The rest of us can open our Bibles to Mark 5, verses 21-34. It's a great story. I enjoy reading. Kaylee recently has been reading more and more and reminded me of when I was a kid, read those great books like the Hardy Boys. And actually, I hesitate to admit this. I even read Nancy Drew. I was desperate. I love reading. I like the fiction stories. I like the mystery aspects, the human interests and things. And reading is fun. It takes you into a different world, an imaginary world. What is interesting about the Word of God, though not imaginary, it's full of great stories. It's absolutely full of great short stories. Stories that I think a lot of people would be surprised about. If you told them a story from the Bible, they'd say, really? That's in God's Word? That's actually interesting. It actually is something that is captivating. I think a lot of people, as they begin to read the Bible, they might pick up the Bible and read Genesis, and Genesis is interesting. It's great stories. But they get to the book of Exodus, and they might stumble through Exodus, but by the time they get to Leviticus, they've probably set the Word of God aside, because they're trying to read two things that they cannot understand, and they miss the great stories of the New Testament, and the great stories of the Word of God. Thankfully, I think, in the Even the school system here, I believe they still have religion classes. And I know they're nominal, but I would hope they still have an idea of stories like Jonah and the Whale, or David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, Joshua and Jericho, Jesus and the cross, Paul and the shipwreck. And probably they don't know all those. But I hope they have an idea of some of those great stories from the Word of God. A friend of mine that got saved at the age of 22, after he got saved, he went to live with his family that were attending our church, his older brother, and as he sat with his nieces and nephews and watched a cartoon called Veggie Tales, and I don't know if that's familiar at all, It's telling the story of Jonah and the whale. And he said to them, he turned and said to them, is that a true story? Is that really in the Bible? He didn't even know the story of Jonah and the whale. He didn't know it was there. The Bible is full of great stories, awesome stories. And our story this morning, we've just kind of taken a segment of it. And without going back too far, Jesus has just come from killing the demoniac of Gadara that's been running through the dunes, cutting himself. He was unclothed. He was out of his mind. Christ has him clothed in his right mind. The demons were cast into this herd of swine. The swine have crashed down into the sea. They've been drowned. And the people, unbelievably, have come to Jesus after he's put this man in his right mind. And they beg him to leave. And so he does leave. He gets on a boat and he crosses over the Sea of Galilee. And there begins our story as we read it already this morning. As this man comes up to him, as it says there in verse 21, Jews passed over again by ship onto the other side. Much people gathered unto him, and he was snatched into the sea. And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet. and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live." He says, she's 12 years old, she's dying of an illness, and we're not going to spend time on that story, so I'll tell the end of that story. She does die, but God through Jesus Christ and the power of Christ heals this girl, brings her back to life. Awesome story, that story. But a side story takes place with somebody that's less known than Jairus. The Word of God gives us Jairus' name. He's an important man. He's a well-known man. He's a rich man. He came to Jesus, and the Bible records Jairus, but this woman that we find that comes to Christ as well. It just says about her in verse 25, and a certain woman. She's unnamed. Unimportant, perhaps. She's poor, we know that. The Word of God says that she didn't have anything left. She used all her money. And tells us why she used that money, to try to get better. So she's unknown, she's poor. She comes to Christ, perhaps in the crowd, There were many thrill-seekers, people that, they heard about Jesus, and like Herod, they wanted to see Jesus do something great. They wanted to see Him bring somebody back from the dead. And so those people are all around Christ. But there's other people like Jairus that has a real need. There's other people like this woman that has a real need. And they're earnestly trying to actually get to Christ because Christ has something that they need. She perhaps is a young woman. Jesus later refers to her as daughter. Jesus is at that time in his early thirties. So it seems that she's a young woman that's had this for perhaps a major part of her life, this illness that she's had. But she's there to meet Jesus because she has the need that she wants Jesus to meet. We asked ourselves this morning, why are we in church? As we got ready to come, is it habit? You know, we go to church on Sundays. It's Sunday, so I'm going to go to church. Or is it tradition? I mean, it's the way it is. I'm sure there's many people today that are going to church because it's just tradition. It's just, that's what we do. Or the law, they feel a burden. I've got to go to church because I know God wants me to go to church, so I'm going to go to church. Or do we come to Jesus this morning? Are we like this woman that have a desire to say, you know, I'm in church this morning because I want to meet with Jesus. I want to meet God. I've got a need in my life that I want God to meet. And certainly that's her desire this morning as we read about her. She's there specifically for no other reason than to come to God with a need and walk away having had God meet her need. And so we're going to consider this morning how she came to Christ. And let's pray and ask God's blessing on this work. Father, thank you for this story this morning. I pray the Holy Spirit would guide me as I speak. And more importantly, and most importantly, that He speaks through me to the hearts of each one that's gathered here. Father, we've got great needs, whether we understand it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not. Father, whether we understand the greatness of the need that we have. Father, we all have a great need to meet with Jesus today. And Father, I pray the Holy Spirit would just guide and undertake in this service. I pray you speak to hearts. Lord, we need your help today, and I pray that you meet with us in power. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. First thing in the story is what God used to drive her to Jesus. What he used, you know, here's this woman. She wouldn't have come to Jesus if it wasn't for something in her life. What he used was a physical burden. It says a woman, a certain woman, which had an issue of blood. an issue of blood. Warren Rearsby, in his Bible Exposition commentary, speaking about these two characters, he got Jairus and this woman, he said, Jairus was about to lose a daughter who had given him 12 years of happiness. And the woman was about to lose an affliction that had brought her 12 years of sorrow. For 12 years. That's a long time. My wife and I, surprisingly, have been married this summer 14 years. It's two more years. Kayla is going to be 12 this year. So our first child was born 12 years ago this year. It's been a long time. I feel like we've had kids for quite a while. 12 years is a long time. She's suffered and carried this burden daily, getting up and realizing, I still got this burden. Getting up again, I still got the burden. Getting up again, I still have this burden that remains. I'm taking away. And it's not just a physical burden that she has. It's an illness that she does have. She's hemorrhaging and losing blood. And it's a burden to her. But it's more than that, she's unclean. According to the Old Testament law, which says in Leviticus 15.25, if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation, she shall be unclean. Just like a leper that's unclean. She's unclean. She can't participate in the worship services and different things taking place. She's separated from that. There's a stigma associated with it. People looking down on her. She's unclean. And so it's not just a physical burden this woman has, there is a societal burden that she has as well. And yet she comes to Christ. There's many excuses we could talk about this morning and say, you know, how many excuses could this woman have come up with? One of them would have been, I don't want to come to Jesus just because I have a need. Just because, you know, I need Him, I don't want to come to Him just because for 12 years I've been afflicted, you know, there ought to be something else that motivates me to come to Christ. But you know, it's okay to let physical, financial, emotional, or other burdens bring us to Jesus. Many would be the testimonies of people that say, I came to Jesus in just that way, I would have never gone to Jesus, I would have never sought after Christ, but this happened in my life. This huge burden, this huge situation, a situation I didn't foresee could have been financial, could again be emotional, physical burden. And that's what brought me to Christ. That's okay. That's the way it was for this lady. She had a physical burden that brought her to Jesus. She had taken many painful remedies. Verse 26, it says, and had suffered many things of many positions. It doesn't tell us what the remedies that had been offered to her, but what they were, were drastic. They were painful. They were things that caused her suffering, not just because of the suffering associated with them, perhaps, but just, they didn't work, it didn't work, it didn't work, and trying all these things. There's a quote that says, desperate times call for desperate measures. And she was in a situation where she's burdened in life, and so she is seeking answers. She wants to answer, even if it's hard, even if it's difficult. But she would have been better off to have gone right to Jesus. Now Jesus' public ministry hadn't taken place yet. Just perhaps even getting going at this point. So originally, I guess that wasn't there. But how much better if she not suffered all those years going, seeking solution after solution after solution. And to apply that to our world, there's a lot of people that in their heart they realize there's a need that I have in my life and there's something lacking. Instead of going right to Christ, they turn to drugs, they turn to alcohol, they turn to sensuality, they turn to gambling, they turn to other addictions. The answer is, they suffer many things from those things. Because they're not the answer. They're not what really meets the need. So she's taken many painful remedies. She had consulted with many different authorities. She'd suffered things of many physicians. One doctor would say, this is the answer. And that wouldn't work. And she'd go to another doctor, and the doctor would say, well, this is the answer. And this was a very difficult problem. It was not a normal, easy thing that a doctor could say, well, take this, and that's the answer. And that solves it. It was a very difficult thing. Obviously, all these doctors trying to solve it, and they continue to fail. So she sought out all these authorities to try to meet her need. There's a young man that goes to Oriel O'Gorman's church in Arklow, Ireland. And this young man used to be a drug dealer. But he got saved. And he went to the funeral of a young man that had died of an overdose. And the mayor of Arklow came up to this man. And he knew him. And he said his name and said, what How did you get out of that situation? What he said, he said, I tried many things, many times, but I tried Jesus once and he met my needs. Christ was the answer. It wasn't these programs, it wasn't psychologists, it wasn't medicine and taking medicine to try to help him get off his addiction. It was God, by His grace, through His power, set this man free. Now this young man is going into schools, testifying of what God has done in his life, sharing with the kids that are tempted into these situations of drugs and things, saying, that's not the answer. Christ is the answer. So she had consulted many different authorities, but the answer was God. She had spared no expense. She had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had. We don't doubt this morning that this woman was really burdened about her problems. She took every resource that she possessed and she put it into seeing that need met. She was desperate. She didn't look at her finances as more valuable than her health. She was trying everything she could to purchase health, but she couldn't afford it. She couldn't purchase it. There's a lot of things in life that money can't buy. It doesn't matter. I read sadly, you might have read the story too about the English woman that murdered her three kids. And I read the article and realized these kids had medical needs. They had a two million pound house. But they couldn't buy the health of their kids. My heart goes out to this lady. She was desperate and she made a very foolish decision. But there's things in life that we can't, it doesn't matter how much we have, we can't buy our health. We can't buy happiness. And people think, you know, if I just have this, this, this, it doesn't make me happy. It's not there. There's not happiness in things. It's an illusion that Satan has put up that says, things satisfying, there might be a temporal pleasure in those things. But they're empty. At the end of the day, they're empty. You can't buy health. You can't buy happiness. You can't buy everlasting life. There's nothing that we can offer to God and say, God, I want everlasting life and I'll give you this. It's unaffordable to us, just like this woman couldn't afford to buy her health. We can't buy this gift of everlasting life. Matthew 16, 26 says, Or what shall man give in exchange for his soul? He can't afford it. I'd rather be dirt poor in life than have Christ and Diocese and Eternity in my mouth. And have everything in life. I don't envy, think of his name, Winfarm, Donald Trump. I don't envy Donald Trump. I don't want his life. He looks angry, he looks upset. There's things in his life I don't want anything to do with. He doesn't look like a man that has joy, that has peace and happiness. To me it doesn't look like he has many friends, not the way he hasn't made a lot of friends in Scotland. Money is empty, it's vain. It seems valuable, but it's not really valuable. This woman, whatever resources as far as finances she had, she poured it into her health and it was fine. It didn't give what she needed because what she needed only God could give. You know, praise God there's things in life that must be met by God or they won't be met at all. Praise God. That's his mercy to mankind. Why? Because if mankind didn't have needs that only God could meet, how many men would actually turn to God? We're so proud, we're so independent, we're so self-reliant. If we had all these things, it's very unlikely. That we're going to set that aside and say, well, instead of trusting in God, I'm going to trust in God. That's why Jesus said about a rich man, it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to get saved. Why? Because a rich man has everything. He doesn't need God. His life's fine without God. But praise God, there's times where even a rich man will have a situation in his life that he can't afford to buy his way out of. There's no resource that he has to meet it. So maybe in that position, that rich man would say, cry out to God and say, Oh God, you've got to meet my need. Praise God for those things. You know, I look at the thief on the cross and I feel bad that he died for his favor. But I praise God that in his cross of suffering, he had the best view of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for his sins. It was that cross of shame and it was his sin. It was his rebellion against God that put him there with his feet also nailed to his cross. His hands also nailed to the cross. It was his sin. It was his disobedience. But praise God and God's mercy. It gave him a position to look at Christ and to see Christ suffering for his sins and understand this man's innocent, this man's done nothing wrong. And to say of himself and the other thief, look, we're guilty. We deserve to be here. And then cry out to Christ and say, Lord, remember me in paradise. Am I glad that he died on a cross? No. But I praise God that that man through that cross of suffering got saved. Do I rejoice this morning that there's people in Longhead that have huge problems and burdens that they're carrying? I don't. But you know, I would rejoice if through those sufferings, by God's grace, it opens their heart to cry out to God and say, you know, God, I need you to meet my need. Because I can't meet my need. So in that sense, I would rejoice and say, praise God for the suffering. Why? Because it brought him to Christ. What's more important? Suffering in life, a little bit of heartache now, or hellfire for all eternity? And that's the reality. It's better to have a bit of suffering now, like this woman had, that made her look to Christ and say, Christ is the answer. She had spirit and no expense. She tried everything. But it was Jesus that she needed. because she had utterly failed. It says, it was nothing better, but rather grew worse. It was hopeless. Amen. There was no answer. Praise God. There was nothing that was going to meet this need. Again, I say, praise God. Why? Because this need in her life was divine. It was God-given. so that this woman would not stop until her feet took her right up to Jesus Christ. She had utterly and completely failed, though she had tried everything to do it. You know, one thing this morning, we don't doubt. We don't doubt the fact that this woman had a condition that was real. Why? Because for 12 years she had suffered from this. Everybody in the community, if we went there, we could see Show me the woman with the issue of blood, and there you go, she is there. She was well known. She was unclean. She had utterly and completely failed to be healed, but Jesus Christ, with His power, would be able to meet a need that she had. And so, that need brought her to Christ. But how she approached Jesus, how did this woman approach Jesus? She came because God brought the truth about Jesus to her ear. She came because God brought the truth about Jesus to her ear. It says in verse 27, and when she had heard of Jesus. Doesn't tell us how she heard, just that she heard. We can guess about how it might have happened. Perhaps she's walking along and she overhears a conversation. Maybe it's a blind beggar and he says, I was blind, but now I can see. Maybe it was somebody that was lame. They couldn't walk. And then they said, look at me now. And they're jumping up and down saying, you know who did this? Jesus Christ. Maybe it was just a little child, like in that story, remember, in 2 Kings 5, 3, where Naaman has leprosy. And there's a little Jewish girl that's a servant to his wife, and she says to her mistress, would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that's in Samaria. for he would recover him of his leprosy." And that little girl speaks up and says, if you went to the prophet in my land, God would heal you. Why? Because God is able. Somebody said something by faith to this lady and said, you know, God can heal you. She either heard a public proclamation somehow, or heard people talking about Jesus, but she got herself to Jesus based upon what she heard. Walt Schmidt, you know the Bender's dad at Imel? Steven Marcy Bender? Marcy Bender's dad is Walt Schmidt. And we went to a prayer breakfast at Imel, and Walt Schmidt was there. And he shared his testimony. And he didn't go to church growing up. But if he had somehow done work on a church building or some sort and worked on sound equipment and things, and he's traveling in his car through Denver, and he's got the radio on, he's listening to radio, and he's listening to a preacher, God convicts his heart, he stops on the heart's shoulder, pulls over, and accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior. Alec, were you there for breakfast? I think you were. When Walt Schmidt shares testimony, I know Benson was there. Yeah, that's how he got saved. Just how he heard about Jesus. And he goes, Jesus is the answer. Praise God. Again, that's God's mercy that we see in the life of this woman. She's going through a great trial. She's tried everything. Why did she hear? Because God in his mercy let her hear. Isn't that like God? in his mercy to reach out to somebody? Does he care about his creation? Does he care about somebody that's suffering? The answer is absolutely. And so he gives her information about the Savior. We find also in how she approached Jesus, she was timid in her approach to Jesus. Notice it says in verse 27, when she had heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind. She didn't have the courage to walk right up to Jesus and say, Jesus, I've had an issue of blood for 12 years, and I want you to heal me. She wasn't that bold. She was like Nicodemus. Remember Nicodemus? We talked about him last week. At the end of his... The last time we see Nicodemus in the Word of God, he's doing something bold. He's with Joseph of Arimathea, taking the body of Christ down from the cross and bringing spices for the body of Christ, for the burial of Christ. But when Nicodemus first came to Jesus, He was timid. He came by night. So nobody would know that he's coming to Christ. Zacchaeus was a bit different. Zacchaeus was unashamed. Maybe his character, maybe type A personality, climb a tree, find Christ. This woman was not type A. Apparently a shy individual that's fearful and timid, but she's, again, not going to let that keep her from coming. She's still going to come. But she's going to come, ready to come up to Jesus and say, Jesus, I need your help. She's going to come from behind to Christ. Then she was superstitious in her understanding. It says, she came and pressed behind and she reached out. It doesn't say that, but we know that because she touched His garment. She touched His garment. So she came behind Him, stuck up behind Him, reached out and touched His clothes. Is there anything in the word of God that says if you touch the garment of Christ you'll be healed? No. It's later in the book of Acts that God does a very similar miracle, but the Bible calls it a special miracle. It's not the way God normally works miracles of healing, but a special way He wrought miracles of healing, as He did through Paul, as the Bible says in Acts 19, 11, and 12. God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. It's special. It's not normal. She came to Jesus in a way that I didn't come to Jesus. I didn't sneak up behind Jesus and touch His garment. As a little boy, at five years old, I heard my dad preach a message on hell, and I realized I needed Christ. And I went down to my dad's study, and I shared the testimony before. And I said to my dad, Dad, I want to get saved. And I got on the couch beside my father and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Earl, a friend of mine at 22 who didn't know the story of Joe and the Whale, he got saved after reading the Left Behind series by LaHaye. And he compared it with Revelation and he said, it's true! And he just knew enough as a kid going to church and Sunday school and just knew enough to pray and say, God save me. And that's how he got saved. Mark and I were talking about his testimony. His testimony is unusual as far as how he came to Christ. There's no doubt, you know, Mark's saying, but it's a different testimony from perhaps a normal testimony of coming to Christ. But what's the point? The point is, it's not how you come to Christ, it's that you come to Christ. It's not all those Paul wrote sweetly to heaven. There's only one way, the Bible says it's Christ. But you've got to come to Christ. Salvation experiences and the way we pray to accept Christ as our Savior, put our faith in Christ, it might be different. But we've got to come. This woman, we'll see, it's not just her physical healing she gets. She gets more than that. She gets saved. But she came to Christ. She was timid. She was superstitious. But she came to Jesus. Then we find also why she reached out to Jesus, verse 28. Verse 28, for she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. You know what's really remarkable about that? For 12 years, this woman has gone to physician after physician, after physician, after physician, after physician. She's spent all the money that she's had, and there's no remedy. And yet, despite that, she looks at Jesus Christ and she says, but Christ can meet my need. Isn't that amazing? She's got an impossible problem. There's no human solution for it. She looks at it, and instead of unbelief, looking at Christ and saying, well, I guess Christ can't meet my need either. God so worked in her heart that she looks at Jesus Christ and she says, I guess man can't meet my need, I guess God will have to meet my need. And she comes to Christ to meet his need. Mark 9, 23 and 24, the story where the disciples couldn't cast the demon out of the boy, and the father's distraught, he's burdened by it, he wants to see his boy healed. Mark 9, 23 and 24, Jesus saith unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, beset with fears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Jesus, what kind of encouragement are you giving today to this father that is heartbroken? He's got a son that has a problem. It's an awful problem. It's a demonic possession. It's casting him into the fire. What is the hope for this man? Faith. Faith. If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth, is he talking about faith for salvation? No. Is he talking about faith for financial provision? No. Is he talking about faith for God to provide something else you need? No. It's faith for a huge spiritual need that's obvious to everybody in the community that God would need that need. The answer is faith. And God Christ's powerfully cast the demon out of that person. Why? Because that dad believed in looking at Jesus Christ that Christ was able. He had to cry out to God, God help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. Strengthen my faith. But the answer was Christ and God's power. My son this morning, I believe in miracles because I believe in God. Do we really? There's a lot of charlatanism out there this morning. Admittedly, there's a lot of fake fakery. But do we look at that and say, OK, I guess I can't heal today. I guess I guess God's not able to do what he's done in the past because that's just a little miraculous. Or can we honestly look at the word of God and say, you know, God has done amazing things in the past. There's no reason this morning why we ought not go to God in faith, believing in His power to heal. I can preach unashamedly on the power of God to heal this morning because it's biblical. It's what the Word of God teaches. My dad, you know the story of my dad. Most people here I think know the story of my dad. My dad broke his back in a horrible car accident. It's 30, 42, 43 years ago now. My dad's first family, three kids were killed in the car wreck. They all died. My dad's head was wedged between the steering wheel and the driver's side door. They had to take the jaws of life and rip the door off the car to get my dad even out of the vehicle. He was bleeding for sure from his ears and I think possibly from his eye. They suspected brain damage as well as they knew his back was broken and so they strapped him in his bed because they knew if he moved he might paralyze himself he wasn't paralyzed yet so they strapped him in bed and one night dad says I think it was day six or seven dad says to the nurse dad's 26 years old he says please don't strap me in tonight I'm not going to move he promised he was a preacher so she took his word and she took the strap off but dad got uncomfortable in the night somehow got on his side And then his legs pulled him out of bed, and to what he says, you know, in the position of prayer, he's on his knees beside his bed, and he realized that's the best he'd felt. And somehow he got himself back in bed. The next morning, the nurse comes in, he says to her, he says, I got out of bed last night. She laughs. He says, no, really. She goes and gets the doctors. They wheel him out to have x-rays. And an agnostic doctor comes in and says to my dad, he says, well, He said, you might break your back again, but you won't break it there. He said, I can't explain this. He said, but there's a calcium deposit that would take years to develop. And it fused those vertebrae together. That doctor wrote, as Dad accomplished on day 13, Dad had to comb his hair, dress himself, do all these things, because he wanted to go home with his mom and dad to Colorado. And they were in Minnesota. Dad had to do all those things, and on day 13, Dad walked out under his own power, and the doctor wrote on his report, this is the most remarkable recovery from these type of injuries that I've ever seen. Why? Because God healed my dad. That's a fact. My dad had x-rays done for a driving rider transport truck in Iowa, hundreds of miles from the Mayo Clinic or in the Ramsey Hospital where dad was. They're near each other, not too far away. And dad had a doctor come out, technician. This is 20 years after his accident. Come up to my dad and say, you know, I want to meet you. He goes, you're a pastor. You lost your wife in a car wreck and family in a car wreck and your back was broken. Dad looked at him and goes, OK, how do you know? He said, I studied your x-ray at the Mayo Clinic as a medical student there. They challenged us to show how it is that you can walk. Because there's no medical explanation. Look at the x-ray. I mean, there's no way. Your nerves should be shot. But they're not. Why? Because God healed my dad. God is a God who heals. I think, sadly, we've looked at charismatic theology And Satan's very pleased because they have over-emphasized, over-emphasized, over-emphasized, exaggerated, and at times faked the power of God. And it's fundamental as we step back and say, well, I'm a little shy to say I believe God can heal today. But God can heal. And you know, interestingly, as I meditate on this passage this morning, I said, Lord, please, I want to say what you want me to say. I looked down at my Bible, and I'm not reading this Bible, as far as this isn't my reading Bible, so it's not marking anything, but I opened it to where it's marked. My eyes looked at the page. I wasn't opening my Bible to read it. But Jeremiah 17, verse 14 says, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. For Thou art my praise. So should we today look at situations in our lives? And I understand cancer is claiming a lot of lives. There is a lot of physical illness. Are there times where God, in His wisdom, isn't going to heal? You know there is. Paul went to God three times about an infirmity he had. But notice he went to God about it. Why? Because Paul believed that God could heal him of it. Three times. And the Lord said, you know, my strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul said, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So will God always heal? No. Can God always heal? The answer is yes. Yes. The God that put me together knows how it's supposed to work. The God that spoke and said, you know, he formed me out of the desert ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. and man became a living soul, that God can this morning reach down and do whatever He wants to do with man. Were there special reasons in the beginning of the New Testament why God did those miraculous signs? The answer is yes. But do we step back and say, but I guess God can't heal somebody today? When James 5 teaches that the prayer of faith And I can't quote the passage to you this morning, but dealing specifically in the area of healing will work. That God will work. I shared before, I've seen that on a little scale. I've never seen that on a great scale. And we're not at pre-baptist church going to be having healing meetings and saying, OK, if you're sick in our community, come to our church because we're going to show the power of God. It's not for showmanship. What did God do in this situation? God used this woman's burden. Why? To bring her to Christ, because that's the last thing this morning. What happened when she came into contact with Jesus? She experienced immediate physical healing. Verse 29. It says, "...in straight way the fountain of her blood was dried up." As soon as she exhibited faith, and how do I know this morning that she had faith in Christ's ability to heal her? Because she snuck up and actually touched Christ. She believed that if she touched Him, she would be healed. And what she did, she touched Him. This morning, I know very well those that are here, and I know those that have trusted in Christ to save them. How do I know that? Because you, by faith, went to God and said, I'm a sinner. I need Jesus Christ as my Savior. Please forgive me of my sin and save me. And you accepted Christ as your personal Savior. You demonstrated the faith that He said you possessed by actually fulfilling what God says to do. Call upon me and thou shalt be saved. This morning, how's our faith? Do we believe God can give victory over sin and sin's bondage? How do I know this morning that in Acts 19, the Ephesians believers trusted God could deliver them from Satanism? Because they took their books on witchcraft and brought them out to a public ceremony and they burned them and destroyed them. We could say this morning, I believe God can set me free from my sin, but if we're still holding on to our sin, it's just words, it's not faith. Faith gets rid of it. Faith says, I'm going to trust God for victory over this. Are we trusting God? She did. She experienced immediate physical healing. She knew that she was healed. And she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. There was a transaction that took place in such a dynamic way that this woman physically realized, this is gone. It's gone. As soon as she touched Christ, she knew it was God. You know what, there's probably everybody, I think, in sharing their salvation testimony, I don't know if this is a fact, but most cases, they say, when I got saved, I knew I was saved. Why? The Holy Spirit Himself, bear witness with our spirit, that we're a child of God. As a little boy, five years old, I can only speak from my experience, when I got saved, I felt a lightness in my heart. I prayed with a young man, he prayed to accept Christ. in Scotland, in Bilston. And he said to me, without me saying it to him, he said, you know, I feel different. Did you feel different when you got saved? Yeah. Why? Because it's real. Because something has taken place, a transaction has taken place between Jesus and this woman. Verse 30. It says, and Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him. Why was this woman healed? Was it because she believed? Some people have this idea, if I believe, it works. If I don't believe, it doesn't work. No. This woman was healed, yes, because of faith. That's her part. But it was the power of God. Christ felt something leave him. Something... She gave faith and Christ gave power to heal. That word, virtue, means inherent power. power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth the power for performing miracles. This woman, she touched Christ by faith, and the power of Christ went out to her as we come. As we come to the Lord with our need, and God meets the need, it's through His power. And then how Jesus responded, lastly, to her forwardness towards Him. He first of all called for her to publicly confess Him, continuing verse 30. He wasn't going to let her hide in the crowd. It says, And Jesus turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And the disciples, their response is humorous. They look around, they said to Jesus, don't you see all these people there? There's people all around you. And you ask who touched me? You know, this morning, you could come, we could all come, week after week, week after week, week after week. And by God's grace, Christ could be here. But it doesn't mean that everybody that comes is going to leave with a blessing. There were people all around Christ, in such close proximity, that they're bumping into Jesus. And we know that the clothing of Jesus has the power to heal by faith. And they're bumping shoulders with Christ, but it's of no avail. Why? Because they're unbelieving. And because of their lack of desire for Christ, and their lack of need, and their lack of interest. They're there, perhaps, just to see Him do something. If she touches Christ, she's there because she has a need. She wants Him to meet, and He's not going to let her hide in the crowd. The Bible says in Psalm 107,2, When somebody gets touched by Christ, it's God's desire for them to testify to the fact that He has touched their life. When the power of God touched this woman's life, Christ wasn't going to let her just hide in the crowd for her sake, not just for His glory. He says, who touched me? His all-seeing eyes met her in verse 32. He looked round about to see her that had done this thing. And can you see the eyes of Christ scanning the crowd? This woman is trying to hide, but her eyes meet the eyes of Christ, and she knows she's got to say something. Because Christ is speaking to her. He has said, who touched me? And that is a question that only she can answer. He's speaking specifically to her. Again, in a crowd this morning, God may be speaking to your heart and maybe not to somebody else's. Or He could be speaking to your heart in a way that He's not speaking to someone else's heart. But when God speaks, He can make it clear that He's speaking to your heart. As a minister, I don't have to be burdened this morning and say, you know, I've got to get this to anybody. Why? Because God is able, just like with this woman, to say, who touched me, and His all-seeing eyes can see into our heart this morning, and can convince our heart that He's speaking to us. Then He let her share a public testimony of His power, verse 33. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. She knew what had taken place. She comes to the Lord and says, Lord, you healed me of my disease. I believe that if I touched your clothes, I'd be whole. And as soon as I touched you, this change took place. Remember Jairus? Jairus is standing there. He's got a burden. He deeply desires to heal her. And by the way, notice back in the beginning, Jairus also trusted that Jesus Christ was healer. He said, come and heal my daughter. And so Jairus is standing there saying, God, you've got to heal my daughter. He sees this woman's life change. Maybe he knew who she was too. But regardless, he hears her testimony. And as she says that, what do you think happened in the heart of Jairus? Encouragement to save. You know why, as a church, we burden to see people get saved in this community? For a testimony for Christ. So that other people look at their life and say, they got saved. Their life was changed by Jesus. What an opportunity and what a privilege. Jesus Christ died naked on the cross for the sins of the world. The least I could do is stand up and say, Christ has changed my life too. And He'll change yours. So public testimony. Then he established her in the faith. He said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy plan. This woman didn't just get physically healed. This woman was spiritually healed. Daughter doesn't just mean younger than me. It also is familial. And he also said to her, go in peace. The Bible says in Isaiah 57, 21, there is no peace except my God to the wicked. Christ could not save this woman and go in peace if she did not have His imputed righteousness in her. She had to have gotten saved or been saved for that to take place. She was rightly related to Christ. It wasn't just healing. It was that she acknowledged He is the answer and by faith reached out to Christ. And when she was healed, I believe she was also saved. She got saved. This morning, we look at this book and we go, what a great story. Look at what God did 2,000 years ago, but we ought not compartmentalize it and say, that was then, this is now, 21st century, let's not expect God to do great things anymore. Our heart ought to cry out by faith to God, according to the truth of the Word of God, by faith, and say, Lord, we've got great needs. Needs that must be met by the power of God. Why? Because man can't meet the needs. Lord, we can't. There's nothing we can do. So what? So we brought it to you. We need your power. You know this morning, in your heart, you might know that you need to touch Christ. And that your life has never been touched by Christ. But it's a transaction that God's willing to make with you this morning. If by faith you reach out and touch the Lord Jesus Christ, believing what we've already considered in the Word of God, that He died for your sins, paid the price, that He didn't stay in the grave, He rose again, God will save you. You know, if we have a physical need, it's okay for us to pray by faith for God to meet that need. That's okay. We ought not be ashamed of saying, you know what? I'm praying for healing. We've got a God that's able to do seemingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. So let's ask, let's pray. Father, I pray that you would encourage us to faith. Father, we don't want the world's hope, because the world is hopeless. And Father, we don't want to fall into charlatanism or counterfeit Christianity. And Father, we don't want to go into error. But I pray, Father, that you forgive us for our unbelief. I think many times, we're just like the disciples. You come to us and say, oh, slow apart to believe. Or you rebuke us for our unbelief. And Father, I know we have our theological reasons for compartmentalizing the power of the Holy Spirit in our generation. But Father, that power still exists in the Godhead. That power has not ceased. Father, there is the miracle of salvation that we long to see in people's lives. But Father, we also do long to see and meet their physical needs and see and provide for their physical needs. Lord, we know You don't just care about our soul. You care about our bodies. And You care about our minds. And Father, I pray the Spirit of God to just increase our faith this morning. If someone has a need, and they need to speak to us this morning. I pray that you have the courage to do that and Lord that we take that need to you by faith. And we thank you for your love. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Hymn 555, face to face. We're just going to sing two verses this morning. 555, the second verse is the last.