Cancel My Funeral

Series: CHAMPION
1 | P a g e
MESSAGE: Cancel My Funeral
+CHAMPION SERMON SERIES
Cancel My Funeral
April 20, 2014
SCREENS> Mark 5:35-39
35 While He was still speaking, they came from the house
of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died;
why trouble the Teacher anymore?” 36 But Jesus,
overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue
official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” 37 And
He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter
and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to
the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a
commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 39 And
entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and
weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.
SCREENS> Cancel My Funeral
It was Mark Twain who said "the rumors of my demise have
been highly exaggerated." In essence he says' forget what
you heard I'm Still Here! I know that some people that I
wasn't gone make it but somehow God pulled me through.
Perhaps I should've been dead, but I'm still here. Perhaps
these trials, tests, storms and tribulations should've taken me
out but I survived all of that, I'm still here.
 After heartaches and hardships I'm still here
 After trials and tribulations I'm still here
 After back stabbing and some backslidding I'm still here
 After losing and learning I'm still here

Series: CHAMPION
2 | P a g e
I don't care what you heard or what it looked like, I survived!
And I know it’s early, but I feel like going on! I just don't
believe that God would allow somebody to survive all the
hell I've been through just to let me die here!
In verse 35 of this most familiar Markan passage we’re
actually joining a show already in progress. In order to get
the full context we’ve got to jaywalk all the way back to the
middle of the chapter, landing somewhere around verse 21.
Now for those of you who don’t know, allow me to give you
the backdrop before we get the context. The first 20 verses
of Mark 5 detail Jesus’ interaction with the demoniac from
the Gerasenes. Now you know that story. That’s the story of
the brother with all of the demons in him and calls himself
Legion which literally means about 6,000 soldiers. In other
words, he had so many issues that he had lost his identity.
People were no longer calling him by his name, but they
were calling him by the multiplicity of his issues! And don’t
you sit in here like you can’t feel your boy right here,
because most of us have been in a place before where
people knew us more by what we did and what we were
involved in instead of who we was! And I believe I’m
preaching to some people this weekend who are tired of
being known as:
 Baby Mama
 In Debt
 Trouble Maker
 Broke, Busted and Disgusted!

Series: CHAMPION
3 | P a g e
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for people to know
me by my name! What’s your name, PR? Oh you didn’t
know! My name is:
 Blessed and Highly Favored!
 More Than A Conqueror!
 VICTORY!!!
But I didn’t come to preach his story this weekend. There’s a
little girl in the text who demands our attention. By the time
we get to verse 21, Jesus has jumped in a boat and traveled
to the other side of the lake only to be accosted once
again by a crowd. Let’s pick up the story in verse 22.
22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up,
and on seeing Him, fell at His feet 23 and implored Him
earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of
death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she
will get well and live.”
Okay, let’s not waste time. Jairus, who is a respectable
synagogue leader, falls at Jesus’ feet telling him that his
daughter is about to die. Now even the most neophyte
believer understands that the temple leaders of
Capernaum did not exactly see eye to eye with Jesus.
Many of them believed that he was an imposter, a false
prophet even an anti-Christ.
 Which is why even when Nicodemus came to question
Jesus about salvation, he came at night!

Series: CHAMPION
4 | P a g e
So my first question of the text is, why is this brother who is
obviously from the other side of the fence bowing at the
feet of Jesus? And publicly at that!
He runs the risk of being ridiculed and excommunicated by
his associates. He runs the risk of being accused of
associating with a crazy heretic. But for some reason, he
says later for that, my daughter needs help! He pushes aside
his skepticism and traditionalism, he violates his allegiance
to the way things used to be done, and my question is why?
Why all of a sudden is there is a change of heart? Maybe,
he witnessed Jesus casting out the demon in the
synagogue. Maybe he saw Jesus heal the man with the
withered hand in the synagogue. Or maybe it was the fact
that he was willing to do anything to secure the life of his
child! Whatever the case was, the one thing that we know
about this brother is that he was DESPERATE!
So the first thing we can lift from the text is,
SCREENS> Deliberate Act of Desperation
Notice the brother does not do as Nicodemus, and sneak to
Jesus at night! Notice, Jairus does not pull Jesus to the side
as if they were equals. Jairus decides to be deliberate in his
desperation! He falls at his feet as if to say,
 Jesus I didn’t come to be cute,
 I didn’t come to show off my new fit,
 I didn’t come to put on a show for nobody,
 I didn’t come to prove myself to nobody,
 I came because I desperately need you!

Series: CHAMPION
5 | P a g e
And I got some stuff in my life that if you don’t touch, it
won’t get fixed! So I don’t have time to be worried about
what someone else thinks about how or where I worship! I
didn’t come for all that, I came because I NEED YOU!!!
I have often wondered, what was it about Jesus, that he
could say stuff that most pastors could never get away with.
 He called one of his disciples the devil
 He calls one lady a dog
 He tells one member if he skips church to go to his
dad’s funeral he better not come back to church!
But then it hit me! The reason Jesus could deliver such hard
truths to people about themselves and their situations was
because they weren’t coming to make a friend, they were
coming to get help! They were so deliberate about their
desperation that it never mattered what was said, who
didn’t like them, or who didn’t shake their hand! The only
thing that mattered was that this man has a Word that has
power to change my life!!!!
We gotta move on, look at verse 23 again!
SCREENS> Mark 5:23
23 and implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is
at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on
her, so that she will get well and live.”
I gotta hit this real quick because we have a whole chapter
to get through! But notice, Jairus says, lay your hands on her,
so that she get well and live!

Series: CHAMPION
6 | P a g e
 I don’t want her to just get better, I want her to have a
life!
 Because some people get better but stay bitter!
See it’s one thing to get help! But God doesn’t just promise
me help, he promises me hope! You missed it, you don’t
understand how powerful hope is!
The big point is, and you should’ve caught it by now, I don’t
just want to fix your life! I want you to be able to enjoy your
life! [WORK THIS]
Now we have got to get back to this narrative, because it’s
just starting to get good! Now we’re not going to read
verses 23-34. Once again, it entails a story that you should all
be familiar with and that is the story of the sister with the
issue of blood. Now I don’t have the time to unpack her
story this weekend.
So let’s pick back up at verse 35.
35 While He was still speaking, they came from the house
of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died;
why trouble the Teacher anymore?” 36 But Jesus overhearing
what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do
not be afraid any longer, only believe.”
Don’t sleep right here, would you look at what these
messengers say to this desperate man, look at the text,

Series: CHAMPION
7 | P a g e
SCREENS> Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher
anymore?
Now ain’t this some mess! Look at this in context now, Jesus
and Jairus are on their way to heal Jairus’ daughter and this
messenger basically says:
 What are you doing this for? She dead now! You don’t
need Jesus anymore!
 The situation is too bad now, there is no help, so you
might as well leave this Jesus stuff alone!
Ain’t it a trip, how when you need God the most that’s
when people try to get you to give up!!!
But that’s why I love Jesus look at what he says! I’m still in the
text,
SCREENS> NASB
“Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”
SCREENS> NLT Translation
“Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
SCREENS> MSG Translation
“Don’t listen to them; just trust me.”
SCREENS> PR VERSION
Forget them! Remember me!
Forget what everybody else has to say!
 And Remember why you came to me in the first place!
Forget who you used to be!

Series: CHAMPION
8 | P a g e
 And Remember who I am!
Forget what you don’t have!
 And Remember what I do have!
Forget what they say about your situation!
 And remember what I said about your situation!
FORGET THEM!!! REMEMBER ME!!!
38They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He
saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and
wailing. 39And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a
commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is
asleep.”
Okay, the second major point we can lift from the text is,
we’ve already seen a Deliberate Act of Desperation, now
we see a,
SCREENS> A Demonic Distraction of Depression
You do know now that the people grieving in the text are
not family and friends? No, these are professional mourners
who were paid a fee to come in and set the atmosphere for
despair!
So these were professional mourners in the house weeping
over the girl, already declaring her death! Here’s my
question, I mean I understand that my understanding is
limited and myopic at best? But, when Jairus’ left the house
the girl was sick but alive! He has not been back sense,
there are no telephones to check on the progress, so here’s

Series: CHAMPION
9 | P a g e
my question, and I hope this makes you think – who hired
the mourners!!!
Because there is another character in this story who is only
mentioned once and not even by name, and that person is
Jairus’ wife! Because she is not mentioned by name, she is
often overlooked in this story, but she has a story to tell too!
I’m going to have to come back and preach her story but
for time’s sake, let me throw a homiletic stone at it and
bounce!
There are only two people who could’ve hired the
mourners, Jairus and his wife! And since we know that he
was with Jesus, we know deductively that it had to be his
wife who hired the mourners! Now this is a trip, because
while he’s believing in faith, his wife has already given up! I
really wish, I had the time to preach this like I feel it, because
if I had the time I’d preach about the dangers of living in a
divided house!
Because while one of us is trying to get Jesus in the situation,
the other one of us keeps paying for drama! While one of us
is believing for better, the other one of us keeps doubting
the plan! Some of us right now struggling in a house divided
and wonder why we keep tripping up!
Oh God, but I’m so glad that the distance between the
husband and wife does not prohibit this little girl from getting
her breakthrough, because in the middle of the confusion,
JESUS SHOWS UP! [WORK]
SCREENS> Mark 5:39

Series: CHAMPION
10 | P a g e
39And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a
commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is
asleep.”
I am absolutely in love with this text, because Jesus says, in
spite of what everybody else is saying about the situation –
IT’S NOT OVER!!!
I came to encourage somebody this weekend, to let you
know that no matter what it looks like IT’S NOT OVER!!!
We serve a God who specializes in cancelling funerals. He’s
not new to this, He’s true to this.
Genesis: Noah and the Ark of Safety/Joseph and the Pit
Exodus: The Death Angel and the Blood on the Door Posts
2 King: Shunnamite Woman’s Son
1 Samuel: David and Goliath
Job: Curse God and Die
Isaiah: Hezekiah and the Wall
Ezekiel: God’s Symbolic Interruption
 The Valley of the Dry Bones
 I saw you struggling in your blood, I said live!
Daniel: Lions Den/Fiery Furnace
The Gospels: The Greatest Victory of All
They marched him from judgment hall to judgment hall
They whipped him all night long
Yet he never said a mumbling word
They took Him to a place, a hill called Calvary
They hung Him high and stretched Him wide
He hung His head and then He died

Series: CHAMPION
11 | P a g e
But that’s not how the story ends
THREE DAYS LATER!!!! THREE DAYS LATER!!!
He Rose Again! Saying Cancel, My Funeral!
I’ve known him in the fellowship of his suffering, now I’m
getting ready to know Him in the power of His resurrection!
Because they that suffer with him, will reign with him
I’m calling you off your death bed!!!
Okay first we see a Deliberate Act of Desperation, then we
saw a Demonic Distraction of Depression, but the last thing
we lift from the text!
SCREENS> A Dynamic Demonstration of Divine Deliverance!

Cancel My Funeral

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