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660 | Don’t Lose Hope; Trust and Believe · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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are on our website at watwm.org.
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We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
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Too often, we give in to the flesh and lose sight of our purpose,
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our blessings, and God's plan for our lives.
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As our faith weakens, we can become consumed by earthly thoughts,
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desires, and discouragement.
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But this is not the abundant life God has prepared for every believer.
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Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim leads us through
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the Scriptures and reminds us that through Christ we can do all things,
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and that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
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Walk with us as we journey alongside the woman with the issue of blood,
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discovering how her faith in Jesus leads to peace, restoration, and complete healing.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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I imagine that for most of you listening to this podcast, the account in Scripture
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of the woman who has the issue of blood is of no surprise to you.
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It's no new news. It's something that you may be very familiar with.
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But as we walk through this account, which I'm going to use the account that's
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found in Mark 5, verses 25 through 34, and as we walk through this account,
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I'm going to I'm going to walk through it with a different perspective than
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ever I have read this particular account in my entire life.
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There's a lot to be learned here, more than what we often just pick from this passage of Scripture.
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And anything that we pull from Mark chapter 5, verses 25 through 34 is going
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to be life-changing, inspiring, and motivating.
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But today, I want to walk carefully and slowly through this passage of Scripture
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so that God has the opportunity to transform our lives by renewing our mind,
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and depositing in our heart,
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truths that are just life-changing.
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Because the truth is that few of us have the kind of faith that this woman with
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the issue of blood exhibits.
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This is such an important account that it is found in three Gospels.
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It's found in Mark 5, verses 25-34, which we're going to walk through.
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And we'll look a little bit in Matthew 9, in verse 20-22, where it's mentioned.
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And then it's also talked about fairly extensively in Luke 8, verses 43-48.
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But as we settle into Mark chapter 5, beginning in verse 25,
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I would ask that you would pray with me.
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Our kind and most gracious or heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you,
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the author and finisher of our faith,
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asking you to open up our heart and our mind and to give to us exactly what
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you, the author of this amazing book of life, would have for us to know from the Scripture.
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Lord, that you would make us hungry for your principles, that you would give
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us a devotion and a love for your principles.
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And Lord, that as we walk away from this message, our faith is renewed and increased.
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Our mind is refocused and re-energized, and our heart is more centered and focused upon you.
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Lord, speak to us.
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Please remove me as far as you,
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east is from your west so that I am not a distraction or an attraction,
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but I'm simply the vessel that you are using to speak directly to our hearts.
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Lord, I thank you that you're personal.
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And I thank you that a moment in your presence changes us forever.
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So Lord, I am looking forward to the life change you make in me as we spend
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time together around this throne.
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And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please, if you would and are able,
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read with me through this passage.
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If you happen to be driving and can't, listen carefully.
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And a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many
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things of many physicians, and had
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spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
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When she had heard of jesus came in the press behind and touched his garment,
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for she said if i may touch but his clothes,
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i shall be whole and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up and
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she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague and jesus immediately
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knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him Mm-hmm.
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Turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
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And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee,
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and sayest thou, Who touched me?
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And he looked around about to see her that had done this thing.
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But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
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came up and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
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And he said unto her, daughter thy face hath made thee whole go in peace,
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and be whole of thy plague may god have his richest blessings on the reading of his word,
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verse 25 and 26 is the opening of this passage and here's what it says again
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in a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years
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and had suffered many things and many physicians and had spent all that she
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had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
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So here we see in verses 25 and 26, a woman who has had this condition for more than 12 years.
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She had spent all she had. She had been to many physicians.
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She had done it all, trying to be healed of this plague, this illness.
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But instead of being healed over these 12 years, she grew worse.
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And so she hears about Jesus. But listen to how she must have been.
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She had done it all. she had to have been disappointed.
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She most likely was depressed.
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She probably felt hopeless and helpless, not to mention she was sick.
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Her body was weary. Her mind was weary. She was downtrodden.
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But yet, something about this woman, who had done it all, made her press through the crowd.
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The disciples couldn't imagine who could have touched her, as we read further
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down, because there were so many people.
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And no doubt, in almost disgust, asked the Lord, There's all these people.
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How could we know who touched you?
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But something about this sick, weary, downtrodden woman shows her strategy not to withdraw,
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not to give up,
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not to step back.
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But to move forward and get herself near Jesus.
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Don't lose hope.
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Regardless of what you're going
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through right now, regardless of how difficult the situation may feel,
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regardless of how long it has been going on, how tired you are of what seems
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to be treading water or losing ground,
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walk with me today on this journey of this unnamed spiritual giant.
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And Jesus heals of the issue of blood simply because she believed.
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She believed enough to not give up. She believed enough to not lose hope.
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She believed enough to move forward.
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She wasn't giving up.
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In verses 25 and 26, the foundation is laid that this woman with the issue of
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blood for 12 years was desperate. it.
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And then verse 27 and 28 read like this. When she had heard of Jesus,
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came in the press behind and touched his garment.
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For she said, if I touch but his clothes, I shall be made whole.
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That's a determined faith.
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This woman was determined to get herself in front of Jesus because she knew
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that if she could just touch the hem of his garment, if she could just get near
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him, if she could just let him be part of her present—.
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Then her life would be changed forever. She wasn't asking for 20 minutes with the king.
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She wasn't asking for him to lay hands on her.
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She knew that his power, his virtue, his goodness, his glory,
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his grace, his mercy was enough that if he was just in her presence,
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if they were just there, perhaps face-to-face, perhaps get a glimpse of him,
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just be near where he is, that her life would be changed completely,
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and she would lack nothing, because she says, I shall be made whole.
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This faith that drives her through the crowd, this faith that puts her in front
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of Jesus, isn't a faith that thinks, oh, I might be better, or perhaps this
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is one more thing I can try, No, she says,
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if I but touch his clothes,
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I shall be made whole.
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That's complete.
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It indicates that regardless of what was her problem, regardless of what her
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situation was, regardless of what it looked like in her heart or in her mind,
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she could just get in his presence.
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She would be whole and complete, and he would fill the gaps,
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and he would smooth the rough edges, and he would polish her
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and make her shine inside, because greater is he that is in her than he that
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is in the world, because his power is complete, and all things are under his feet.
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And when he has the last say-so, his word is good, his character is good, and he is good.
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And so in his presence, there is goodness, and there are pleasures and joy forevermore,
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the psalmist David tells us.
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She was determined.
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I want to read to you again that verse 27 opens like this.
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When she had heard of Jesus.
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Just hearing about Jesus motivated her to be in his presence.
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That's so deep that I feel we could spend hours talking about that.
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But I want you to know that Romans 10, 14 says, How then shall they call on
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him in whom they have not believed?
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And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
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And how shall they hear without a preacher?
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She came because she heard about Jesus.
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I've got two things to ask you. Who in your world needs to hear you talk about Jesus?
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So that just your excitement, your account of who he is in your life,
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your enthusiasm about what it means to have a personal relationship with him
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is so contagious that they want to know him.
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They want to know more about this man called Jesus because they want what you have.
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Who needs to hear you speak about him in the way that you know him?
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Who are you not talking to about him?
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And then I have this question. What issue in your life do you need to introduce to Jesus?
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What hurt or pain have you talked about to Jesus?
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You've asked him to help you.
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But when have you stood in the face of the storm and told the storm how big your God was?
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When in the authority of Jesus Christ have you stood in front of the mountain
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and told them, Mountain be ye moved in the name of Jesus Christ?
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What problem in your life keeps you awake at night and sad in the day?
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Keeps you tired, worn out, defeated,
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and downtrodden because you've not introduced that problem to Jesus.
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Somebody told this woman about Jesus. And this woman, in verse 28,
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tells this issue about who Jesus is.
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Because she says, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole.
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She speaks the truth of the power of God in her issue.
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I'm afraid that we may be running.
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She came to Jesus despite her obstacles. Her physical condition didn't stop her.
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The enormity of the crowd, the difficulty of the task to press herself forward,
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the embarrassment of having the problem and being in public,
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not a thing in her life or her surroundings would detour her from coming to Jesus.
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She had a determined faith. Nothing was going to stop her.
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Her faith moved her toward God.
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I'm afraid that many of us, when we have an issue or a problem,
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our faith at best holds us steady in our place, which honestly is retreating back.
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But this woman shows us that when you have true faith, true faith,
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when you are willing to tell your issue who God is.
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And when you believe that God is going to make you whole, when you are in front
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of his presence, when you've invited him into your situation,
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when you don't accept any other answer except he is God, his character is good,
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he gives goodness, and all things work together for the good to them that love the Lord,
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to them that are called according to his purpose, according to Romans 8,
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28, when you live your life in that kind of faith,
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when you believe that regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what your
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mind may tell you the environment and the circumstances are,
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you know that you are in God's hands. You know that it's okay.
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You know that you're protected. You know that you're provided for,
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and you know that in his presence, in the center of his will,
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there is victory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
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And God has never lost a battle, and he's not going to lose yours now.
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And you understand that in his presence, his power and his virtue is transferred
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from him to you, not diminishing him, but absolutely raising you to victory.
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And you understand Ephesians 3.20, which says now unto him that is able to do exceeding.
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Abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works
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in us she was going to the power.
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God, we live on the other side of the cross, and the Holy Spirit is the comforter,
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the guide, the director, the leader, our person who watches over us,
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inside of us, keeping us ever connected,
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blood looked at him. And we believe.
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We're made whole. Circumstances may not change, but we do.
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He swells within us.
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Nothing was going to stop her because she believed.
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Her faith moved her toward God. Difficulties moved her toward the Lord.
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And that, my friend, is what faith is.
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It's believing in him.
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Even when the answers don't fall the way you want them.
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God is God in the good times, in the bad times, and every time in between.
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And his character never, ever changes.
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He doesn't oscillate or vacillate between kindness and not or grace and not.
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He doesn't sometimes do the right thing and sometimes not.
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He's a God that changes not. And he is good.
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And his gifts are good. And his promises are true.
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And like this woman with the issue of blood, you got to believe that in his
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presence, touching him and connecting to him, you will be made whole.
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Verse 29 and 30 read like this. And straightway the fountain of her blood was
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dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the plague.
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And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him,
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turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes?
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Faith in Jesus, in whom she heard, motivated her.
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How much more should we be motivated because he lives in us and we've experienced
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him and we've seen him come through time and time again?
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We've never walked alone. We've never lacked what we needed.
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And he never sent us into battle. He carried us into battle.
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And he carries us through. He equips us with the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6.
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And thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory. Jesus loves me, this I know.
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Because the Bible tells me so. and I believe this woman who had only heard of
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Jesus could have sung that song with as much conviction as I do.
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Power of God is within him and is released to all who believe.
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And just like that woman, you can touch him.
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In Hebrews 4.16, he says, Come boldly to the throne of grace,
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that you may find help in time of trouble.
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In Jeremiah 33.3, he says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee,
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and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
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In Matthew 7, 7, he says, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find
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and knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
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You're invited in the throne room of God.
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Live in his presence, he tells us to pray without ceasing.
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It's an invitation, not just to have him living in us, which is in 1 John 4,
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but it's an invitation to know him, to understand his character.
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He's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He'll never fail you.
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He'll never disappoint you. He will not give you everything you want and ask
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because he is God and he's not a puppet on a string and he knows what is best.
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But if you have faith like this woman, you're going to embrace what he gives.
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When she connected with Jesus, she was healed immediately.
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Maybe the lesson for us is this. Stop trying to fix it on your own.
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Bring all your needs and cares to the Lord. 1 Peter 5, 7 says,
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casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
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It's time we told our issues about the God we serve.
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It's time we told our issues, our problems, our concerns, our hurts,
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our broken heart, how much God loves us, how he bought us with a price.
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We told the mountain to move and just simply claim the victory.
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The mountain no longer holds a space between you and him.
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That's what it means to move the mountain. And you just tell Satan,
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no, you don't get the victory on this one.
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You can't get between me and my God. God and when I touch him,
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when I connect with him, when I die to self and grasp to him,
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there's no more mountain.
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It's just me and him. James chapter 4, he tells us to draw nigh unto God and
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the Lord will draw nigh unto us.
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Jesus will do what no one else can do, and he's gonna be where no one else can be.
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Tell the mountain to move and start walking forward as you watch it crumble.
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She said, if I but touch his clothes, I shall be made whole.
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Jesus knows and he sees everything. He knows the issue.
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Even when the disciples couldn't see, they couldn't understand someone had just been healed.
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They didn't see Jesus working in her life. They didn't see faith on full display.
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But Jesus did.
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You may think no one knows what you're going through. And maybe no earthly person does.
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Worse yet, maybe no earthly person cares.
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But Jesus, he sees, he hears, and he knows.
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And he's sensitive to our needs. He's aware of us at all times.
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And he's quick to respond to what we need and ask.
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Immediately and immediately, she was healed.
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Not partially, not just a taste of who he was, but God gives us all of him.
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We hold back, and we close doors, and we shut him out, but he opens wide.
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Every bit of who he is. That woman put herself in front of Jesus.
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Where are you putting yourself?
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And I don't want you to see the power of her faith. Hebrews 11,
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6 says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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And you must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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Because of her faith, Jesus healed her.
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In Matthew 9, verse 21 in that account, it reveals, for she said within herself,
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if I may but touch his carmet, I shall be made whole.
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This reveals her faith, just as it did in 28 of Mark 5.
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She knew there was no doubt.
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In Mark 9, 23, we are told this precious verse.
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Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
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Do you believe? Where are you going for your help? Where are you putting yourself in front of?
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This woman with the issue of blood, with faith so strong, that her faith made her whole.
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Yes, she put herself in front of Jesus and her faith in him.
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And then, let's read verses 31 and 33.
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And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee,
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and sayest thou who touch me?
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And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
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Woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down
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before him and told him all the truth.
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Now, I want you to get this picture. She's weak.
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She's tired. Not personally invited to be there.
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She pushes her way all the way through, and she reaches and grabs the hem of his garment,
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this man called Jesus, the greatest who ever walked the earth,
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recognizes that something has happened and he has healed someone and,
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oh, don't be deceived, he knows who it is.
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We'll get to that in a minute. But the Bible says that to be saved,
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we have to accept who he is, believe in who he is, and we have to confess.
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In Romans 10.13, this, my friend, she came to this place, having heard of this man called Jesus.
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But through her face, she connects to him.
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And here we see the relationship fully revealed.
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A public declaration of the power and goodness of God.
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Right then and there, she tells exactly what had happened.
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When the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling and falling down before him.
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She declared unto him before all people for what cause she had touched him and
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how she was healed immediately. Luke 8, 47.
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She didn't care who heard, but she wanted everybody to know.
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The woman simply was giving her testimony. She wasn't a theologian.
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She wasn't a Bible scholar.
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She didn't have 15 years of service for the king, but she had an experience
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with Jesus Christ that her heart could not hold, that her mind could not keep quiet.
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And she had to tell. and so in front of Jesus and that whole crowd.
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She tells who Jesus is to her and what Jesus did for her.
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She proclaims her faith.
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When Jesus asked who touched me, he wasn't asking for information.
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He was inviting the woman into a personal relationship with him.
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Because Jesus is personal. We don't know her name.
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Oh, but he does. We know nothing about her, but he knows it all.
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And this encounter changed her forever.
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Because she put herself in front of him.
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She chose to believe against all odds.
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Depending on herself. She stopped trying to figure it out. She brought her issue to him.
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She told her issue who he was. Immediately, he heals her, makes her whole,
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and invites her into a personal relationship.
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When Jesus asked her that, it was one of the greatest gifts he's ever given
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any of us because we don't have to hide our past.
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We don't have to hide our sins. We don't have to pretend to be strong and ignore our weaknesses.
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God knows and he sees and he forgives.
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In John chapter 8, we have a beautiful picture of that.
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When a woman's called in adultery and the whole town wants her to be stoned and killed.
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Jesus patiently marks things in the sand that I believe were sins they were
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all guilty of and one by one they leave and then this is what Jesus says to this woman,
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who no one wanted and the whole town wanted to kill.
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He says, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
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1 John 1.9 says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us
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our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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That invitation.
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Personal relationship with him that this woman with the issue of blood received is one we all get.
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He says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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Romans 10.13. Romans 10.9 and 10 is the verse that tells us that we have to
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accept who he is and believe in him and then confess.
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But in verse 34, as we come to an end, he says unto her daughter,
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Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
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Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Be whole.
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The very thing she knew she would get if she could just get to him.
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He restored her identity. We don't know her name, but we know she left his daughter.
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She left part of his family. She left that scene whole and complete,
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restored completely when Jesus saves us and we make him Lord of our life and King of our heart.
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We become family.
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Faith is impossible to please him, and you must believe that he is,
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and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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Hebrews 11.6 He affirms her faith.
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He said it was your faith that made you whole.
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He's no respecter of persons.
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Our faith will make us whole. We live below our privileges because we stand
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at the bottom of a mountain, and we don't use the power that he's given us to
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say, move mountain in the authority of Jesus Christ.
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Because regardless of what the mountain is, we give it the power to get between us and Jesus.
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We got to claim the power that works in us that Ephesians 3.20 talks about.
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And we got to embrace the face like this woman with the issue.
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And we need to speak to that mountain and say, not, not mine, Lord.
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This mountain's not going to defeat me, because greater is he that is in me
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than he that is in the world.
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So you name that issue. You name that hurt. You name that betrayal.
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And you tell it to get behind you and to crumble. And as you're walking through
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forward to Jesus, you scream, Jesus loves me. This I know.
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Not just because the Bible tells me so, but because my life is a living testimony of it.
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He sent her away with peace.
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The world needs peace, and it's Jesus. Verse 34 tells us that a woman who came desperate,
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in need of Jesus, intervening in her issue and circumstances, Thank you.
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In peace, completely restored, physically, spiritually, socially, and emotionally.
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The woman came to Jesus in desperation, reached out in faith.
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With complete healing and peace. Praise be the name of Jesus,
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who loves me personally.
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The woman with the issue teaches us this.
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Bring your deepest needs to Jesus. Do not let anything or anyone keep you from him.
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Trust his power, his love, his grace, and his mercy.
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Give him praise for all he's done for you and through you,
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and embrace your identity in christ you are who he says you are what burden
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have you carried too long,
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come to jesus reach out in faith and trust him with the whole truth of your
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life trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.
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All thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
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Be not wise in thine own eyes.
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Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. Proverbs 3, 5, 6, and 7. Remember you are loved.
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Jesus loves you.
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Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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references from this episode in the show notes.
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We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
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a rating or review on your podcast platform.
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Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
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You can connect with Woman at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
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and on Facebook and Instagram.
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While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's Daily Devotional delivered
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Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible Bit Podcast. Thank you for your time.