Gtcotr/ss072218
Mark 5 NKJV
25 Now a certain woman had a
flow of blood for twelve years,
26 and had suffered many
things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better,
but rather grew worse.
27 When she heard about
Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.
28 For she said, “If only I
may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
29 Immediately the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed
of the affliction.
30 And Jesus, immediately
knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd
and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
31 But His disciples said to
Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched
Me?’ ”
32 And He looked around to
see her who had done this thing.
33 But the woman, fearing and
trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and
told Him the whole truth.
34 And He said to her,
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your
affliction.”
This
personal faith spoken of by Jesus is evidently very, very powerful. It’s not
the only time Jesus referred to someone having the power to move a mountain in
their life.
·
Mark 10:52 Then Jesus said to
him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received
his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
·
Luke 7:50 Then He said to the
woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
o This was the woman
who was a known sinner yet who washed His feet with her tears and dried them
with her hair and brought an alabaster box of precious oil and anointed Jesus’
feet.
o We don’t even know
what needs she had but we do know that Jesus forgave her of her sins and
defended her before those religious men because of her faith.
·
Luke 17:19 And He said to
him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
o The one out of the
ten lepers who were healed by Jesus …
o “well” = to be made
whole … spirit, soul and body …
·
Matthew 9:2 Then behold, they
brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said
to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
o It wasn’t only the
personal faith of the one with needs – sometimes it was the faith of others
that moved Jesus to heal.
Where
can I get this kind of mountain moving, disease destroying, devil binding
faith? How can I increase my faith?
When
it comes to faith there is no substitute for simply spending time with Jesus.
This morning:
·
I
could explain the doctrine of faith …
·
We
could exegete scripture after scripture …
·
The
findings of our greatest theologians could be discussed at length
·
And
Church councils could meet for decades on the subject …
·
But
at the end of the day – there would be nothing more discovered than what this
woman found in Capernaum that day …
Touching
Jesus is all that matters …
What
did she do?
1. She heard about Jesus.
a. Have you heard about
Jesus?
b. Are you consistently
putting yourself in the place to hear more about Him? Is your heart open to
what He might say?
c. When you have a
need,
i. Where do you go?
ii. Who do you tell?
iii. To whom do you
listen?
iv. She let
Him touch her before she touched Him …
2. She decided to believe that He was her
salvation.
a. She made her
declaration of faith.
b. She took her stand.
c. She got a plan – and
she rehearsed it …
3. She acted in faith.
a. She reached beyond
her circumstances
b. She reached beyond
her experiences
c. She reached beyond
her pain
d. She reached beyond
her embarrassment
e. She reached beyond
her religious upbringing
f. She reached beyond
her fear, beyond her lack of money, and beyond her shame …
g. She reached all the
way to heaven when she touched Jesus …
i. She didn’t touch Him
with her need
ii. She didn’t touch Him
with her religion
iii. She touched Him with
her faith.
A
lot of people were crying out to Jesus that day. Multitudes were pressing in to
touch Him, but nothing was happening, and nothing was changing in their lives. Only
this woman made a faith demand on the power that was available in that moment.
She came prepared … and it paid off.
It
was her faith that drew the healing power out of Jesus and into her life.
In
the same way, Jesus has the power right now to save every soul for all
eternity. There is nothing else Jesus needs to do to increase His willingness,
His ability or His commitment to help you. It’s completely up to you now. You
can hang around Jesus and Church and other Believers and sing the songs and
quote the scriptures but until you open your heart to:
1. Hear Him …
2. Decide to believe Him …
3. Reach out and touch Him …
Nothing
special will happen to change you or the situation of your life.
Jesus
loves you and He has a better plan for your life than you do.
·
Do
you hear Him?
·
Won’t
you start telling yourself how much He loves you and cares for you.
·
Open
your heart - Reach out to Him and touch Jesus this morning …
Your
life will never be the same!
And
remember, someone told this woman about Jesus … since you know about Him, maybe
you should be that person for someone else!
