Luke 5:12-26 // Power and Purpose // Part 3 (10:30 am)

``When was the last time I inconvenienced myself to get someone to Jesus? When was the last time that somebody's eternity mattered more than my convenience? When was the last time that somebody's freedom mattered more than me being comfortable? When was the last time that seeing somebody set free and healed and delivered was more important to me than my plans for Friday night? When was the last time that I inconvenienced my self so that somebody can experience the freedom that only Jesus can give? [01:23:52] (37 seconds)  #InconvenienceForJesus

I know that you need healing, but first I need to heal your soul. I know that you need happiness and joy, but first I need you to be holy. I know that you need money, but I need you to learn how to depend on me as your source. I know that you have needs that look so huge on the outside but there's a need on the inside that needs to be met first. [01:28:29] (23 seconds)  #HealTheSoulFirst

And I believe that Jesus response to you is the same response that he gave this man and he said, and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I will be clean. And what a beautiful moment that is because healthy people stay away from lepers. Healthy people don't walk on the on the same side of the road as lepers. So healthy people don't engage with lepers. Healthy people don't talk to lepers. Touching them, that's unheard of. [01:06:35] (29 seconds)  #TouchTheUntouchable

On top of the physical, on top of the emotional pain of all of this, they also have a spiritual stigma. Because leprosy was a picture of sin as its effects on people. Because sin is contagious, is debilitating, it corrupts everything, it eats away at the victim, and the person who has leprosy and the person that has sin is a living dead person. It is the persona no grata. We don't want anything to do with you. [01:02:03] (37 seconds)  #SinIsolates

And according to the Jewish law, someone who is infected with leprosy, they were not even able to live among the community. They have to be out of the city and they were to be calling out every single time that somebody was walking by because you don't want to accidentally bump into somebody with leprosy. So you have to be outside of the city yelling, unclean. I'm a leper. Unclean. I'm a leper. So that everybody will avoid you. And it was very humiliating. [01:00:19] (34 seconds)  #ShamedAndExcluded

Jesus is our example in prayer. He prayed constantly. We see in the Bible over and over and over again that Jesus will seclude himself. He will go to a different place. He will we will go away from everybody else so that he could have time in prayer because he knew that prayer was a part of his life and his ministry. And the question that I have for you today is, is prayer a part of your life? [01:11:28] (29 seconds)  #PrayerLikeJesus

However, we should devote devote our lives to prayer. We should have us a goal that I prayed today more than I did yesterday. And I'm gonna pray tomorrow more than I do today. That every single day we desire to be in the presence of God more and more and more because we value community with him, because we value his presence, because we know that prayer is essential, [01:12:48] (29 seconds)  #PrayMoreEveryday

Today is a day where you and I can lend our faith on their behalf. So if there's anyone in your life that needs prayer, I wanna ask you to stand up. Today, we are gonna be those friends who are gonna tear some ceilings down. They're gonna do the hard work, and we are gonna war for the people in our lives that need an encounter with Jesus. [01:38:08] (31 seconds)  #IntercedeBoldly