LUKE 8:40-48 A TESTIMONY OF TOUCHING JESUS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 8:40-48 A Testimony Of Touching Jesus

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, this morning as we look at this passage here in Luke chapter 8, I titled it this morning, A Testimony of Touching Jesus.

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Because what we see here is the account of a woman who comes in contact with Jesus. Quite literally, she reaches out and touches his garment. And it's an amazing and powerful account that God has some important things for us to consider in here. Well, we want to invite the Lord to allow his word to penetrate and to work. There's four points this morning I'd like to share with you from this account.

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To help us consider this connection with Jesus that she had and how we can have a similar connection and be changed.

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The first thing that we see though, as we start out in verses 40 through 42, the first point that we have is that there were many who welcomed Jesus. And we can see that very clearly here in verse 40. It says, So it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

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Now we left off last week looking at Jesus ministering to a man who is possessed by many demons. And you might remember that Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee. He ministered to this one guy there on the shore.

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The demons were cast out. The pigs ran down the mountain. And all the town people around them, the countryside, they all came out and they saw this demon-possessed man, now in his right mind, healed, sitting at the feet of Jesus. And it really scared them. It freaked them out. And so they told Jesus, go away. They said, we don't want you around here. We don't understand what happened. Just leave.

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And so now Jesus has got back into the boat and now crossed over once again. So he went over to the demoniac. Now he's coming back. And as he's coming back, it says here in verse 40 that the multitude welcomed him.

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This word welcome, it means to receive or embrace heartily. This isn't just like, you know, hey, welcome to Walmart. You know, it's a warm embrace like, hey, we're so glad you're here. They were excited. It also means to accept gratefully. They were like thankful. Oh, we're so glad. We're so thankful that you're back.

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It also says that the multitude, it says that they were all waiting for him. This idea of waiting, it carries with it this anticipation, this hope, these thoughts, this great building up of expectation of looking for and waiting for Jesus. And so I kind of picture it in my mind that, you know, there's this multitude there. Jesus has gone over to the other side. But look, there's a boat headed this way.

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I think that's Jesus in the boat and the crowd's beginning to get excited. The multitude is building with this anticipation. It gets closer and oh, it is Jesus. Jesus is coming back. And so the crowd's kind of getting fired up and as he gets closer and gets closer, now he lands and they welcome him. It's like, oh, we're so thankful that you're back. We're so thankful that you've come back to this shore.

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Now just across the lake, the people were saying, get out of here. But here on this side, they're like, oh, we're so glad to have you. Thank you for coming back. Now in the midst of this welcoming crowd, there was a man named Jairus. And we read about him in verse 41. It says, and behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house. And he said,

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For he had an only daughter about 12 years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Here we see that in the midst of the multitude, there was this man. He was a ruler of the synagogue, and he comes to Jesus with an urgent request. Now this is very interesting because you...

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probably are familiar with some of the conflict that we've already seen in the Gospel of Luke between Jesus and the religious leaders. And there's more conflict to come. There was always this tension between them. But this ruler of the synagogue, even though there is this conflict and this tension, he sets all of that aside because he's in a desperate situation. His only daughter. She's 12 years old and she's dying.

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And so he comes to Jesus and it says that he begs Jesus to come to his house. And Jesus agrees and he begins to go. Now, we're not going to follow that story today. We're going to pick it up next week and look at what happens with Jairus and his daughter as Jesus goes and ministers to them.

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But we see as Jesus agrees, as he goes towards the house of Jairus, that the multitudes thronged him. Literally, it means that they were choking him or suffocating him. So there's this multitude and they're just packed around him. And so as he heads to Jairus' house, the multitude is going with Jesus.

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They're excited. There's this anticipation. They're so glad to have him back. Now they're on the way to Jairus' house. I wonder what he's going to do. I wonder what's going to happen. There's this excitement in the air. And yet, there's this multitude that is so excited. There's this man, Jairus, who is desperate. And there's also a woman in the midst of this crowd.

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who is desperate and hopeless. And so the second point that we see here in this passage, there's many who welcomed Jesus and there's one who touched Jesus. There's one who touched Jesus. And we see this contrast. The many who welcomed and the one who touched. I would ask you to consider this morning, which are you?

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Which one are you? Are you part of the many who welcome Jesus? Or are you one who touches the Lord? You see, it's great to welcome the Lord. I mean, if you compare it to the people across the Sea of Galilee, they're way better off, right? Because the people across the Sea of Galilee said, get out of here. We don't want you around here. And so they're, well, in a much better condition saying, oh, we're so glad to have you. Welcome back. You know, it's something that

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we can do as believers, we can come to church with this welcoming attitude. And there's this excitement about being around Jesus, being around the work that He's doing. And that's wonderful. That's great. But you know, welcoming Jesus and having this attitude of excitement, of being around the things of the Lord, although it's good, it's not enough for real change, for a real transformation.

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And that's what we see taking place here with this woman. Look with me at verse 43. It says, Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians, and could not be healed by any, came from behind, and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. Now it's just two kind of short verses that deal with this situation, but there's

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There's a lot in these verses that help us understand the condition of this woman. And so we want to take a few moments and put this in perspective and consider what kind of condition she was in. Again, in the midst of this crowd where there was this excitement, this hopeful anticipation has been building. What is he going to do? Oh, it's so great to have him back. We get to hear these great words again and see these great works again.

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But in the midst of that is a woman who is alone, who's desperate and hopeless. And she comes in contact with Jesus. It says, now a woman having a flow of blood. Now, this flow of blood is the phrase that's used to describe a woman's menstrual cycle. And so every month there's that normal cycle that goes on and it's referred to as a flow of blood. This was...

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Unique though, in that it was not just the normal monthly cycle. She had this ongoing perpetual flow of blood over the past 12 years. For 12 years, she's had this condition. It's a medical condition. It's a serious issue on multiple levels.

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I mean, you have the inconvenience factor, you have that kind of difficulty, you have the loss of blood and that physical impact. But there's also some social issues and some spiritual issues that went along with this as well. In the society of the day, they figured that if a woman had that type of condition, that it must be caused by sexual immorality.

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Now, we don't know what the cause of this condition was, and we don't know if she was sexually immoral, but it had that stigma about it. And so, according to society, as people looked on and understood that she had this condition, this flow of blood, they would have immediately considered her, come to the conclusion, she must be an immoral woman. In Leviticus chapter 15, though,

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We find the spiritual aspect of her condition. And you don't have to turn there, but I want to take a few moments and read to you what is recorded there in Leviticus chapter 15 because it specifically addresses the issue that this woman has. Now, isn't it amazing? Yesterday,

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As we're going through the Bible in the year, yesterday we read Leviticus chapter 15, and then today we have this portion that's dealing with that same topic. It's amazing how God intertwines all these things together. And if you read yesterday, it prepared you for today. And so again, I want to encourage you, join with us in the Bible in three years. God has much in store for you that you don't even realize. But here in Leviticus chapter 15, in verse 25, God says, "...if a woman has a discharge of blood for many days..."

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So here in Leviticus 15.25, the Lord lays out the instructions for, well, when this flow of blood extends beyond the

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the normal cycle, the normal time of impurity. And here God declares all the days of her unclean discharge, she shall be unclean. So this woman for the past 12 years has been considered unclean. Now what that means is she's very limited in what she can do within society.

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It wasn't an issue of whether or not she was righteous or not. It was a matter of purity or cleanliness, a ceremonial cleanness. And what this meant, if she was unclean, it meant, well, if she had children, she would not be able to be in contact with them without making them unclean.

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If she was married, she could not have contact with her spouse without making him unclean. She could not participate in the sacrifices and the worship of God at the temple. She couldn't engage with people around her because she would cause them to be unclean because she was in this perpetual state of being unclean.

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In verse 26 of Leviticus 15, it says, Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean as the uncleanness of her impurity. So not only would she herself be considered unclean, but anything that she sits on, anything she comes in contact with, the bed that she lays in, it also becomes unclean.

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And so she had to be very careful about what she would come in contact with, where she would sit, where she would lie down. Because anything that she came in contact with as a result of her condition would then become unclean. But then in Leviticus 15.27 it says, "...whoever touches those things shall be unclean. He shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean till evening."

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So not only would she cause someone to be unclean if she came into contact with them, but if they came into contact with anything that she was handling, they would also become unclean.

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And it would cause them to enter into this process of having to bathe and be set apart and be unclean until evening. They could not engage with others. They could not participate in the sacrifices. They couldn't go to the temple and on and on. And so there was this real severe, I mean, this was a life-changing issue that she had. This dramatically impacted her life. Everything was different now because of this flow of blood that she had.

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And she was not just figuring, well, oh well, I guess this is how it's going to be. She hadn't given up. She desperately wanted to be healed. So much so, back here in Luke 8 verse 43, it says that she had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any. She tried everything. She'd spent everything that she had. Her whole livelihood. All her resources were used to

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To try to find healing. To try to find resolution to this issue. She emptied out her savings, her 401k, sold her furniture, her car was repossessed. I mean, everything was gone in her attempt to try to find healing. Are you starting to get a picture, a sense of the condition of this woman here in this crowd? Again, alone and desperate and hopeless. She's tried everything. She's empty.

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And she still has this condition. Not only that, Mark gives us a little bit more insight. If you want to get a little bit different perspective on this account, check out Mark chapter 5 later on. In Mark 5 verse 26, Mark says that she suffered many things from the physicians.

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So the physicians are trying everything. Well, let's try this. You know how physicians work, right? Well, that didn't work. Okay, well, let's try something else. Well, let's be creative. You know, how else can we make you suffer? That's how it feels sometimes. And so she'd suffered many things from the physicians. Not only that, it says she spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

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So again, we're beginning to picture and understand the condition of this woman that she had tried everything and the doctors, not only did they cause her to suffer, but the end result is she's worse off than before she had spent everything to see the doctors to try to be healed. And so again, we see that the difficulty this woman is in, this ongoing 12 years of this issue, this pain.

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This disconnection. Well it tells us in verse 44. That she came from behind. And touched the border of Jesus' garment. And immediately. Her flow of blood stopped. So this contact that she has with the Lord. Is really radical for her. This is not a small issue. This is not something little. This also is life changing. It's life restoring. She's transformed. In this moment.

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And it says she comes up behind. Now we see a lot of times in the scriptures where people want healing and they're calling out to Jesus or they're confronting Jesus or coming up to him. But she comes from behind. We can kind of get the picture from the rest of this passage that her hope was, you know, she can kind of like slip in, touch the garment, be gone. Nobody even noticed. She's sneaking up in a sense from behind.

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And she grabs the border of his garment. This word touch, it means to fasten yourself to, to adhere to, to cling to. It's also described as the handling of an object as to exert a modifying influence upon it or upon yourself. And that's what she was seeking to do. She handled his garment. She grabbed hold of the border of his garment to be modified, to be changed.

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And immediately, her flow of blood stopped. Mark tells us in Mark 5, 29, that she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. She felt the change. She felt the difference. She knew immediately, I've been healed.

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And so she grasps hold of the hem of his garment. She feels the change. She feels the work that God did. And she lets go because she's been touched. She's been changed as she touched his garment. She grasped hold of the garment of Jesus. Amazing miracle for her. Her life's transformed. Everything's different now. Going forward, she's transformed.

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Now as we look at this, again, we have the contrast of the many who welcomed Jesus and at the end of their time with the Lord, they would go on their way and think, wow, that was a great time with the Lord. Watching Him work, it was so amazing. But when she walked away from this, her life was forever changed. See the difference? It's nice to welcome the Lord. That's good. That's great. But we also need to have this opportunity

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same desire within us to grasp hold of the Lord. She had a flow of blood. The King James Version translates it as an issue of blood. She had an issue of blood. But this morning, I would challenge you to consider what's your issue. She had an issue of blood. And because of this issue of blood, she grasped hold of the Lord. We need to consider what's my issue.

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What is it that's causing me to grasp hold of the Lord? Is there anything? Because again, it's easy to be excited about the things of the Lord and be around the things of God and be at church and then leave thinking, oh wow, that was great, but our life isn't changed. What we really need is to be like this woman, to have this drive, this desperate need for the Lord that we grasp hold of Him so that we are changed, so that we're transformed.

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So what's your issue? It might be an issue of the flesh. That is, it's some sin that has bound you. It's some sinful practice. It's some difficulty in your life that you're desperate to get out of. You're sick of it. You don't want to continue that. You don't want to practice that any longer. But like the woman, you've tried all the doctors. You've tried all the remedies. You've heard all the counsel. You've done all those things.

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Are you ready yet? Are you willing now to grasp hold of Jesus? It might be an issue of lust, or it's consumed your heart and it's consumed your mind. Or greed, where it's just captured you and you're bound up in things, in this craving for more, in this desire for these things of this world. Or maybe you're listening to all these things and you're thinking, well, I don't really have an issue. Listen, that's your issue.

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You need to understand we all sin. We all fall short of the glory of God. And if you don't think you have an issue, well, that's the problem. And you need to recognize that's a real issue when you think you don't have a problem. And are you willing to let that issue break you and cause you to be in that hopeless situation where the only thing that you can do is grasp hold of Jesus? You're through trying the home remedies.

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You're through trying, you know, all the inside and ideas of people around you and the professionals. And you say, I need Jesus. And I'm going to grasp hold of Him. It might be a medical issue as you consider these things. And maybe there is a physical infirmity that you have. God uses those things in our lives to help us remember how much we need Him. To give us opportunity to grasp hold of Him. Maybe it's a

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issue or a wife issue. And I don't mean that they're the ones with the problem. But I mean maybe as we saw yesterday at the marriage conference, very powerful stuff. Maybe you as a husband have an issue of love. And you don't love the way that God wants you to love. And you know it. But you don't know how to change. Are you desperate enough to grasp hold of Jesus? Or maybe as a wife you have an issue of respect.

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And you're not able to honor your husband in the way that God has commanded you to. Well, you need Jesus to change you. To do a work. Are you desperate enough? Are you willing enough to grasp hold of him? You know, for me personally, the Lord has been continuing to reveal to me that I have an issue of fear. And it's a fear that has, well, it's hindered me from doing some of the things that God's called me to do. And I need to...

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come to the place where I'm desperate, where I realize I got to grab hold of Jesus because he's the one who has to change me. I can't do it. I can't try hard enough and neither can you with whatever your issue is. And you can spend all your money and see all the doctors and try all the things, but it's Jesus who can meet your need. It's only him who can

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transform you and change you and deal with whatever issue is that you have. And so this morning as we look at this woman who touched Jesus, I'm asking you to grasp hold of Jesus. Are you in a hopeless condition? Are you in a hopeless situation? If you don't think you are, you're blind and you're deceived and you need to remember how much you need the Lord even as believers. We desperately need the Lord not just for salvation but

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but for our lives, for what he's called us to. We're hopeless without him. And you might think your situation is hopeless just like she did, but it's not hopeless for Jesus. And I don't know how God spoke to her heart, but somehow God spoke to her and he said, he can help. You've tried everything else, he can help. He can change you. Even though it's been an issue for a long time, sometimes we let that intimidate us. Well, I've struggled with this my whole life.

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So what? That means Jesus can't help now? If you only struggle with it for a week, then he could help, but not now because you've struggled with it for your whole life? We forget how big he is. He's the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And Jesus said to us in Matthew chapter 7, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.

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And I'm sure you've heard the teaching. The tense of that means to ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. For her, we see, she grabbed hold of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. That's not always how it happens. Jesus promises, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it will be opened to you. It's not always immediately.

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It's not always in the time frame that we want. And so that's why I keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. It's kind of like the idea of Jacob in Genesis chapter 32. Remember when he's wrestling with God all night? And it comes daybreak and the man he's wrestling with, who's God, says, hey, let me go. It's daybreak. And Jacob says, I'm not letting you go until you bless me.

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It's that mentality of grasping onto Jesus, asking, seeking, and knocking, saying, I'm not letting go because I need you to change me. And I'm lost and I'm desperate without you. And I cannot do this on my own. I need you to work in my life. Are you willing to come to that point? To be broken enough to grasp hold of Jesus? We sure like to try it on our own. We love to try to do it in our own strength.

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We love to try to do everything else except for this. Come to Jesus in desperation. But we desperately need Him. And she recognized it. And she came to Him and she's transformed. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. Now listen, as you and I, as we grasp hold of Jesus, sometimes we wonder, well, how do we know when we're doing it right? How do we know when we've grasped hold of Him? Because we don't have the physical presence of Jesus. How do we know?

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Here's how you know. You know when you've connected with Jesus when you're healed or when you've heard. When you're healed, it says she immediately felt in herself, she knew, oh my goodness, I've been healed. And how exciting that must have been. She experienced the answer to her prayer. She was transformed. She was changed. She was healed right there on the spot. And so when Jesus does that work, you know you've connected with him. You know he's transformed you.

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But again, he doesn't always do it immediately. And sometimes what we desire is outside of his will. And so it's not just when you're healed that you know you've connected with the Lord, but also you know you've connected with him when you have heard, when he's spoken to you. Like the Apostle Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul had this thorn in the flesh that he talks about.

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And he says he pleaded with the Lord. He begged the Lord, take it away from me. Three times he says. And the Lord responded and spoke to Paul and said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul said, therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. How could he do that? How could he boast in this infirmity that he has? Because the Lord had spoken to him.

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and said, my grace is sufficient. Sometimes as we grasp hold of Jesus, he says, boom, taking you out of that situation. I'm resolving that problem. It's done. It's over. But sometimes Jesus says, my grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in weakness. I'm not taking you out of it. I'm taking you through it. I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to strengthen you. You're going to see me at work in the midst of this.

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My grace is sufficient. And so as we grasp hold of Jesus, we know that we've done so when he heals or when we've heard. Well, as we go on now in verses 45 and 46, we see the third point, which is Jesus knows the difference. Again, we're looking at this contrast between the many who welcomed Jesus and the one who touched him. And verse 45 says, and Jesus said, who touched me?

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When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, Master, the multitudes throng and press you. And you say, who touched me? Here we see Jesus as he knows that something has happened, that power has gone forth from him. He says, who touched me? And it says that all denied it. So it's kind of like everything stopped. You know, they're on the way to Jairus' house. Hold up, nobody move. Who touched me? And everybody's like, oh, it wasn't me, it wasn't me.

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I think a little bit fearful. Like, hey, I didn't do nothing. My hands are here. And Peter's confused by this. He says, Lord, sometimes I don't think you're very smart, Lord. Lots of people are touching you. He says, look, the multitude throngs and presses you. This word throng, it means to constrain, to hold in and press. Well, it's the same word that's used to press out grapes and olives to get the juice out of it.

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So this multitude that's around Jesus is not, you know, kind of like lightly scattered. It's like condensed. It's like all around. I don't know if you've experienced that type of constraints from the crowd. And Kim and I, for the first time this last year, thought we would brave the Black Friday sales. And so in Walmart, we learned what it meant to be constrained by the crowds. Because you enter in and you're only 30 seconds in the door, and you're like,

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And there's nothing you could do to get back if you wanted to. You have to go through the whole way because you're, it's just, you're kept in, pressed in on all sides. That's what it was like around Jesus as he's on his way. And Peter's saying, there's all these people around you. And if you've been in that kind of crowd, maybe, you know, you braved the subway in New York or something. And you know, it's like,

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You're bumping shoulders. You're hitting elbows. You're touching people all around you. You can't help it because it's just so crowded. And Peter's saying, look, there's all these people around you. You're bumping into them and they're bumping into you. How can you say who touched me? But you see what Jesus is pointing out is he knows the difference. There's a difference between rubbing elbows with Jesus. Again, we can come here and be like the crowd that's welcoming and

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Shoulder to shoulder with the Lord. Wow, God's so good. He's doing a great work. But there's this difference of this one who touched him. And verse 46 says, but Jesus said, somebody touched me for I perceive power going out of me. The rest of the people, they're around Jesus. They're getting bumped left and right by Jesus. But there's no power going out of him for that. They're not experiencing a change, a transformation. But this woman who grasps hold of the hem of his garment.

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She's changed. Jesus said, power's gone out from me. And so Jesus knows the difference. Also, I think it's important to consider this. God never loses you in the crowd. Think about that. Sometimes we just kind of consider, you know, I'm just one small face in a sea of faces. But God never loses you in the crowd. And even though everybody else might have no idea what your issue is, like the case with this woman, the Lord knows. And as you grasp hold of Him, He's able to work.

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He knows the difference between those who are welcoming Him with excitement and anticipation and those who are grasping hold of Him in desperation because they need Him to work, to change, to transform. Jesus knows the difference. Well, finally, the fourth point in verse 47 and 48 says,

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is her testimony of Jesus. Look at verse 47. It says, So here's Jesus saying, hey, who touched me? Everybody's saying, oh, it wasn't me, it wasn't me. And it says,

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Here's where we get the sense that she was kind of trying to sneak in and sneak out. She wasn't wanting some attention. She was trying to be low-key. Because again, she was unclean. She wasn't supposed to be around all these people. That she'd make them all unclean. They wouldn't want her around. And so when she saw, she realized, oh no, they're going to find out. They're going to find out my condition, why I was here, what I did. They're going to know that I, an unclean person...

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Touched the Lord. I think she was fearful. We see that she came trembling, it says there in verse 47. She's fearful. Oh no, what's he going to do? I'm busted. I'm in trouble. But the beautiful thing we see here is that she gives her testimony. It says she declared to him in the presence of all the people. Two parts to a testimony. The reason she had touched him. That's the first part.

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She said, this is my condition. This is my situation. For 12 years, I've had this issue of blood. She testified, man, that's risky. That's vulnerable. But she declared, this is my condition. This is the situation I was in. But then she also testified how she was healed immediately. That's the second part, how you're healed.

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I want to encourage you. Sometimes we think of a testimony and we just, we isolate it to salvation experience. First time I believed in Jesus, you know, that's what a testimony is. But you know, a testimony is, well, it's much broader than that. You can share a testimony anytime where you have a need and you have grasped hold of Jesus and He's worked in your life. And you can share your testimony by saying, look, this is why I reached out to the Lord.

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Sure, you have to be a little bit vulnerable. Sure, you have to declare, yeah, this is my issue. But this is what God did. And so Jesus gives her this opportunity to share her testimony. I love that. And then here she is, still freaked out, still thinking, oh, I'm in trouble. In verse 48, and he said to her, daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. There she is trembling. Oh, man.

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Now I've got to tell everybody what happened. I touched the Lord. He's got to be so mad at me. And he says, daughter, be of good cheer. You know what's amazing? When we will finally admit our need, our issue, when we'll finally recognize how desperate we are for the Lord, we can be like this woman and we're thinking, oh man, he's going to be so mad at me.

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He's going to punish me so badly. Oh, I'm in trouble. But you know the amazing thing? Is when you come to Him and admit your need, you admit your issue, you grasp hold of Him and say, Jesus, I need you. I'm desperate for you. He says, child, you're my child. Be encouraged. Be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. In our weakness, He's made strong. His strength is shown. His grace is revealed.

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We like to give Him our strength. And in our strength, we welcome Him with excitement. We rub shoulders with Him. We say, oh, God's good. But we need to come to Him with our need and grasp hold of Him. And He doesn't then beat us down. He lifts us up. And He says, you're my child. Be encouraged. Go in peace. Don't be in turmoil. Don't be troubled no longer. Have peace. You're my child. And I'm at work in your life. I've healed you.

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I've made you well. I think it's interesting that Jesus says, your faith has made you well. Here he gives her confirmation. She felt it in herself already, but he gives her confirmation and says, you've been made well. I would encourage you. You give Jesus opportunity to work in your life and you have that sense that he's worked. You believe that he's done it. Seek that confirmation. Sometimes people

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will declare, I think God healed me of this physical condition that I had. But then they're reluctant to go have the test done to verify. But let me assure you, God can handle whatever medical test they want to throw at you. And if He's worked, if He's healed you, it will stand up. Don't just try to pretend like, well, it's not there. If it's there, it's there. If it's not there and He healed you, then it will stand up to those tests.

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You say, man, God's done a work in my message, in my marriage. Well, my message too. Seek confirmation. Seek that confirmation. Let the Lord show you. It's for real. He does real work, real change, real transformations. Real miracles take place. And as He does that work, then look for those opportunities that He gives you to share the testimony and let people know, this is how I was. This is the condition I was in.

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And I reached out and touched the Lord. I grasped hold of Him. And I was healed. He worked. He transformed. Well, this morning as we consider these things, we have the opportunity to partake of communion together. And so the worship team is going to come up and the ushers are going to make ready. And as they do, I want to encourage you and kind of wrap this up with this thought. There's a difference between welcoming Jesus...

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And touching him. There's a difference between being excited about Jesus. And grabbing hold of him because of your desperate need. And that begins with salvation. Salvation takes place when you realize that you have a sin issue.

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And you can't fix it on your own. And you can try everything and try all the religions and try all the doctors, but you cannot fix this sin issue that you do not have right standing with God because of sin. And salvation takes place when you realize that, when you recognize that, and you grasp hold of Jesus and you say, Jesus, you died upon the cross for my sin. I believe that. I receive your sacrifice in my place.

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That's when salvation occurs. And maybe for you today, that needs to happen. You need to come to that point. You've tried everything. Or maybe you haven't tried everything, but you know, even if you did, it wouldn't help. It's only Jesus who has the forgiveness of God, the righteousness of God to close us with. And so I want to encourage you today to grasp hold of Jesus and receive the salvation that He offers to you by believing in His name.

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But maybe you have another issue. Physical, medical, maybe it's a heart issue, a marriage issue, whatever it may be. What transformation do you need? I want to challenge you to take this time as we partake of communion together to grasp hold of Jesus. It's by faith that we do it. We don't have His physical presence, but by faith.

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We're able to grasp hold of Him and say, yes, Jesus, I need You. I want what You want for me. I need You to work in my life. I'm desperate without You. I'm through trying it on my own. Lord, You work. You transform. And He gave us a way to grasp hold of Him in the elements of communion. There in the upper room, He gave the disciples the bread. He said, this is my body which is broken for You.

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And he passed around the cup. He said, this is my blood which was shed for you. And so you and I have the opportunity this morning as the ushers pass out the bread in the cup, hold both portions until the end. We'll partake together at the end. But as you hold both portions, it's symbolic of the body of the Lord.

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And so let it also be symbolic of you saying, yes, Jesus, I'm grasping hold of you. I'm not going to try to do it on my own strength. I need you to save me, to transform me, to work in my life. I'm desperate for you. I'm lost without you. Don't just be part of the welcoming crowd like, oh, great service and walk away and no different. No, let this be a real time where you grasp hold of the Lord and say, God, whatever it takes, whatever it requires, I want you to work.

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I need you to work in my life. And so they're going to lead us in worship. The ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup. Hold both portions and do business with the Lord. Grasp hold of Him. Whatever your issue is, He's able to handle it. So worship Him. Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you. Let's worship the Lord together. Hungry I come to

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For I know you satisfy. I am empty, but I know your love does not dry. I wait for you. So I wait for you.

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I'm falling on my knees. I'm falling on me. Jesus, you're all this heart is living for. Broken heart and tears for your eyes are open wide.

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I am weary, but I know your touch restores my life. And so I'll wait for you. I'll wait for you. I'm falling on my knees.

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Offering all of me. Jesus, your all this heart is living for. I'm falling to my knees. I'm falling on my knees. Offering all of me.

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Jesus, your all this heart is living for. So I wait. So I wait for you. So I wait. So I wait for you. So I wait. So I wait for you.

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So I wait for you. Offering of my need. Offering of me. Jesus, you're all this heart is living for. Jesus, you're all.

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Jesus, your heart is living for me. Lord Jesus, as we hold these elements that you gave us as symbols of your body and your blood being broken and shed for us, Lord, we also desire to grasp hold of you. Lord, we desire to testify to you that we need you.

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Not a little bit, not as a nice addition to our life. But God, we need you to transform us and change us completely. We need you to work miraculously. We're lost without you. And so Lord, as we partake, Lord, we're casting our cares upon you. Thank you for caring for us. We don't deserve it. We're so unworthy. But thank you for inviting us to grasp hold of you, for desiring to work in us.

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Thank you for your great work upon the cross by which you accomplished for us this victory and the ability to be changed by you. And so Lord, as we partake, I pray that you would work powerfully in the hearts of those who are here. Lord, that you would heal, that you would bring victory, that you would restore and transform and renew, change. Lord, according to each and every situation, because you see the need and you know exactly what's going on.

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Lord, we pray that you'd be magnified as we grasp hold of you. In Jesus' name, let's partake together. Would you stand with me? There's going to be some people up here in just a moment. They'd love to pray with you. If you need prayer, come on up. But I want to invite you back to our evening service this evening at six o'clock.

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At our evening service, we give an opportunity to share prayer requests, but also praise reports, or in light of today's teaching, testimonies. And I would encourage you, come on back this evening. Has God spoken to you? Has He worked in you? This evening is a great opportunity for you to share the condition you are in and how God has worked in your life. And so they're going to lead us in one last chorus.

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The people will be up for prayer afterwards, but I want to encourage you, come back this evening and testify about what God's done in your life. Let's worship Him together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.