Touching Jesus

I. TOUCHING JESUS IN SPITE OF THE PRESS

A. JUDAS WAS MOST LIKELY IN THAT CROWD

1. There are times when people allow a Judas to keep them from receiving God’s best.

2. They get their eyes focused on some hypocrite rather than focusing on Jesus.

3. There are a lot of Judases in the crowd that preaches the message of God’s healing.

4. There are plenty of charlatans who have used this message for selfish gain.

5. There are plenty of hypocrites who have preached the message of healing.

6. Because of this, there are many who refuse to believe in healing.

7. There was a major hypocrite between this woman and Jesus.

8. But, she pressed past Judas.

9. Sometimes there’s a Judas who is closer to Jesus than you are.

10. Unless you get past him, you can’t get to Jesus.

B. OTHER SEEKERS WERE IN THAT CROWD

1. None of the others got healed.

2. This is obvious from the fact that Jesus took note of this one touch.

3. Because there were so many that didn’t get healed, she could have said, "I was fooling myself

to think that God would heal me…"

4. She could have easily given up based on the odds.

5. The ODDS (based on the crowd) were, she wasn’t going to get healed.

6. The obvious odds were that she would be just like everyone else in that crowd.

7. But, she didn’t pay attention to the odds, she paid attention to faith!

C. DOUBTING THOMAS WAS MOST LIKELY IN THAT CROWD

1. Thomas didn’t believe anything unless he saw it first.

2. Thomas had to see the nail prints in Jesus’ hands before he would believe.

3. Thomas wouldn’t believe that Jesus was resurrected unless he saw and handled Him.

4. There are many who are like Thomas in the healing crowd.

5. They deny that any healings take place.

6. They are skeptical of any evidence.

7. They are critical of those who claim to have been healed.

8. If you want to press in to receive healing, you have to press past the Doubting Thomases.

II. TOUCHING JESUS IN SPITE OF THE PROGRAM

A. THE PROGRAM WAS TO RAISE JAIRUS DAUGHTER

1. The Lord was going a different direction at the time.

2. There was a mighty move of God taking place.

3. Jesus was on his way to raise the dead!

4. She was outside the program.

5. It seemed that she was just an onlooker.

Illustration: The Ring Bear

A little boy was in a relative’s wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd alternating between the bride’s side and the groom’s side. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar...so it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle.

As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was also near tears by the time he reached the pulpit.

When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said,

"I was being the Ring Bear!"

B. SOME SAY THAT HEALING WAS ONLY FOR THE PAST

1. Some claim it ended with the 12 apostles of Christ.

2. To hear some pentecostals tell it, you would think that it ended with a healing wave that

took place in the 1950’s.

3. Today the emphasis is on other things!

4. Today we want to reach new people groups.

5. Today we want to build small groups.

6. Today we have a different direction that the church is headed.

7. But, you can still touch God and be healed in spite of that!

8. You just need what this woman had.

9. Verse 34 says, "…thy FAITH hath made thee whole…"

III. TOUCHING JESUS IN SPITE OF THE PREJUDICES

A. SHE DIDN’T BELONG IN THIS CROWD

1. She was unclean.

2. She belonged among the unclean.

3. She did not belong in the crowd next to Jesus.

4. She was taking a chance on being recognized when she went to Jesus.

5. One of the physicians who had worked on her could have recognized her as unclean.

6. Have you ever gone somewhere and felt out of place?

7. Have you ever wondered what people would think if they found out that you don’t normally

dress that expensively?

8. That’s part of what this woman felt that day as she pressed in to touch the hem of His garment.

Illustration: DON’T MENTION IT

Francis MacNutt quotes theologian Walter Wink in his book “Deliverance from Evil Spirits" and writes: