Faith for the Now . . . and the Not Yet
Dr. Kregg Hood
July 10, 2025

This is Our Story

Faith for the Now … and the Not Yet
July 13, 2025
Dr. Kregg Hood

Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48 (NIV)
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. No one could heal her.
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched the edge of his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth in the presence of all the people. She had touched him and had been instantly healed.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Observations that Inspire Our Faith

  • Jesus specializes in the impossible.

“…instead of getting better she grew worse. No one could heal her.” (Mark 5:26, Luke 8:43)

“Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” (Mark 5:29, Luke 8:44)

  • Faith must be in Jesus not just in faith itself.

“When she heard about Jesus…” (Mark 5:27)

“(She) told him the whole truth…” (Mark 5:33)

  • Personal faith makes a big difference.

“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (Matthew 9:21, Mark 5:28)

“…your faith has healed you.” (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48)

  • Jesus always works with both power and compassion.

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace…” (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48)

“Be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:34)

Faith Steps We Can Take Every Day

  • Press in.

James 4:8 (NIV)
Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 (NIV)
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”

  • Take hold.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

  • Keep going in peace.

John 16:33 (NIV)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”