His name tonight, Mark chapter number five. Mark chapter number five in your Bible tonight. And I don't believe that I'll be very long this evening, but God just kept churning and churning and churning this thought in my heart. And I kept telling the Lord I ain't got it all put together. And the Lord kept saying, you ain't gotta put it together. I put it together. And if we're not careful, we'll get too mechanical in our serving the Lord. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the outline and studying and being prepared. But if we're not totally dependent on Him, it's all in vain anyhow. Amen. So I want us to read a passage of Scripture from Mark chapter number 5 and we'll deal with that woman with the issue of blood. And that begins in verse number 25 of Mark chapter number 5. And a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many positions, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing better, but rather grew worse. And this is the phrase that stuck out in my heart when she heard of Jesus. came in the press behind and touched his garment. For she said, If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Had Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And His disciples said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest, Who touched me? Well, I'm glad the Lord's interested in the individual. Hallelujah. Thank God. I'm glad He came after them and us and you. But I'm real glad He was interested in me. Amen. Thank God He's interested in the individual. Bless the Lord. And the Bible said, And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing the trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell before him and told him all the truth. Boy, if you want to get something over the Lord, you just fall before him and tell him all the truth. Amen. You don't ever get real help until you get honest. Amen. The Bible said, And he said unto her, Daughter, Thy faith hath made thee whole. When we started our text, she was just a certain woman, but now she's got an identity. She's a daughter. Oh, glory to God, I'm glad. There was a day in my life when I came as a nobody, but I left the child of the king. Amen. Bless her. Go to thy faith and make thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. I want to stop reading there, and I begin to think about this text, about what does it take to get to Jesus? What will it take to get to Jesus? And well, I noticed in our text that this woman is desperate. She's in a desperate situation. I mean, Brother Brian, she's in a situation where that she has spent all she had, that she's grown none better, but yet she's grown worse. There was a time that she was depending on her own resources. because for 12 years she spent her own money and she went to other doctors from place to place and she was dependent on her own resources. But she got desperate because there came a time where she realized she could no longer depend on her own resources. But she was depleted, amen. She had nothing left. And that's where you and I were. We had nothing left. There was no help to be had. And so she was desperate. Can you imagine suffering for 12 years for that issue of blood? And the law says you have to stay in your home. You have to stay isolated. You can't go to the temple. You can't go to the market. You are totally alone, suffering all alone. But here's what I find interesting, Brother Brian. She's in total isolation. But yet the Bible says when she heard of Jesus... How did she hear about Jesus? Somebody had to tell her. And I don't know if they yelled through the window. I don't know if they took a risk and went in. Because you do realize that the law stated that if they were defiled and you got near them and touched them, you were defiled. So I don't know if they took a risk and went in. But somebody went and told her. of Jesus. And we don't even know who they are. You know why that is? Because it does not matter who we are, it just matters who He is. I don't know who told her, but the big news of the story is they told her about the one that mattered! and she went from being dependent on her own resources to being depleted to being desperate. All of a sudden she's determined to get to the Lord and she calls to the Lord and she touches the hem of his garment. Brother Brian, the Bible scholars tell us that that hem was actually the end of the Jewish prayer shawl that Jesus wore. And on that prayer shawl there would be what they called wings. And it would be tassels. And there would be eight tassels of string with five knots in them. And they would be called wings. And the prophet says, the son of righteousness shall arise with healings in his wings. And I believe when she saw him, she said, that's the one they said was coming. That's the one they told me about. That number eight, those eight tassels, being the number of new beginnings. And there's five knots in each tassel. That's the number of grace. Glory to God for the day when I found a new beginning, when grace found me, amen. But somebody told her of Jesus. And we don't even know who they are. My question to you tonight is, will we be that somebody? Will we be the one that says, it don't matter if I never get recognized, it don't matter if they never say I'm a great soul winner, I just want to go tell somebody that's desperate and defeated and destitute, hey, there's a man named Jesus. that can help you and deliver you and bring you out. You can believe what you want to, but I believe whenever she got healed and grabbed ahold of the hem of that garment, And the Lord spoke what he did to her. Somewhere in the midst of that crowd, standing off in the shadows, was that somebody that come by her house and told her about Jesus. And they watched as she got delivered. Oh my soul, I want to be the somebody that tells somebody, hey, I can't help you. Religion can't help you. Your relationship can't help you. The doctors can't help you. But there's a man named Jesus. and He will deliver you. Somebody told her. I wonder, will you tell somebody? You know what would be a crime after experiencing all the good things we've experienced, not just in these days, but in the years past, is if we experienced all the goodness of Jesus, and then we kept it to ourselves, Brother Brian, it seemed like when I was growing up and I was a kid, everybody went on visitation, everybody passed out tracts, and everybody went soul winning. And I can't remember the last time I heard a message on soul winning. I don't know. I can't remember the last time I heard a preacher encouraging his people to pass out tracts. You say, just to tell somebody about Jesus isn't enough? I know the preacher carries tracts. Let me see one preacher. You ain't that old preacher. It'll be all right. This does not look very big. It don't look like you could accomplish much with something this small. But inside this tract, there's news about a man named Jesus. And there was a day that my whole family was lost in the muck and mire of this world. Had my uncle come by after he met Jesus. And he laid that track on our coffee table and told my mama that Jesus loved her and wanted to save her. And mama read that track and fell under the Holy Ghost conviction and got saved by the grace of God. About a week later or so, daddy got saved. All because somebody left a gospel track on the coffee table. that told us of Jesus. You say, oh, it's nothing big leaving a gospel track. Oh, no, friend. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown, and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus' name. He left that track, and they got sane, and they led me into the Lord. Daddy and I have been to Mexico and Alaska. God's let me fly halfway across the world. and preach the gospel to people that never heard His name. And I believe with all my heart that when we get to glory and gather around the throne in worship, that somebody might go get Alan and say, you remember that track you left on that coffee table? Here's the fruit. Of all the people in India that that boy got to win to God, because you made sure they heard of Jesus. You know, if we're not careful, when we first get saved, we want to tell everybody. When we first meet Jesus, ain't nobody got to preach to us about soul winning. We're going to invite somebody to the house of God every week, and we're going to empty out the track record, and we're just so in love with Him, we can't help ourselves. The Bible said, Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed. I know this is different, but I'm just going to confess mine. There was a time that I used to be more fervent than my soul winning. than I am right now. But if you ain't careful, you'll see so much junk in ministry, it'll make you hard. You'll see people make professions and not come back, get out and live like the devil. And you'll wonder, is there really any use? And especially as a pastor, I learned this, if I wasn't careful, I'd get so caught up in my flock I'd forget about the lost world. That happened to me. But I begin to think back today of times that I had fervor in my soul and how sweet it was to watch people come to God, hear of Jesus and be delivered. And I didn't care if they gave me the glory, because God got the glory. It didn't matter what my name was. They'd heard that name of Jesus. He made all the difference. But somebody obeyed a prompting in their heart to go tell that woman about Jesus. I don't know who it was, but I guarantee you heaven does. Speaking of gospel tracts, my friend Kevin is here. I guess we've listened to about everything James Knox ever put out. I love Brother James Knox. He's a Bible man. He can bring out some of the most profound truths out of some of the most simple things. It leaves him, man, I wish I'd have seen that. Praise God. But his church is very serious. about sowing seed and passing out tracts. There's people on the streets in his membership in DeLand every night of the week, preaching on the street, passing out tracts. And I listened to him preach on the street ministry a while back, and he told something I never got over. Brother Brian, he said that there was a young preacher in his church who got under a burden to win people to God. And he said that that young preacher would go to truck stops, and he would stand at those truck stops, and he would wait on them truckers to pull in, and he'd try to witness to them, and if he couldn't talk to them, he'd give them gospel tract. And he was up in Ohio at a truck stop, and it was one of them days where nobody wanted to listen. If you've ever gone somewhere and you've had one of them days Everybody wanted to slam the doors in your face or cuss you out or nobody was interested. Or the dog wanted to attack you and they wouldn't make him get off. Just everything in the world. And that young man had tried to give those tracks away. And one of them truckers got mad and said, listen you fool, we don't want it. And he threw that gospel track in the mud hole. And that young man went home defeated. That gospel track was laying in a mud hole. That truck stopped next to the interstate. A couple of weeks later, Brother James was in his office. An Ohio number came up on his phone, and a woman called weeping. And she said, I'm lost, and God's trying to talk to me, and I need your help. And she got saved. And he said, ma'am, you're in Ohio. How did you even know to call me? And she said, well, you ain't never gonna believe it, but I drive a convertible. And she said, I was going down the interstate, and there come a big wind, and there was a piece of paper flew up out of a mud hole. And it landed in my passenger seat. And it told me about Jesus and promised that he would change my life. He said, I got to church the next Wednesday and told that young preacher what God did. And how God took that trucker from the mud hole and saved that woman's soul. And somebody said, what did you do next? And he said, we had a running spell around the church. Oh, you never know what God might do if you just make the effort to tell somebody about Jesus. How many sermons have been preached on grabbing ahold of the hem of the garment? How many sermons have been preached about pressing through to get to Jesus? How many songs have been sung about this woman in our text? And we don't even know who they are, but somebody told her of Jesus. I just want to be somebody who tells. Oh, I just want to be somebody who tells. Because it's Jesus that makes all the difference. I'm just trying to follow the Lord tonight. I know this is different. Some years ago, we were coming home and some friends of mine we'd gone witnessing in downtown Greenville. And it was one of them nights. They'd cussed at us, made fun of us, called the law to try to get us off the street. And we weren't holding signs and screaming. We were just passing out tracks and trying to witness to people. But right before we left, one of the preacher boys got spit on. And he looked at that man and he said, thank you. for letting me enter the fellowship of his son. And I knew then that boy was far more spiritual than I was. But we left and we got in my car and we really faded. And there's, not far from our house next to the interstate, there's a Budweiser plant. And on the other side of that plant is a gas station. And we passed by that gas station, and God pricked my heart. Some of them Budweiser workers had got off work, and they were sitting in that parking lot, and they had the back of that Budweiser truck open, and they were gonna pop a top and just chill out while they went home. And God pricked my heart. But it was two o'clock in the morning with Brian, and I knew my friend was tired. And we got about three minutes down the road, and my friend started crying. And he said, Preacher, I know it's late. And I said, but we gotta turn around. He said, yeah, we gotta turn around. And we turned around, and them four men were sitting on the back of that Budweiser truck. And we was trying to make conversation with them at first, and then we tried to turn it toward the Lord, and three of them weren't interested. But there was one that trembled under conviction. His name was Teddy. And I said, Teddy, why don't you just get saved? He even kept saying, Brother Brian, I know the Lord sent you. I know he did. I know he did. And I need to be saved, but I just can't. I just can't. I reckon he'd grown up around, you know, a lot of the southern good old boy theology that says you've got to clean yourself up first and then come to Jesus. I know I need to be saved, but I just can't. And I prayed for him and went to leave. And Brother Brian, I got almost to my car and the Holy Ghost said, turn around and look at him and sing the last verse of the lifeboat. And Teddy was sitting on the edge of that truck, just waiting, the rest of them just drinking their beer and acting like nothing happened. And I turned around and I said, so now's the time to get on board while he is passing by. For if you stand and wait too long, you shall forever die. But the fare's been paid for one and all, and the captain bids You come and get on board the lifeboat. He'll carry you safely home. And I started into the chorus and he fell face first into a mud hole. Just weeping out loud. Didn't care nobody was listening. Didn't care who was watching. We finally got him up out of that mud hole. And he said, I've got to get saved. I've got to get saved. And he started calling on the Lord to save him before we could ever read one verse. He's begging God to save him. And I said, Teddy. I said, I don't know what my old God just did. But I said, I was getting ready to leave. And I said, God told me to sing the last verse of the lifeboat to you. I said, do you know anything about that? I'll never forget this as long as I live, he began to weep. He said, my grandmother died three weeks ago. And he said she loved God. And said she laid on her deathbed and begged us all to get right with God. And said I was under such conviction, but I didn't want to do nothing with it. And I loved my beer and my partying and all that sort of stuff. And I knew I'd have to give that up. And so I just told her I wasn't going to listen to it no more. And he said, there's a big long hallway between her bedroom and the back door. He said, it's long. He said, I walked out of her room. And he said, she began to sing. So now's the time to get on board while he is passing by. And he said, you started singing that last verse. And I knew without a doubt, tonight was my night. And God had sent you back. All I did was tell. All I did was mind the Lord. All I did was have a burden. Somebody cared enough to go to that woman that everybody else had thrown away. Society had thrown her away. Even what you would call the saints of that day had thrown her away. But somebody cared enough to go to that woman that everybody else had thrown away, had given her up all. and tell her about Jesus. I want to ask you two questions. Who told you and who have you told? Somebody told you and they gave you an example. I don't even know if daddy remembers this but one night On the way home from church, these people, we pulled in to get gas, and these people's car was messed up. And we didn't even know them. And daddy told them he'd follow them home. I was young. And we'd go a little ways, and the car would break down again, and he'd get out and try to help them, and it'd break down again. Took, I think like it took forever to get to their house. When we got to their house, and I seen daddy reach in the car and pull out a gospel track, start talking to that man about the Lord. And I realized, Brother Brian, it wasn't just about getting that man home. It was about getting that man to Jesus. I wonder how many missed opportunities we pass by today. to tell somebody about Jesus, to tell somebody about Jesus. I just want to be the somebody who tells. I've had great examples. My Uncle Adam, a witness to a telephone I don't reckon I've ever seen him without gospel tracks in his pocket. You've had examples. But who have we told? I remember there was a time in my life, Brother Brian, that if I didn't think I had enough tracks, I'd turn around and go back home. That's how important it was. Somewhere down the line, if we're not careful, We'll get in the routine and we'll lose the fervor. We'll lose the burden. Micah, brother, we can do all the work for the church we want to do, but if we never tell that lost world of Jesus, I'm going to say again, Jesus is interested in the individuals. There's over 50 instances in the Gospel where He spoke to one person. Just one. You say, why are you making an emphasis on one? Because if you ever win one, that won't be the last. Is that a lot of fire in there? If you ever see one come to Jesus and get delivered, You'll want to see it again. Who's the last person you told? Who's the last person you told? Again, we don't even know the person's name. I wonder where we'd be tonight, Brother Brian, if nobody had ever told us. My daddy's been a Spitfield Deacon all my life, and I wonder where we'd be tonight and how I would have grew up if nobody had ever told us. Why don't we support all these missionaries? Because we're in the huge... That's when everything changes. But they'll never hear if we don't be the mouthpiece. I'm going to say this, and I'm finished tonight. If we're not careful, we'll say things like this. Well, I'm just going to invite them to church. And if I can get them under the preaching, I've heard men say this, if I can get them under the preached word and the sound of the gospel, from the preacher, they'll get saved. I've heard pastors say that, if you'll just go out and get them and get them under the sound of the gospel, meaning to bring them in to hear them preach, then they can win them to God and they'll be saved. Now listen, I have no doubt those men meant well, but I need you to hear me. They don't get under the sound of the gospel just when they come in here, or they ought not. If you're saved by the grace of God, you are the sound of the gospel. Amen. He lives in you just like he lives in the preacher. The same Holy Ghost that empowers this preacher empowers you to be a witness. And boy, if we had a church where the members thought that soul winning was everybody's job, and everybody took it serious, I just wonder what God would do If everybody had a burden that the community heard of Jesus. My soul. We don't know who they are. It don't matter. It matters who He is. We ain't trying to make a name for ourselves or a name for East Georgia Road. But I sure would like for my life to be used to make a name for the Lord Jesus. that everybody I come in contact with heard of him. Heard of him. I'm done tonight. Can we get the sister to come play a verse of invitation? I know it was different, but I just obeyed God tonight.