I was confused the other day. I was listening to this song from Ron Isley, Chante Moore, and R. Kelly entitled “Contagious.” The premise of the video is that Ron Isley plays this rough, Godfather type named Mr. Big who is in a relationship with Chante Moore’s character. He comes home one evening to find her cheating on him with R. Kelly and then it hits the fan. Now where I’m too stupid is I don’t understand, why in the world Mr. Big would say “you’re contagious… give me what you got” when he’s dealing with a woman who’s not faithful, who’s not virtuous, who doesn’t have any sense of commitment. Why would you label it as contagious? Then the spirit jumped onto me that many of us have the spirit of contagion, that once we have been hurt by a relationship. And rather than learn from that relationship, we then want to afflict that pain onto somebody else rather than using that experience as a healing mechanism! Why then, would I want that to be contagious, to jump on me, when I know the kind of pain that that caused, the kind of tears that that brought, and the kind of anguish that it made me feel! I don’t want that contagious! I want that under quarantine! And many of you sisters keep opening ourselves up to damaging; unhealthy relationships because you allow that spirit of contagion to not only afflict you, but to afflict every person in your circle! And so because you were mangled by some messed up, immature man, you gon make a sweeping generalization that all men are dogs! That’s just because the men you met with didn’t have any standards! But because there is a man out there that God has ordained for you, I know that God’s got to have something for me!
Now you’ll find in Leviticus that it gives an outline of a prescription of somebody who has contracted which was at the biblical times, season of leprosy. Leprosy was much akin to today’s AIDS virus. It was much akin because there was not a cure, and it began to fight off the defensive mechanism of the cellular, molecular structure. Let me see if I can say that in not so many med-school terms. It was unable then to combat and fight diseases. Therefore, once you contracted leprosy, things on your body began to fall apart. Your hair began to fall off. You began to go blind and worse yet, according to Levitical law, in the Old Testament, once you contracted leprosy you could no longer live with other people. What you had was contagious, and if somebody even sat in your seat, they were open to contract the disease! If they borrowed your clothes then that same disease could catch to them! So we find, in Leviticus, that lepers were made to live outside the city limits.
Now there was one leper, whom I loved, in Luke chapter 5, who heard that Jesus was coming through. He said “I know other folk don’t wanna be bothered with me! I know other folk don’t wanna talk to me! I know other folk whisper about me behind my back and talk about me at the beauty salon and on the golf course! But I heard about a man named Jesus! He don’t care what I got! And if I can just get to him!… I heard what he did with the woman with the issue of blood! All she had to do was touch the hem of his garment! All I need to do is just see his face! And there’s some of yall here, your family cast you out! Your friends dissed you! Your co-workers look down on you! But here is where you find out that there is a friend in Jesus! He said if you’re in sin, he’ll set you free! And some of us oughta go ahead and be honest that we don’t have another friend in the world other than Jesus! But I made up in my mind its alright! Because I’ve pulled out enough knives from my back! I done dispelled enough rumors! I’m tired of being lied to, lied on, and manipulated! I been through too much already! And so long as I got King Jesus…! Is there anybody here who made up in their mind, if nobody touch me but Jesus…
Now in verse twelve, it came to pass that there was a certain man, who had leprosy who heard that Jesus was coming so he bowed down and worshipped! The first thing you gotta do when you learn you’re contagious is you gotta say to folk “don’t touch me until I’m tested!” There are some relationships you cannot go into until you’ve been tested by God! And when God has tested you, to see if you’re faithful over a few things, then you know he’ll make you ruler over many! You oughta say “don’t touch me; I’m still getting tested!” Because God wants to test you…to see how you gon handle it when the negro walk away! He wants to see how you gon praise him, when you don’t remember the last time you had a date! How you gon shout glory when you know you bein flat lied to dead in your face! And there’s somebody here who can say “I been tested, but I believe I’m gon pass!” Is there somebody here who said “I ain’t gon let nobody steal my joy! Steal my peace! Steal my…
Yes a bunch of yall in here are contagious! You been anointed but you ain’t been tested! And the only way that God will release you into your anointing is when you’ve been through something! But too many of us are runnin around tip-toein through the tulips, blowin bubbles, lookin out the window, lollygaging and gallivanting cause you ain’t been through nothing! But it’s a handful of yall who been tested this week! Who can stare down the devil and say “though you slay me, yet…!” I wish somebody knew about being tried in the fire! I wish somebody knew about having doors of opportunity slammed in your face! Yall don’t know what it is to be talked about! To be targeted for hatred! You don’t know what its like, that final triumph once you’ve been through, how you can look back and sing “how I got over!” You remember, the cryin at night! The phone calls you made home! The phone calls you made to your friends, asking for advice! But look at you now! Can you say “I am a testimony! And as long as I got the love of Jesus!”
Oh, and after you’ve been tested, all you’ve got to do then is wait for the results! And thank you Red Cross for making it that much simpler! See, when you’ve been tested, and the results come back positive, they put a red cross on it! If you allow me to make a metaphorical juxtaposition…when God tests us, he sends you those results through a cross on Calvary and they come back positive!
Now some of yall have a negative disposition, because you have not been tested! But I think it’s a pinhead full of yall who have tested positive! I’m positive I’m not gon stay broke! I’m positive I’m not gon stay lonely! I’m positive God’s gonna really blow my mind! I’m positive there is a better job out there for me! I’m positive there is a brighter day coming! I’m positive this trouble won’t get me down always! I’m positive I can pay my bills! I’m positive God has anointed me! I’m positive I can love my family! I’m positive I can love myself! I’m positive I won’t be taken advantage of! I’m positive…! He woke me up this morning…! I’m positive that they that wait upon the Lord…! I’m positive that the Lord is my shepherd…! I’m positive that lo, he is with me always, even unto the end of the world! I’m positive that for God so loved…!
In the worst case, when you are contagious, you need to get tested! And I like what this leper does in verse twelve: when he saw Jesus, he began to worship! And the reason I like this is because he worshipped before he got healed! He said “God I know I’m not even worthy to be in your presence! I know I can’t even speak your name because of the life I live!”
Is there anybody here who knows you ain’t done nothing all that deserving of being blessed! You don’t deserve a miracle! You don’t deserve that breakthrough! Yet you got it anyhow! That’s a praise all by itself!
The true test is those who can praise him before the miracle comes! I don’t know who I’m talking about right now exactly but somebody been praying to God for their change to come! Somebody been asking for some supernatural blessing! We got to learn how to praise God on credit! That is you may not have it right now but you believe its on the way! We walk by faith and not by sight! Praise God! Can somebody praise him before he shows up!
He began to praise God on sight alone! God hadn’t done nothing yet but the man said “I know he’s coming this way! I know my blessing is coming through! I know my deliverance is coming through! I know my healing is coming through! I can’t let this moment pass me by because I don’t know the next time Jesus will be in my neck of the woods! This may be my last time! I don’t wanna die like this! I don’t want to die afflicted with this disease of loneliness, and low self-esteem, and depression, and so for today!…
I don’t know how much longer I got to live! With all the weed I done smoked! With all the gin and juice I done sipped! All the partners I done slept with! I believe this may be my last time! So in case I don’t make it to next Sunday, I ain’t gon wait til the battle is proclaimed over! I’m gon shout my victory right now! Some of you act like time is on our side! But for those of you who can’t wait…go ahead and shout in this house!
Yall know then, not to touch me until I’m tested! But watch this in verse 13: he put forth his hand and touched him and said “I will that thou be cleansed!” In the second place, don’t touch me until I’m treated! They did a story on Magic Johnson some years ago saying that its been over a decade since he contracted the virus. But just you watch what the doctor says! The doctor says he’s healthier now than when he got sick! I don’t know who I’m talking to right now but hear this: when God brings you through some mess, you gon be stronger than you were before you went through it! Aren’t you glad the devil meant it for bad, but God meant it for my good! Aren’t you glad that the devil thought he had me but I got away! I will tell ya, if my heart was never broken, I wouldn’t know how to pray like I pray! Wouldn’t know how to shout like I shout!…scream like I scream!
And now a bunch of you is dangerous, because you’ve been tested and never went in for treatment! Because you’ve never been in for treatment, you are affecting other people. Because your healing process has not been complete! Some of you are not emotionally or spiritually ready to be in a relationship because you still have open wounds and open sores! And its not until God has cleaned you out of baggage that you came in with, that you’re really able to get to the next level! And we may as well be real up in here-most of us came today for treatment! You came for treatment because you know if you don’t get a word from the Lord today, you gon end up sayin oops upside someone’s head! If God don’t hold me I’m gon end up cussing somebody! If God don’t hold me I might end up hurtin somebody! I don’t wanna miss the blessing he has prepared for me! So because I believe he has a word for me, I want him to heal me in my secret place! Yes we all got issues from now, from then, from way back when but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! And thank God he can still fix “way back when’s problems today!
He said “I will that you that thou will be cleansed.” And a lot of people don’t want to touch you because they think they know your business. A lot of people won’t touch you because the mistakes of your past. They want to use your past to stifle your future! Well if they passed you by, understand that God was letting them grab a glimpse of what you are going to become! I’d be ready to die if I thought all there was to my being was my past, but because I know there is an uncloudy day, I got a God. And if you don’t like me then see ya, and I don’t wanna be ya! Hit the road jack and don’t you come back! Don’t look for folk what don’t like you for what you are right now! You oughta be yoked with somebody who can look at you like you’re a miracle waiting to happen! Like you are a blessing waiting to happen! He said “I will that you be cleansed!” I don’t want you to stay the way you are! I expect a change out of you! I don’t want you to can’t get out of the bed because you have no vision! No desire or no dreams! I don’t want you to feel worthless and as a result put up with trifelin folk who won’t make no investment into you! I don’t want you having emotional damage and psychological damage and physical damage! I’ve got something greater or you! I will, it is my desire, that you be cleaned! But you see that don’t mean as much if one of yall were to tell it to me because you can want all you want but you can’t do nothing to change it! But because I’ve got a God, who can put want and desire with procedure! Its not about what I want, its what God wants for me. And if God wants something for me, lemme tell you its gonna happen! No use in cryin over busted relationships or lost jobs What God has for me eyes haven’t seen, ears haven’t heard! The best is yet to come! Don’t touch me til I’m tested! Don’t touch me til I’m treated, but the last one is don’t touch me, til I got a chance to testify!
For many of you, relationships end so quickly because you ain’t up front at the getgo. Put all of your baggage at the door! Lay it out: I got this and that and the other thang so love it or leave it! See, where we get into trouble is we always trying to find something in common! That’s not what we need to be looking for! You ain’t gon argue about what you have in common! You won’t be tested about staying together over what you both like! Its them things that you like and he don’t like! Its that lifestyle you live that she don’t live! That’s what brings on the conflict! That’s what you gotta work through! And the test of whether or not yall should be together is gon be, this is how it is now can you handle it?
And Jesus tells the man in verse 14 “tell no man, but GO AND SHOW YOURSELF at church an offer a testimony for your cleanliness as Moses commanded.” In other words, after you’ve been tested, after you’ve been treated, you need to go back to the people who wouldn’t touch you before…because now they tryin to cover up and make excuses for their actions at the time. God said “listen here, don’t even say anything! Just go show yourself! And see how you look without them! Your greatest testimony of you being delivered from that bad relationship is you showed up to church and worshipped and praised when you coulda stayed at home and cried!
See long ago, Jesus walked in on the devil and his minions planning to attack the church. He said “I think you better raise up son, cause I’m finna catch a case! I thought I told you 2006 years ago not to touch my anointed!” And one of the imps said “Now Jesus, we weren’t talking about your church, it was another church.” And Jesus said “how you know my name son? Wait, I think I know you from somewhere! Don’t you remember? You tried to kill me too? So I know all about your tricks! But I got debt, hell and disease all in my hands! You made a mistake devil, when you made AIDS a blood disease because you forgot about Calvary! You forgot there is a fountain…!
Acts chapter 2 verse 2 says “I will pour out my spirit over all flesh, and my sons and daughters will prophesy!” The reason the devil won’t touch you is because he knows you are anointed and its contagious! That’s why he don’t want you to sit beside no stuck-up folk! He knows that when a praise starts on your row that every person who tries to sit mean, tries to sit mad, tries to sit with an attitude…a praise will break out on your row! I dare somebody to start up a contagious praise!
