Transcription
So, I want to talk to you about Jesus today. I, I, I want to talk to you about one of my favorite Jesus stories. And but to, to make, to unpack this Jesus story in, in the best way possible. Um, we're going to have to understand a little bit of culture and a little bit about the book of Numbers and a little bit about the fashion sense that was on there.
So, I've got a, I've got a if you're a Bible nerd, you're going to love the first six minutes of this message. If you're not a Bible nerd, you're going to endure the first six minutes of this message. But it's six minutes. Kind of hang in there, you know. You know, and this is a word for you in our family in at Redemption. Um, yes. Even you, the, the person, right? The person right here. Um, I think you're, you're wearing a blue shirt and you're bald and, um, and, and you, you kind of got big ears to be honest with you. And, um, I think your name's Allen. And so this is for, yeah. Yes, you. Not the per, don't turn around right now. It's, it's, it's you. It's, it's you as, as well.
So this is Numbers 15. Um, this is, uh, the Lord giving some fashion advice. And the Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them throughout the generations to come, you're to make tassels on the corners of your garments with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at. So you'll remember all the commands of the Lord and you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by, by chasing after the lust of your own hearts and eyes. Then you'll remember to obey all my commands and be consecrated to the Lord your God. For I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. For I am the Lord your God."
So, so it says, I, I want you to make tassels and put them on the corners of your garments. What an odd command. Let's wear tassels. That's weird, right? You, if I said, "Come on, no, we're going to wear tassels." The question would be, "Why?" And, and of course, the Lord says, "Well, normal human beings do better if they have something to look at. If they have some kind of tactile reminder of, of, of something." And so, so what they would do is they would put these tassels on the corners of their garment. This was the, this was the original WWJD bracelet. This was the original fish on the car. This was the original cross around the neck. This was the original t-shirt or some kind of bracelet or something you wear to remind yourself, hey, in the hectic nature of this world, we are Jesus people, right? We are to live how Jesus lived. We are to walk how Jesus walked. That we're to see the world how Jesus saw the world, see God how Jesus saw God, and apply scripture the way Jesus applied scripture. That's the gospel of grace. That the gospel of grace is, is, is not being right about every single verse in the Bible. It's being right about how Jesus applied those verses. Right?
And so it was that. And so what they would do is they would, they would wear these things. Now, there was two types of these, of this kind of garment. This was called a tit. Um, and, and this one goes on the outside and then they would also have these undershirts that they might wear on the inside. But for the sake of sermon props, we're going to go with the outside one because no one wants to see me in an undershirt up here. It would be, trust me, the best thing about this body is the mystery of it, right? The allure, you know. And so they would just, if you excuse me just a second, they would wear something like this. I'll show you. And they would take the tassels and they would wrap them around their hands like so. And the point was was that God's ways brought me from slavery to Egypt. God's ways brought me from darkness to light. God's ways took me from slavery to Israel. God's ways are the best ways for my life. So that any time before they sinned with their hands, they had to physically unwrap God.
Now, now there's all these neat little concepts. If you could bring up that first slide for me, there's all this stuff going on in this passage that'll help us, uh, deal with this. So, in the tassels, there were, I'll, I'll hold this up to the camera as best I can. There were five knots in the tassels. One for each book of the scriptures in the Torah. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So it, so the tit was kind of like saying I'm wearing the presence of God, but it wasn't just the presence of God. It was the presence of God as it is attached to the word of God in between the five knots or four spaces, one for each letter in the holy name, Yahweh, Yud, Heh, Vav, Heh. So it wasn't just the presence of God that you're reminded of. It's how you carry the presence of God. Are you carrying it in a way that is attached to the word of God and the name of God? The name of God was defined in Exodus 34. He is the Lord, the Lord. He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness God. That becomes the primary definition of the name of God. It's used all over the Bible in Psalm 103. "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. And forget not his benefits. Who forgives your sins and heals your diseases." Why? Because he is the compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness God who does not treat you as your iniquities deserve, but gives you mercy that's new every morning. It's also quoted in the negative like Jonah chapter 3. "I knew it. I knew you were a compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness God. I hate that about you." Right? So Jonah wanted God to be as mad as his enemies as he was. But he had to learn that God's faithfulness is not compromised by our lack of faithfulness. That God is faithful. Oh. Oh, also you would have, if you tie this tassel properly, it, it takes 613 loops to make a tassel. That's there's exactly 613 commands in the Torah. So, it was the word of God, the name of God, the, the ways of God. And if you tie a tassel properly, it comes off with eight strands. Eight is the number of new beginnings, fresh starts, second chances, clean slates, and the opportunity to write a better story. The idea is that the anointing or the presence of God is best served to our world and to yourself by carrying it in tandem with the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, the grace of God. It's that kind of thing. Like you can be right but be wrong at the top of your voice. You could be gifted by God and still misuse that gift if we're not compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, and forgiveness.
There's also some key words. If you could bring that next slide up for me. The key words. The first one is kaf. Now I'm going to take, uh, Oh, yeah. Next slide. Sorry. The first one, the first word is kaf. All right. So, I'm going to take a risk here, um, with some go spring box gusto. And even with our Redemption family, I want you to really give it a go. Let's try this. It just sounds like this. It goes like this. Kaf. Ready? Let's say that together. Ready? Go. Kaf. All right. Let's raise our energy 20%. And especially in Redemption, especially that I want you to raise your energy 20%. And let's try that again. Ready? Go. Kaf. Perfect. Kafh is the corner of a garment. But because there's only 8,000 words in ancient Hebrew, one word had to mean a lot of different things. It, it could be in the corner, the border, the hem, or the wings of the garment. Let me show you that, that when the priest, I'll just put it halfway. When the priest would bless the people at the end of a service, he would say, "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you." Can you see where the word kaf started to mean wings?
Now the most important word I'm going to teach you is the word tit. So with that same amount of gusto, let's try that. Ready? Go. All right. Little bit more gusto. Let's try that again. Tit. Now tit is a garment. But metaphorically and symbolically it was the presence of God. This is an exact scale replica model of the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. It, it's kind of like this. Um, h, how many men in Johannesburg want to drive a Ferrari? All of them. As a matter of fact, there was a Ferrari in the hotel park this morning when I, and it was like Magnum PI's car, right? Everybody wants to drive one. How many of them can actually afford a Ferrari? None of them. So, what they do, what they do is they make these little scale model Ferraris, right? So, so that, so that people, grown men have little cars on their fireplace mantels to kind of think, I kind of own a Ferrari, right? It was sort of like that, like you, nobody could go see the Holy of Holies. So, what they did is they made garments out of the veil and they would wear it and it would, it would remind them that the best life is found, you can never separate your spiritual life from your natural life. Like God is not here but not there. As a matter of fact, in Hebrew, there is no word for spiritual. If you, if you ask a rabbi, "How's your spiritual life going?" They'd be, "What do you mean, my whole life? Are you, are you serious?" Like, how you treat your husband is spiritual. How you treat your wife when she annoys you is spiritual. How you treat someone who cuts you off in traffic is spiritual. You know, because traffic in Johannesburg is so not stressful, you know, like Johannesburg is a great place, but whoever designed the roads thought no one would ever show up. You know, they're like, "Man, this is huge." You know, um, how you treat the waitress or waiter when they're taking too long to take your order. That, that's spiritual. Why? Because you, you, you carry God with you everywhere you go.
Now, now a later writer said, "Put on the garment of praise." It's this, a New Testament gospel of grace, though, would say, "Put on Christ." Right? So, so the idea of how that progressed is, is your best life is never found in thinking up a way that Jesus isn't with you. He's not, he's not with you everywhere you go, everything you do, everything you say. Metaphorically, it was the presence of God. The two other key words that'll come in later are the words t means unclean. So if you were, um, had leprosy or something, you would have to declare yourself tam, unclean, unclean, unclean. And, and then of course, the opposite of t is to was the word for clean. So you were either tame or tahor.
Now, once we know that, Bible nerd-dom over. Once you know that, certain scriptures should start really coming to light like, okay, remember there's this one time a, a poet said this, "Under the shadow of his wings," the word is kaf. In other words, under the shadow of the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, the, the grace of God. Remember there's this one time in, in the Gospels, Jesus said this, "Beware of people who wear their tassels too long." What an odd statement. Watch out for long tassels. In other words, beware of people who are too loud about what they believe and not loud enough about how they love. Watch out for people who'd rather turn Jesus into an argument to win instead of a life of love to demonstrate. Watch out for people who are too loud about how gifted they are. Normally not. I've traveled the world. I've come into churches that people say, "I'm the prayer warrior here." Normally not. Normally the prayer warrior is somewhere praying. I've never in my life met a prophet ever. Not once ever met a prophet who introduced themself as a prophet. The real prophets are the ones other people going, "Now, that, right?" But watch out for people, in other words, let's put it in today's language. Watch out for people whose WWJD bracelet is too obnoxious. Watch out for people whose fish on the car is too big for the car. Watch out for people whose Christian t-shirt is too obnoxious. Watch out for people who share that meme on their Facebook wall 'cause they're not ashamed of Jesus. Ah, because just 'cause people name it doesn't mean they know it. Watch out for that.
Oh, remember, remember there's this one time there's this guy named David and David killed a giant guy and he became very popular with everybody except the king and the king got very jealous of David started chasing around the country and what you notice in that story is that David is a bad man like he is a, he is Liam Neeson from Taken, he's Jack Bauer from 24, he's Rambo, he's John Wayne. I'm trying to get through all the generations there like, like he's like, like lion, bring it on. Bear, come get you some. Giant Philistine warrior, bring it. When it comes to fighting, he's awesome. But when it comes to hiding, he's terrible. And, and everywhere he hides, people know he's there. As a matter of fact, there's this one time he went to a cave called Agelum or Adullam, and it says that 400 people were waiting for him because they knew where he was going, right? And so in that process, it says that one time Saul was chasing him and he went into a cave that David was in, but he didn't know David was in there and he went in there to use the toilet. Okay? So he goes in to use the toilet and it says that David snuck up behind him and cut off the corner of his garment. My Sunday school teacher when I was seven, Miss Dodd, she told me that David was trying to show him he could have killed him but didn't. With respect to Miss Dodd, that's not what's going on there. Um, if, if Saul's the king of Israel, what would have been attached to the corner of his garment? Tassels. David cuts off the corner of the garment, gets out of the cave, Saul finishes his business, comes out, and he would have put his garment back on. And when he put his garment back on, he would have reached for his tassels. And the tassels were missing. And David is in the distance holding up the corner of his garment. And it says Saul saw it as a reproach. Of course, he did. What was he, what was David saying? "I cannot touch the anointing on your life. That is above my pay grade. I don't get to choose who God gifts with his presence and who God doesn't gift with his presence. That is above my pay grade. What I can say is the way you're carrying your anointing has lost touch with its tassels. You have the anointing, okay? But the way you're carrying it stinks to high heaven."
H, an interesting prophecy comes about in the book of Malachi. It's about how to tell who's the real Messiah from who's not. There was 24 different messiahs in a 120 year period of time. People claiming to be the anointed one. But here is one of the tests for how you know. "But for you who revere my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings." The word is kaf. In other words, you can tell who Messiah is by whether there's healing in the corner of his garment.
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Mark chapter 5, an interesting story comes about about Jesus having an encounter with a synagogue ruler named Jairus. And Jairus has a problem. His problem is that his daughter is very ill and they're past the point of medical help. And he hears that Jesus is around and heard that Jesus is a healer. And so he comes and he asks Jesus. And he would not have agreed with Jesus theologically. But when your daughter's sick, you put aside all your doctrinal differences because you'll give up anything just to see her made whole. Right? And it says this. This is, uh, Mark 5:21. "When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, a guy named Jairus came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. And he pleaded earnestly with him, 'My little daughter's dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she'll be healed and live.' So Jesus went with him."
So this story is about Jairus's daughter. Now what happens next is so spectacular. We often times quit reading because the next scene is so spectacular we quit reading. But if we quit reading, we're going to miss the fact that this is about Jairus's daughter. And if we miss the fact this is about Jairus's daughter, we're potentially going to miss the whole point of the whole passage. So for today, we're going to remember that Jesus is going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. Because if we forget he's going to go pray for Jairus's daughter because the next thing is so spectacular, we're going to miss the point of the whole thing. And so this whole thing is about Jesus going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. And the next thing is an interruption going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. And what happens is very, very spectacular. But we can't lose sight that this is about Jairus's daughter. Because if we forget that this is about Jairus's daughter, then we're going to lose sight of the whole passage. So when we, when we look at this passage, we got to remember this is about Jairus's daughter because Jairus's daughter is very sick. And if your daughter was very sick, you'd want Jesus to pray for your daughter. And so we can't lose sight of the fact that Jesus is on his way for, for Jairus's daughter, even though the next thing is really, really, really, really, really spectacular. So for today in both Rama and our Redemption family, we're going to remember Mark chapter 5 is all about. Got a little lightheaded there.
So Jesus is going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. And it says that on the way there, a lady who'd been bleeding for 12 years powers her way through the crowd and reaches up and touches the corner of his garment. Now, what would have been attached to the corner of his garment? Tassels. In other words, that there's healing in the way Jesus carries the anointing as attached to the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, the grace of God. Now, why would she do that? Well, she's sick and they would have memorized all the prophecies about Messiah. She would have known this one. So, she's exhausted her medical, uh, options and she hears Jesus is coming by. And there's one way. If he is who he says he is, there's one way to find out. There should, there should be healing in his wings.
A couple things socially going on here that if we don't understand this, it, it diminishes the passage's intensity. See, in, in Jewish culture at that time, you were only, there's only one of two things. You were either Tam, unclean, or Tahor, clean. If you were Tam, you were kind of anathema. Here's the reason why. We define sin very poorly. We define sin as the bad things we do. Okay? And the less we engage in things that belong to death, the better, right? But in their world, sin was anything that wasn't perfect. So here's a few things from the Bible that were sin in Jesus's day. In Leviticus, it was a sin to have dandruff. Okay? So just look at your neighbor right now and see if they're living in sin. Just check them like, "Man, you're living in sin." Oh, man. It was a sin to have any kind of rash. So, if you're here today with a rash, would you just raise your hand and let us know? You know, it was a sin to have a period because that wasn't a part of the original thing. Oh, by the way, in Leviticus 12, it was a sin to give birth. In Leviticus 12, it says after a woman has given birth, she must go to the temple and offer a sacrifice to atone for her sin of loss of blood. So, in, there's a lot of rules when there wasn't a gospel of grace. There was a lot of these things and that, those all those things make, made you tame or unclean or, and, and what you'd have to do is go through a ritual to become clean and that cost a lot of money. So here's what they did, right? And we would never do this today. This would never happen today. Thank God we live in a better world. But back then they found a way to profiteer on people's religious guilt. Right? I know, unthinkable. And so what they did is there were all these rules about what made you Tam. And then they made like 2,000 extra rules that also made you Tam just to keep you from being the real Tam. And here was the problem. Tameness was very contagious. So if you have dandruff and I touch you, now I'm Tam. And, and the reason that was working was because if we make more and more and more and more and more and more people, um, insecure in their uncleanness, we can make a whole lot of money in the temple selling sacrifices so that they could just feel okay, right? And so they just made it really difficult. Like here were some of the man-made ones. Not only was it a sin to have a period, it was a sin to touch a woman who'd been on her period in the last three days where she had sat in a chair. So if you're here today and you're on your period, could you just raise your hand so we know? Like, how did you even live back then? It's bizarre. Or at least put a sign in the chair so we know. Like, here was a man-made one. It was tame to touch furniture where a married couple had been intimate in the last 3 days. What'd you do? Put a sign up? Like, I was teaching this in a guy's house one time and he stopped the sermon and made everybody get off the sofa. I know. I know. He was 75. Oh, golly. I was like, come on, Dad. Seriously, you serious, Dad? Right now, let's think through.
So, Mark chapter 5, Jesus is going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. And on the way there, a lady who's been bleeding for 12 years touches his garment. Stop. What would she have been? What would she have been considered TMA? Untouchable. Stop. Pause. We tend to read the Bible unemotionally. Just for a second, let's have emotion for a second. If you've been bleeding for 12 years, how are you feeling physically? Pretty bad. There was no iron tablets or ibuprofen or paracetamol. You just had to gnaw on a ginger root till you felt better. I like it would have been an awful thing emotionally. This woman would not have been touched intentionally for 12 years. They couldn't afford it. Like good people. She'd walk into a room and the good people would be going, and it's not 'cause they're bad. It's 'cause they couldn't afford to touch her. How are you feeling emotionally, never being touched physically? There's all this stuff. So, she needs to get to the tassel. The problem is, is she's anathema. Well, she actually uses her uncleanness to her advantage. Literally, no one around Jesus can afford to touch her. So, she just puts her elbows out and like, "Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me." And it makes a path. And she reaches up and grabs the hem of his garment. Now, she's instantly healed. And that's interesting. What's more interesting is Jesus doesn't mention it. He doesn't make a deal of it. He just tells her to go in peace. And he acts out of character. Almost always when Jesus healed somebody, he told him to, "Let's keep this on the down low, shall we?" Not this time. This time he's like, "Who touched me? Who touched me? Power has left from me." Does that sound like Jesus to you? No. It sounds like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, "The Force has left me." Like, it's just, it's just odd. Follow me here. If Jesus points out that a lady with an issue of blood has just touched him, what are they going to all think? He's, which, by the way, is the gospel of grace in one story. The one who knew no sin was willing to become unclean so the actual unclean one could have a life.
12 seconds for the Bible nerds here. The Jewish people read and write in four levels, not one. So if you ask a rabbi, what's the one meaning to this? What? It's four. If you're a nerd and need to know the names of the four, it's Pashat, Remez, Drash, and Sod. If you're not a nerd, one, two, three, four. The pashat was like the plainest thing going on. So the plainest thing going on is there's a lady who's been bleeding for 12 years and she desperately needs a touch from Messiah. That's what's plainly going on while Jesus is going to go pray for Jairus's daughter. But then a Remez is a hint or an illusion. And in the New Testament, numbers are normally Remezes because they didn't have numbers. Letters were numbers. And so when a writer said 12 years, like how did they know that? It's obviously not literal. It's like there's something else going on. So in one sense, there's this one lady at one moment at one time that's been bleeding for 12 years needing a touch from God. But in another sense, when a Jewish audience read that, they would have read 12 tribes. So in one sense, this is about one lady at one moment at one time. In another sense, this is about an entire nation needing a touch from God. This is, they're meant to find themselves in this story. So now Jesus, the general crowd thinks Jesus is unclean. And he's willing for them to think that so that this unclean person can actually have life. And it's easy to stop there because it's spectacular. One of the greatest miracles Jesus ever did was an interruption to his schedule. Like, so if God can't interrupt your schedule, you might someday miss everything God could have. I mean, there's all these lessons in this. But we got to remember Jesus was on his way somewhere. He was on his way to Jairus's daughter. And that part of the story turns pear-shaped. Here's verse 35. It says, "As Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the from the Jairus that if you could bring that up, it's Mark 5:35. It says, 'While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader, with no people skills.' I'll add that. 'Jairus, your daughter's dead. Why even bother the rabbi anymore?' Jairus, your daughter's dead. Why even bother the rabbi anymore?" F, first of all, rude, right? You have no people skills. Second of all, let's, let's read this for some emotion. If you have a child, how would you cope just finding out they died? Well, not well. Your first emotion would be what? Disbelief. Second emotion, devastation. Third emotion, anger. At who? No, not Jesus. You can't be mad at the Lord. The lady. Stupid lady. You've been bleeding 12 years. You couldn't wait 20 minutes. You could, you could live with your condition. My daughter died because you were so selfish. You had to go first, you selfish, selfish lady. Jairus, your daughter's dead. Why even bother the rabbi anymore?" Now, why would they say it that way? Well, Jairus is a synagogue leader and he has to live by all the rules, right? And in Leviticus, it's against the law to knowingly walk into a room where you know a dead body is. It would have been a sin. You can't know there's a dead body in there and then go in there. So, they're, they're pausing the whole thing because there's no point. He's not even allowed in the room, there's a dead body in there. But Leviticus also says, "You're not allowed to walk into a room where you know a dead body is unless you're already considered unclean." "Who touched me? Who touched me? Power has left from me. I need all of you to look over here and think I'm unclean. This lady with an issue of blood. She just touched me. I need everybody to think I'm unclean. Otherwise, they're not going to let him in the room."
The theological word for this is prevenient grace. It's this. Have you ever been through something and you thought it was a disaster and then five years later upon further review, you realize what you thought was a disaster was the very thing that made a way for you? It's that, that's what's happening in this story. The very thing that would have been seen as a disaster was like the disaster that was the first miracle was the very thing that made the second miracle possible. Right? It's like, "Oh man, I got fired, Shane. I got fired. This is a disaster." No, maybe not. Maybe getting fired is the thing that will move you to start that business you've been dreaming about for a while. And then five years later, you're like, "Oh, oh, Shane, they were deceptive and I lost all this." Yeah. Well, okay. But upon further review, five years later, losing it all there actually made a way for you to be in this story. But Jesus covers his bases. You know, he's like, "Oh, she's not dead. She's just sleeping." Wink, wink. You know, of course, in Hebrew, the word for dead and the word for asleep is the same word, which, um, this is verse 39. Check this out. Um, if you could bring verse 39 up, it says, "And he went and he said to them, 'Why all this commotion and wailing?'" Well, that's a dumb question. A child has died. You can kind of picture the crowd like, "Uh, somebody's dead. Uh, the child's not dead, but asleep." But they laughed at him, of course, like that's a. And after he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him and went in where the child was.
Pause before we go further. This is a tait. Everybody together with a lot of gusto. Let's try that. Ready? Go. Let's raise our energy 20% and try that again. Ready? Go. Thank you for giving me the time to put this back on. Jesus would have been wearing something like this. And what would have been wrapped around Jesus's hands? Tassels. And the tit was the presence of God. It symbolized that. Okay, here we go. Next slide. And he took her by the hand. Stop. Is it against the law to enter into a room where a dead body is? Yes. Would it be a sin to touch a dead body? Oh yes. Here's the whole gospel of grace again in one story. The one who knew no sin was actually willing to become unclean so that the real unclean person could have a life. He took her by the hand. What would have been attached to Jesus's hand? So, in the first part of the story, the lady gets healed because she's reaching up for God. In the second part of the story, the little girl gets healed because God is reaching down for her. Even after she's dead with no hope, Jesus was still coming. And that'll be your story as well. Sometimes you'll get a touch from God because you're desperately seeking him. Other times you'll get a touch from God because he's desperately seeking you. That's the story. And he took her by the hand and said, "Tite, titum." Which means, "Little girl, I say to you, rise up." But in their world, the tit was symbolic of the presence of God. Essentially, Jesus comes in and says, "Little girl, Titakum, little girl, the presence of God is here. It's time for you to rise up, little girl, the presence of God is here. Get up and look." I flew from America through Newark, New Jersey, Johannesburg, went to Botswana and Cape Town and came back here to stand here and to say to our Redemption family and our Rama family, Titakum, my child, the presence of God is here. It's time for you to rise up. You say, Shane, but you don't know what I'm going through. Rise up.
Now, it is my conscience won't let me preach this without pointing out something that's obvious. It is irresponsible and unwise to presume upon God's power to fix something that is within our power to change our life. Look, I think I speak for the leaders here. I'm going like, if you get lung cancer, we will pray with all of our heart that God will heal you of your lung cancer. But we'd also rather you quit smoking today than to need a miracle in 30 years. Like if you need a financial breakthrough, we'll pray for you. But we'd like to know you're getting up before 10 and you're bathing regularly. And right, like this was the second temptation of Jesus. Hey Jesus, throw yourself off a cliff and God's plan for you so big he'll catch you. And Jesus was like, but why would I do that when I could just not jump? I don't know if I'm getting this across. Maybe Joyce Meyer could do it better. If it's within your power, change your life. Get off your butt and change your life. Don't let me come back here next year and find you in the exact same place. Change your life. Love, Joyce. Or maybe Joel Osteen do it for you. You're a champion. God loves you. You don't let that devil get in your head and get you all negative. You tell him to go on back to hell where he came from. Me and Victoria, we was talking the other day about what Daddy used to say about y'all. And y'all aren't just beautiful people. Y'all are champions. So the next time that devil gets in your head and goes round and round and round and round, you just reach deeper down inside of you, you become the champion God intended you to be.
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I love Joel. Either way, if it's within your power, do something. But here's the truth of it. My Redemption family, my Rama family, if you live long enough, there'll come a day where you take all your medicine and it ain't enough. You've done all you could do to save the relationship and they leave. You've done all you could do to salvage the business customer and he leaves you for 1% discount with someone he doesn't know. There'll come a day when you do all you can do and that's all you got. And when that's all you got, it's enough. Let me show you one more. Just the, the next scripture. It says, "Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around." Oh, and how old was she? Oh, she was 12. So the, so the little girl has been alive as long as the lady's been bleeding. Maybe they knew each other. I don't know. It's not the point. On one level, this is about one lady and one little girl needing a touch from God. On another level, it's about an entire nation needing a touch from God. "At this, they were completely astonished." You reckon? And he gave them strict orders not to let anyone know about this. That's more like Jesus. And he told them to give her something to eat. Why? Because I guess rising from the dead, you work up an appetite. I don't know. But here's my message. If you're the type that can only listen to the first two minutes of a message and then you tune out and then when you feel a message winding down, you come back. If that's you, now's your time. This is your moment. Absolutely. This is your moment. Here's my point. Every one of us has in some measure a bit of the anointing or the presence or the spirit of God. What I'm more concerned with is how you carry it. Are you carrying as attached to the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, the grace of God? If it's within your power to change your life, change your life. But there will be a day where there's nothing more you can do. And then the faithfulness of Christ is all you got. Where the gospel of grace teaches us the one who knew no sin was willing to become unclean so that the actual unclean people could enjoy the blessed life. So Lord Jesus, let no one ever reject you because of the way we're presenting you.
Two prayers for our friends in Redemption in here. First prayer, Lord, would you give me the grace to see where I could change my life and the courage to act? Give me the grace to fully surrender. Second prayer. If you have a health problem or a relational problem or you know it's a situation where you've done all you can do, I pray that the presence of God would invade your situation. Would you look this way? And to my Redemption family, I'm going to release a word over you. Um, and then, um, I'm going to give you right back to your campus leader. "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, lift his countenance to you, and give you peace." I pray that all of you would live every day with an awareness that the presence of God is with you everywhere you go, everything you do, everything you say. But the way you carry it matters. I bless you to be people who live out the gospel of grace and not just argue about it. I bless you to be people who see Jesus as a fundamental way of seeing the world and not some kind of argument to win. I bless you to be people who are known for your love and not for your thoughts on everything. I bless you to be people who are courageous enough to act. But at the end of the day, to hakum, my child, the presence of God is here. It's time for all of us to rise up. Grace and peace, everybody. Let's thank God for the gift that is Shane. Give him a round of applause. We thank you, Lord, for the gift. We thank you, Lord, for the gift.
There are those of you that are in the building this morning. The Lord is saying, "Rise up, my son. Rise up, my daughter." Stay standing. You've never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The presence of the Lord is here. The Lord has been speaking to you, and you know exactly who you are. Jesus says, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." If you've never made him the Lord of your life, because that's where it all starts. Jesus says you must be born again. It's not a good suggestion. It's a directive. It's a command. You must be born again. Otherwise, you will not see or experience the kingdom of heaven. The Lord is here for the taking because heaven is a free gift. No one deserves heaven. But Jesus went all, went through all that he went through to give us access to heaven. Yes, we are saved from hell because of what Jesus did. But the second part is that we are saved for something. If you've never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are losing out on both those things. You are losing out from being saved from hell and you are losing out for being saved for a specific purpose. Heaven is a free gift. Man is a sinner and needs a savior. You cannot save yourself. You need a savior and his name is Jesus Christ. I've got good news for you this morning. God is a God of mercy. He does not want to punish you. All of God's righteous indignation fell on Jesus Christ. The Lord's anger is quenched in the body of Jesus. He's a God of mercy. He does not want to punish you, but he's a God of justice. He must deal with sin. And he dealt with sin by sending his son Jesus Christ to pay for our sins. Sins in the past, sins in the present, and sins in the future. And all you have to do is receive. That's all you have to do is receive this free gift of salvation by having saving faith in Christ alone. Now, if you are in this building, I know you out there. The Lord has brought you here on purpose. You are not here by mistake. It is a divine appointment. The presence of the Lord is here. The presence of the Lord has brought you here. It is the Lord that has brought you here. If you're in this place and you've never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or you fall into another category and you say, "You know what, Gabelo, I prayed that prayer, but I know right now that I'm living in a spiritual pigsty and I need to come back home." I'm also talking to you. If you fall into any of those two categories, wherever you are, just lift your hand up wherever you are. Say, "Gabelo, I need Jesus." Just lift your hand up wherever you are. If your heart is beating very fast, then you know I'm talking to you. Just lift your hand up. Say, "Gabelo, I need Jesus. I need Jesus. I'm sick and tired of doing it my own way. I need Jesus." Now, if you put your hand up or you needed to put your hand up or you should have put your hand up, I want you to do something really brave. Bring your personal belongings and come stand with me here in the front. Come, come, come. Come on, church. Encourage them. Keep clapping. If you need to be here, come. All that I have is on high.
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Give them more encouragement, church. They're coming.
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Come. Except for a heart singing. Come. Come on, church. I know you're cold. Give them a give them encouragement. If you need to be here, come. We'll wait for you. Come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. They're coming, church. Keep clapping. Come. Hallelujah. Except for a heart singing.
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Hallelujah. If you need to be here, come. Stop listening to your head. Listen to your heart. Come down now in Jesus' name. Come. The Lord is here for the taking. He died for your sins. Receive the free gift of salvation today. Don't fix yourself before you get God. Come to him and he will fix you. If you need to be here, come. We'll wait for you. Church, come on. Give them a round of applause. Encourage them. Come. Come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know they just need encouragement. Come. Keep coming. Keep coming. Come. Today is your day. Today's your day. Today's your day. Come. They're coming, church. Give them a round of applause. Come. Keep coming. Keep coming. This is for you. Keep coming. If you need to be here, today is your day. Keep coming. Come. Come. Jesus died for you, too. Hallelujah. I know there's more people out there. If you need to be here, I'm going to ask one more time. Come. Come. You know you need to be here. You know you need to be here. Today is the beginning of great things to come. We are looking forward to Jesus and we are leaving the world behind. Come. Come. Hallelujah.
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Hallelujah. I know there's more people. I know there's more people because there's people out there who think they need to fix themselves first. Get it all together first. I know because I was like you. I thought I needed to fix my life first before I come to Jesus. But Jesus says, "No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't fix yourself. Come to me as you are and I will fix you. The work that I start in you today, I will bring to completion." So if you need to be here, the pressure is off you. It's all on the Lord Jesus. Okay. It's all on the Lord Jesus. If you out there, come, come, come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I throw up my hands. Praise you again. Keep clapping, church. They're coming. Come.
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Fit for a king. Except for my heart singing.
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Hallelujah. Give these people a round of applause in the front.
[Applause]
I labored the point because that's what we here for. The enemy has a firm grip on people's lives and our jobs through the power vested in us is to set people free. So if we spend a little bit of more time trying to get people to come out of their lives, come out of their situations, we'll always do that in this church. Amen. Congratulations to every single one of you standing in front of me here. This is the best decision that you have ever made. You are not standing in a place of shame. You are standing on righteous ground on a righteous foundation. You are now part of the family of God. Today is not the day where you promise God that you are never ever going to do anything bad. Today is the day you take your eyes off of off your imperfection and you turn your eyes onto your perfect savior. Amen. That's good news. Give me a smile. Smile. I want to see teeth. Teeth. Teeth. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. You're not praying to me. You're praying to Jesus Christ. Amen. Say, "Lord Jesus, thank you for the free gift of heaven. I know that I'm a sinner and I need a savior. Thank you that you're a God of mercy. I know you don't want to punish me, but you're a God of justice. You must deal with sin. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus, who paid the price for all my sins. I receive this free gift of salvation by having saving faith in Jesus alone. Jesus, you are now my Lord. Spirit, soul, and body in Jesus' name. Amen."