration, some anger, but definitely a crushing blow. I know I would be uh in grief. But what Jesus does is he gives him commands.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:47

He he says, do not fear. I mean, that's a command, stop doing this. And then he gives another command, only believe, which in the Greek is uh the imperative that keeps going. Do this over and ongoing. Stop doing this, stop being afraid, and keep on believing over and over. And when you've believed, believe again, believe some more.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

Um It's almost similar to the way he commands the disciples in the boat across the Sea of Galilee, right? It's like, why are why are you afraid?

SPEAKER_05 46:16

That's a that's a big deal. And so one it's one thing to believe while there's still time, right? J. Iris is going, you can come and lay your hands on now, she's dead. And so in his mind, he feels it's it's too late. So let me ask you this uh question, Eli, just because I think most of us are probably pondering the same thing at this part of the text is why is it harder to trust God when seem when things seem beyond fixing? Um why why is it harder to go like I can have faith if things are almost definitive, but when they become definitive, man, it's harder to believe.

SPEAKER_04 46:48

I feel like speaking for myself, part of it is because we have a tendency to limit God in our mind.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

Of you know, we we say that we believe that God is all powerful, and yet with our actions and with our faith, it doesn't always lend itself towards that of like, well, God, you could have done something, but now like uh there's just no point, or like now the you're not gonna be able to do anything about it now.

SPEAKER_05 47:10

Aaron Powell Well, in our finite mind, we we go, here are the parameters of what's possible. Yeah. And we put humanity and in the finiteness of man and we try to saddle that on an infinite God. And so how does somebody practically hold on to their faith when circumstances say it's over, it's beyond repair, there's nothing that can be done. Um, this situation, this job, this relationship, this life, this is over. How does somebody practically hold on to their faith when our finiteness says there's nothing more that can be done?

SPEAKER_04 47:45

Yeah, and I think honesty is goes back to your point when you're talking about the disciples in the storm of like turn your fear into faith of Christ is in the middle of it. And if if he's in the middle of it, then the story is never over. Right? Like we're even with the ending of this life, our our hope is not in this life, but it's in the life after this one because Christ has redeemed us, right? Given us the gift of eternal life. Nothing is truly ever over if God is in the midst of it.

SPEAKER_05 48:10

Right. And so Jesus rolls up to this house, and uh, it seems like the mourners that are there, I probably uh think it's professional mourners. They've been called in to weep and to wail and and help bring about and walk people through that grief. And so you walk up and this chaos is in the house. There's finality, this 12-year-old has died, and uh you know.

SPEAKER_04 48:34

Jesus come kind of like comes in on a complete different page. Everybody's crying and weeping. There's people that have been paid to be here, they're mourning, and Jesus goes, Why are you crying? The child is not dead, but simply just sleeping.

SPEAKER_05 48:47

Yeah. And they laugh at him. Yeah. I mean, they laugh right in his face.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

And I know like it's we're we're kind of conditioned, as you know, if you're just reading through scripture at this point, to be like, man, why would they laugh at Jesus? But truthfully, if you just watch someone pass away and someone comes in that you don't really know, like you've heard about maybe, and they go, they're not dead, they're just sleeping. Like you would kind of be like, what? Yeah. Like it it it's our natural response to be like, oh, they're they're in the wrong here, which I mean they are, but ultimately like that's not an inhuman response, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 49:19

Well, and there is some finesse to this word. Yeah. Because the word sleep does refer throughout um, especially the New Testament, and and I would think uh of you know, that is a term we use for death. Yeah. Those that are asleep will, you know, Paul talks about that later. You know, those those kinds of things. So he it's the the moment, you know, she uh she has died, she is asleep, but it's not final. Yeah. He's gonna interrupt that. And so what he does is he takes this inner circle, which is this is the first time in Mark that we see them separated from the group of disciples, Peter, James, and John. He takes them and he takes the parents and they go into this little girl's room. So the six of them with the little girls that we have at least listed in this passage, and he speaks to her, grabs her arm, which once again we talk about the uncleanness. If you know some of the levitical laws, you touch a dead body, you'd be unclean, but Jesus brings life instead of the contagiousness of the body. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. Uh and immediately she gets up.

SPEAKER_04 50:24

Yeah, he simply just goes, little girl, arise. And that's all he does.

SPEAKER_05 50:27

And she does. And she gets up. You know, death does not have the final word Jesus does. And so I think that's a big deal for us to remember.

Three Takeaways And Closing

SPEAKER_05 50:35

Well, let's land this plane on this Jet Fuel podcast. So give us a couple of walkaways for everybody to consider. Eli, give us three things that people can ponder, pray through, and and finish up this podcast with.

SPEAKER_04 50:46

Uh this is actually good as part of my my pocket talk. Uh, is you know, don't ever want to read yourself into scripture, but you can relate to these three distinct characters in this scripture. Sure. You know, are you someone who would be like Jairus, where you're waiting on a miracle? You've prayed in desperation, you're asking Jesus, would you move? And you're waiting and you're waiting and waiting. And it starts to seem more and more and more final, right? And so if you're in that camp, I would say hold on to faith, because with Christ, nothing is ever final. Or maybe you're in the camp of this woman with a bleeding condition where you're at the end of your rope and you've been exhausted, you've done all these things, and you just need to, you just need to go and sit at his feet. You just need to touch his robe and have faith that he is powerful, more powerful than your circumstances. You need to have your identity restored in Christ, not in your circumstance. Or perhaps maybe you're in the crowd where you know you've been seeing the things of Jesus, you've been observing, you've been walking alongside him, maybe, but you've never had a true encounter with him. And you need to touch him with intention this week.

SPEAKER_05 51:50

Well, that's big. And so how do we respond when God's timing feels delayed? And do I trust Jesus both in quiet faith and urgent desperation? And lastly, am I willing to believe even when things seem beyond hope? So thank y'all for being here. Thank y'all for listening, being a part. Um, we love this podcast and we love the resource that it is. And so uh this has been JetFuel, and uh, we'll see you guys next time. Bye. Peace.