Awe and Intimacy [Part 1]

Pastoral author and Bible teacher I will write only one soldier person knows God is both great and talk about the balance today faster come to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm excited for you to hear the teaching today. In this series word and spirit of unity of balance as presented it were an older church in North Carolina.

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Your good news.

God is awesome is great sovereign.

He is beyond comprehension. He is transcendent and he is holy, holy, holy and God is kind, benevolent, tender, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God's great and God is good and anyone who would ever really know him will be drawn into a real revelation of God. Only when such a person knows God as both great and good to talk about the balance today of all, and intimacy in our walk with God and I like to turn your today to mark chapter 5 for a story where you see both of these manifest in one miraculous account. One woman's encounter of Jesus all and intimacy. Mark chapter 5. This is an amazing story book of this sort of an interlude in interruption of another miracle that's in the making. He is on his way to heal gyrus's daughter.

Verse 24 we read a great crowd followed him and thronged about him and there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years and he would suffered much under many physicians and it's met all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

She heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him and the crowd and touched his garment, for she said if I touch even his garments be made well and immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt her body that she was healed of her disease and Jesus perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him immediately turned about in the crowd and said could touch my garments and his disciples said to him you see the crowd pressing around you in a safe, who touched me, and he looked around to see who had done it, but the woman knowing what it happened to her came in fear and trembling, and fell down before him and told him the whole truth, and he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

Perhaps no other places in the natural realm that we could get an idea of how you could do hold and one person something that would cause both all and intimacy you need look no further than a father of a daughter who is come into dating age.

I have a daughter now who is 18 and it makes me remember I seen from a book I read many years ago of author Robert welcome us and book called she calls me daddy and he tells this tale that one night he was lying in bed with his wife, trying not to worry, when did Missy say she'd be home. He asked his wife. Speaking of their 15-year-old daughter around 11 o'clock Roberts wife said, and after a few minutes of neither of them speaking. The father said maybe we ought to call and see if we can find her so he did.

He called the pastor's wife. The ones that were hosting this Bible study. The 15-year-old Missy was attending that night Susan this is Bobby, I'm sorry to call you so late but have Missy and David left your house and that David was the friend of the family and Missy's 17-year-old friend who was like a brother to Missy and who had taken her to the Bible study that night the youth leader set that the kids have left a long time before and there's plenty of time that should've been home by now. So it 12:10. His father announced I'm getting up, I'm going downstairs to wait and by the time that he made it to the front door. David's car was turning into the driveway. The headlights sweeping across the front of the house.

Finally, father said their home but instead of trudging back up the stairs. He decided to wait for Missy to get inside and hear her explanation of where she had been the car came to a stop, and the headlights went out the engine grew quiet, and both David and Missy came bounding up the walk to the front door and there was Robert, the father standing in nothing but a snow white jockey shorts when he realized there was no time to do's upstairs and so he had to just quickly jump around the corner into the living room door dark shadow we spot the door came open. Missy came in with David right on her heels and the flyers in their wondering what is going on though they know what time it is Missy runs up the stairs to get something leaving David standing just inside the front door. We stood there for a moment, not having any idea that Missy's father was just around the corner in the shadows, then unexpectedly.

David begins to move. He starts humming the sound of the humming gets a little louder and increases as he is making his way towards the living room and the father in his panic tucked himself into a darker place right next to the piano again. You'll never see me but David began to move, coming right towards the piano, until finally the 17-year-old boy was 10 inches away.

Listen to how this father. The author writes about it. There he stood Mr. all-conference student leader and everyone's favorite teenage boy and there I stood, Tarzan of the living room with all the sudden he does hello David, just as casually as if I hadn't bumped into a middle school function. What are you doing here the boy gasped. He writes quickly, sucking and just enough air to keep from collapsing.

Glancing at cardiac arrest. His body froze, but in the darkness. I could see that his eyes were moving up and down scanning my terrific outfit at that moment Missy burst into a living room a stuffed animal with the kids church passed around like a mascot was tucked under her arm had what are you doing here I have a date-year-old daughter. I'm just a little bit in touch now with this kind of thing. I have a good friend of Angela's bread who he had a really rough life before he ever met Christ and he's got a great great line that my my own autobiography does allow me to give this one almost wish that I could get.

It's a great one hill just as told any guy that comes around. Take his daughter out. He just looked and he said I've been to jail before is not that bad.

I'm gonna go back there is something many buyers ever had a really healthy dad in their home maybe identify with is that there is something that within the child needs to be in both all of the greater strength and authority of someone and yet not be afraid and be able to come very, very close and so we want to talk today about something that is essential about the nature of God and therefore essential.how we actually can know God and what it means to grow in your knowledge of God and that is to understand God and is both awesome, astonishing character of who he is, is utterly transcendent love and beyond us, and yet what God has done for us in Christ to make himself utterly approachable to all who are in Christ, so should we could dare to draw near to the very throne room of grace in our time of need and that we could walk daily and a sweet savor of fellowship with the very creator of the universe. I want to show you today how the gospel has made it possible that you could know God in both all and will have more teaching moment from today's important series being filled with the Holy Spirit shutting off your mind hearing for a wonderful surprise God's word and spirit were never meant to be separated spirit always belong together to keep your abundant life in Christ knowing your Bible. The secret is being filled with the spirit, the answer is both word and spirit missions emphasize studying Scripture, and some traditions emphasize the spirit to real Christian growth is both word and spirit as someone once said Pollard spirit you dry all spirit. No word both word and spirit umbrella. When you make a gift to support this man will send you Allen writes newest album on CD or digital download word and spirit Airlines embrace the fullness of God's word and his spirit realm like never before with word spirit realm up helping someone else grow as well. And remember, when you partner with Alan Wright Ministries to be broadcasting the love of God to every day, six 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor.like today's teaching now continues once again is part of the problem with human natures. We tend to gravitate towards one side or the other and sometimes even the thought of coming really close to God or seeing God is really great.

It is not attractive to us, and sometimes we want to middle save little spot years ago I wrote a little song actually say in worship, son. It was a song about worshiping God for sin for all of who you are and in the songs were told the verses for the story of this diverse city of Jesus's character and one of the lines in there was about Jesus turning over the money changers tables and it's describe Jesus as having fire in his eyes and little Bennett, who was just little toddler in the time he would hear me kind of playing the solid piano and and and we sing in anything he said what does it mean that Jesus has fire in his eyes and he was all concerned about this and so my wife broke into the conversation and she said it means that his eyes are bright and shiny and happy.

I thought about it for a moment I said we cannot live to the boy. I mean I just we cannot and so I said no it's it's not. This is not just that most the time. His eyes are bright and shining happy. But what this means. I put it this way is it is the look of the eyes of one who is very powerful and love the church very much and so he was going to make some people who are doing bad things to get out of the church. Well, there's another line in the song that Bennett didn't like either. And this was a line that spoke of them putting a crown of thorns on his head and then it came to me about this line also and he said what you mean a crown of thorns and I said well Bennett said people were mean to Jesus and they made fun of him and instead of putting a real crown on his head. They put a pretend crown, but it was made of Warren's sharp thorns and they said he said will be if you if it sharp thorns on it. Did it hurt and I said yes it did it make him bleed.

I said yes it did and he said later. I don't want to sing about the fire in his eyes, and they thought about said and I don't want sing about the crown of thorns is a part of all of us is a little bit like that.

I don't really miss really would like to think of the fire in his eyes or the crown of thorns. Either the awesome holiness of God, or to really think of just how he gave up so much. This is why the cross was a stumbling block to so many people think that the great God of the universe would have to suffer and bleed die and so there's a part of us that would rather have him and some little safe little middle place a smaller box but will be seeing this woman who comes and touches Jesus on this day is that she encounters Jesus.

At the same time to her is utterly powerful and awesome and yet she approaches him and she touches him is so odd that her touch was received.

In this way because there's so many people that were touching. Have you ever thought about that can be different kinds of touches right. I remember one time years ago.

Some I can manage that. Hey, let's play a little game was even touch each other softly.

So I do infer something reach down what barely touched the little hair on his knuckle or something like that and a second it was pretty specific to your turn up a van and he went home and just slap the fire out of my hand. So what is it is that I guess I'll lose and as I hand yeah I lose so you could say you touch somebody but it's can be very different. Even a very similar type of touch can be very very different right now. You could see sometimes I want to know is college football and so my 300 pound lineman helps another 300 pound gets about going to give them a pat on the run up and and and then there might be some other place where there's a where there's a mom and I sees him to give her her five euro give give him a little pat on the rump and it may not be the same kind of fat one is about encouragement might be about discipline. Touch can can be similar and yet have a very different significance to it based on the intent behind that touch right and so there is something that happen here.

It was very strange because what the disciples merely said to Jesus, they said it when you see everybody that's around here the whole throng of people. Everybody's touching you, and you say touch me and you're saying is a nonsensical question and so evidently here's a picture of what can happen. People could be bumping into Jesus from every side and not have any significant encounter with Jesus. They didn't understand that it was the Lord of the universe that there were touching. This partly explains how God could be present in any situation and some people perceive that presence and are touched by God and touch him is very hard and others do not at all is remarkable that this woman was willing to touch Jesus, because she was in a condition of ceremonial uncleanliness and this was described in the Levitical law. So a woman who had a discharge of blood was a not allowed to associate with others are going to the outer part of the temple where she normally would be allowed and so the idea of holiness that you see and so much a Levitical law is a picture of the holiness of God, and it means this that God is holy and sin cannot come into the presence of a holy holy God. The best image for me to help me understand this is like if you think of something like the burning sun like our star that is is so burning hot and you try to bring something into the presence of the sun. Bring a candle into the presence of sun and it would just melt like wax will in the same way. That's the nature of the holiness of God, and this helps me so much to understand because the holiness of God is not about the cruelty or the mean nature of God is not that all is just to say this is who he is he is is utterly holy. We wouldn't get mad at the sun for being bright is just what the sun is this is who God is.

So sin can't come into the presence of God.

If sin comes into the presence of God to send this can be melted to sins going to be killed, and so no sinner comes into the presence of God and and this is a picture therefore so much a Levitical law that were not under any of these laws is Christian but some of this law was just drawing part of the progressive revelation of who God is not part of the law also just as a side point was that many of the ceremonial laws were actually very helpful to the people. For example, all the laws about handwashing. This is part of scholar. So part of what enabled the Jewish people to survive. Nobody else was washing their hands and we didn't have germ theory until just a couple hundred years ago really. And so quarantining dead bodies in the seaport Levitical law will part of the Levitical law was a woman the issue. Blood was not what was deemed ceremonially unclean and until such time that the issue, but it seems then she would know she would not be considered clean and this was a real problem because it meant that not only were we supposed to be touching other people, but you certainly want to touch the holy people or the religious people so is an amazing thing that this woman in the first place goes out to the public in a big crowd. There are some records indicate that unclean person was supposed to actually call out unclean unclean so that people could scatter is a woman who has tried for years to find healing and she can't find any healing the medical practice where it was a farce in her day, and she just grown worse. They tried different kinds of solutions to your problems and she only grown worse and so she's she's desperate to imagine her mindset. Therefore, that on the one hand, she heard about Jesus that he was kind that he seemed to love the poor and that the quote centers felt drawn towards him and yet she knew that she was, according to Oka old covenant law. She was unclean. She'd seen the way the religious leaders would deal with centers of the day. She knew what it was like to be disenfranchised. She knew what is like to be put to shame as all of this is together and Hermine and yet she comes in she dares to touch Jesus.

So it's not just her faith that is on display here, but it is the radical step that she takes in a sense to risk it all. That may be even though he's awesome that he is also at the same time very good.

Her reaction to Jesus and Jesus's reaction to her is quite telling. Because when Jesus said, who touched me. The woman assumed that she was in bad trouble and so she began to become very afraid, and she approached him in fear and trembling, you read the text. It's almost like this is like she would probably want to escape but she realized she couldn't escape if someone had enough power to know that that power had gone from imminent healed a woman that he would certainly be able to find out who the woman was as if she comes to him almost in a posture of great fear that it would be terrible repercussions for her but she comes in this fear and trembling.

Jesus himself stopped in the midst of it on the journey to go and heal someone else and it's so telling about who Jesus is. Because Jesus was not content to just be a power outlet is not a force field blessing. The Holy Spirit is not some power, some force field. You just plug into. This is so much of where Christianity differs from so much of the kind of pantheistic and new age kind of ideologies. It talks about sort of tapping into some spiritual force or something like that.

It is absolutely foreign to the Bible is actually Jesus is present with us by the Holy Spirit. He is the spirit of Jesus and ease a person and what God is interested in is not merely being a power that we tap into is interested in a relationship with us. And so Jesus not content to be a power outlet for woman to just have power go out from them. He stops and he finds a woman because he wants to identify her. He wants to know her.

He wants to see her. He wants to bless her. This is a marvelous picture of the nature of God. He is so strong that the worst disease cannot stand in his presence and he is so tender that he longs to show you his love and his forgiveness is about tomorrow in today's teaching really painting a picture of the God we worship the hall and intimacy. It's in the teaching greater teaching duty of balance being filled with the Holy Spirit shutting off your mind hearing for a wonderful surprise God's word and spirit were never meant to be separated spirit always belong together to keep your abundant life in Christ knowing your Bible. The secret of being filled with the spirit, the answer is both word and spirit simulations emphasize studying Scripture, and some traditions emphasize the spirit to real Christian growth both word and spirit as someone once said Pollard spirit you dry all spirit. No word both word and spirit umbrella. You make a gift of support. This month will send you Alan Wright's newest album on CD or digital download word and spirit. The beauty of the highlights embrace the fullness of God's word and his spirit realm like never before with wording spirit realm up helping someone else grow as well. And remember, when you partner with Alan Wright Ministries to be broadcasting the love of God to thousands every day.

The gospel is shared when you get to Alan Wright Ministries.

This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today.

We will send you a special offer. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Wright Ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.work Alan. Is this not the great mystery of our God help big and mighty and powerful he is, yet intimate enough to live right within our own heart. It's amazing that our faith is such that we really can sing holy, holy, holy, also saying what a friend we have in Jesus that it is the really that the whole gospel is summed up in this God is great and God is good. He's not just a God who is distant and other powerful so that he is beyond us that he is to the Christian. He is our father and we are given the most intimate of access and he wants us to know that we can come and so at every moment of your life with God. You can know that he is powerful enough to oversee and provide and conquer whatever problems you might be facing. And yet he is utterly completely for you and because your sin is been forgiven in Christ. You can have that was seen with them. What a beautiful beautiful gospel.

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