FUNERAL SERVICE BASED ON THE WOMAN IN THE CROWD
by Steve Jones
Funeral Service Based on the Woman in the Crowd
Series: Funerals
Steve Jones
Mark 5
Description: Especially appropriate for cancer victims and other long-term illnesses.
I. MISTY SUFFERED LIKE THE WOMAN IN THE CROWD
Mark 5:25-26
''A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.''
This was a woman who had suffered with little relief for several years. I've known Mistie for less than two years but in that time period she suffered physically with cancer. Like the woman in the crowd, things didn't get better they got worse. But Mistie bore up under her suffering with grace and faith. She was not a complainer. And she was not consumed with self-pity. She continued to be outwardly focused and concerned about the needs of others. Sometimes and maturity and growth comes not in spite of suffering but because of suffering.
There is something about health and prosperity that breeds pride and independence. There is something about sickness and suffering that drives us back to God. Sickness strips away two false impressions:
1) That we are in control. We control so very little. It is GOD who is in control and when we're really sick - we have to go to God.
2) That we are immortal. We all know we're going to die…but not REALLY. People don't REALLY think they're going to die until they get a little older and/or they get really sick. Then we KNOW we're going to die and we start thinking about spiritual things with a heightened sense of urgency. Just as there are ''No atheists in foxholes'' there are few atheists on deathbeds. I'm just suggesting that in my experience, people who haven't paid a lot of attention to spiritual things start doing so when they get seriously sick or close to death. Why wait that long?
QUOTE: Charles Surgeon wrote, ''I ventu ...
Series: Funerals
Steve Jones
Mark 5
Description: Especially appropriate for cancer victims and other long-term illnesses.
I. MISTY SUFFERED LIKE THE WOMAN IN THE CROWD
Mark 5:25-26
''A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.''
This was a woman who had suffered with little relief for several years. I've known Mistie for less than two years but in that time period she suffered physically with cancer. Like the woman in the crowd, things didn't get better they got worse. But Mistie bore up under her suffering with grace and faith. She was not a complainer. And she was not consumed with self-pity. She continued to be outwardly focused and concerned about the needs of others. Sometimes and maturity and growth comes not in spite of suffering but because of suffering.
There is something about health and prosperity that breeds pride and independence. There is something about sickness and suffering that drives us back to God. Sickness strips away two false impressions:
1) That we are in control. We control so very little. It is GOD who is in control and when we're really sick - we have to go to God.
2) That we are immortal. We all know we're going to die…but not REALLY. People don't REALLY think they're going to die until they get a little older and/or they get really sick. Then we KNOW we're going to die and we start thinking about spiritual things with a heightened sense of urgency. Just as there are ''No atheists in foxholes'' there are few atheists on deathbeds. I'm just suggesting that in my experience, people who haven't paid a lot of attention to spiritual things start doing so when they get seriously sick or close to death. Why wait that long?
QUOTE: Charles Surgeon wrote, ''I ventu ...
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