Touching the Hem of His Garment

I was going to preach tonight from Luke 8. I'm just going to give you the little short one-minute version. A man named Jairus in the synagogue came to Jesus and he said, Jesus, will you come to my house? My 12-year-old daughter is going to die. Religion hasn't delivered her.

Just going to synagogue every Saturday hasn't done anything. But how many know when Jesus comes to the house? And Jesus began going to his house. And while he was going, the people were thronging Jesus.

But there was one lady, 12 years she'd been bleeding with an issue of blood. She spent all her money on doctors. They couldn't help her.

She was socially ashamed of the community because of this blood. Clothes would get stained with this blood. People would see it.

How many ever felt like there was such a sin in your life, you felt like the whole world knew about it? Everyone sees my stain. But the word says that when Jesus was coming by, it says she came behind him. Sometimes you felt like the move of God was passing you by, like it's too late for you, like he's already walked by, and you have no hope, friend.

There's always hope. Jesus is in the house tonight. Amen.

And the word says that she pressed through the crowd, and she kept saying to herself, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. She was weak and powerless. Her one-day vitamin wasn't working.

It was grace that moved her, God's favor, God's spirit that moved her through the crowd of everyone around in the way. God, by his spirit, brought her through the crowd. And she knew that verse in the Old Testament, that the Messiah is going to come with healing in his wings, the corners of his prayer shawl, the tzitzi, and she kept saying, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole.

Some of you are right there tonight still. There's some others. You're still right there.

You are almost to him, but you haven't touched yet. But you're that close. And all of a sudden, as soon as she touched, she backed away.

And the word says, and Jesus stood still. You recall blind Bartimaeus, whose name means son of shamefulness. Bartimaeus, shamefulness.

Blind and couldn't see Jesus coming by. He heard about Jesus walking by. He cried out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And they said, shut up, Bartimaeus. Be quiet. This isn't your party.

Quit drawing attention to yourself. There's always Pharisees in every camp. This isn't the David Ford crusade.

It's not the Gerald Simmons crusade. It's not the Buckeye Army's ministry crusade. It's Jesus' crusade.

Amen. It's his. And he graciously invited us to join him in what he's doing in Buckeye, Arizona.

And he's doing it. He cried out louder, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, have you ever been there where your sin was so heavy in your heart and life, you thought, is there ever mercy for me? I saw a pastor who didn't listen to God who ended up having an affair.

And I went and confronted him because God led me to. And a year later at a meeting, I was preaching. He was on his belly in the altar crying out, oh, God, is there mercy for me? Is there mercy for me? Is there mercy for me? There is.

And there was for him. And there was for Gerald. And there was for Gary.

And there was a pastor over there. And many of us in this arena tonight. Jesus stopped, it says again.

And Jesus stood still. He said, call that man to me. Barnabas, come here.

Jesus is calling you. Hurry. Come on, son, get up.

And he threw away his garment and stood up and came to Jesus. Somebody, I need to throw away your garments tonight. Amen.

Somebody, you have to throw away your garments tonight. You've already done it tonight. Amen.

He threw his garment away. He stood up. That's grace.

I can't stand without the grace of God. You can't stand without the love of God. You can't do it apart from his power and grace.

He'll give you the power to do it. And he came to Jesus. What could I do for you? Oh, that I may receive my sight.

And Jesus, the son of the living God, made the blind to see. And he saw. Tonight, Jesus is standing still for you.

That woman finally touched. She backed away. Jesus stood still.

Who touched me? Notice that. A woman had an issue of blood. Now it's, who touched me? Who touched me? But, Jesus, what do you mean? There's a bunch of people clambering around.

What do you mean, who touched you? Jesus then said, somebody has touched me. She went from a woman to who? To somebody. Whoo! And when you get a hold of the horns of the altar and you experience the touch of God and the redeeming power of the blood of the lamb of almighty God, you go from this to who? To somebody.

And Jesus, he came and fell at his feet and told him everything. And then Jesus said, daughter. Yeah, yeah.

Your sins are forgiven. He healed her. Jesus transformed her.

She went from a woman to who? To somebody. To daughter. Do you know that voice tonight? God's saying to you, daughter, son.

Skip passed right here to his lovely wife. He shared his story last night. Powerful.

Owned Shasta Pools. They put in over 90,000 swimming pools. Amen.

But that isn't the number one priority in his life. His number one priority is Jesus. Many others in this arena tonight.

Ron and Linda Ayer sitting back there. God's touched them mightily. Transformed them.

God got a hold of Ron. He was in prison. And God transformed his life.

Amen, Ron. Linda told her story time and time again. I watch them on Friday nights in Phoenix when we have the Friday night rallies.

And tears stream down her face. And she's just like, praise you, God. Thank you for your mercy and grace to me.

Because there was a time after 9-11 when Linda pressed in to Jesus. And she touched the hem of his garment. It only takes one touch.

One touch. I wonder tonight at this arena, is there one more person somewhere? There's been three or four invitations. It's been all night long.

It's just a God thing. Is there one more person somewhere? You say tonight, David, I feel like I'm that close to touching. I'm that close.

We want to sing some more. And we're going to give you time. We are not in a hurry for you.

And once you touch, you'll know it on the inside. You won't be going, but I think I'm saved. Will I pray the prayer? No, you'll be going, whoo, something happened to me.

I was blind, now I see. I was deaf, now I can hear. I once was lame, I'm a figure shepherd now.

Now I can walk. Jesus said, rise up and come over here, Lazarus. Stand up, as he sings, you come to Jesus.

Somebody else, somebody else. You're a counselor here, get somebody else. You come, as we sing.