00:00:00.000 - 00:00:55.980

[ Silence ] [Music] [ Music ] All day long I've been with Jesus All day long my lips have uttered praise

00:00:55.980 - 00:01:27.880

All day long, my heart, my soul's been living in worship. All day long, I have been with Him. All day long, I've been with Jesus. All day long, my lips have heard praise.

00:01:27.880 - 00:01:56.540

All day long, my heart, my soul, will live in, in worship. All day long, I have lived with Him. ♪ Don't think I am the mother you've been after ♪ ♪ You're only a child for me ♪

00:01:56.540 - 00:02:18.740

♪ So I'll do all your work ♪ ♪ Thanksgiving, Ramadan, and Christmas ♪ ♪ Continue for me ♪ ♪ The way that I am ♪

00:02:18.740 - 00:02:37.180

♪ Her are the years to come ♪ ♪ For all you have done for me ♪ ♪ So I will go for what ♪ ♪ Thanksgiving brought my heart ♪

00:02:37.180 - 00:02:55.320

♪ And praise continually ♪ ♪ All day long ♪ ♪ I've been with Jesus ♪ ♪ All day long ♪

00:02:55.320 - 00:03:13.920

♪ My lips have heard praise ♪ ♪ All day long ♪ ♪ My heart, my soul's been given in worship ♪ ♪ All day long I have been with Him ♪

00:03:13.920 - 00:03:46.860

♪ All day long I have been with Him ♪ ♪ All day long I have been with Him ♪ [music] For those of you with Bibles, please turn to the Gospel according to Saint Matthew,

00:03:46.860 - 00:04:38.300

the eighth chapter. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean.

00:04:38.300 - 00:05:03.620

and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, "See thou, tell no man, but go thy way, "and show thyself to the priests,

00:05:05.860 - 00:05:34.500

for the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto thee. Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. The subject of the message, the touch of the master's hand.

00:05:34.500 - 00:05:56.420

[laughter] Some years ago, there was a popular TV show featuring Flip Wilson. And one of the characters in that show was Geraldine.

00:05:56.420 - 00:06:11.820

And Geraldine would often say, "Don't touch me. You don't know me that way. Don't touch me. You don't know me that way.

00:06:11.820 - 00:06:28.860

There's something significant about a touch. Touch is an indication of concern. Touch is an indication of intimacy.

00:06:30.700 - 00:06:55.300

touch is an indication of compassion. This particular event which is a part of the ministry of Jesus Christ has to do with our Master's encounter

00:06:55.300 - 00:07:14.800

with a leper. Leprosy is a terrible disease. It's a disease which led to one being socially ostracized.

00:07:14.800 - 00:07:54.980

Sean looked upon as miserable company. The person who possessed leprosy was treated as a social outcast. He was called unclean and avoided by all decent and respectable people.

00:07:54.980 - 00:08:29.600

When one became affected by leprosy, it was usually expressed in one of three forms. The tubercula, the most repulsive form. the anesthetic, which was less horrible and less fatal. Then the third was the mixed form

00:08:29.600 - 00:08:49.620

in which the sufferer always falls at last unless the disease is arrested. In the tubercular form, it began with little specks on the outside

00:08:49.620 - 00:09:32.820

on the eyelids and palms of the hands and gradually spread to other parts of the body, bleaching the hair white wherever it showed itself, Crusting the affected parts with shining scales and causing swellings and sores. From the skin, it slowly ate its way through the tissues to the bones and joints

00:09:34.340 - 00:09:59.100

and even to the marrow, rotting the body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing and the eyes were attacked in turn. Till at last consumption,

00:09:59.100 - 00:10:19.300

dropsy brought wholesome relief. or rather welcome relief. According to the law of Moses, people were not to even touch anyone

00:10:19.300 - 00:10:37.600

affected with such a disease. Or who had for any reason been declared by the priests as unclean. You know, even today we are careful.

00:10:37.600 - 00:10:47.640

We have to be careful. We're supposed to be careful about what we touch because somehow the things we touch and the things that we permit to touch us

00:10:47.640 - 00:11:07.440

affect our lives in some special way. What we touch, what we permit to touch us may affect not only our appearance, but our thinking, our character.

00:11:07.440 - 00:11:21.920

There are many dangers in life which can successfully be avoided if we can keep from touching them. Many of the spiritual weaknesses

00:11:21.920 - 00:11:45.840

caused by touching, sensitivity, touch. In fact, if you read the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, as all of us here have, you'll notice that the command given to Adam and Eve

00:11:45.840 - 00:12:01.120

that they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of good-- knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, you're not to eat of it. He said, "Neither are you to touch it."

00:12:01.120 - 00:12:24.080

Now, if they hadn't been able to refrain from touching it, they would have been in keeping with the divine command. So we learn a great deal about each other by the sense of touch,

00:12:24.080 - 00:12:43.200

handshake may reveal the character of an individual. A firm clasp may be interpreted as given a straight and upright, steadfast and courageous position on the part of an individual,

00:12:43.200 - 00:13:10.560

whereas a person of opposite character may give a weak and flimsy hand grasp. That infant soon discovers something special about the mother's touch, touch of tenderness, touch of mercy, touch that expresses love.

00:13:10.560 - 00:13:47.960

Alfred Lord Tennyson expresses it beautifully in one of his poems when he says, "And the ships sail on to their haven under the hill, but oh for the touch of a vanquished hand and the sound of a voice that is still. So there are three areas of touch that I should like to deal with briefly and this message

00:13:47.960 - 00:14:18.620

first has to do with the physical which we have given some attention to already. Certain diseases are like the leprosy. There's no danger in the disease becoming contagious as long as there is no intimate contact with the diseased person. But when there is an opportunity of some

00:14:18.620 - 00:14:53.540

direct contact getting into broken places in the skin and spreading to all parts of the body then of course the individual is in danger. So we've established sanitary laws we quarantine persons with the contagious disease in order that it might not spread and cause an epidemic. Now this area of touch also

00:14:53.540 - 00:15:52.420

includes the social. The leper in those days and ancient times was forced to exist outside the city gates. He was socially an outcast. In fact, he was an untouchable. And people of India had a caste known as the untouchables, you're not to touch them. Stay away from them. In fact, the person with the leprosy was to wear bells.

00:15:52.420 - 00:16:34.660

So as he moved about those bells would be ringing and could be heard in the distance and so it would be announced for a dead. This person is in the region who has leprosy. Stay away from it. Stay away. Now here is a leper who comes to Jesus. Social outcasts. He is aware of the corrupt condition of his body. He is aware of all of these laws,

00:16:34.660 - 00:17:18.180

these customs, traditions, and all of that. He knows. But he comes to Jesus. He knows he has a disease that his friends, his relatives cannot cure, he's heard about the miraculous healing works of Jesus throughout the country and now Jesus is is passing his way and he has a great opportunity to present his case to the great physician.

00:17:18.180 - 00:17:46.580

So he comes and he kneels before Jesus and he says, "Lord, if you will, you can make me whole." You see, the leper was sure that Jesus could cure him. The question in his mind was whether or not

00:17:46.580 - 00:18:04.180

he was worthy of the cure. Lord, if you desire to do so, if you will to cure me, if you will bring the impact of your goodness to bear

00:18:04.180 - 00:18:37.360

the sinful body of mine you can make me whole. The leper was not doubting the ability of Jesus to heal him. He came knowing that Jesus could heal him and and hoping that Jesus would heal him. Well, the disease in our time that may be compared

00:18:37.360 - 00:18:56.920

to leprosy is AIDS. Some have called AIDS the new leprosy. And I have spoken from this pulpit a number of times about how people have treated people who have AIDS.

00:18:56.920 - 00:19:16.480

They have ostracized them. Many times when people in the church have discovered that somebody has AIDS. As one friend of mine whose son had a wife

00:19:18.040 - 00:19:51.880

who had a transfusion and she had AIDS and she was expecting a child and the child had AIDS. And the church found it out. He was working on the church staff and he told the minister what was what had happened and the minister of course understood very prayerfully but gave him a letter of dismissal. People in the Sunday school class, they want to withdraw their children,

00:19:51.880 - 00:20:32.120

so they ask them that the child in the class be removed, aides to new leprosy. But here is Jesus, the master, the Lord of all life, who encounters the child in the classroom this man who is ostracized, who is condemned by society, was left to a miserable existence.

00:20:32.120 - 00:21:01.120

Jesus encounters him. And Jesus says to him, "Be thou made whole." He touched him. That's the thing that really grips me to see that Jesus, who was identified with a religious group,

00:21:01.120 - 00:21:35.000

group, but he reaches out. He goes over tradition, goes over custom, and he reaches out and touches this man. Oh, I suppose the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or that crowd, frown. Touching this guy? Don't you know you may get that disease? Don't you know that's against the law? Don't you know that's against what our practice says? Touching this man.

00:21:35.000 - 00:21:58.400

But Jesus reaches out and touches this object, touches this man, whom society has written off. Can't even go home. He's outside the city gates.

00:21:58.400 - 00:22:08.400

But we encounter Jesus. Jesus not only draws nigh to him, but he touches him. He touches him.

00:22:08.400 - 00:22:43.400

And it is this touch that brings redemption. It's this touch that brings new life. This touch that ushers this man into a new level of existence. It lifts him from degradation to enjoyment of healing health because Jesus touches him.

00:22:43.400 - 00:22:58.020

You're alright now because you've been touched by my spirit. You're alright now because you've been lifted by my love. Go show yourself to the priest. You can be examined now, you're alright.

00:22:58.020 - 00:23:21.860

Jesus touched us. That's the story of our lives. The master's touch was battered and scarred and scarred and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time

00:23:21.860 - 00:24:06.980

on the old violin but he held it up with a smile. Good friends what have I bitten? Who will start bidding for me. Dollar? Two dollars? We'll make it three. Three dollars once, three dollars twice, and going for three? But no. From a room far back a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow and wiping the dust from the old violin and

00:24:06.980 - 00:24:42.320

tightening up all the strings he played a melody pure and sweet as sweet as an angel sings. The music ceased and the auctioneer in a voice that was quiet and low said, "What Where am I been for the old violin? Held it up with a bow.

00:24:42.320 - 00:24:57.380

A thousand dollars! Two thousand dollars, who'll make it three? Three thousand once, three thousand twice. And going and gone, said he.

00:24:57.380 - 00:25:30.980

The people cheered. of them cried, "We don't quite understand what change this worth." The man replied, "The touch of the master's hand." And many a man with life out of tune and battered and worn with sin is is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,

00:25:30.980 - 00:25:41.980

much like the old violin. A vessel pot, a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He's going once, he's going twice,

00:25:41.980 - 00:26:02.980

he's going and almost gone. But, but the master comes. And the foolish crowd can never quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master.

00:26:02.980 - 00:26:29.140

It's new life. Oh look there, look there. You see a hand that reaches down and another hand that reaches up. The hand of God that reaches down, touches the hand of man. And the red there is a symbol of life. It's when we touch God that God gives us life. God gives meaning in our lives.

00:26:29.140 - 00:26:38.100

God gives us hope. The touch of the master's hand. Oh, I don't know. I don't know where would I have been.

00:26:38.100 - 00:27:05.740

Where would you have been in your life if not somewhere along the way that Jesus Christ touched your life, changed you, made you a new person, so that you have a new walk, have a new talk, for you are a new humanity in Jesus Christ. Oh, thanks be to God for the touch of the

00:27:05.740 - 00:27:33.780

Master's hand. And I'm so glad that he's still touching. He's still going, and if he's out the way and forsaken places and touching people here and there and everywhere. He's still touching. Still touching. And I'm so glad that when I was just a boy, nine years of age, and he touched my life.

00:27:33.780 - 00:28:05.780

Changed my life. And you can rejoice today because he's touched yours. So, let's go in singing that old hymn. Father, I stretch, I stretch my hands to Thee, no other help I know, but Thou withdraw Thyself from me, O my love, shall I come to Thee.

00:28:05.780 - 00:28:22.460

Lord, the church is open to you. Accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. Unite on profession of faith. When the wife's dead, where's your comfort?

00:28:22.460 - 00:28:30.860

Father, I speak. I ask you. [MUSIC PLAYING] God bless you.

00:28:30.860 - 00:28:48.460

Amen. If you come, throw the churches over. If I can come, all the aspects right here. ♪ All the aspects ♪

00:28:48.460 - 00:29:20.060

♪ I have to leave ♪ ♪ All the aspects ♪ ♪ And I'll have my own ♪ ♪ Lift up, lift up ♪

00:29:20.060 - 00:29:49.140

♪ Myself from this ♪ ♪ Forever shattered ♪ ♪ Thy golden truth ♪ ♪ The deep ♪

00:29:49.140 - 00:30:06.940

♪ Thy love ♪ ♪ Is found in Him ♪ ♪ Before my roof ♪ ♪ I pray ♪

00:30:06.940 - 00:30:27.680

♪ Morning ♪ ♪ Morning ♪ ♪ Virtue ♪ ♪ Worth to ♪

00:30:27.680 - 00:30:43.920

♪ Take you ♪ ♪ I saw ♪ ♪ From here ♪ ♪ To stand ♪

00:30:43.920 - 00:31:04.460

♪ On earth ♪ ♪ On pain ♪ ♪ To thee I sing ♪ ♪ I sing ♪

00:31:04.460 - 00:31:26.120

♪ Sing love ♪ ♪ Sing love ♪ ♪ Oh, say can you see ♪ ♪ We sing ♪

00:31:26.120 - 00:31:39.220

♪ And hear ♪ ♪ Thy song ♪ ♪ In the ♪ ♪ In the ♪

00:31:39.220 - 00:32:18.520

- Just sound that. (choir vocalizing) [ Music ] ♪ We'll go, we'll go ♪

00:32:18.520 - 00:32:42.880

♪ I swear on me ♪ ♪ Always ♪ [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]