Participants: Don Pate
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000021
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00:29 Hello, and what a privilege to join you.
00:31 I am Don Pate from the International 00:33 Radio Ministry, Between the Lines. 00:35 And I'm looking forward to the opportunity 00:37 to spend time with you 00:38 as we go under the surface of the word 00:41 in between the lines. 00:43 To spend a few minutes with Jesus, 00:45 to come to know Him, 00:47 possibly in a way that you might not have seen 00:50 before to look at issues of the backgrounds 00:53 of the stories, some of the episodes of Jesus. 00:56 And so as we spend time together today 00:58 with just one of the gospel of Ebionites. 01:00 One of the little slices of the ministry of Jesus. 01:04 I just pray that we will be richly blessed. 01:06 Somehow the Holy Spirit will predispose us 01:09 to set us up for something special, 01:12 a special appointment and rondevu with Jesus. 01:14 And then that He will reward us 01:18 with good insights that, that will make a difference 01:20 in how we live today and tomorrow 01:22 as we prepare for the coming of the Lord. 01:25 And so I'd invite you to join me in prayer 01:27 as we prepare ourselves and--and ask the Holy Spirit 01:31 to fulfill the promise of Jesus 01:33 that the Holy Spirit will teach us today. Let's pray. 01:36 Lord, it is such a privilege to spend time in the word. 01:40 And we pray that now as we are together 01:44 that we might go into the word with open hearts, 01:48 so that Jesus Christ might come alive 01:52 in a special way within us and in our hearts. 01:55 This is our prayer in His holy name, amen. 01:59 I'd like first to spend time 02:01 with one of the events of the ministry of Jesus 02:04 that sometimes it's not really well understood. 02:07 To find something from the background 02:09 that may be you don't know. 02:11 It's a story that, that comes in 02:13 the center of another story. 02:16 Now, you may not know that the gospels, 02:18 the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 02:21 that they each bring a certain flavor 02:24 to the understanding of the stories of Jesus. 02:30 Matthew has his agenda. 02:32 And he certainly focuses on some things that may be Mark. 02:35 It doesn't see quite as--as to the degree of importance 02:39 and may be didn't meet His needs quite as much. 02:41 But then Mark probably taking the stories of Peter. 02:45 Mark reveals some things, some insights 02:47 about Jesus that Luke never got around too. 02:50 Now, Matthew, Mark, and Luke 02:51 as you probably know, they called synoptic. 02:53 And what that means is they are the synonymous gospels. 02:55 They're very much alike, 02:57 that a lot of what's in Matthew, 02:58 you will find in Mark, a lot of what's in Mark, 03:00 you will find in Luke. Now John is off to the side. 03:04 John is--is unlike the others. John is written last. 03:09 And probably may be even up to 20 years after 03:12 the other gospels are written. 03:14 And John by his own confession in the book, 03:16 shares that he is telling you stories 03:20 that that you haven't seen in the other three. 03:23 He is reviewing for the early church. 03:25 And he says, "I'd like to tell you some of the things 03:27 that Jesus did, that may be 03:28 the stories you haven't heard." 03:30 And so John is decidedly different 03:32 than the other three. 03:33 But even at that there is a flow 03:36 with some common theme of some of the stories 03:40 that not permeated that make it 03:41 into all four of the gospels. 03:43 Now the story that I'd like for us 03:44 to focus on here as we're together today 03:47 is the story that comes in the middle of a larger story. 03:51 You probably are aware of the background 03:54 of the story of Jairus' daughter. 03:57 Now as you remember if you know that story. 03:59 And if you take your Bibles in turn, 04:01 you can turn and find the story 04:03 actually in the Gospel of Matthew in Chapter 9 04:06 or you could go to the Gospel of Luke in Chapter 8. 04:08 But I, for certain reasons find the Gospel of Mark, 04:12 the way Mark reviews the story. 04:15 I find that to be the one that's probably 04:17 in some degrees the most insightful. 04:20 And may be there are some things 04:23 under the surface of the story 04:24 that come out of the heart 04:25 that you don't find in the other two gospels. 04:28 And so I would invite you to take your Bible 04:30 and turn to the Gospel of Mark to Chapter 5. 04:34 Now in Chapter 5, Jesus has just been involved 04:37 in some very momentous events up in the Galilee. 04:40 He has just done some miraculous things. 04:43 And the people-it sort of taken their breath away. 04:46 They have been astounded 04:48 at His ability to resolve certain issues. 04:51 You have the story 04:52 of the gathering healing of demoniacs. 04:58 And here you have, Jesus now coming into Capernaum. 05:03 Now I don't know how much you know about Capernaum. 05:05 Matthew actually calls Capernaum, Jesus' own village. 05:10 Now you'll say, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. 05:12 You know, I thought Jesus was from Nazareth." 05:15 Well, you probably know that there are some people 05:18 where you can go to their house, you know, 05:20 you can kick off your shoes, 05:22 you can just lay down on the floor, 05:23 you can raid their refrigerator. 05:26 You can have a good time and you feel at ease. 05:29 There are certain people where you can 05:32 just watch your hair down as the vernacular says. 05:35 You can be more comfortable with them. 05:38 There are certain situations 05:39 and you are probably aware of this in life, 05:41 may be in your own circumstance 05:43 where you always have to guard your words. 05:47 Somebody is a little critical or they have expectation 05:49 or they have agenda or they have some decision that, 05:52 you know, this is the way you are going to walk. 05:55 And they're always sort of right there 05:57 to be a little critical. 06:00 And you know how much energy 06:02 that takes out of you when you have to sit there 06:04 and way out every word. 06:07 You know, that that takes a toll on a person. 06:09 Capernaum was--number one, it was Galilee. 06:13 It was--it was decidedly removed from Jerusalem. 06:17 Jerusalem of course was the center 06:20 of some of the issues of challenge of Jesus. 06:23 With the Jerusalem hierarchy and the priestly class 06:26 and the people who-- they had--they thought 06:30 the larger picture in mind because they had to deal 06:33 all the time with the interaction 06:34 of the Roman authorities. 06:36 They had to worry about what the empire was thinking. 06:38 What the senate would think. 06:40 What the regents would think who represented Rome. 06:44 What the military leaders of the legions 06:45 would think there at the Fortress of Antonia. 06:48 Jerusalem was never an easily comfortable place for Jesus. 06:54 Jerusalem was a challenge to Jesus. 06:58 The Galilee was more at home. 07:01 Now here in the United States, 07:03 we actually have a sense of Galilee 07:06 that if I would say this and to people 07:09 who are from the United States. 07:10 Most would understand this. 07:13 Galilee was Nebraska. It was heartland. 07:16 It was mid America. 07:18 That's sort of in--in our culture. 07:20 Galilee was the--the phrase that is often used 07:23 for the Galilean was Ab Haras, 07:26 the people of the earth, 07:28 just the people of the land, the common folk. 07:31 And so Jesus-- number one, 07:33 He didn't have to face all the geopolitical issues 07:37 of--of what was going on 07:38 with the body politic in Jerusalem. 07:41 The Sanhedrin, the priestly class, the leadership. 07:45 He didn't have to face that challenge all the time. 07:47 And more than that, 07:49 these were basically people of the land. 07:52 And for that reason, they were somewhat-- 07:55 they were less sophisticated. 07:57 They were more attuned to listening to Jesus 08:01 for what He had to say. 08:04 Yes, they came with their expectation too. 08:06 I mean, and I don't want you to believe 08:09 that the Galilee was always completely 08:11 easy living for Jesus, that's certainly was not true. 08:13 But generally things were less challenging. 08:16 Generally Jesus was more received in the Galilee. 08:20 And of all the Galilee, the villages of the Galilee, 08:22 the one where it seems 08:23 that Jesus was more commonly at--at home, 08:28 at ease was Capernaum. 08:31 And so in this story, 08:32 you have Jesus returning to Capernaum. 08:35 The place where at least to a degree 08:38 He found greater acceptance. 08:40 He wasn't as often confronted. 08:44 And you remember the story Jairus, 08:45 the ruler of the synagogue comes out to confront Jesus 08:48 and he has an agenda, 08:49 it's because his daughter is deathly ill. 08:53 Well, you probably remember what happens then. 08:56 Jesus is going with Jairus up to wherever somebody 09:01 who was of the upper crest of society in Capernaum 09:05 would live in--in 09:07 the president of the synagogue's home. 09:10 Obviously not probably just with 09:12 the average person of the village. 09:14 And this man had, you know, a little higher reputation. 09:16 And so to the little suburban neighborhood of Capernaum 09:21 was Jairus's home would be. 09:22 Jesus is walking with His entourage with His disciples, 09:26 when suddenly this story gets interjected. 09:29 Mark Chapter 5 verse 25, 09:32 "A certain woman which had an issue 09:35 of the blood for twelve years." 09:38 Now remember if you know the rest of the story, 09:41 you'll say, "Wait a minute, 09:42 wasn't that the age of Jairus' daughter." 09:46 This woman's dilemma, 09:48 her problem is the same length of time, 09:52 has been going on for the same length of time 09:56 as Jairus' daughter's whole lifespan. 10:00 So you've got the story of a young girl 10:03 who is right on the edge of becoming a woman 10:06 within the economy of Israel, 10:08 within the society of Israel. 10:10 She was right on the edge of becoming a woman, 10:12 and then you have a woman who for that whole lifespan 10:17 has been facing a sense of rejection of heaven. 10:24 She has the issuance of the blood. 10:26 Now you might know your Bible well enough to know 10:29 exactly what's going on here. 10:31 It is part of the Levitical code 10:34 for issues of hygiene, public health, 10:37 and--and the Lord had His reasons not that 10:39 we have to completely understand 10:41 all of God's reasons. I mean, He can be God. 10:44 But the Lord had His reasons 10:46 for many of the issues of kosher 10:48 and a lot of it dealt with issues. 10:50 Today we understand a quarantine blood 10:54 in body fluid precautions. 10:56 Things like this that we understand in our society 10:58 today that's certainly back in those days 11:00 they could not have understood. 11:01 And this woman is going through 11:03 a period of ritual uncleanness. 11:07 The only problem is it's being 11:08 going for 12 years, 12 years. 11:13 And if you go back in your Bible, 11:14 you can turn to Leviticus Chapter 12 11:17 or Leviticus Chapter 15 to get the foundation 11:20 for understanding what's happening in the story. 11:24 Now I happen to have here 11:25 a copy of a--the Mishnah with me. 11:28 The Mishnah is a wonderful resource for Christians 11:31 and most Christians don't know it. 11:33 The Mishnah is the codification of Jewish 11:37 overall tradition from the days of Jesus, 11:39 the--the Second Temple Era. 11:42 The Rabbi sat down 200 years after Jesus, more or less. 11:46 And--and they codify. They put into black and white. 11:50 The things that had been taught from father to son 11:53 and from mentor to student, from Gamaliel to Paul, Saul. 11:59 You have the codification of the old tradition. 12:03 And so this is one of the finest resources 12:05 for Christians to understand 12:07 what's really going on in the world of Jesus. 12:10 To understand what's happening 12:12 in the expectation of the people 12:14 who are alive in Jesus day. 12:16 Now as you can see, it's a fairly thick document. 12:19 It's about 800 pages translated into English 12:22 and I find it fascinating. 12:24 No, I'm not--I haven't memorized it all. 12:27 And in fact I haven't read the whole Mishnah. 12:29 You may have never read any of it. 12:30 Would I advise you as a Christian, 12:32 may be to have a little, little 12:34 understanding of the Mishnah? I think so. 12:36 I think so, because it will flush out 12:40 the gospel stories with the reality 12:43 of what's going on in Jesus world. 12:44 And if you look here, right here, 12:46 I'm gonna open this. 12:47 The Mishnah from this point forward 12:49 to the back of the book, ight here. 12:52 That much of the text. 12:54 Oh, what is it? More than a third. 12:57 There are two booklets that are called tractates. 13:02 And they are completely dealing with 13:05 rules of ritual cleanness 13:07 and uncleanness or that which is called kosher. 13:12 Kosher all that means is that which is fit, 13:14 that which is acceptable, and that which is called 13:16 tumah that which is not acceptable. 13:20 Now there were various types of tumah. 13:23 For Between the Lines, 13:24 every week I create a new deeper look study guide 13:27 which is a gift for the people around the world. 13:30 And this is the one that I did 13:31 a few weeks ago on tumah, on tumah. 13:34 And it goes into the issues 13:36 of there--there are layers of uncleanness 13:40 within the expectation of the Bible people, 13:42 within the days of Jesus. 13:44 There were certain things that were unclean 13:47 and they were gonna be unclean forever. 13:48 There was nothing you could do about it. 13:50 I mean, it was--you could pray over it 13:52 all you wanted to, and it was never going 13:53 to be considered ritually clean. 13:56 Then there were things that were temporarily unclean. 14:00 As long as this condition continues 14:04 that is a temporary uncleanness or tumah. 14:07 And then there are things that were only unclean 14:10 just for a certain slice of hours. 14:13 You know, for this one day etcetera. 14:16 This woman with the issuance of the blood, 14:19 her degree of uncleanness or her style of uncleanness 14:23 was related to as long as that issuance continued. 14:28 That's what we find in 14:29 Leviticus Chapter 12, Leviticus 15. 14:31 And then when this problem, 14:34 this--this physical problem would resolve itself, 14:38 she would then be allowed to make sacrifice 14:40 and--and life goes back to normal. Everything is fine. 14:43 The problem is with this woman 14:45 who knows what trigger this event. 14:47 Was it a childbirth? 14:48 Was it her natural body process? We don't know. 14:52 All we know is that 12 years before 14:56 something happened and it never clarified. 15:00 Now if it had ever clarified, 15:02 if it had ever come to resolution, 15:04 she could have then made sacrifice. 15:09 She could have walked back into the light of heaven 15:11 and known that everything was fine between her and God. 15:14 She could have been part of the ritual process again. 15:17 But as long as the process continued, 15:20 this couldn't happen. 15:22 And so this woman 15:23 has the issuance of the blood 12 years. 15:25 And verse 26 says, it wasn't that 15:28 she didn't try to find resolution. 15:30 In fact the word in this is wonderful. 15:32 It says, "She suffered many things of the physicians." 15:37 I mean, she went to anybody 15:40 who had any possible remedy, and you know, 15:44 wasted her life savings trying to get the answer. 15:48 And you have to know that 15:49 there are something more than that. 15:50 It isn't just that she went 15:51 to the physicians, the doctors. 15:53 You have to know that this woman surely 15:57 must have spent, you know, 15:59 countless nights looking up to heaven. 16:05 Lord, when is this gonna be resolved? 16:08 And more than that, more than that, 16:10 this is why the Bible is good for all time. 16:13 Human nature doesn't change. 16:15 You know, we may today in the 21st century. 16:18 We may be more technologically cute. 16:22 We may be more scientifically advanced. 16:26 But human nature does not change. 16:28 And that's why the text, 16:29 the stories are good for all time, 16:31 because my weakness and my flaw, 16:34 my little carnality, my sinful self, 16:37 I still find the same flaws and weakness 16:39 in me that I find in the Bible characters 16:41 and I still find that the answer is still the same. 16:44 That is not going to change. 16:46 Jesus is going to give me the answers within the text. 16:50 How to find resolution 16:52 for the great deep needs of my life? 16:55 This woman, you have to know. 16:58 She probably looked up to heaven and said, 17:02 "What have I done? 17:05 What is it that that I did, 17:07 that was so horrific, that that this curse 17:09 would come upon me, and I could not sacrifice. 17:12 I can't stay in healthy familiar relations." 17:17 You may not understand what I just said. 17:19 According to the Mishnah and Leviticus 12, 17:23 Leviticus 15, the descriptions here. 17:25 According to our understanding what was going on? 17:28 Any chair that this woman would sit on 17:31 became ritually unclean. 17:34 And if I went and sat on that chair after she had been 17:39 on that chair, it would render me unclean. 17:43 Any folk that she would eat with, 17:45 any bowl that she would eat out of, 17:48 she couldn't embrace her husband. 17:51 She couldn't comb her children's hair. 17:55 But that she would render them unclean. 17:59 How long do you wanna put up 18:00 with that kind of isolation in life? 18:03 You live life not knowing, 18:06 what in the world have I done? 18:08 And heaven seems like vast. 18:11 There is no answer that comes back to this woman. 18:15 She goes to every faith healer, physician. 18:20 Hocus-pocus man she can find. 18:23 I mean, I assume she went the whole spectrum. 18:27 And certainly she must have gone to many priests saying, 18:30 "Could you appeal to heaven on my behalf. 18:32 What have I done wrong? 18:34 What do I have to do to have this resolve, 18:36 so I can go back and to live in real life?" 18:39 Now the story says, that when she heard, this is verse 27. 18:44 "When she heard that Jesus was coming into town." 18:49 She said very clearly. This is very important, verse 28. 18:53 "If I may but touch the hem of His garment." 19:00 When I was a kid I used to hear the story. 19:01 I heard preachers, you know, tell the story. 19:04 And I had this impression that, well you know, 19:06 she--she has been bleeding for so long, 19:07 she has this issuance of blood, she is anemic, 19:10 her iron levels are down, 19:11 she is so weak that what happens 19:14 is there is this press of the crowd 19:16 and we even see that later in the story 19:18 of course where Jesus says, 19:20 you know, "Who touched me?" 19:21 And they say, "Lord, such a crowd, 19:22 such a mob around us." 19:26 I had this feeling that she was so weak, 19:27 she just sort of stumble forward and, 19:28 you know, that's all she got was the hem of the garment. 19:31 It's not what the text says, I was wrong. 19:33 The text says very clearly. 19:35 When she heard Jesus was coming to town 19:37 that He was at the edge of the village there 19:39 that was her only intension. 19:42 That's all she intended. 19:44 Was to come up behind Him 19:45 and to touch the hem of His garment. 19:49 She was going to-- are you ready for this? 19:52 Steal the healing? 19:57 I don't know if you've ever thought of that way before. 20:00 She was going to steal the virtue from Him. 20:04 Now we could go into the background 20:06 of why she wouldn't approach Him directly? 20:08 Why she wouldn't stand in front of Him and ask? 20:11 I mean, you could-- you can sit there 20:13 and spend time speculating and praying 20:16 about that and thinking, you know, if I was there, 20:18 if I was in her shoes, if I was in her sandals, 20:20 you know, would I come up to Jesus directly? 20:22 Well, think of how many times 20:23 she had been rejected in 12 years. 20:26 Certainly she had been set up to expect rejection, 20:31 because of the ritual uncleanness, 20:35 because of people avoiding her. 20:37 And she can't even get an answer from heaven. 20:40 The priests don't have an answer for her. 20:42 Certainly, I don't wanna be too hard on this woman, 20:45 because if I had been in her sandals, 20:47 I probably would have done the same thing. 20:50 I wouldn't have had a lot of reason to hope 20:54 that a holy teacher would listen to me. 20:58 Would--would allow me to appeal and have response. 21:04 Yeah, I'm not being critical of her, 21:06 but that's all she intended to do. 21:08 She intended only to touch the hem of His garment. 21:11 And of course, with that touch of faith 21:13 that moment she knew. 21:15 I mean, she could-- she could feel 21:17 the color come back into her cheeks. 21:19 This long term anemic condition 21:23 was resolved just like that. 21:28 The only problem is, what is she gonna do with that now? 21:30 Have you ever thought of that? 21:32 What is she going to do with it now? 21:33 She knows she has been healed. 21:38 But she has a problem. 21:40 Jesus of course, He asked His disciples and He says, 21:44 "You know, there's a crowd around us. Who touched me?" 21:47 And Peter on the other side," 21:48 Oh, Lord, You can't be serious." 21:50 Some years ago I actually was in a huge crowd 21:55 at the Super Bowl. I didn't pay for it, it was a gift. 21:59 And I want to add, and there was this mob 22:00 and I was actually walking. 22:03 My wife and I were walking 22:04 with a member of the National Football 22:06 League Hall of Fame, Mean Joe Greene. 22:08 We were--we sat with him, we walked with him, 22:10 and everybody was reaching-- reaching out and touching Joe. 22:12 Hey, there is Mean Joe. 22:13 You know, very famous American football player. 22:16 Very--you can pick him out of a crowd, big man. 22:20 There is Mean Joe, there is Mean Joe. 22:21 Nobody was going, "Hey, there is Don Pate." 22:23 You know, they didn't think anything about me. 22:25 But it was so fascinating to watch people 22:27 as we were near so many celebrities 22:30 that day because of where we happened to be seated, 22:32 I mean, there were some major names Donald Trump, 22:35 Ted Kennedy, Christie Brinkley, you know, 22:38 major names of popular American culture, 22:41 they're sitting right around us. 22:44 And people wanting to touch, wanting to touch. 22:46 Jesus, you know, He was a celebrity 22:48 of His day in His time. 22:49 Notorious to some, notorious in a bad way, 22:52 but--but certainly Jesus was a celebrity in His day. 22:56 And when He says, "Who touched me?" 22:58 The disciples says, "Lord, this is ludicrous. 23:00 You know, everybody wants your autograph. 23:03 Everybody wants to touch you." 23:05 Everybody wants to spend time being near the aura. 23:09 This is when it's happening, Lord. 23:11 Jesus said, "No, this one was different." 23:14 Can you imagine the horror that this woman had 23:19 at that moment because she got caught? 23:25 She thought she was going to be able to steal the virtue, 23:29 steal the healing, and just walk away scot free. 23:33 And she got caught. 23:36 Now think about it, friend. 23:38 If Jesus knows He's been touched. 23:42 If He knows He's been touched more than 23:44 just jostled by the crowd, 23:47 you think He didn't know who touched Him? 23:49 Jesus is not asking this question 23:52 for His own information. Who touched me? 23:57 He has a reason behind the question. 24:01 And to me this is one of the insights 24:03 of the scripture that is so remarkable. 24:07 It teaches me what the necessity 24:10 of confession is all about. 24:13 I don't know if it's ever crossed your mind 24:15 that and there are some Christians I think 24:17 who fall into the trap of believing that 24:19 somehow they will earn their way to heaven 24:21 by confession that if I can congest, 24:23 confess accurately enough. 24:25 If I--if I can create a mental checklist 24:28 of the sins, down the list that if can come up with, 24:32 "Oh, boy, oh, that's right." 24:33 At the moment 12:47 this afternoon 24:36 just for a second my mind sort of--Oh, Lord, 24:38 I--if we can earn our way to heaven by either 24:41 accurate or aggressive, proactive confession, 24:46 then we don't really need the cross. 24:49 Confession isn't, it isn't to tell something to God 24:54 that He doesn't know. 24:58 I mean, are we going to believe somehow 25:02 that that the Lord is sitting in heaven 25:05 and--and I get down to confess my sins 25:08 and I say, "Lord, this afternoon at 4:17, 25:10 I--I kind of lost my temper and I kicked my dog 25:13 which I'll never do I--you know, 25:15 I'm very gentle with animals. 25:16 But you know, Lord, I kicked my dog." 25:19 And certainly the Lord doesn't sit there 25:21 and look over and say, "Gabriel, did you hear that?" 25:25 It isn't like the Lord doesn't know. 25:27 We don't confess, 25:29 because the information is necessary for heaven. 25:33 There's a different reason for confession 25:34 and that's what Jesus tries to evoke here 25:37 in us to understand. 25:39 Jesus said, "Who touched my clothes?" 25:41 Verse 30, verse 33, the woman fearing and trembling 25:45 because she knew she had been caught. 25:49 And you know why she touched the hem of His garment? 25:53 If she reaches out and touches Him on the hand, 25:55 He's probably be gonna-- gonna know it. 25:57 She thinks she can get away 25:59 with just brushing a little piece of His clothes. 26:02 He won't feel it, you know. 26:06 Because if Jesus-- Leviticus 12, Leviticus 15, 26:10 "If Jesus knew He'd been touched by a woman, 26:13 remember if she even sat on the chair, 26:15 it became ritually unclean." 26:16 What happens to Him if He gets touch? 26:18 If He knows He's been touched by this woman. 26:20 She has rendered him unclean. 26:22 And she expects Him to be unhappy about this. 26:27 And Jesus says, "Who touched me?" 26:29 She got caught. 26:31 And He evokes confession from her. 26:34 It wasn't that Jesus had a big problem 26:36 of what she had done. 26:38 He evoked confession from her because think about it, 26:41 if--if Jesus had not confronted this woman, 26:43 if Jesus had not challenged to her and said, 26:45 "Come on, you've got to be honest with me." 26:47 If Jesus hadn't done that. 26:49 The next day in the market place, 26:52 she might have been walking along in Capernaum 26:53 and Jesus would have been walking this way 26:55 and she would've had to avoid Him. 26:57 She couldn't made eye contact with Him. 27:00 She couldn't have--have any friendship with Him. 27:03 She couldn't have any relationship with Him 27:05 because there was this barrier 27:06 between them because of her guilt. 27:10 You remember what happens. 27:12 She steps forward. She says, "It was me." 27:14 As if Jesus didn't know. 27:15 And Jesus smiles and He says, 27:17 verse 34, "Daughter, it's okay. It's okay." 27:23 And I think that why it's important for you 27:25 and I to confess, 27:27 not that we're earning something with God. 27:29 But that we are being honest with heaven, 27:33 and the honesty then allows us 27:35 to have relationship, friendship. 27:38 So we don't have to always be looking over 27:40 our shoulder believing that we need to avoid heaven. 27:46 Let's pray, Oh, Holy Father, 27:50 we--we pray that we would live in honesty 27:52 with You in friendship with You, and with Jesus. 27:57 This is our prayer in His holy name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17