Seizing the Miraculous

Mark chapter 5, we're going to read verses 25 through 34, and that's where we'll take our text.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

We'll read an excerpt from that. You'll find the whole story there.

If you've not been with us, our theme this year is come and see.

And we say this. We say that come and see is an invitation to transformation. We believe that.

That if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

And we believe that there's transformation in Christ Jesus. Amen? I believe that.

All right, Mark chapter 5 says it this way. It says, and there was a woman who

Mark 5 · chapter mention

had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians.

In other words, there have been a lot of, when the Bible says she had suffered

much, if you read some of the commentators on that,

some commentators speculate that people had tried things to cure her that maybe

weren't even common for the day.

She had been through things. She had suffered because of people trying to cure

her over the period of this 12 years.

She had suffered many things under many physicians and had spent all that she had.

She'd given up almost. And the Bible says, and was no better,

but grew worse. So she tried everything.

Everybody she called in, every doctor, every specialist, everybody that she

knew that could do anything, she called them in, and yet she grew worse.

And the Bible goes on and says, she had heard reports about Jesus and came up

behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

For she said, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

Man, that's faith right there, isn't it?

And the Bible says this, says, And immediately the flow of blood dried up,

and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Amen.

That's where we're going to take our text tonight. And I really believe that

in our church culture, not just in our, you know, the culture is going to be the culture.

Sometimes we let the culture of our country dictate what our church looks like.

I'm afraid that church culture We have stopped believing in the miraculous hand

of god And it's time that we start believing in the miraculous power of god

once again I want to preach on this subject tonight seizing the miraculous.

Seizing the miraculous.

Let's let's pray tonight father in the name of jesus. We come before you We

thank you for your holy spirit We thank you for what you are speaking in this

place what you're speaking in every one of our lives and father i'm speaking.

Specifically right now on the behalf of people that we need a miracle.

Our families need a miracle. We need a miracle in our bodies.

We need a miracle in our communities. We need a miracle in our job,

in our finances right now. Some area of our life, we need a miracle.

God, speak into our lives tonight and we thank you for your word.

In the name of Jesus we pray and the church said amen, amen.

Preaching on this subject tonight, seizing the miraculous, seizing,

taking hold of, seizing the miraculous.

Now, something you want to hear kind of the theme that's going to be woven throughout

the entire sermon tonight is this thought.

And I started thinking about this. I started thinking about the lady who is

pressing up behind Jesus.

She didn't ask anybody for permission. She didn't go and ask if I could be the next in line.

She didn't go like the old days of the DMV when you had to go up and pulled

the paper tab down out of the machine.

And I don't know, do they still do that now? They still got the paper tabs?

I do everything online now that I can possibly do.

E-506 at window number three, that kind of thing.

She didn't ask for one of those paper tags with a number on it. She just pressed in.

And so the thought that I really wanted to carry on throughout this sermon is

this, is that faith does not wait for permission, but it reaches beyond obstacles

to take hold, to seize the miraculous.

Faith does not wait for permission, but it reaches beyond those obstacles to seize the miraculous.

And I want to talk about that because we live in a culture right now that I

believe that we're starting to lose the faith and the miraculous.

And we see here in our text tonight that just as that woman pressed through

the crowd, pressed through the barriers, pressed through the obstacles that

was right in front of her, trying to keep her bound in the condition.

Now, somebody needs to hear that right now because I want to say this.

This world will keep you bound in your condition.

This world will tell you you are all right just the way you are.

This world will tell you that the community at large will accept you the way

you are, and people just need to get used to the way you are because you were created.

Listen, I know this. I was created a liar.

I was created unrighteous. I was created mischievous. I was created all these other things.

But Jesus Christ loved me enough to meet me where I was, but he loved me too

much to leave me that way, and he changed me by the miraculous power whereby

we say, come and see, is an invitation to transformation.

Does anybody believe that tonight? If you believe that, give him a hand clap

of praise. I believe that.

See, but my question has to be, where has all the faith in miracles gone?

Because I was raised in the movement that we had faith in miracles.

We had faith that God could do anything.

We used to say that we would take our request to the Lord, believing that anything

that we could ask, that we could receive, that the prayer of faith could save the sick.

That if we would call together the sick and the elders would lay hands on them,

then they could pray for them and they would recover.

We used to pray a prayer and we said if any two would agree,

touching one thing, it should be done of our Father, which is of Him.

All these things that we're saying right now is in the Scripture.

It's in the Bible. But we have forgotten that in our church culture.

We're living in a time that people are losing their expectation in the miraculous.

Science dominates our thinking now, and reason dominates our thinking right now.

And while all these things, I'm not saying there's not a place for science,

and I'm not saying there's not a place for reason, because there's a place for

both of those things. But what I am saying is that sometimes they can limit our faith.

I know there's some people that say, well, I refuse to go to the doctor.

Well, I don't refuse to go to the doctor, but my hope is not in the doctor.

I'm not saying there's not, we shouldn't put, that we shouldn't at least look

at science and look at reason, but our hope should be in the Lord.

Too many believers have settled for things that has limited their faith,

and it's caused them not to pursue God and the miraculous power of God.

We say that he can heal, but we don't pray for healing.

We say that he can provide, but we don't pray for provision.

We say that he can do the miraculous, but we don't pray for miracles.

Now think about that right now. We live in a culture that believes in a God

that does miracles. However, we don't expect miracles.

Oh, somebody needs to hear me tonight because this is a reality check on where

we are in the church today, that we serve a God of miracles that we're not even tapping into.

We serve a God of restoration and families are laying in shambles while we sit

around and sing song about a God of miracles, and we don't allow that God of

miracles to restore our families.

This woman with the issue of blood challenges us to reach beyond the obstacles,

reach beyond the limitations, reach beyond the norms of society,

and reach out for your miracle.

See, it's interesting.

See, this is important to all of us because we all have needs in our life.

There's those of us in here right now that are facing sickness.

There's those of us that are facing financial trouble.

There's those of us that are facing broken relationships, difficult situations.

I mean, Ashley will tell you, I'm an old man. You know, I'm 47 going on 187

right now. My acid reflux has kicked back up again.

I was talking to a brother the other day and a friend of mine that he doesn't

live around here, but he's a good Christian guy, and he was joking when he said

it. I'm going to put this out there.

I said, you know, I was doing fine. My acid reflux wasn't too bad,

and then I did that Daniel's fast for 21 days. I didn't eat any meat,

and I didn't eat anything spicy.

I said, man, when I started trying to eat stuff that, again,

is like drinking acid, he said, yeah, that's why I don't fool with that stuff.

He was joking, but that's almost where the attitude of the world has gone to.

We've stopped believing in the supernatural power of God.

See, the enemy wants you to accept your condition. I want to say that again

right now, just so that it's an eye-opener to everybody in the crowd.

The enemy wants you to accept your condition, but Jesus wants you to reach into

something greater that is available for your life.

Brokenness doesn't have to last forever. Your sickness doesn't have to last

forever. Your discouragement doesn't have to last forever.

Your breakthrough is not just possible, but your breakthrough is waiting for

you to reach out with faith and grab it the same way that this woman reached.

For the hem of his garment.

So in saying all of that, of laying that kind of groundwork,

The question is, what is preventing you from reaching out in faith and laying

hold of a miracle in expectation?

See, what it comes down to, we've forgotten a major doctrine that many of us

was raised on, and that is this, is that God is a God of miracles.

It's a major part of the Bible.

Miracles are not just stories in the Bible. They are a part of God's nature.

In it, the miraculous is the nature of God.

It's not just stories. It's a part of his nature. The Bible is filled with examples

of the supernatural works of God, and those supernatural works is what leads

us into a meaningful relationship with him,

but also a trusting relationship that he can provide anything that we need.

If we served a God that saved us supposedly,

saying that right now, because if He saved us supposedly but never was able

to do anything miraculous in our life,

what kind of God would He be if I trusted Him to save my eternity,

but He couldn't even do anything in this mortal body?

I know I've got some wheels turning right now, don't I?

Because some of us say, well, I know that He probably saved my soul from hell,

but I don't know if he can change my situation. What kind of God would he be?

If he can't come down and fix a broken situation, if he couldn't come down and

fix an attitude in your heart, if he couldn't come down and heal your body,

then how in the world is he going to pull your sin-sick soul out of hell and

put you in eternity in heaven?

I know this is a Wednesday night, it's raining, it's a little heavy for a Wednesday

night, but I feel like preaching for a little while, so I've got 28 more minutes.

I'm going to pour it on right now, all right?

See, this is God's unchanging nature.

Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 says it this way, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,

Hebrews 13:8

today, and forever, which means that if he's that same Jesus that was going

about healing multitudes, doing all manner of good, if he's the same Jesus yesterday.

Today, and forever, then he's got the same healing power now that we read about in Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

He's got the same miraculous power now that we read about all throughout the scripture.

What it comes down to is if he healed then, if the scripture is true,

if he healed then, then he heals now.

That same Jesus that walked the dusty roads of Galilee that restored sight to

the blind is present in this place tonight.

And I'm telling you this right now, I wouldn't walk out. I'm believing God for

my miracle tonight. I was thinking about it all day.

On my lunch break, I was reading a little bit in Mark chapter five today.

I was thinking about some things today.

And next thing I know, I'm walking around my office praying in the spirit.

I don't know what you did at work, but I got in the spirit on the Lord's.

I got in the spirit on the lunch day at work today. There's nothing wrong with that.

Miracles, if we look at this, from the parting of the Red Sea in the Old Testament

to Jesus healing blind eyes in the book of John, the Bible is filled with moments

where God is intervening by miraculous power.

The God who opened up barren wounds, the God that raised the dead, the God that opened.

Ears, the God that opened, that calmed the raging sea, is the same God that

wants to meet you where you are.

See, I'm trying to give you a background tonight because if some,

I know we live in such an unbelieving culture that we say things like this all the time.

We say, as a matter of fact, I had somebody say something like that today.

Someone told them about a situation. They said, well, you know, God knows.

God can take care of anything. We say things like that, but they become empty

words with empty promises that we don't even believe anymore because we've forgotten

the God of the Bible, the God that does the miraculous.

We've forgotten how to reach out in faith to get the miraculous.

The early church knew about it. As a matter of fact, you read about it in Acts

Acts 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, the lame man sitting at the gate.

Peter and John is walking through and God empowered them to do the miraculous

signs and wonders in the early church, followed them that believed.

And if you look at the major form of evangelism in the early church,

it's God was doing miracles, God was growing the church, and God started doing

more miracles, and God grew the church even more.

If you look at the birth of this church, this church was born out of the miraculous.

A bootlegger's home, atheist's home, And yet the Holy Spirit visited that atheist

home and healed an 11-year-old little boy and raised him out of the bed and

saved everybody in the house.

And the next thing you know, everybody on the hillside was coming to see what

was happening at the Sturgill house.

See, that's the way that God still works in our world today if we've got the

faith to reach out and grab a hold of the miraculous.

See, the reality is God has always been in the miracle working business.

See, we read this account of this woman with the issue of blood.

The account is found in the book of Matthew, in the book of Mark, and in the book of Luke.

So there's three different perspectives of this encounter, all aligning in perfect harmony.

It takes place while Jesus is ministering in Galilee at this time.

He's being noised abroad about his popularity. He's being known as a healer and a great teacher.

And his popularity is gaining more traction, is being more widespread,

and he's performing miracles in the synagogues,

crowds start to follow him to the point where he's having to go out into the

countryside, and so that there's

room enough for the crowds to gather around him as he teaches them.

The miracle was only, took place, doing good to people, number one,

because he came to do all manner of good, but the miracles were a vehicle to

draw the crowds of people so that they could hear the words of eternal life.

The miracle proved to them that the words that he spoke was reality.

See, that's what's missing from the church today. We talk about a God of power,

but they don't see any power in the church, and so people are hesitant to believe

in this God of all power that we talk about.

Amen. I'm preaching to the church tonight. I'm preaching. Somebody on YouTube

give me an amen. All right, there we go.

This woman, she had been suffering for 12 years is what the Scripture said,

which means that most likely she had a severe gynecological condition that had

caused her to bleed for 12 years.

That's significant. That is a gruesome element of this story that's very significant

because of this condition, under Levitical law, she would have been rendered ceremonially unclean.

Because while a woman was bleeding in her cycle, she was considered unclean.

This woman had been ceremonially unclean for 12 years.

You know what that means? That means that she was isolated from temple worship.

She couldn't go to the temple.

She couldn't go to the house of God and get to the people of God.

She was ceremonially unclean.

Not only that, but anybody that she would touch under the law while she was

bleeding, anybody that she touched under the law would have been ceremonially unclean.

So not only was she pushed out

from temple worship, but nobody could come around her. She was isolated.

She was all to herself.

And not only that, but she had spent, the Bible said she had spent all of her resources.

Every dime that she had, she had spent it to try to get better.

And the Bible said that not only did she not get better, but she even grew worse.

I'm speaking to somebody tonight that maybe you feel like you've not finished.

God in years. I'm speaking to somebody tonight that maybe you feel like you're

all alone and you don't fit in.

I'm speaking to somebody tonight that maybe you feel like since I've served

in God, things not only have not got easier, it seems like they've been getting more difficult.

I'm here to tell you tonight that you're no different than this woman with the issue of blood,

but the good news that I'm here to tell you is the same good news that this

woman found out and heard noise abroad is that Jesus came passing by. Amen.

We used to sing a song. It always makes a difference when Jesus comes passing by. Amen.

This woman heard it, noised abroad that Jesus was passing by.

The scripture tells us that Jesus is passing through on his way to heal Jairus' daughter.

And while he is going through and on his way for this healing ministry of his,

that this woman had heard that he was on his way.

Now keep in mind, this same Jesus had already calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

He showed us that he was able to exercise authority over nature.

This same Jesus had already cast out

demons, the legion of demons from the man at Gadara, showing us that he had

power over supernatural.

See, what I'm telling you is, it doesn't matter if it's a spiritual force.

It doesn't matter if it's a natural force.

It doesn't matter what's going on in your life.

Jesus has power over all the powers of the enemy.

You say, yeah, but Scott, it's not a sickness. It doesn't matter what it is.

Hey, maybe your car's not starting right. I don't care what,

If he's got the power to speak over nature, I guarantee you he can speak over mechanics too.

I remember one time, which this was years ago, we were up there on Thacker's

Branch. We was getting ready to raise trusses up on that building.

Some of you guys may have been up there at the time.

We was getting ready to raise trusses on that fellowship hall that we were building on Thacker's Branch.

They were calling for a major storm to come out of Kentucky over this way.

They had already given the warnings.

I can still remember we were listening to the radio while we were working up

there. you know how it is. They send those alerts on the radio. It's like, yeah, yeah.

And that little creepy voice comes on.

You know, you know how it is. It scares you. It's like, could you make that any creepier?

And so that creepy voice comes on, tells us about high winds coming through

Jenkins, Kentucky, and reports of hail coming through Jenkins,

Kentucky, and all these other things.

And I remember Pastor Sturgill said, children, I'm going to go pray.

And next thing you know, We heard about storming over in Norton.

We heard about storming down in Wise.

And we heard about storming over in Coburn. But the wind never even picked up

on Thacker's brain. You might say, well, Scott, that was just an anomaly.

Well, you can call it an anomaly, but I believe it's the supernatural hand of God.

The same Jesus that spoke to that storm on the Sea of Galilee is able to speak

to the storm in your life where you are right now because I still believe in the God of miracles.

I still believe in a God of miracles. He'd already calmed the sea.

He had already cast out demons. And now he'd returned to Capernaum where crowds

had gathered around him.

But here we are, this woman with the issue of blood. And despite her social

status, despite her restrictions through the law, the Bible said she began to press. Amen.

I'm speaking in a place tonight that we need to learn how to press once again.

The old timers call it tarrying. Amen.

I remember that on the night that I got saved, back in April 17,

1997, I got down on an altar up there, gave my heart to Jesus Christ.

I was getting ready to get up, and somebody behind me, I don't even know who

it was, pushed me back down and said, tarry a little longer.

There's a gift of the Holy Ghost that's for you. I don't know.

I can't tell you how long it took.

All I know that there was power in the tarry. Amen.

And all I know that when I began to press a little bit, that God met me with his power.

The same thing with this woman with the issue of blood. The Bible says that

she began to press through the crowd.

The Bible says that when she touched the hem of his garments.

Now, look at this faith right here. This is the kind of faith that we need in the church today.

The Bible says this. There we go. For she said, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

She said, I don't even have to get to where I touch his hand.

I don't even have to get to the point where he looks at me.

He doesn't, see, that's where we are right now. Some people say,

oh, I need to go somewhere because I hear there's a preacher that needs to give

me a word. You don't need a preacher to acknowledge you.

You don't need somebody to call you out and speak over your situation.

All you need is that same God that parted the Red Sea, the same God that calmed

the troubled sea and the Galilee, the same God that cast out the devil,

that same God, the same Jesus that said, I beheld Satan fall as lightning,

that same Jesus can speak into your life right now and nobody around you even know it.

Oh, man, I'm telling you, if you guys could get somebody, somebody's going,

is there an outlet up here?

Because I need a few of you guys to stick your finger in it so you can feel

at least a sample of what I'm feeling tonight. Amen.

So Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus knew that power had gone out to him.

He looked at his disciples and said, who touched me?

And, you know, the disciples is like, that's silly because you're passing through

crowds all the time. Everybody is touching you.

Everybody wanted to get near Jesus.

Everybody wanted to try. You know, Taylor Swift didn't have anything on Jesus, right?

It's just, sorry, I had to get that out there right now. She didn't have anything

on Jesus. Jesus had crowds everywhere he went.

Everybody's trying to see Jesus, to touch Jesus, to get near Jesus.

And so he asked the question, who touched me? And his disciples looked at him

like, everybody has touched you. But Jesus felt power come out of him.

He felt that there was something, by faith, I've got to say this right now,

by faith he felt something was drawn out of him.

And here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that when Jesus realized who it was, he said this.

He said, daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your diseases.

She believed it. I got to get you to understand this.

She believed it before he even spoke it.

The Bible says that she believed if she but touched the hem of his garment that she would be made well.

The Bible said that when she touched him, that immediately it was dried up,

and then he turned around and spoke that word over her.

Faith has that ability to see and to possess before it actually even happens. See, that's faith.

That's faith. I told someone just today, they were talking about something they

were going through, and they said, I don't know if I could go on another day. What should I do?

I said, you should go on. You should keep on living for God,

and you should do it with everything that you've got in faith,

because you're not always going to feel like it.

We put so much stock in feelings in our world today. We don't feel like it.

I don't feel like doing this. I don't feel like doing that. No, we put so much stop.

Sometimes you've got to push on in faith even when you don't feel like it.

Sometimes you've got to reach out and press into God even when you don't.

Sometimes you've got to get down and pray even when you don't feel like it.

Jesus looked at her. The Bible says that he called her daughter.

You know what that was? That's a term of restoration and belonging.

That's what he was showing right there. He said, not only are you healed,

not only are you now ceremonially clean, he said, but now you belong. Amen.

Hallelujah. Can I tell you that when we find our place in the kingdom of God, we belong. We belong.

They might tell you everywhere else in this world, you don't belong.

I want to say this right now. You belong here.

You belong in the family of God. I don't care the mistakes that you've made. You belong here.

I don't care how many bad decisions you've made. You belong here.

I don't care what your past is. You belong here. I don't care what your family did. You belong here.

That's what Jesus is trying to show, is that no matter where you come from,

no matter what your past was, when Jesus, he transformed your life,

there's a belonging and a restoration that takes place.

See, this woman's, this story, This is more than just a historical account.

It's a testimony of faith in action.

It shows us what God can do if we put our trust in him.

Jesus didn't let her leave her in her condition. He didn't leave her in her isolation.

He didn't allow the opinions of others to keep. See, it would have been very easy.

There would have been a religious crowd in that day. They would have turned

around and said, she shouldn't even be here.

She was there seeking help. There would have been some that says,

oh, she's not clean enough to be here.

She's not popular enough to be here. She's not right enough with the law to

be here. See, it still happens in the world today.

We judge people when they walk in the door, but Jesus is showing us it doesn't

matter what side of the tracks that you're from.

It doesn't matter what you did last night. It doesn't matter where you come

from. that that ground is level at the cross, and whoever you are, you belong here.

I feel like I had to say that. So the question, I got to pose it again.

Are you willing to reach for your miracle? I say that.

Are you willing to reach for your miracle? Because sometimes you got to stretch.

Sometimes you got to reach.

Sometimes, okay, so three things. I got to leave you with these three things,

and then and then I'm going to let it marinate all night.

You can wake up in the morning with an epiphany. All right, I feel it. I feel it already.

Number one, take this with you. Number one, desperation leads to determination. It's important.

Desperation leads to determination. For some people, you didn't know how much

you needed God until you were desperate.

Amen. I've seen that. You know, I know this probably comes as a surprise to

you, but when I'm out there on that balcony of that cruise ship,

I'm not sitting there thinking, boy, I need to pray.

Right? I mean, I'm not saying Pastor Rob's not doing a lot of praying on that cruise ship right now.

I'm just saying, you know, I'm just saying, right?

When things are good, we're not as desperate as we can be when things are not good.

Got to give an amen somewhere. Has anybody ever been there? You've been going through something?

Because when you're going through something, every time you turn around,

you're walking through the door saying, oh God, I can't do it. I need you. I need you.

We're conscious of how much we need God.

Desperation leads to determination. This woman had suffered for 12 years with no cure.

She had spent everything she had and only grew worse.

See, and we already talked about it. In Jewish culture, she was unclean by the law.

She wasn't even supposed to be in public, yet she risked everything to get to Jesus. Why?

Because desperation leads to determination.

I thought about it this way. I added this to my notes today because I thought about it this way.

Desperation silences fear and amplifies faith. I started thinking about how

much we hear the voice of God louder than the voice of critics when we get desperate,

and it's because desperation silences fear, and it amplifies faith.

That voice that says you'll never be healed, you start to tune that voice out

when you get desperate, and you start to listen to that voice that says by my

stripes you are healed. Amen.

You start to hear that voice. That's what happened in that woman's life.

Sometimes you have to hold on even when you don't feel like it. That's desperation.

You may not feel healed. Hold on to faith anyway. You may not feel transformed.

Hold on to faith anyway. You may not feel delivered. Hold on to faith anyway. You may not feel worthy.

Hold on to faith anyway. Here's what the Bible says in James 4, verse 8.

James 4:8

Draw near to God, and He will draw. In other words, there's not a time. This is a promise.

It's not only a declaration. It's a promise to you that every time you draw

near to him, he is not going to step back and move away. People say, where did God go?

He's just waiting on you to draw near because the Bible is showing us that when

we start drawing near God, some people would say he's going to meet us halfway.

No, you know what I found? All I got to do is take a step.

The Bible says he's the Jehovah Shama. He's Jehovah right there.

All I got to do is take a step in his direction. He'll bridge the distance and

he'll meet you right where you are when you draw close to him.

Number one, desperation is going to lead to determination.

Number two, and I really do believe this, faith requires action.

Faith requires action. There's so many people that says, I'm waiting on the Lord.

And really, the translation of that, you know, in the Hebrew,

that means they're doing nothing.

Right? That's what most people, when they say they're waiting on the Lord.

Because you ask them, are you praying? No, I'm waiting on the Lord.

Are you witnessing? No, I'm just waiting on the Lord. Are you proclaiming,

no, I'm just waiting on the Lord?

Faith requires action. You're going to have to do something.

I thought about this. Faith is not passive. It moves.

Faith moves. Faith is an action word.

Faith is something that we have to not only take hold of, but we got to walk

out every single day of our lives. We have to walk out faith.

See, the word, the Bible says that she touched the hem of his garment. it.

The Greek word that's used there for the word touch, it doesn't mean that she

came up. Ashley, come up here if you don't mind.

Just, oh, sorry. There we go. Heal her back, Jesus. All right.

It doesn't mean, I know I had to pick the person with the bad back,

walk up the steps. There we go.

It might've been faith. It might've been faith I was doing that.

It doesn't mean that she walked up and just.

That's not what it, when that word touched in the Greek,

it doesn't mean, because that's what we that's what we get in our minds that

it means that she just came up and just just kind of touched his garment just

kind of and that's why we're always like we're like whoa man he he felt virtue

and she just brushed by him the word in the greek means to take a firm grip of,

In other words, she came up and she took his garment.

There was something that was aggressive about it or something that was desperate about it.

There was something that she knew that this was my hope. This is my only hope.

My hope's not in the physician. I need to tell somebody right now,

your hope is not in the government.

Your hope is not in the judicial system. Your hope is not in the physicians.

Your hope is not in your lineage.

Let me go ahead and break that. It doesn't matter. Your hope is not in who your

daddy was, your mommy was, or anybody else was.

Your hope is not in the job that you have. She knew that her hope was in Jesus.

Oh, man. She knew her hope was in Jesus.

And she came and she grabbed a hold like her only hope was in Jesus.

What if we came and grabbed a hold of the horns? Oh, there's an old-fashioned

term we use there, grabbing hold of the horns of the altar.

That means that we were trying to grab hold. there is faith in action.

We are grabbing a hold of something that we did not see yet,

but we believe that we possess it.

I speak in the name of Jesus. I possess healing in the name of Jesus.

I possess restoration in the name of Jesus.

I possess victory in the name of Jesus.

And if I don't see it manifest, I pray this over my son.

My youngest son has epilepsy. And every single day in my life. I pray.

I say, God, I thank you that you allow that medicine to work.

I call it out. I say, God, let that Keppra work. I just ask you to work. I say this every day.

Let the medicine work like it should and let every bad side effect not happen.

Let it work like it should. But I say this every day. I say,

God, until you heal him, he is healed already, but until the manifestation of

His healing comes to fruition in His body.

I thank you that the medicine is worth. You know what that means?

I've grabbed a hold of it by faith, and I'm waiting on it.

Hallelujah. I mean, somebody, you know what? Can we just all stand out of this

building right now? I just feel the Holy Ghost just talking about that right now.

Can you just lift, let's lift our hands to heaven. And whatever it is that you're

believing God for right now, can you just say, God, I believe it in faith. I believe it in faith.

I believe that there's going to be relationships put back together in faith.

I believe there's healing in bodies in faith.

I believe that there's the loss that you've been praying for,

that you're already doing the miraculous by faith.

And God, until we see it happen in the natural, we believe that we're already

laying hold of it in faith. In faith.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. You can be seated. I just,

man, I felt the Holy Ghost right there.

The Bible says this. The Bible says, so faith also by itself,

if it does not have works, is dead.

In other words, faith, without you putting some action behind it, is dead.

Faith is active. Faith moves. Faith reaches. Faith does not stand still,

but it presses forward. Hallelujah.

Faith presses forward. I said, Pastor Scott, I didn't know if I should,

I don't even, sometimes I don't even feel like coming to church. What should I do?

Come to church. Come to church.

I tell, I tell the story about Brother Clendon and he's, he was talking about,

He said, I had a man come to him having marriage problems.

He said, Pastor, I just don't love my wife anymore. He said, my God, man, love her.

Sometimes, you know what? Sometimes

you just got to do it in spite of everything around you. It's faith.

So we got to put faith, put action behind our faith.

And then finally, Jesus responds to expectation.

I didn't pull this out of anywhere. We see this in our story tonight.

Jesus responds to expectation. When the woman touched Jesus,

the Bible says he immediately felt virtue, power, leave his body.

The Bible says that she already said, if I could but touch, grab,

grasp, desperation, the hem of his garment, I know I'll be made whole.

See, here's the reality is her faith drew something out of him that others in the crowd did not get.

Whoo everybody was touching it people were bumping into him left and right but

her faith you know what oh that means you could be sitting on that seat right

now and you can be receiving something that everybody in this ever else in this house don't get,

You can, right there where you're sitting, your faith can draw something out

of the supernatural, the miraculous power of God.

You can receive something sitting right where you are right now,

and people sitting across from you can be working on the grocery list.

But your faith, amen, your expectation can draw something out of Jesus.

See, here's what it comes down to. It wasn't about proximity.

It was about expectation.

I've got a friend that when she was young, hope you'll come help me.

When she was young, she went to a Benny Hinn crusade,

And she was hoping to get called up Because she had bad eyesight And she was

hoping to get called up So that he could pray for her Because she was just a

little girl But she believed that if she got up there,

That if he prayed for her She could get her eyesight healed During that crusade,

they had a general prayer For everybody in that whole Coliseum And she said,

I just, with my childlike faith believe that,

God, even though I don't get up there, I believe that you could heal me.

And God healed her eyes that night.

She didn't wear glasses anymore after that night.

You know why? Because it's not about proximity. It's about expectation.

It's about how much do you believe what God has said.

Matthew chapter 9 verse 29 says, according to your faith, be it done to you.

Matthew 9:29

So I've got to ask this as we kind of land this thing.

If the miraculous power of God in your life,

was determined by the measure of your faith, how much is God going to work in your life?

In my life?

Because that's the word of God.

And we know that sometimes the old timers used to say that God would bless him on credit.

You've ever heard that before? The old timers say, well, he got blessed. He got healed on credit.

He went looking for it. God healed him as a blessing on credit so he could save his soul.

And they were talking about miraculous things that was happening to people who

didn't really believe, but it led to their conversion.

They used to talk about people getting blessed on credit God will do things,

miraculous things To lead people to conversion But in the believer's life The

Bible teaches us That it's according to our faith,

The same level of our faith Is going to determine the amount The level of the

miraculous that God does in our life According to our faith.

And so for us, we've got to get back to that faith to seize hold of the miraculous.

To reach out and believe, if we can just get a hold of Jesus,

if I could just get a hold of my miracle.

Man, I long for the days, and I remember these days, that people would walk

in the back door of the church.

And they'd walk through the back door and they'd say, I'm here for my miracle tonight.

Because they knew it was going to happen. It may not have been that service,

but they knew if they just kept on pressing, it was going to happen.

It was going to happen. Some of you, you saw that faith in your parents.

You saw that faith in your grandparents.

You saw that faith in people that came before you.

Church, we've got to carry on that faith. we got to identify our miracle move

toward him and expect his response that's what faith does,

faith doesn't wait for permission it moves beyond the obstacles to seize hold

of the miraculous I'll stand all over the building,

thank you Holy Spirit,

thank you Holy Spirit faith for the miraculous thank you Holy Spirit.

Music.

God does the miraculous and he uses the miraculous so that his name could be

made famous in the world number one,

did you notice in the scripture god never did the miraculous to make the one receiving the miracle,

be famous our culture's got that messed up too but number one he did the miraculous

to make his name famous in the world but but number two he does it because he loves you,

he does it because he's conscious of you because he sees you where you are.

He was conscious of that woman who touched him in the midst of the crowd,

you know what he sees you in the midst of this crowd he knows

what you're going through in the miss this crowd all you

gotta do is reach out in faith every head bowed every eye closed by looking

around but if you're here tonight and you'd say pastor scott i i believe in

the miraculous i believe it and maybe maybe you're like the man in the bible who told jesus,

he was struggling he was struggling with his belief and he said lord i believe

just help thou my unbelief,

I believe but man there's so much mess that gets in the way I believe but there's

so much of this doctrine of the world that gets in the way maybe that's you

tonight you believe but you're having to go through the garbage of this world and the unbelief,

if that's you.

Maybe you're here and you say, Pastor Scott, I'm ready. I'm ready for my miracle.

I'm wanting to reach out tonight.

You're one of those calls. If you're in any one of those calls tonight and you

need the miraculous work of God, maybe it's a healing.

Maybe it's a family situation. Maybe it's an emotional condition in your life right now.

It may be a job. Listen, I've needed miracles on my job before that God has done. The miraculous.

But if that's you tonight on one of those calls, if that's you,

I just want you to raise your hand and say, Pastor Scott, that's me.

There's hands going up there's hands going up all around this building here's

what i'm going to do i'm going to open this altar up tonight i'm going to count

to three and i want us to come to this altar and i want us to press i want

us to grab the horns of the altar i want us to press like

we believe that god can do the miraculous can we do that

let's step on out one two three step on out

step on out to a god that does miracles to a god that can do the miraculous

let's seize hold of our miracles tonight father in the name of jesus we come

before you jesus we believe you we believe you jesus have your way have your way jesus,

have your way jesus god we believe right now lord like the woman that was pressing

through the crowd that there's not any condition lord that you can't move in

the midst of that there's no hurt that you can't heal,

that there's no situation that you can't resolve.

And so Holy Spirit, right now we reach out to you. We reach out.

Music.

Can we just lift our hands to heaven all over this building right now?

Father, we believe you. Father, we believe you.

Lord, we're speaking that you are up to something in our lives,

in the midst of our families, in the midst of our circumstances,

our messes of our lives. God, you're in the midst of that.

God, all of our hope is in you. All of our faith is in you.

And like that woman, God, we just grab a hold of you.

We grab a hold of your word by faith.

Music.

We grab a hold of your promise by faith and God we believe you we believe you

we believe the same Jesus that parted the Red Sea the same Jesus that healed

us that calmed the storm of the Sea of Galilee the same Jesus that healed that

body that day is the same Jesus,

that can move on our behalf in the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus Thank

you Jesus Thank you Jesus,

Thank you Jesus Man You know,

There's so much more,

There's so much more It's more than just something I feel Don't be fooled by

emotion is something I know according to His Word.

There's so much more than what we live and what we're receiving.

Don't live below the standard that He has provided for the believer.

Don't live below the standard of the glory that He has for your life.

I want to leave you with that tonight. I want to leave you with that.

Because some of us are walking bound when we should be walking in freedom.

Music.

Don't walk there anymore. Don't walk there anymore. Amen. God bless you.

We love you. See, today's Wednesday.

So if you're signed up for our couple's dinner, that's on Saturday.

We'll see you on Saturday.

If not, we'll see you on Sunday morning at 9 or 11. We can't wait.

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