And then after he gave that hymn history, thank you. After he gave that hymn history, he picked up his guitar and played it and sang it pretty much in the same fashion that Mark has done ever since. I directed him to that site and he enjoyed it as much as I did and has played it for us over the years now and then, usually by request. So if you ever want to hear it again, you know who to go to. But he does a beautiful job with it and captivated really the beauty of it. To me, as I listened to it yesterday, I was looking for his rendition, Stephen Chapman, to send to somebody else who I thought would appreciate it at this particular point in their lives. And I could not find it anywhere. I've found all sorts of renditions, you know, some being done by big choral groups and some being done by others. And every one I listened to just fell so very short. of that simplicity that to me conveys the message so beautifully. Well done, brother. And so I want you to know that now that Stephen Curtis Chapman's version has disappeared, The embodiment of it is yours exclusively now. And I'm thankful that you still play it. And I appreciate you doing so today. Well, I was telling Brother Arndale this morning, he always prays that the Lord would direct my thoughts. And I said, well, he's heard you. He's been directing my thoughts all over the scripture throughout this week. And I don't know how many messages I've got here to choose from here this morning. But I really had the strong thought that I'd like to now that we have finally finished first Peter the epistle of first Peter I'd like to spend a little time in the Old Testament, but I'd also like to spend a little time in the gospel in the Gospels looking specifically at The ministry of Jesus in the New Testament You can't do any better than that. Can you looking at Jesus and that's what the scripture tells us to do looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross Despising the shame of the cross But now he sat down at the right hand of the father making intercession for you and me Looking unto Jesus I think Mark did some Sunday school lessons on that a year or two or three ago, looking unto Jesus. That's a great call. And so I want to look unto Jesus a little bit this morning, I believe, and I believe I'll I'll go to my first thought on that, and I want to start by inviting your attention to what I sometimes call a springboard text, and that's found in James chapter 4. We'll use that as our text this morning just to launch from by giving us, as it does, a concept to think about in this message. And so James chapter 4 and verse 8, take a look at that with me. This kind of fits in, Mark, with your Sunday school lesson, where you ended up today on humility as opposed to pride. But I just want to focus on verse 8. I don't want to get into that so much, but James writes the Holy Spirit guiding him, giving him God's thoughts to us. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Draw nigh unto God. We're so often double-minded people. We carry about our sin nature yet. Don't we you talk about that a lot? And it wrestles if you have the Spirit of Christ in you if you're saved you have the Spirit of Christ in you But he is always wrestling with that old nature, isn't he? And that's double-minded and the same James writes us that being double-minded is not very useful to God. I We're unstable in all of our ways, in our double-mindedness. And so it's a real conundrum. It's a real issue. But here he gives the straight-up advice, and he puts, as Brother Pierce used to say, the onus on us. And he's speaking to believers when he says, draw nigh, get close to God. If you'll draw nigh unto Him, He'll draw nigh unto you. And so I want to pose, as I often do, the question to you this morning, how close are you? How close to God are you? Think about that through this message. How close do you want to be? Are you as close as you could be? Or is the double-mindedness having its way, and that old nature getting too much of your attention to satisfy what it wants. Draw nigh unto God. And so that's the launching text to think about. And I want to talk to you, the title of the message is being in touch. Being in touch. Oftentimes we say to Our friends that maybe now we're separated, maybe we were in school together, we spent childhood together, and now we only see them every now and then, and maybe when we're getting ready to say goodbye after being with them for a short time, oftentimes we'll say something like, let's stay in touch. We recognize that distance has come between us and much of what we once had and enjoyed and being with one another has been, now we're separated and we understand that something has been lost and we'd like to have it back. And so aware of that, we use that. We say to them in parting, let's stay in touch. When my mother was dying, one of her last wishes was, and she shared it with all of her children, she essentially said to us, I want you all to stay in touch. And we did for a few years. But as the years have gone by and life has gotten in the way, We don't do so well and now it's been several years since we've gotten together face to face We haven't stayed in touch And that's a shame and there's a lot isn't there that's lost when we don't stay in touch And I feel a bit ashamed about not, as the oldest boy, not taking more of a position with that to make sure it happens. And maybe this mention now before all of you will make me more accountable to my mother. God works that way sometimes. We should honor our mother's wishes, shouldn't we? That's part of what it means to honor thy father and thy mother. And so anyway, you get the idea. The idea is being in touch. The Greek word means to attach oneself. You see, oftentimes we think about touching, you know, tag, you're it. That's kind of what we do with Jesus. You know, we come to church on Sunday and he, tag, you're it. And then a week goes by and we haven't been in touch too much. We're too busy. But no, no, the word in the Bible means to attach oneself to someone else. And that's what James had it when he said, draw nigh unto God. And of course, Jesus Christ is God, right? He's the personification of God and he's the one that we can relate to God Because he's God in the flesh. And so he's like us and he's like God at the same time and he reveals God's perfect purpose for us when he created us in the Garden of Eden he shows us what that creation was aimed at what the purpose was and it's fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ and He wants us to be in touch Stay in touch with Him. Draw nigh unto Jesus Christ. Draw nigh unto God in the flesh. Draw nigh unto Him. Get as close as you can. And don't be double-minded, as James said. Don't let that other man get in the way and interfere. Keep you so busy and so distracted that you're no longer in touch. It's more like tag, tag, you're it. And then we run away and hope we don't get tagged back. But that's not what God would have. for us. And so I want to think about being in touch. And I want to ask you, how in touch are you really? When we realize what it means, it means to be attached. It means to be connected at the hip. It means to be intimate, the word, actually, some of its meaning, if you look it up in the Greek, also makes allusion or makes reference to the coming together of a husband and a wife in the most intimate way. That's pretty connected, isn't it? That's two becoming one in a physical way. A God way, God designed that. And when it's good and when it's right, it's perfect and beautiful, isn't it? And it is the ultimate connection between two human beings. And it is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. We as a church body should be that connected to our Lord, that intimate with Him. But as individuals, we have to do it an individual at a time. I can't do it for you. And you can't do it for me. And so James said, draw nigh unto God. And He will draw nigh unto you. We're the one that's holding back. We're the one that's standing in the way. God is always ready, but he gives us a responsibility, doesn't he? There's always responsibility in the Bible. Yes, we believe in a sovereign God, and we believe in sovereign election, and we believe in sovereign salvation, and we believe in the doctrine of election, that God chooses who will be saved. If he didn't, none would be saved. And he sees to it that there will be many souls saved to honor his son for the sacrifice he made on our behalf. But he made that sacrifice so that all could be saved. Anybody could be saved who wanted to be saved. Not all will be saved. I'm not preaching that. I know better than that. The Bible doesn't teach that either. But what it does teach is that we have responsibility. And we must not shirk that. Because if we shirk our responsibility to God, our God-given responsibility, then we pay dearly for it. And I think we'll see that as we look into the message a little bit more this morning. So think about with me, how in touch with Jesus Christ are you? How would you rank yourself? Give that some thought as we preach on here a little bit this morning. How in touch are you? And I want to look at a couple of verses in the gospel of Matthew that speak to that, that picture that in different lives, in men's lives and women's lives, in different sorts of circumstances. And then I want to look, And a kindred word or two as well that speaks to the same sort of thing. And so let's begin in Matthew chapter eight and verse three. Matthew chapter eight, and I invite you to turn there. It's always good to look in your own Bible at the word of God and to hear it and look at it at the same time. And that helps learning. It helps memory. It helps etch it into our brains. We were talking at prayer band this morning when a handful of us met to pray for the services, pray for you, and pray that God would bless us here today, that he would visit us as he's promised. And he will visit us. His promise, he's always good to his promise. But as we'll see, you being here, where God, through Jesus Christ, has promised to meet with us, Doesn't mean that you're going to be in touch with him. You can be in the same room with him and not be in touch. And so you begin to see, I emphasize each of these points because there's something for us to think about. Just being here doesn't mean you're going to be in touch with the Savior. My if you've come into the house of God where the promised presence of Jesus Christ has been given to us And even when there's only two or three of us and sometimes it seems like that's what it's going to be But it doesn't matter to him because he promises even if it's only two or three that I'm going to be there with you So he's good for his promise, but we've got to be good for our responsibility Let's draw nigh unto him. Let's get close to him while we're with him here today Do you want to be close to him? Or are you content with keeping a bit of distance? And so let's look at this first verse and and and see that in a picture a real picture of real lives and the difference that being in touch makes Let's see, where are we eight and three? All right I'll start with verse one and we'll read a little bit of context and When he was come down from the mountain, that is Jesus, of course, great multitudes followed him. That's a whole bunch of people, isn't it? Great multitudes. I think Mark, when he was dealing with that in one of his Sunday school lessons, said something like that's a multitude is 10,000. I think that's right. Maybe that was a host. I don't remember. We won't take time to sort that out. But that was a lot of people, wasn't there? A lot of people. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him, and behold, there came a leper. There were multitudes, brothers and sisters, that came down and followed him, but there was one leper. Maybe he was the only leper in all that multitude. Now that's interesting, because of all the things that separate God from people, Leprosy is an example, a type, a picture of sin. And what sin does, many of you know this, and so for those of you that are not as familiar with what leprosy represents in the Old Testament, it represents the disease of sin. And leprosy is an insidious disease, isn't it? Once it starts, it just keeps eating away at the flesh. And oftentimes it just gets uglier and uglier and more deformed and defaced from the way God made it. And that's what sin does in our lives, brothers and sisters. It defaces us. It eats away at the beauty that God created and it makes us ugly and hardened. And you can see it in our looks and in our countenances oftentimes, the idea of disfigurement. That's caused by sin. It's pictured in leprosy and the Bible said again of the leper who was unclean You know, he made known it was his responsibility to you know to say unclean unclean to warn people not to get too close because What he had they could catch and isn't that true about sin too, you know sin you can catch You know hang around with people that are sinning. You might catch it and So he was unclean and and also he couldn't come in to the house of God Couldn't come in and how he was he would defile the holy place Sin defiles us and it separates us from God doesn't it because because the temple the sanctuary the tabernacle in the Old Testament in the beginning it it was where God's presence was and It's now in the church, but back then, and so if you were a leper, you couldn't go in where God was. But here in our New Testament text, here we find 10,000 people are better following Jesus down the mountainside here, and all of a sudden it turns from the 10,000 to one leper of all people. who was in touch. You know, I think about that passage where Jesus taught, you know, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, narrow is the gate, few there be that find it. Here you've got 10,000 people following the Messiah. They were in his presence, weren't they? But there was only one man that day, at that moment, at that time, in this account that's given in the history of the ministry of Jesus Christ. There was only one, and he was a leper. He was unclean. He was defiled. He represents the sinner. He represents you and me. And the text goes on. And behold, there came a leper, verse 2, and worshipped him. saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. There we see faith. He knew that he'd come to the right person, that this grotesque, defiling disease that pictures our sinful natures, that there was one man in all the world that could take that away, that could cleanse him forever. And that's so true when it comes to sin, isn't it? If thou will and so he had faith didn't he this leper although he was unclean and although he was defiled he had faith thou can make me if you will thou can make me clean and Jesus put forth his hand and Touched him He joined himself to him What's so spectacular about that In the Old Testament the leper was untouchable As soon as you touched a leper, you were unclean. Jesus, the Son of God, was happy to touch the leper. He got in touch, didn't he? Doesn't say anything about all those other people. One man. That brings it down to one man. God and one man. But who made the first move? the needy one. And you and I, brothers and sisters, we're the needy ones. And Jesus Christ has promised us that when we gather together like this, He will be here in this place. And He's here to be touched and to touch. Remember this picture, though. You can be here. There were 10,000 other people that were in His presence, but only one got close enough. to be touched. Don't you want to get close enough to him today to be touched by him? You see, when he touches you or you touch him, it works both ways. And we'll see that in a minute. But something happens. Something has changed and you know Isn't it a funny thing that a lot of times we can come we can come to two services a day where Jesus is We can come into his presence Promised as we've said and we can come twice a week or three times a week and never touch him And we can come out the other side of an entire year of coming to church where he is and never be changed Isn't it? So It shouldn't be so We come in we go out and we're not changed What's the explanation that there's only one there's only one explanation that we have not gotten close enough to him Through the preaching of the word through believing the word through receiving the word we have not reached out like that leper To get close enough to him that we can be touched Because only when we are touched by Him are we changed by Him. He's the change maker, not we ourselves. That leper could not change himself, and we are like that in our sinful condition, but we can get close to Him. And James said, draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you. That's a promise, isn't it? And then, the touching. And touching just isn't tag, you're it, is it? Now there's a connection that's been made, a different connection. life-changing connection And that's what we're looking for we become attached to him In a different kind of way Well, I was saved 40 years ago Well, I can beat that I was saved 48 years ago. I But sometimes there a year will go by when I haven't made any changes. I haven't been able or I haven't been willing to touch him. And so I stay the same, I stay the same. And we shouldn't be staying the same because this is a process, isn't it? This is a process. You know what the goal is. Why are we here? Why do we go through the trials that we go through? Why are the challenges allowed in our life that he allows? What is all this about? Why does he encourage us to come to the Lord's house at the appointed time? that we might draw nigh unto Him in a very different way and be touched by Him or reach out and touch Him ourselves and be changed. It's all about change. And what is that change? What type of change? What kind of change? I remember when President Obama, you know, that's what he ran on a few years ago. All about change. Change can be very good. But there's no change better than when you touch or are touched by the Lord Jesus Christ. When was the last time that you have been touched to the point that you have made a discernible change in your attitude and your relation and your behavior? Because Jesus got a hold of you. All of us here today are in his presence. But who's going to be touched? Who's going to get as close? Who's going to reach out? Who's going to get close and come to him and say, Lord, I know you can fix what's broken in me, if you will. You notice he never turns away someone, does he? Closest he ever did was that Syrophoenician woman, because he hadn't turned yet to the Gentiles. But bless your soul, she kept on and wouldn't let go of it. She wanted to touch Him. She wanted to be touched by Him. And He could not and would not turn her away. And He won't turn you away. Oh, draw nigh unto Him. You see, this is for the saved. This is for people who've been saved for 48 years. Sometimes the longer we be saved, the more we need to be touched again. We get set in our ways. We get comfortable. We don't feel that urgent need that this leper felt. This leper felt a need. He knew what he was. Sometimes we imagine, we get to the place where we imagine that we're better than the leper. Don't ever let that thought get in your mind. You're still a leper. You're a leper in yourself. You still have that old sin nature. That's it. That's the nature of leprosy That's what it's a picture of is that sin corrupt nature remember the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7 I mentioned that so much but it's so important because he was saved for 30 years and he and he and he admitted Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Oh Wretched man, this is a great Apostle Oh wretched man that I am not was, used to be, I am. He said 30 years, a great apostle he was. Are we any better? Of course not. We need to touch him and we need to touch him and be touched by him right off. And so let's think about this. When we come into the house, are we just going to be in his presence or are we going to get connected with him and let him connect with us? You see, that's why he brings us together for connection. We need connection. We're out in the world all week and we're rubbing shoulders with the world. This culture is corrupt It's Antichrist and it influences us and I'm there's a message of one of the messages from the 73rd Psalm About how easy it is for us to be corrupted by the world in our thinking We have to come to the sanctuary where God is to fix our stinking thinking How sad it is that we live in a world that fewer and fewer people want to come to the sanctuary No, we can do it online. No, you can't He never promised to be with you online He promised that we're two or three or gathered together there. Will I be in the midst? You ain't gonna find him online. You'll find a lot of other things online but you won't find him and You won't be touched by him He's the one we want to touch. How close are you? Are you in touch? Let's look in chapter 9 of Matthew's Gospel. Let's look at a woman. I want to see something beautiful here. It started verse 18. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead. But come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. He never turns anybody away But how many times do you find that when someone comes up to you and wants something of you or from you? What's a bit of your time? And you find yourself saying well, I would love to help you but I'm too busy Let's do it another time maybe let's try again later I'm too busy. I can't do it. I've got to go to work or I've got a project I'm working on, or I'm right in the middle of something, you know, don't bother me now. Sometimes that'll be your spouse, won't it? Ask Bunny. But it's not Jesus. It's not Jesus. And here we see that, and that's what's laid out in the first. And so Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. They were always following him, and we should always be following him. That's what disciples do. And behold, in verse 20, a woman which was diseased. Here again, we have something, somebody that's broken, somebody that is sick, somebody that has a problem. It's part of the curse of sin, isn't it? Disease and death. She had an issue of blood. She had a running sore That just kept bleeding an issue of blood 12 years. Can you imagine and? She came behind him and touched the hem of his garment She touched him He was there And she was desperate and she believed that that was she could just touch him You ever think that thought, if I could just get close enough to Him, if I could touch Him, I can be changed, I can be fixed, I can be repaired. I can be more like Him. I can glorify Him more. I can submit to Him more. I can be more like Him. I can be made whole. You see, that's what salvation is about, is making you whole. Are you whole yet? Neither am I. You see, it's a long process. That's why we need to be in touch. We need to be in touch. We can't just come into his presence. We're not touched. And how sad it is when so many times we come in, we go out. We come in and we go out. And we go back the same way we came in. You know it's so. And the power of the touch of Jesus Christ is lost on us that day. And we come back. And sometimes we're not even thinking about that, are we? We're thinking, well, we just come here to worship, we come here to hear, we come here to sing a little bit, we come hobnob and fellowship with one another, maybe say an encouraging word. Some of you, we can do that anyway, right? Well, I'm sorry you're struggling with that. Let me help you with that. If there's anything I can do, I want to help you. I'll pray with you about that, pray for you. Oh, you're without that? Well, I have an extra one. Let me give it to you. There's a lot of things we can do when we come, but do we come to be touched? See, that's my point. Maybe I'm stirring. I hope I stimulate some thought that was stimulated in me. You know, I wonder as a preacher how many times I come and the thought of being touched by Jesus or reaching and reaching and really being touched by him is not on my mind, but I want it to be on your mind because this is so powerful and so important. Let's stay in touch. We think it's important with our friends that we've known for a long time, but this is God, the friend of sinners. This is the king of kings and he offers us that we can be in touch. We can be connected to him much more than we presently are for certain. So she had an issue of blood and she came and she touched just the hem of his garment, the bottom of his garment. She didn't touch his physical person, but she touched his garment, that what he was wearing. The point of that is that it's important to get close. And behold, a woman which was diseased, an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Oh, to be whole. You know what the Bible says? Are you complete right now? How many of you here are complete? None? I'm not holding up my hand to say I am. I'm just asking you if you are, hold up your hand. And I see that none of you thinks that you are complete yet. That woman knew that she was not complete. This disease was an imperfection in her and it was a real problem because just like the leper, when she had an issue of blood, as long as she was bleeding, she was an unclean person. And anyone that she touched or that touched her or that anyone that sat where she sat, anything like that, any contact, even remote contact, they were defiled by her defilement. That's a picture of sin, brothers and sisters, and the contamination of it. And it's also a picture of the only cure of our incompleteness. And you know what the Bible says about completeness? It says we are complete in Him. That's the only way you can be complete. And so why on earth are we content to come and go from the house of God so many times and be content with not being touched or touching the one who has promised to be here? Because it's only when we touch him that we are changed in some discernible way. Are you happy with where you are in Christ? Or do you know that you're not where He would have you to be? You need to touch Him. You need to be touched by Him. And so, notice with me as we read on, But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole. She was made complete. The only way that you're going to be made complete And again, that's a picture it's a picture of salvation But I submit to you that this is a work in progress Because the image that we were made in was the image of God and when we sinned When it's sin entered the world we lost that image with that image became broken and it's still broken And the Bible tells us that we're going to be conformed to the image of God's Son. That's the end goal of our salvation. But it's a bit of work, isn't it? And this life for the believer is the process of change. And so we should never come to the house of God without desiring to touch or to be touched by Jesus. And to be thinking that way and to be hearing that way. Jesus said in another message that I would like to preach today but can't preach them all, be careful how you hear. That's the same idea. The same idea. We hear so much, it goes in, goes out, goes in, goes out, goes in, goes out. By the time we get home, we don't remember what the message was. It didn't do much. We didn't get a touch. We were not in touch With the one who is the message the word of God is Jesus Christ is the word isn't he and that's how he reveals himself to us And that's how we get in touch with him is through that word But when it comes in it's got to stay and be careful how you hear Jesus said And so many times we hear but we don't hear We're not touched were not touched. In other accounts of this same story, the Lord said, who touched me? He knew somebody touched him, but he wasn't sure who it was. Who touched me? And the disciple said, Lord, are you kidding? There's a throng of people around us, you know, it could have been anybody. What do you mean who touched you? But he said I felt virtue go out of me Something went out of him and into her he knew it he could feel it virtue something good Something morally upright something powerful went out of him This holy energy went out of him and into her and it changed her didn't it? And it always will change you if it gets a hold of you, if you are truly touched, and if you make that connection with Him that she made. Something goes out of Him and into you. And I hope something goes out of Him and into you today. Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you. She drew nigh unto Him, didn't she? He was oblivious. And here's this woman, you know with an issue of blood and she's defiling anything and everything she touches Jesus didn't reprimand her for that did he? Just like the leper. He never mentioned it He's so kind and so gracious So often we're so quick to point out. Oh, there's a leper. There's a real sinner there, buddy And we and we don't want to touch them either That's not what the Bible teaches us and that's not what the Bible shows us The Lord was never turned off by the touch of a leper or the touch of a woman by with an issue of blood So often we're touched we are scared to touch people that are sinners Well, you talk about a contradiction That's why the Bible says Christ endured the contradiction of sinners against himself We are a contradiction, aren't we? Made in the image of God and And yet we don't want to be touched by him we don't even think about it We don't we don't want to be changed by we resist the change that's possible We're content and staying just as halfway fixed as we ever been or maybe a third or maybe 10% I don't know where you are. I don't know where I am. I know I'm not close and Do you want to be close? That's the important thing for us today. One more example. I thought I could get through a few more. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 36. I'm just going to read this real quickly and then I'm going to go on to a couple of other thoughts that tie in while I still have a little time for that. So 1436, Matthew's gospel. They come to Gennesaret and went in verse 35, and when the men of that place had knowledge of him, when they realized he was there, they sent out into all the country round about him, brought unto him all that were diseased, and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And the Bible says as many as touched were made perfectly whole. There again, the emphasis is on making contact. It wasn't enough to just be where he was, but the deal was as many as touched him, just his garment, just a little touch would be changed. Oh, to be like him. We sing that hymn, oh, to be like him, more and more like him. It needs to be a passion with us. Oh, more and more like Jesus. More and more like Jesus. You know, we have this idea in Christianity, you know, that it's just doing certain things. The whole goal of Christianity is to be more like Him. More like Him. If we're not moving in that direction, we're not moving. And we're missing the whole point of His dying on the cross. is to make us more like Him, to restore what is lost by sin, the picture of which is leprosy, as we've talked. So let me jump now to a similar thought while we still have a little time, in Acts, the book of Acts, Acts chapter 4. Probably a familiar verse to you. I hope it is. Verse 13 is where we want to focus. We may need a little context here. Peter and John were doing some pretty powerful preaching just about then, saying things like, This is the stone which sat at naught of you builders. He's speaking to Jews, talking about Jesus as the chief cornerstone, and they set Him aside. They didn't want Him. They wanted to build on their own without Him. You've set him aside and the preaching said the preacher said Peter said John was preaching which has become but he's become the head of the corner Neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved that makes it pretty simple and if we're going to be changed there's one one and only one that we have to get in touch with to be Changed and we have to feel that virtue come out of him and into us. There's got to be that connection Stay in touch Maintain that connection and he'll change you. He'll change you good. He'll change you more and more like him Mark spoke to that that idea of pride is in us that's in our sin nature and we all have it Pride goeth before a fall and we've all fallen and we're all broken. And so we know we all have pride But Jesus Christ is just the opposite, isn't it? Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ who humbled himself. He emptied himself He made himself of no reputation. He became a servant in him in the form and a likeness of a servant He came to serve you and he came to serve me and all in the service of the father and his will and He became obedient Pride keeps us from being obedient. We must be humble to obey him. We must be humble to draw nigh. That leopard didn't come in pride, did he? He knew what he was. That woman didn't come in pride, she knew what she was. And she knew who he was. The Bible says of this preaching that those that were listening and looking at these two men, Peter and John, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. What does that mean? It means that they were in touch, and they had been touched by Jesus. You know, I want to be sure before I say this and use this illustration, that everyone that Jesus has touched and does touch is that same way. People take notice. And when they say they were ignorant and unlearned, they knew that these men were rough and tumble fishermen. That's what they knew. That they had not been schooled, you know, by the rabbis in Judaism. They hadn't spent years and years and years learning the Old Testament scriptures and learning from all these Bible masters. They'd never been to seminary. And yet when they opened their mouth and they preached and spoke with such authority and such power, they took notice of that. And they said, man, these people are ignorant and unlearned. They didn't go to school. But they said, but they've been with Jesus. Wow. They've been with Jesus. Have you been with Jesus? I'm afraid that too many that come and go from the house of God in churches all over America have not been in touch very much with this Jesus. Not enough to be discernibly, amazingly, wonderfully changed, more and more like Him. So many Christians sadly look not much different than when they said they placed their trust in Him. They haven't changed too much. Something's wrong with that. You see, you've got to touch Him. You've got to be connected to Him. That virtue that is Him will become part of you. And He would be seen in you. And He would be seen in you. But we've got to stay in touch. We've got to stay in touch. Seeing the boldness of Peter and John, Understanding that they were ignorant and unlearned men, as I said, they marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Now those of you that were here this morning for the opening devotion, you saw the same thing this morning. First time I ever mentioned it, Brother Skinner, he's been a carpenter all of his life, and a good one. And the Lord touched him, and he touched the Lord a long time ago. And it radically changed him. That was the beginning of change, however. There was a change that was discernible, a new change today. First time I asked him to do a devotion, he almost got belligerent. He said, that's your job, essentially. He said, I don't do that, you ask me to do anything and I'll do it, but I'm not going to do that, I'm not equipped for that, I'm not, you know, I'm unlearned. I said, okay, every man knows his limitations, I'm not going to push, I'm not going to shove. We did a little more pushing and shoving here, but it wasn't me lately, when this roster of men to take turns doing the devotion, I didn't have anything to do with that. That was young men that made that roster of all the available men, so you take it up with them if you're on there. And if any of you yet did not get a copy of that, there's one up here for you so you can see when your turn is. But boy, was I surprised when I turned around, I was talking away before the service started this morning, and I look and Brother Skinner is standing at the podium. I said, what in the world? I didn't even hear him start. He never made an announcement. He never raised his voice. He doesn't do like I'm going to do. Okay, it's time to start. He just started. Man, I felt so sheepish. I crawled back to the bench, you know, and sat down and he opened his mouth and it was amazing what came out of there. I mean, it was a wonderful exposition of God's provision for us in so many items. What God has provided, what God has provided, what God has provided, everything that we need, and He enumerated, and He used scriptures and all of that. It was a wonderfully laid out exposition of God's provision, how He openeth His hand. Isn't that a beautiful picture? The Bible says, He openeth His hand and satisfieth the need, the desire of all living. And we should see Christ when we read that passage who opened his hands when he stretched him out on the cross to satisfy the need of sinful humanity. But the point is this, I went up to him afterwards and I said, well, you did a marvelous job. He said right away, he said, that wasn't me, that was the Lord. And he's right. He couldn't have done that. But the Lord can always do it. And the Lord will always fill a willing vessel. And that's the thing about being touched. Are you willing to be filled? You see, when he touches you, he wants to use you. He wants to make you more usable. He wants to humble you. He wants to get more of you. He wants to empty you to be empty and so he can fill you. But in order for that to happen, you've got to be in touch. that that virtue can come into you, you've got to decrease, like John the Baptist said, so that he can increase. Touched. Touched. So have you been with Jesus? I could tell Brother Skinner, you know, I thought about that, Jimmy, while you were teaching. I said, he's been with Jesus. He's been with Jesus. That's the only explanation. He's the same man who said, I can't do it. No, no, it's not me. I'm not qualified to do it. But there is no such thing as can't with Jesus. But we have to be in touch. If we don't get in touch, you still can't. But when you're in touch, you always can. There's no such thing as can't. when we're in touch. But it's an interesting thing, you know, little words in the scripture, and I'm going to really finish here pretty quick. Seeing the boldness of Peter and John, perceiving that they were ignorant and unlearning men, they marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Now here's the amazing thing. Who would think that you'd have to look up that word with? I mean, that's a pretty simple word. But I'm glad I looked it up. I've been reading that word for a long time in the Bible, and I never realized that in the Greek language, there's two Greek words that are translated with. And one of those words means simply to be in the same place, just like we've talked about. Right now, everyone in this room is in the presence of Jesus Christ. But I'll bet you not everyone in this room, I hope it's not so, but I'll bet you that not everybody is in touch. even though you're in the room with Jesus. Are you in touch? Have you been touched by Him? Have you touched Him? Have you made that connection? Are you connected with Him here in the house of God? You see, that's the idea. So one of those words means being in the same place with a person, but this word that's used here in Acts chapter 4 is a much different word. It means intimately connected. And I hope to God that some of you, yeah, I would hope big that all of you are intimately connected with him here in the house of God today. That some of him can be poured into all of you and change you a little bit more, a little bit more. What a wonderful thought. I want you to think about coming to church that way. I want to touch him. I want to be touched by him today so that I can be changed a little bit more. We want to be willing to be changed. We don't want to be willing to stay the way we are because this is not the end product. How ridiculous. The end product is to be more like him, ultimately completely like him. And I want us maybe to sing that hymn more and more like him. And there's one line in that hymn that says, we don't need to wait until the glorious dawning. We can be more like Him today. And that's true, but we've got to be in touch, brothers and sisters. And how sad it is when we're not. Let's stay in touch. May the Lord bless His word. If you came in here today and you don't know Him, Maybe he's opened your eyes. It awakened in you the certain knowledge that you need him more than anything else in all the world. It doesn't matter what else you could have in this world. If you could have all your heart's desire and you don't have him, you've got nothing. Because all that you might have, you're going to leave it right here when you draw your last breath. The only thing worth having is that which you can take for all eternity. Will you welcome Him, receive Him as your Savior, the only one, the only name given among men under heaven, whereby we must be saved? There's only one. God makes it very easy. And if you have received Him, maybe like me, you did it 40 years ago, how in touch are you? It doesn't matter when the Lord saved you, it matters how in touch you've been. How much has He changed you into His likeness? Oh, may God create a thirst in us to not be satisfied with just coming to church, but coming to be touched. Draw an eye unto God and He will draw an eye unto you. That's a promise. And God is always good for His promises. May the Lord help you. Let's stand and sing. It's 488. 488? 488.