WEBVTT - Danger In The Distance 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.680 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:13.760 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.400 Enjoy the message. Mark Chapter one, verse forty. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.800 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.160 on his knees, if you are willing, you can make 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.760 me clean. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.640 and touched the man. I am willing, he said, be clean. 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:39.320 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.479 sent him away at once with a strong warning. See 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.640 that you do not tell this to anyone, but go 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.919 show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:59.320 Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them. Instead, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.880 he went out in began to talk freely, spreading the news, 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.520 and as a result, Jesus could no longer enter a 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:11.560 town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.040 people still came to him from everywhere. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:16.640 I'd like to speak today. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:21.520 For a few moments about danger in the distance, danger 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:28.880 in the distance. Certain phrases in our Christian vocabulary lose 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.640 their power, or at least their ability to penetrate our 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.560 psyche because of usage. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.080 Like when we say grace. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:43.240 This is a phrase or a word, a concept that 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.200 is so familiar to many of us that I am 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.320 afraid when we sing amazing Grace, we can barely through 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:57.640 our yawning, understand just how scandalous the concept is. I 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.280 also thought that maybe what of our worship leaders at 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.000 one of our locations would write us. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:04.800 A song called dangerous Grace? 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.720 Because to really understand the grace of God is to 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:13.120 understand that it jeopardizes the way you have lived your life, 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.080 and it will not be contained by our conception of it, 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.239 but our conception of it must come up to the 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.639 level of its efficacy. In Mark Chapter one, verse forty 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.000 through forty five, we see an example of this kind 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.840 of grace, and I'd like to spend the majority of 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:30.480 my time. 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:31.200 In just one verse. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.640 The first verse, verse forty says that a man with 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.880 leprosy came to him. I looked in Matthew's Gospel, Luke's Gospel, 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.520 and John's Gospel to see if I could find a 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.800 little more information about this man. Mark doesn't tell us 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.520 much about his background, his hair color, his eye color. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.600 He doesn't even give the common courtesy of stating his name. Now, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.240 come on, you even ask your server his name at 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.200 the restaurant, And this man, who is the subject of 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.320 one of the first miracles recorded in this market account, 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:04.760 does not. 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.000 Even get a name. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.560 We are not told his name, but we are told 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:15.000 about his condition, which is leprosy. We're not given his name, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.840 but we know about his issue, which is leprosy. It 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:23.480 goes to show that sometimes your identity can be consumed 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.960 by your issues. That is, you can become more known 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.800 by what's wrong with you than who you have the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:37.400 potential to be. Is anybody here to the point that 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.080 you no longer know your own name, or you no 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.960 longer have a real sense of your identity or yourself. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.920 We are losing a sense of ourself at times because 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.480 our issues have run so rampant that they have consumed 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.240 our issues have consumed our identity. Now, when Moses met 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.360 with God, the fire was burning the bush, but it 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.880 did not consume the bush. It burned and burned and burned, 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.720 and God spoke from the bush. He said, I want 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.040 you to know who I am. Moses said, who are you? 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.600 He said, I am? Moses said I am is a 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:14.240 good start. 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:15.240 What comes next? 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.159 And then God said, without saying, whatever you need comes next, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.039 because I will not change I am, but what you 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.960 will need in different seasons of your life will change. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.039 So whatever you need I will already be before you 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:30.320 even know your need. 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:31.839 I am what you need. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.320 How many are grateful for an omnipotent, omniscient God who 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.720 knows what you need and can be what you need now. 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.160 Some people know what you need, but they cannot be it. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.520 Some people would love to give you what you need. 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:47.559 If they could, but they can't. 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.880 God is the only one who simultaneously knows what you 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.960 need and is what you need. And I dare you 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.560 to look at the person next to you, even if 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:57.520 you've been married for forty three years, and tell them 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.120 you can't be what I need. Not in every season. 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.560 You can't be what I need. You might come close sometimes, 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.520 but I need a God who is familiar with my 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.880 secrets and my most intimate issues and has still made 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.599 the decision to love me on my worst day with 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.360 no makeup on in my failure with my flaws. I 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.760 need a God who will choose me not just despite 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.640 my flaws, but because of my flaws, and cause all 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.480 things to work together for my good according to his purpose. 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.400 Who will make my weakness his strength, Who will set 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.880 up and dwell in the midst of a broken praise? 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:31.599 God? 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.760 Is that to me? This man has given no name. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:41.760 We know his issue, but not his name. His identity 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:43.280 has been completely. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.800 Consumed by his issue. 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.200 I'm hanging out on this point because I wonder has 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.160 it ever happened to you? 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.719 God did not say I am the great? I did. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.040 But there is always a temptation in life to overidentify, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:02.480 either with your issues or with your gifts. So if 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.520 you are really good at something, you can learn in 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.839 life to perform in such a way that you receive 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:09.440 the praise of people because of. 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.240 What you do. God is not the great I do, 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:14.440 He is the great I am. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.520 I feel like the revelation of this is worth us 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.760 hanging out in verse forty for just a minute. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:19.680 We've got time. 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:24.360 A man with leprosy, A man with leprosy whose name 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.040 has been consumed by his disease, for. 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:28.159 Which there is no cure. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.720 A man who has been relegated and confined and quarantined 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:38.120 to the outside quarters of society, prohibited from normal human relationships, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.120 caused to dwell in desolation. 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.240 In Leviticus thirteen, we. 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.320 See a snapshot of the kind of situation this man 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.160 would have lived. In the book of Leviticus, at points 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.360 reads more like a whole thirty book than it does 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.760 like a scripture verse because all the dietary restrictions are there, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.760 And then when you get to Leviticus thirteen, it's more 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:01.719 like a dermatology manual. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:03.839 Then it is like a devotion. 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:06.880 And so don't read Leviticus if you're looking for that 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:07.839 quick inspiration. 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.800 You know it gives prescriptions like this. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.760 It says, if you have leprosy, anyone with such a 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:18.360 defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.880 cover the lower part of their face, and cry out unclean, unclean, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.080 and watch what's next. As long as they have the disease, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.880 they remain unclean. They must live alone, they must live 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:36.560 outside the camp. The greatest pain of this particular issue 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.840 is not physical, It is emotional. It is the pain 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.960 of isolation. So now you understand the significance of this phrase. 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:50.520 A man with leprosy who had no name came to him, 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.920 who was the name above every name. I could preach 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.640 that for a whole series. That thing just hit me, 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.240 the whole only Spirit of God just told me to 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:08.080 tell you that whatever name your issue has, there is 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.559 a name that is above that name. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:13.440 And if you can name. 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.640 The issue, I know a name that is a puppet 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.600 that can make your issue. She got it, that can 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.720 make your issue. Take a knee in the presence of 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.000 a mighty God. Let's take ten seconds and praise that name. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.240 Come on that the name of Jesus. Every knee will vow, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.160 and every talk confess. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.160 I don't want to wait till one day. I might 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.240 as well use my talk right now. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:41.000 Praise this name. 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:51.439 He came to him, and he did it. He did 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.440 it all wrong. He did it all wrong. He did 0:08:55.559 --> 0:09:01.120 the total wrong thing. This man, this he broke religious 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:08.320 rule in the book. He didn't, first of all, announce unclean, unclean. Okay, 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:13.880 he didn't identify himself by his issue unclean, unclean. And 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:18.920 he did not keep the appropriate distance because when you 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:25.520 have leprosy, you've got to stay back because you are contagious. 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.800 This law was not given because people were cruel. It's 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:31.439 kind of like I didn't think to say this in 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.120 the other ones, But y'all are so advanced you pull 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.800 stuff out of me. You know how there are certain 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.800 kids you don't want your kid around. Not that you 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.560 don't like that kid, but if that kid rubs off 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.080 on your kid, it's just like they don't have the 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:52.760 same values, and then you might realize your kid is 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.760 that kid. That's a parenting sermon, and I don't do that. 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:04.079 It's a it is It's crazy that he would think 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.360 to approach anyone, let alone the miracle worker from Galilee. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:13.800 A man with leprosy came to him, came to him. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:18.760 Let me do this, Let me take a second, two three, 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.360 four ten, so. 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:29.880 T two thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:37.320 twenty one, twenty two lebron twenty four six, nine, thirty one, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.040 two thirty three, thirty four, thirty five six. There's thirty 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.320 eight thirty nine forty two. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.120 What a three? What a four? What a five? 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:56.640 Six seven forty nine fifteen that's the distance, Wow, fifty 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:01.360 paces away, the ffty paces away. That's how long you 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.200 had this. That's that's the appropriate distance. 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.280 That a leper was supposed to keep. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:14.679 In order that they would not defile someone who was clean. 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:22.960 Fifty fifty paces. I thought about calling this a message. 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:31.559 Fifty paces to grace. I like that, not fifty shades 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:40.040 and nothing like that. Fifty paces to grace. 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:42.560 And he's. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.800 He's he's allowed to be around people, not too close though, 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.920 not too close, though just at a distance. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.520 He can come to church. The leper can come to church. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.280 But if he comes to church, he has to sit 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.800 behind a special screen so nobody will catch what he has. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.480 The only way that we'll make you sit in a 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:16.000 special place at elevation is if you are late, but 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.640 we don't check you at the door. You know what's 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:25.079 your issue, and then see you accordingly. Wouldn't that be interesting, 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.280 because see, the leopard had an advantage over a lot 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.280 of us. His issue was on the outside. A lot 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:38.920 of us don't have spots on our skin. We have 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:46.480 secret spots, spots in our soul. Issues of insecurity you 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.440 can't see them. Certain issues you can see. You know, 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:54.040 certain addictions manifest in practical ways, and then someone goes 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.240 to get help. The thing about secret spots, though, is 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.679 when they are on the inside of you. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.480 And be in church, but you are behind a screen. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.920 So the screen keeps other people from seeing you as 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.000 you really are, but it also keeps you from seeing 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:19.240 God as he really is. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.959 Y'all need to help me preach this. I'm feeling very 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.120 vulnerable back here. 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.000 You can come to church, but you're behind a screen. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.880 You can come to church, but you don't really let 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.040 the presence of God touch you. Come to church, but 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.120 you fight down the emotions. You can come to church, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.640 but you play it off because the people next to you, 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.920 they kind of know you, and you feel kind of 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:50.560 a shame. See, shame always creates a screen, a screen 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.760 to keep you from being who you really are, from 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.920 seeing and being seen and from back here behind this screen. 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.840 I'm at church but not really coming home physically, but 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.040 I'm staying at work emotionally. I learn how to hide 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.760 behind the screen because if I stay behind. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.800 The screen, they can't see me behind the screen. Give 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:13.400 me a phone. I need a phone. I need a 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:19.480 phone behind the screen, behind a screen. 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:25.120 The Devil's got us hiding behind scream how creepy is it? 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:30.280 With my hand preaching to you right now behind that screen, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.440 behind that screen where you create digital personas to hide 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.760 your dysfunction. And in an age where we have more 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.880 apparatus to connect than ever before, we are impotent to 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:46.840 be intimate because intimacy requires proximity. In other words, you've 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:51.400 got to come out and be seen, and you can't 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:57.200 be seen since yours behind a screen. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:05.320 The man violated the law that was meant to. 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:10.840 Protect the people from being infected by what had consumed 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.680 his skin. And he heard that there was a man 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.400 who had been standing up in synagogues and telling demons 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.520 to sit down and shut up. And he figured, if 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:28.000 Jesus can deal with demons, maybe he's got something for 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:29.120 my skin too. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:31.480 If Jesus can do. 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.960 That for them, see, that's what you need to be encouraged. 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.720 If he ever did it for anyone wants to stop 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:49.320 him from doing it for you. You decided to take 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:55.560 the walk of shame fifty steps. The first one must 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:03.960 have been the hardest. If I stay here, I'm going 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:13.320 to die. I'd rather die trying to behold than live 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:20.720 half hearted. Here's my whole sermon in case you're watching 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.880 this online in Wisconsin and you need to get lunch 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:29.280 in the oven, and you can't watch the rest. The 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:37.600 danger of isolation is much greater than the risk of intimacy. 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:40.480 That's the whole sermon. 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.359 It's safer to come out from behind. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:51.440 The screen and be seen as you really are than 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.280 it is to hide behind an image of what you 0:16:55.360 --> 0:17:00.200 want people to think you are while you die inside 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:09.359 the secret spots, secret insecurities that caused us to stay 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.600 behind performance and profession. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:26.520 So he started that walk of shame forty nine, forty eight. 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:36.359 Nobody stopped me yet. Forty seven I got a question, 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:42.080 just a question. Where was Peter? Peter shouldn't have let 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:47.200 this man get that close to Jesus. Remember when Peter 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:48.919 cut off Malcus's ear in the garden. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:50.760 Where was his sword? 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.439 This could have ruined the whole ministry, because if the 0:17:55.680 --> 0:18:00.520 unclean touches the clean, the clean becomes unclean. Forty six. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.639 But this man had apparently become desperate. I don't know 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.480 what happened on this day, or if it was just 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.320 his personality type, but he decided to try. I'm going 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:16.000 to present myself forty five, forty four, forty three, forty two, 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.920 forty one, forty still got a long way to go. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.760 But I'd rather I'd rather find out for myself thirty 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.679 nine thirty eight because if he can really do what 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.200 they say he can do, I can hold my daughter again. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:42.320 Thirty seven, thirty six thirty five. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:43.560 I don't even know if I'm going. 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.639 To make it to him, because they could kill me 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.159 for what I'm doing right now. They can stone me 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.280 outside the camp for daring to bring my defiled self 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.040 in the presence of the undefiled. 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:56.240 But thirty four thirty three. 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.560 Because sometimes you come to a point where you don't 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.679 even care how it looks anymore, or really even what 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:07.600 it costs you. Because I'd rather live as I really 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.240 am than die in this lonely place. So thirty two 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.920 thirty one, I wonder is anybody coming today? Thirty twenty 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.560 nine twenty eight. I hope they don't kill me. Twenty seven, 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.720 twenty six, twenty five. I know I look crazy, but 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:27.960 twenty four, twenty. 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.840 Three, twenty two I might as well. Twenty one I've 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.160 already lost so much. Twenty I'm desperate now I'm closer now. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:45.879 Eighteen seventeen sixteen there is fifteen fourteen thirteen, twelve, eleven 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.440 ten nine, Hey. 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:56.760 Am I really gonna do this. Come too far to 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:58.080 turn around. 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:04.480 I'm closer to this than I am to that. Seven six. 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.280 You're gonna keep marching around those walls? Are you're gonna 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:09.800 stop them? Five? 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:17.399 Four three two? Want somebody shot up here? 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:21.960 Here? 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:22.800 I am Lord. 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.680 I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live amongst 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:28.080 the people of unclean lips. 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:29.360 And you can see. 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.159 In my skin that on the surface, I'm defiled. But 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:34.840 I have more faith than a lot of the people 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:42.399 who have perfect skin, because at least I came. I 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:48.240 heard that you could heal, and I'm here, and I 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.040 know I'm not supposed to be here, and I know 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.720 they could kill me for being here. And if you 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.399 are who I've heard you are, you are the Holy 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.840 One of God, and your holiness and my holiness do 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.159 not belong in this same vicinity. 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:05.199 But I'm here. 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.280 I took fifty steps to get here that I wasn't 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:17.680 supposed to take. But I'm here. I'm completely out of place, 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:26.240 but I'm here. Put the verse up again. I'm here. 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:37.040 I'm out of place. Oh it wasn't the fifty steps 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.959 that got him healed. It was the next thing he 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:47.240 did when he got there a man with leprosy came 0:21:47.320 --> 0:22:16.320 to him and begged him. 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.320 I'm here. 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:10.879 And I'm humble. It wasn't those first fifty steps that 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:19.680 got him healed. It was the fifty first. You can 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:21.679 come all the way to church and not get healed, 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:27.119 because you won't get it like this. But if you 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:33.080 will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, I 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.960 hit your knees in your heart and let Cotton know 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:42.120 I don't want to be my issues anymore. I heard 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:48.400 what you could do, and if you will, you can 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:53.800 make me clean. I know you can. I'm just not 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:59.960 sure if you will. I found out as much easier 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.240 to get people to believe that God is great than 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.280 it is to get them to believe that God is good. 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:08.800 It's not hard to get people to believe that God. 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:09.440 Can do anything. 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:12.000 The universe declares the glory of God, and the sky 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.280 sow forth his power, the firmament, his handiwork is not 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:19.960 can God make an ocean that I wonder about its? 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:26.520 Can God still the seas within me? Because I know 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:35.720 you can? But will you and Jesus did something. 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:47.000 So scandalous, so dangerous. See, intimacy is risky for Jesus 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:52.720 to touch this man, it put him at risk of 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:54.840 catching what the man had. 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:59.360 And he touched the man. He touched the man. 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:01.200 Some of you will even high five your neighbor in 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:05.600 church without hand sanitizer, and Jesus touch the man is 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:06.320 lise aden. 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:12.680 He touched them. 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:18.520 You can't do that, Jesus, because according to levitical law, 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:25.280 if the unclean touches the clean, the clean will become unclean. 0:24:25.400 --> 0:24:27.840 Jesus said, I did not come to abolish the law, 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:32.720 but to fulfill it. See when that which is perfect 0:24:33.280 --> 0:24:36.840 has come, that which is imperfect will be done away with. 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:43.360 Now one greater than Moses is on the scene. This 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:46.240 is one greater than he who heard I Am. 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:48.160 This is the I Am which. 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:51.159 Was spoken of in that bush, and he's on the scene. 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:55.200 So Jesus says, I'm not worried about touching him. 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:59.720 If the unclean touch the clean, then the clean becomes 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:06.200 un clean. But if the unclean touches Jesus, Jesus. 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:08.160 You'll better get ready. I'm a trump this. 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:14.280 Who is the perfect sinless thunless lamb of God, when 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:19.679 one is unclean touches one is perfectly clean, The unclean 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:21.600 doesn't make the clean unclean. 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:26.399 The clean makes the unclean clean, Shut up out grace 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.199 not That made me happy when I read it. I 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:33.600 thought about how he is not. 0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:38.280 A saying to be identified with me, how he's not 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:40.400 worried about catching what I got. 0:25:40.880 --> 0:25:44.640 But if I get close enough to Jesus, it's righteous. 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:48.720 It's a room for me. Now I find somebody and say. 0:25:48.720 --> 0:25:54.520 Catches, catch grace, catch praise, pay announcement. 0:25:55.280 --> 0:26:00.800 Grace is contagious. Praise is contagious. For all of you 0:26:00.960 --> 0:26:02.280 who are sitting next. 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:05.280 To somebody who doesn't want to praise God, I. 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:10.240 Dare you to break out and seize on until your 0:26:10.280 --> 0:26:13.080 home role is praising God. Come on, play meant the 0:26:13.200 --> 0:26:17.760 three people in the center section. Praise is contagious. Oh man, 0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:22.159 No five, the Lord with me. Let us exupt. 0:26:33.840 --> 0:26:38.680 Touch everybody you can reasay. Grace is contagious. It's contagious. 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:43.480 It's contagious. It's contagious. Grace is more contagious than shame. 0:26:43.880 --> 0:26:46.520 It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter where 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:49.239 you've been, it doesn't matter what you smell like, it 0:26:49.240 --> 0:26:51.160 doesn't matter what they labeled you. 0:26:51.160 --> 0:26:53.119 You are not what you did, and you are not 0:26:53.240 --> 0:26:53.960 what they said. 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:58.920 Somebody shout, I am the lissness of God. Now take 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:00.560 twenty seconds and that like you. 0:27:00.480 --> 0:27:01.080 Just got here. 0:27:05.080 --> 0:27:15.119 I am I never heard of before. I heard I 0:27:15.160 --> 0:27:16.720 am the Bread of Life. I heard I am the 0:27:16.800 --> 0:27:18.600 Light of the world. I heard I am the Date. 0:27:18.680 --> 0:27:20.760 I heard I am the Good Shepherd. I heard I 0:27:20.760 --> 0:27:22.239 am the Way of the Truth and the Life. I 0:27:22.240 --> 0:27:24.720