The Four Tests of Jairus' Faith

In what areas of your life have you confused faith with certainty in outcomes rather than trust in Jesus?

Speaker: Pastor Caleb Culver
Date: June 21, 2026

If you're waiting on God, this message is for you. Pastor Caleb Culver unpacks the story of Jairus and the faith it takes to trust Jesus, even when everyone else says your miracle is impossible. Discover what it looks like when we contend with faith, even if the world has deemed our miracle impossible.

Here's a 5-day devotional guide based on this sermon:

Day 1: Bringing Your Need to Jesus

Mark 5:21–23 | James 4:10

Jairus was a man with a reputation to protect. Coming to Jesus publicly and falling at his feet would have cost him socially. But his daughter was dying, and nothing else mattered. Desperation has a way of clearing away the things we hide behind and leaving us with just the need. James tells us God gives grace to the humble. The first step of faith is not certainty. It is the willingness to bring what we are carrying to the only One who can actually do something about it.

Day 2: Trusting God in the Delay

Mark 5:24–34 | Psalm 27:13–14

Jesus stopped on the way to Jairus' house to minister to a woman who had been suffering for twelve years. For Jairus, every second counted. The delay must have felt unbearable. But a delay from Jesus is not a denial from Jesus. Sometimes his timing does not match our urgency, and that gap is exactly where trust gets formed. The Psalm tells us to wait for the Lord and to take heart. It does not say the waiting will feel easy. It says it will be worth it.

Day 3: When the News Breaks Your Heart

Mark 5:35–36 | Isaiah 41:10

"Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" Those words must have landed like a blow. And Jesus, hearing them, looked at Jairus and said: Do not fear, only believe. He was not dismissing the pain. He was speaking to something underneath it. Fear and faith were both present in Jairus at that moment, and Jesus called the faith forward. Scripture does not promise we will be spared from heartbreak. It promises we will not face it alone.

Day 4: The Object of Our Faith

Hebrews 11:1–3 | John 11:25

Faith is not certainty in an outcome. It is trust in a Person. The New Testament word for faith carries the ideas of trust and loyalty together. It was a word used to describe close friendship and fidelity in marriage. That kind of faith does not need everything to make sense. It just needs to hold on to Jesus when it does not. It is not the strength of your faith that saves you. It is the One your faith is resting on.

Day 5: Walking Into the Room

Mark 5:37–43 | Isaiah 43:2

Jesus did not go into the room alone. He brought the father with him. He could have sent Jairus to wait outside. Instead, he said, "Come.” Jesus does not lead us around our deepest pain. He leads us through it, and he walks every step with us. When he speaks in that room, he calls the girl by a pet name, little lamb, arise. That is the tenderness of a father with the authority of a king. And what looked like an ending became a beginning.