Go Ahead: Reach Out To Him

Matthew 9:20 New King James Version (NKJV)

And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.

For at least twelve years she had trusted the Jewish physicians to heal her condition. It was a very serious condition which put her on the margin of society. Her Jewish docs had tried everything they knew to do; everything from giving her potions to drink to trying remedies such as having her sit at a cross roads drinking wine while someone came up behind her and commanded her disease be healed (Adam Clark Commentary, Dr. John Lightfoot). She had run out of money and hope of ever being made well. Then word came that Jesus of Nazareth was there.  He had been in Capernaum about a year earlier and she heard about the paralyzed man He healed. She contemplated what to do. If she approached Him in public and told Him what her problem was it is likely that she would be arrested for being in contact with others having such a condition. It seemed to her like she had been plagued with this condition all her life.  She had to hide her condition in order to get the things she needed. It was not only physically debilitating but it took its toll on her mentally as well. Now an opportunity had arrived for her. What to do?

She headed toward the seashore as she saw the multitudes gathering near a boat that had just beached. Throngs of people were there trying to get a glimpse of Him. She saw a man fall at His feet and could not hear what he said, but Jesus followed him. She kept her distance until the crowd came right past her and she could not wait any longer. Coming up behind Him and pressing through the crowd she reached out a shaking hand hoping His robe would brush against it. She believed that is all it would take; a touch from His clothes. His robe touched her hand and she felt her condition leave her! Twelve years of suffering was resolved in twelve seconds. Then He stopped. Fear came upon her as He turned to look behind Him. Putting His hand up to halt the procession He asked, “Who touched Me?” The people began to look at each other and His disciples who had been surrounding Him like body guards said, “You see all these people pushing and shoving to get to You and You ask which one it was that touched You?” He knew who it was even though they did not. He made eye contact with her and when His eyes met hers her body began to shake in fear. She crumbled at His feet as if to have Him show her mercy fearing He was going to broadcast her problem and what He would do according to the law. Instead He kept her secret and gave her a word; just for her. No one else knew what He meant when He said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”  In other words, “I am not condemning you for what you did because you acted according to your faith and the healing you have received will not be revoked.”

Go ahead. If you have been contemplating to go to Him but ashamed to; go ahead. He is waiting on you. He has come to your area for that very reason. Just as He knew the woman would be there waiting on Him He knows where you are. Reach out your spiritual hand to Him; He will take it from there. He knows your secret fear too so you can rest assured He will accept you and not embarrass you either. Let your faith in Him drive your actions.

Grace: The Glue of Unity

Ephesians 4:7 (New King James Version NKJV).

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

I am a bumper sticker reader. Decals on people’s cars convey all kinds of messages. People like to express their opinions. Some like to do it publicly. One that I always remember was on the back window of a van. It read, “Live your life in such a way that the preacher does not have to lie at your funeral.” Another one that got me to thinking read, “God please save me from Your followers!”

I believe that the Church confuses the world as much as evangelizing it. One cannot help but think that with all the divisions among the Christians how could we all possibly be on the same side? It is not a new issue as God used the Apostle to address it to the Christians in Ephesus. Paul wanted the people to understand how grace works in order that they may be unified. We are all saved by grace. That saving grace is made available to everyone by Christ.

The whole of this teaching deals with gifts that Christ gives to His Church. The problem arose when some of the Christians felt they were better or more spiritual or had more favor with God than some of the others. Glad we do not have that problem today. The Ephesian believers could not understand why some were in leadership and others were not. God told them by way of Paul that all of them had the gift of grace and that Christ had used some of them to convey that message and to teach others how to convey it. The world becomes confused when they see or hear Christians talking about or arguing with other Christians over doctrines and beliefs. When we begin to put one guy down and compare each other in relation to spirituality or ability we unknowingly divide the Church. No one of us is greater than the rest of us. Some are more known and some have different offices but we are all equal in Christ by grace.

Let me close by sharing a word of knowledge that our Bishop gave me when I questioned why God would use me to pastor as I felt I was not qualified. He said, “There will always be those who are smarter than you and can preach better than you, but there is no one who can love God or people more than you; and that is all God requires of us.”

A Valentine from God

John 3:16 (New King James Version).

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

In 1965 I was an aspiring third grader at Ivanhoe Elementary School. I was aspiring with the goal of making it to the fourth grade in order to get away from old Miss Rash. She made us do dumb things as boys. She would make us learn to do some kind of old dance with the girls and stuff like that. Then on Valentine’s Day, we had to give out Valentines. My parents would buy me a bag of them from Prices Store which had about fifty in it. I hated to go through them and pick which one I would give to whom. It just did not seem right to have to give another boy a valentine. I would pick one with a football on it or something to keep the masculine image intact. Now it was not an issue when it came to the girls. Girls liked to get valentines. No football cards for them, only the cute little hearts or puppy dogs. I finally got out of the third grade only to have old Miss Rash move up to the fourth.

Over a billion Valentine cards will be sent over the next few days making it the second most card sending holiday. Christmas of course is number one in this country. We have come to assimilate the day with love. Flowers, candy, and jewelry are commonly given to our sweethearts in our attempts to express our love for them, and oh yes, the valentine card. I could not find one with Southern lingo to express my feelings. You know, something like, “You have got the softest hide I ever felt.” I might be a redneck.

When it comes to expressing love it has never been done better than how God did it. For Him to take upon Himself the body of a human and sacrifice that body in order that He might show me how much He loves me just blows me away. It is not only to be interpreted that once He so loved the world that He did that, but rather He still so loves us. One sacrifice, one time, for one and all. What would God say in His Valentine to you? I love you. Not that you are sweet or pretty, handsome or smart. Not that you have soft hide or a cute smile. No, His Valentine simply says, “I love you.” Jesus said I love you this much as He stretched out His arms and died. This Valentine’s Day give your heart to Jesus.

Who Cleans Up Your Mess?

John 8: 4 (New International Version NIV).

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.”

I was at a local garage the other day having my car serviced and there was a mom in the customer lounge with her three kids. She had a two year old girl, a four year old girl, and their eight year old brother. I eventually struck up a conversation with all of them and made friends with the four year old. I told her that because she was the big sister, even though she was in the middle, I bet she took good care of her little sister. “I sure do. I have to clean up all her messes” she said. I told her that was very nice of her to do that for her little sister and to help her mom out. I then asked her, “Do you make any messes that have to be cleaned up?” She said, “Oh yeah, and mom usually cleans my messes up.” Then she asked, “Who cleans up your messes?”

That is why Jesus said of little children; “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these!” At the age of four she has been around long enough to know that everyone makes messes sometimes. Take the woman that was caught living with a man that was not her husband. We think she may have been dragged right out of bed and brought before Christ. The motives of those who brought her to Him were to try and put Jesus in a fix. They wanted to see if He would tell them to stone her or not. The Law ordered it, but would Jesus carry it out? Read the chapter and see how He handled it.

The woman had made a mess of her life. In that culture people did not live together unless they were married. Women never held public jobs either so men usually kept them up. She was breaking the Law and stood to be condemned to death. Jesus cleaned up her mess that day. He said the same thing to the men there as the little girl said to me. “Which of you standing here are perfect?” He asked. None of them were so they left being convicted by their own messes. Then Jesus told her, “I am not condemning you to death for this but will forgive you if you will leave this life of sin.”

Are you in a mess today? Have you got one you need Jesus to clean up for you? He cleaned up my mess and He will clean up yours too if you will let Him.

Discussion About Belief

1 Timothy 4:10

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Did you know there are over 700 established religions in the world today and they are divided into over 3,500 sects? With all these teachings and doctrines how do we know what to believe?  The question the philosophers ask is did God create man, or did man create God? The question the scientists ask is if God created all things, including man, who or what created God? Then we have the dreamers; those who think that our existence is just a dream. I have no idea who they think is dreaming it. This entire question asking and thinking can cause one to throw their hands up in the air in disillusionment. I guess that may be why over one billion people do not claim to believe in any theory!

What do you believe? Even the atheist has a belief. They believe there is no need to believe as there is nothing to believe in; that’s a belief. With so many choices we may fear of choosing the wrong one. What I have seen religions do is try to control people through this fear. Breaking rules or not doing enough will land you in a very unpleasant afterlife. The only way to have a secure eternity is to follow their teachings. Each one has a founder and a leader. So why choose to believe in Jesus? How is He any different and His followers any different than the rest?

Let me ask another question; why would a man put his life on the line unless he was assured of what he taught? Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic if you approach it from that angle. He testified that the One who created the world and man had now come into His creation to show one part of Himself to His creatures. Jesus explained to them that He was the human manifestation of the Creator. His message was simple; God has created us to live forever with Him. Rejection of this truth brought about alienation between the Creator and the creature. God called this rejection; sin. Did you know that you cannot choose salvation? Salvation was made available to you without you having any say so. Paul told Timothy, “He is the Savior of ALL men, especially those who believe.” Jesus died that we may be saved and if we are to be saved then we cannot reject His sacrifice. Now you can believe whatever you choose, God will allow that. What He will not allow, if you expect to be saved, is not believing in Christ.

If Only You Knew

“He (Jesus) told me all that I ever did” (John 4:39 New King James Version).

Look down the road. You see that woman coming carrying that bucket on her head? She is coming to Jacobs well to draw some water out to cook and clean with. She is all alone and as she makes her way to the well you can imagine some of the town’s folk seeing her pass by and they whisper to one another, “That’s her.” Tales of intrigue and rumors follow her everywhere she goes. She goes on looking straight ahead and focuses on her mission and not on what they are saying about her. She has heard it all before. Men have used her and left her only to survive as best she could once they were through with her. She is living with a man now and hopes that maybe he is the one that will not leave her. As she gets closer she sees a man sitting there propped up with his back against it. She never lets on like she sees Him. “Ma’am, could you draw me up some water, I am thirsty?” She is shocked that he would even speak to her as she could tell by his characteristics He is a Jew. Jews, especially the men, have nothing to do with Samaritans considering them to be outcasts. “You are asking me to get you a drink? Me?" She thinks if He only knew who she was. "Don’t you know I am not just a woman, but a Samaritan woman?” Jesus says, “If you knew who I was you would have asked Me to give you some water; water that will not only quench your thirst but you will live forever if you drink it.” She studies Him just a moment and says, “How are you planning on getting it out? This well is deep; and you have no rope or bucket. Just where are you going to get this water you say will give me everlasting life? This cannot be it because our forefather Jacob dug this well and he and his sons and their families along with all his livestock, all drank from this well: and they are all dead.” Jesus smiles and says, “Oh, not this water dear. See this water is temporary and it will quench your physical thirst and help your physical body; but the water I am talking about comes from Me only. When you drink it, it goes into your soul and will nourish it forever.” She thinks about it and says, “Then give me this soul water.” There it is; the revelation of her heart. She wants to live with Him forever. Finally she has found a man that wants her not for just a little while but for forever! Jesus then lets her know He is not just a man by calling her attention to all the other men in her life. She then treats Him as a Rabbi by asking Him some doctrinal questions and He lets her know He is more than a Rabbi. She finally concludes with “Well, when the Messiah comes He will come to all of us and not cast us out like the rest of the Jews but will tell us everything too.” Then Jesus drops the bomb: “I am the Messiah.” Then she sees some other men coming toward them and gets scared and leaves.

Her famous words that caused many to come to believe in Christ were simply: “He told me all I ever did.” He will tell you all you ever did too. No one else knows you like Jesus does and yet He is willing to put Himself in your path and tell you just as He told her. “I know who you are and what all you have done but I still offer you everlasting life if you will only receive it.” Jesus never forsook that woman and He will never forsake you. Ask Him for a drink of that soul water today.

Got Ears? Then Don't Judge.

“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37 New King James Version NKJV).

A guy is waiting to be interviewed for a job when he hears someone yell, “Get out of my office!” A fellow comes out of the office quickly and says to him; “Whatever you do when you go in, don’t make any comments about the fact she has no ears” the man says. When the receptionist invites him into the office the guy sits nervously in a chair waiting on the interviewer. When the lady doing the interviewing enters the first thing he notices is the fact she does not have any ears. Remembering the advice the other man gave him he focuses on her eyes. “You have very pretty eyes,” he says to her trying to get some brownie points. “Why thank you, I just got these new contacts last week,” she says. He then says, “I should have known they were contacts.” She then asks, “How would you have known that?” He says, “Because you don’t have any ears to hold glasses on.” He did not get the job either.

To form an opinion after careful observation or consideration is the definition of the word judge. We do it on a regular basis without even realizing it. When Jesus told the people not to do it He was putting it in the context of our opinion about other people. We form opinions about people as we observe them. We judge them by age, size, hair color, gender, dress, looks, facial expressions, and even smell. We also judge them by their actions or inactions, by what they say or do not say. Then Jesus says not to condemn them once we judge them. Then Jesus said if we do find ourselves condemning them then repent and seek forgiveness for it. Jesus says it is better not to form opinions to begin with and we will not have to worry about seeking forgiveness for condemning them. It does not come naturally; just like the guy seeing the woman with no ears and wearing contacts. Judging comes naturally, forming opinions come by choice. Let’s work on forming opinions and let Jesus do the judging. He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Sorry, just could not resist it).