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Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000661S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:06 Sermon #B661 - The Power of Touch 00:20 Dr. Byrd: Mark 1:40, and we're going to read Mark 1:40-45. 00:27 I believe those of you who are watching, you have it. 00:29 So we are ready to read from the word of God, 00:31 and I'll be reading from the King James version. 00:34 Mark 1:40, the word of God says, "And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, 00:42 and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 00:50 Verse number 41, "Jesus, moved with compassion. The bible says, He put forth his hand. 00:56 And he touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 01:04 And as soon as He had spoken, immediately, the leprosy departed from him, 01:08 and he was cleansed. And He straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away. 01:14 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, 01:21 show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, 01:28 for a testimony unto them." 01:29 Verse number 45, "But he went out, and began to publish it much, 01:35 and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, 01:41 but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter." 01:48 The key thing is I want you to understand this. In verse 41, Jesus was moved with compassion. 01:53 He put forth his hand, and he touched them. But don't stop there. 01:58 Go with me to the Book of Mark and we want to now go to Mark chapter 5. 02:02 I want to tell about two more individuals who were touched by Jesus, Mark chapter 5, 02:06 and we're going to verse number 21. Mark 5:21, 02:11 and I'm actually going to read all the way to verse number 43. Mark chapter 21 02:17 and we're going to read the verse 43. 02:18 The word says, "And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, 02:24 much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. 02:28 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; 02:34 and when he saw him, he fell at his feet. And besought him greatly, saying, 02:37 My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, 02:44 that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; 02:47 and much people followed him, and thronged him. 02:49 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood, twelve years. 02:54 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, 02:58 and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. 03:02 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and she touched his garment. 03:09 For she said, If I may just touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 03:15 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; 03:17 and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 03:21 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, 03:25 turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? 03:32 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, 03:39 Who touched me? And Jesus looked around to see her and that had done this thing. 03:46 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, 03:50 came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 03:52 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, 04:01 and be whole of thy plague. And while he yet spake, 04:03 there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, 04:06 Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?" 04:11 Verse 36, "As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken he saith 04:14 unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. 04:22 And there he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, 04:26 and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, 04:29 and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. 04:32 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? 04:37 The damsel is not dead but sleepeth." 04:41 Verse 40 says, "And they laughed him to scorn. 04:43 But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, 04:49 and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. 04:53 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, 04:58 Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; 05:05 for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with great astonishment. 05:10 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; 05:14 and commanded that something should be given to her to eat." 05:19 Today, I just want to spend a little time sharing with you the subject, The Power of Touch. 05:25 The Power of Touch. 05:28 Father God right now, as we seek to make your word come alive to your people, 05:33 I pray right now for your power. I pray that right now, 05:36 you would speak through me to speak to your people. 05:39 Give us a word, Lord, in do season that we need right now. 05:44 Lord, even when the appeal is made, I pray that you would move by your spirit. 05:47 Sprinkle out your grace and touch your people today. Forgive me of my sins. 05:52 Hide me behind your cross. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. 05:59 The Power of Touch. There are five senses that human beings possess: sight, 06:12 hearing, taste, smell, and touch. 06:19 While we can all individually prioritize them on what's most important to us, 06:25 all of them are important to us to the existence in the world in which we live. 06:33 While they are all important and while I would not want to live without any of them, 06:39 the sense of touch is the one that places us in direct contact with our world. 06:48 The sense of touch is very important, because our bodies were made for touch. 06:55 In fact, our skin is our body's largest organ. Our skin comprises 18% of our body's weight. 07:04 There are as many as five million touch receptors in our skin with 3,000 of them 07:10 existing in a simple fingertip. Touch is also the first of the five senses that develop 07:17 and often the last of the five senses to fade. 07:22 When you touch a person, you connect with that person. 07:28 But the power of touch is not just in the human world. 07:31 But the power of touch is also in the animal world. 07:35 When you study and you look at a newborn animal, 07:39 you'll notice that newborn animals are always being licked by their mothers. 07:45 Why? Newborn animals must be licked when they are newly born in order to survive. 07:52 Mothers do not lick their babies just to keep them clean. 07:57 But mothers lick their babies to keep them alive and healthy, because there's power in touch. 08:05 But let's also consider the plant world. If a tree, if a bush, 08:11 if a shrub is not kept in contact or in touch with some type of soil, the tree, 08:19 the bush, or the shrub will die. Why? Because there's power in touch. 08:27 But now, let's move from the human world and move from the animal world 08:31 and move from the plant world. Now, let's go to the electrical world. 08:36 How many times have you wondered why your refrigerator 08:39 or some other electrical appliance has stopped working only to discover that the 08:44 problem was a loose connection somewhere? Something wasn't touching. 08:50 There was no contact being made, and because no contact was being made, 08:55 the appliance wasn't working? Why? All electric power depends upon contact. 09:03 When you break the current of your contact, you lose your power. 09:08 No touch, no power. Being out of touch, 09:13 means being out of power which is a reminder to us that the power of life is only found 09:19 by maintaining contact and touch with the source of power. 09:25 So today, I want to focus quickly on three specific miracles from Jesus' touch. 09:30 I want to focus in on a leper, a lady, and a little girl. 09:36 Now, in Mark chapter 1, Jesus touches a leper. What's interesting in Mark chapter 1, 09:42 in itself is, lepers as you all know, were considered untouchable. 09:47 To touch a leper was to expose yourself to the disease and risk being infected yourself. 09:53 Lepers were not to touch or be touched by anyone. So lepers then lived in isolation. 09:59 But even worse than the isolation from being touched, 10:02 leprosy was such a terrible disease that leprosy prohibited the leper from being 10:08 able to feel what they touched. So lepers couldn't be touched, 10:12 and lepers couldn't feel what they touched. Lepers were considered unclean. 10:17 They were forbidden to enter the temple. They were forbidden to go to church. 10:22 They were forbidden to have contact with others. 10:26 In fact, anyone who came in contact with a leper was supposed to shout, "Unclean. Unclean." 10:33 But yet, Jesus healed this leper. Why did Jesus choose to heal this leper? 10:41 This man was an outcast. This man couldn't interact with other people. 10:48 This man was shunned by society and shut off from his God. 10:54 But understand, this was the very type of person Jesus had come to heal. 10:59 You see, I've learned in my life that Jesus is always rooting for the underdog. 11:05 Jesus is always pulling for the last, the least, the lost, the unlucky, and the left out. 11:11 The real story here my friends, is not that Jesus healed the leper. 11:15 But the real story here is that Jesus touched the leper. 11:21 Jesus touched him when nobody else would. 11:25 What makes this even more impactful is the fact that Jesus remember, 11:31 did not have to touch people to heal people. All Jesus had to do was say a word. 11:37 People would be healed. In fact, in some of his miracles, he touched. 11:42 But in some of his miracles, he spoke. 11:45 For example, if you read Luke 17:12-14, 11:49 we're told of the time when Jesus met 10 lepers in the City of Samaria. 11:54 Jesus didn't touch them. But Jesus spoke to them. He told them to go see the priest. 12:00 On their way to see the priest, the bible says, "They were healed." 12:04 Jesus never touched the lepers in Luke 17. But yet, Jesus touched the leper in Mark 1. 12:11 Touching people was one of the most basic ways that Jesus could tell people he love them, 12:19 care for them, and had compassion on them for what they suffered in this world. 12:25 Touching is the most basic experience of love, 12:27 and it creates a connection between the ones who are touched 12:30 and the one who's doing the touching. There's power in the touch. 12:36 But let's not stop with Mark 1. Let's go to Mark chapter 5. 12:40 In Mark chapter 5, we're meeting two women. Now, let's deal with the first woman. 12:47 You know her. You know the story. The first woman has had an issue of blood for 12 years. 12:54 Now, remember, Leviticus 15:25 taught that an issue or discharge of blood would have 12:59 the woman spiritually unclean and unable to gather for corporate worship. 13:04 But not only that, anyone who touched her would be unclean as well. 13:07 So just like the leper, the woman was unclean. She couldn't be touched, 13:13 and she couldn't touch anyone. She was shunned by society 13:16 and relegated to living a lonely and empty life. She was separated from others. 13:22 She had spent all of her money, giving it to doctors only for them to take her money 13:27 and do a patch-up job to her illness. Things weren't getting better for her. 13:31 Things were getting worse. She had been cut-off from her family, cut-off from her community. 13:36 She had tried everything. She had spent all the money she could spend. 13:40 But she had heard of healer. She had heard of a deliverer. She had heard of an emancipator. 13:46 She heard that Jesus was passing by. The healing power of Jesus gave her hope. 13:52 But there was no way she was going to approach him face-to-face. 13:57 So the best thing she could hope for was a secret healing. 14:01 She said, "If I can just touch the hem of his garment, then I can be made whole." 14:09 The woman, the bible teaches, touches Jesus' garment. The bible says, that immediately, 14:17 the flow of blood dried up, and she was healed of her disease. 14:23 Jesus now is walking and he stopped all of a sudden. Jesus says, "Somebody touched me." 14:31 The disciples all around him say, "Master, of course, somebody touched you. 14:35 There are thousands around us. What do you mean somebody touched you? 14:39 Somebody is going to touch you." Jesus said, "No. No. No. 14:42 I said somebody touched me, because I perceive that virtue, that power, is going out of me." 14:49 The woman trembling, identifies herself. 14:53 She now comes after Jesus as the one who touched Jesus. 14:57 Now, remember, according to Levitical Law, 15:00 she should have been stoned to death for what she did, 15:03 an unclean person touching a clean person. She was unclean. But I love Jesus. 15:10 Because instead of calling her unclean, Jesus calls her daughter. 15:15 "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be healed of thy plague." 15:26 There's power in touch. 15:30 But there's one more individual. There's another female in Mark chapter 5. 15:35 She's also sick and in need of healing. She's a girl, not a woman. 15:42 But the number 12 relates to her as well. 15:46 The woman with the issue of blood has suffered for 12 years. 15:49 But this little girl is 12 years old. There's something about the number 12. 15:56 I wish I had time. But anyway, when you read the text, 16:01 you will remember that the little girl's father, Jairus, had come to Jesus first. 16:09 But Jesus, in his journey, had been interrupted by the woman. 16:15 After Jesus healed the woman, 16:18 Jairus is still trying to get to Jesus to get him to heal his daughter. 16:24 But then comes some bad news. 16:27 One of Jairus' workers stops them as they're hurrying to get to Jairus' 16:31 house and says to Jairus, "Jairus, don't bother the master. 16:36 Thy daughter is already dead." 16:40 Now, I must admit, I'm human and Jairus was human as well. 16:42 I can imagine Jairus' anger and frustration. 16:45 Because if that woman had not stopped Jesus, 16:49 then maybe Jesus would have made to his house in time, 16:52 and his daughter would have been healed. I want to ask you today, 16:56 what do you do when it's your turn but not your time? 17:00 What do you do when it's your turn for healing but not your time for healing? 17:05 What do you do when it's your turn for a promotion, your turn for a new job, 17:09 your turn for a new house, but it's not your time? 17:14 Jesus looks at Jairus. He says, "Jairus, don't you know who I am? 17:21 I am the resurrection and the life. Be not afraid. Only believe." 17:30 Then I liked what Jesus does. Jesus says, "I now, only Peter, James, and John to go with me. 17:41 Nothing wrong with Matthew. Nothing wrong with Nathanael, nothing wrong with Philip. 17:47 But I just need Peter, James, and John." Because I've learned when you're about to go 17:52 and enter into demonic warfare, you got to have people that you can touch 17:58 and agree with to go with you. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 18:01 When they get to the house, the people in the house are screaming and crying. 18:06 Jesus says, "Hold up. Why are you all acting like this? The girl is not dead. 18:11 She's just asleep." The people laughed at Jesus. But all Jesus is an all-time God. 18:18 They're laughing at Jesus then Jesus puts them out. 18:21 I must admit, sometimes when I go to the hospital and someone is sick 18:25 and the doctors have done all they could do and I get to the hospital room 18:28 and there are people in the room crying and moping up, I'll say, "Hold up. Wait a minute. 18:32 If you don't believe that I serve a God, that's Jehovah-Rapha, that God can heal 18:37 and God can deliver, I need you to clear this room. 18:40 Because I will put them out, because we don't need any faithless spirits in the room.” 18:46 Jesus takes Jairus and Jairus' wife with him. He goes into the room where the little girl is. 18:54 He touches the little girl by the hand. He says, "Little girl, arise." The girl gets up. 19:05 She doesn't need physical therapy. She doesn't need a walking cane to help her. 19:12 She gets up, and she starts walking. One touch, that's all it took. 19:19 There's power in the touch. 19:22 In all three instances: the leper, the lady, and the little girl. 19:28 When Jesus came in contact with the diseased and the dead, technically according to the law, 19:35 Jesus should have been declared unclean because he touched them. 19:39 He should have been declared unclean because they touched him. 19:43 Because they were all ceremonially according to their tradition, unclean. 19:48 But just the opposite happened. 19:51 Jesus transferred his purity to their impurity with one touch, 19:57 and it doesn't make a difference if Jesus reaches out to that person 20:01 or if that person reaches out to Jesus as long as touch takes place. 20:06 As long as contact is made in faith, there's healing power in touch. 20:12 The power of love is directly linked to the power of touch. 20:17 All three instances are telling us, the church, 20:20 God's people that we are called to imitate the love of Christ. 20:24 We are called to be people of love. Our world is unclean 20:29 but we have been called to touch the world. If we're going to love like Jesus loved, 20:34 then we got to touch like Jesus touched. 20:38 Jesus has called us out of the world that into the world to touch the world. 20:46 Jesus calls us to be people who are determine to touch people who need to be touched. 20:52 But then somebody today wants to know, "Pastor Byrd, 20:57 but how can we touch the world when we're in a no-touch zone right now? 21:04 In this period of the corona virus pandemic, we're not supposed to touch. 21:11 But yet, you are telling us that the church is supposed to touch a dying, unclean world. 21:19 So, how then can we touch without touching?" 21:25 The answer to that question is in the definition of the word touch. 21:29 The word touch has multiple meanings. 21:33 It's not limited to putting one's hand or another body part on someone or something. 21:40 It's not limited to coming in contact with someone or something. 21:46 But the word touch also means to have an impact on, to make a difference with. 21:54 So then to touch also means that I'm impacting someone. 22:01 I'm making a difference with someone. 22:04 So then although we may not be able to touch with our hands, 22:08 we can touch someone by making an impact on their life. 22:14 We can touch someone by making a difference in their life. 22:19 We can touch without touching, because there's power in touch. 22:25 I challenge you to touch somebody without touching them. Call somebody. 22:33 Email somebody. Tweet somebody. Send somebody a Facebook message. Instagram somebody. 22:45 Pray with somebody. Because there is power in touch, and you need to touch somebody. 22:54 No touch, no power. In the name of Jesus, I believe that God in his infinite wisdom, 23:03 in his permissive will, not his expressed but his permissive will, 23:08 is allowing us to experience this pandemic. Now remember friends of mine, 23:14 death is not of God. Death is not of God. God is a God of life. Satan is the cause of death. 23:28 In the name of Jesus, I speak life over your life. 23:33 Because the power of life and death is in your tongue. 23:37 Stop running around here speaking death. But speak light over your life. 23:42 But I also believe that maybe, just maybe, God is allowing this pandemic, 23:49 because God's getting ready to deconstruct things. 23:53 God's getting ready to deconstruct the way we do church. 23:57 God is getting ready to deconstruct the way we carry out ministry. 24:02 God is getting ready to deconstruct our infrastructure. 24:06 God is getting ready to deconstruct our financial system, 24:11 so we can get our focus back on keeping the main thing, the main thing. 24:16 That is that God has called us to touch. 24:21 But we've gotten so caught up in institutionalism, bureaucracy, 24:27 and incestual ministry where we don't minister to anybody but ourselves. 24:33 The fruit of incest is always something retarded. 24:36 We've got retarded churches and ministries, 24:38 because all we want to do is minister to ourselves. But Jesus told us to touch. 24:46 He's still telling us to touch, because there's power in the touch. 24:56 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 25:00 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 25:05 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 25:07 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 25:13 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. 25:25 [MUSIC] 25:28 Thank you very much for tuning into the ministry of Breath of Life Television. 25:33 We are grateful to you for your prayers, and your support. 25:37 Without you our television broadcast on a weekly basis, 25:41 our public evangelist campaigns, our mission initiative they just would not be possible, 25:47 so we say thank you. 25:49 With that in mind, we want to encourage and invite you 25:53 to join us with your charitable donation to Breath of Life. 25:57 Make your gift payable to Breath of Life by mail, 26:00 at Breath of Life PO BOX 5960, Huntsville, AL 35814. 26:06 Also, we now have a Cash App. So from your smartphone you can give at $BreathofLifeTV. 26:14 Give us all call the number is 256.929.6460 26:20 Or you can visit us online at www.breathoflife.tv 26:33 [Music] 26:36 It's an Easter Sunday extravaganza! 26:39 Celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and God's power over sin and death. 26:44 Breath of Life Television Ministries and The Interfaith Broadcasting Commission Presents 26:49 Dr. Carlton Byrd, Yolanda Adams and Donnie McClurkin 26:57 in The Awakening! 26:59 On ABC, Easter Sunday. 27:02 April 12, 2020 27:03 For broadcast times, check your local listings . 27:09 [End] 27:11 Social justice is embedded in Breath of Life's commitment 27:17 to carry this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ. 27:22 I believe in social justice. 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Revised 2020-04-03