Jesus can Raise the Dead Things in Your Life

We turn to the word and we're in the gospel according to Luke chapter 8 and it's a long passage this evening and I'm going to try to keep it short. I know it's very uncomfortable and before we turn to the reading also, those who are watching online on YouTube, YouTube has again changed the rules. We can no longer live stream. We have to move to some other events system. I haven't explored it yet. We just got notice. So we'll be working on that. But just for those who are online, just a notice, as soon as we know how the thing works and what to do and where to go, we will do a short YouTube video of a minute or two explaining to those who are on YouTube because we have no other means of communicating with those on YouTube. So there will be a short explanation as to what the new procedure will be. The change takes effect at the end of September, so I guess we've got another two or three weeks before we get there. All right, so let's get to the word and we're in Luke chapter 8 and the reading is from verse 40 through 56, Luke chapter 8 verses 40 through 56. And so it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitude thronged him. Now a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians, and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, Master, the multitude thronged and pressed you, and you say, Who touched me? But Jesus said, Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me. Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said to her daughter, Be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be made well. And when he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her, but he said, Do not weep. She is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed him, knowing that she was dead. But he put them all outside, took her by the hand, and called, saying, Little girl, arise. Then her spirit returned, and she rose immediately. And he commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. And so Jesus had delivered the demon-possessed man with a legion of demons. And so it says, when he returned, and obviously when he returned to Capernaum from the other side of the sea. So he'd gone across the sea, dealt with the demon-possessed man, come back. And as he came back, the multitude welcomed him, because they were waiting for him. So Jesus had gone across, and you can see the contrast between these two groups of people. Those in Gadara or in Decapolis on the other side, they asked him to leave. They didn't want him there. And yet these folk were waiting for him, and they welcomed him. And obviously there is that question, of course, and the whole world is divided into those two groups of people even today. Those who want Jesus just to get out of their lives, to get away, and those who welcome him. And then it says, and behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house. And so the synagogues had elders or rulers who kept charge of the synagogue, kept made sure that there was order and that the place was cared for and all those kinds of things. He was not necessarily a teacher himself. He could have had more of a deacon's function. It doesn't really matter, but he was a very senior person in the society, in the community. And we must remember that those in the synagogues and those in the hierarchy in the Jewish system were against Jesus. The synagogues would throw him out over and over, and the same happened to Paul later on. So he is part of the opposition effectively. But at the same time, he recognized that Jesus may have the answer, whether he had heard Jesus preach or seen the miracles or heard the miracles. But he recognizes that Jesus is maybe able to heal his daughter. And so he fell down at Jesus' feet. These guys were, I suppose like many pastors today, they were very elevated. People would worship them in a sense, almost, just the same way as many false pastors are worshiped by people today. People bow and scrape before them. And it was the same those days. These rulers of the synagogue had power and authority. They could ban you from the synagogue if you were unclean, and we'll speak about the woman in a moment who was unclean, or if they felt that you had got too close to a dead body or something like that, they could ban you from the synagogue. And so they had a great power, and being banned from the synagogue was not just a spiritual thing that you couldn't go to church, but it was a social thing so that nobody could have fellowship with you, nobody could have anything to do with you, because the synagogue had declared you to be unclean. So he has power, but he worships Jesus, and he falls down before Jesus. Interesting, when you look at these two men, Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, this theologically trained man, this religious leader, and then last week we spoke about the demon-possessed man, also worshiping Jesus. And so you have these two extremes, and remember that Luke has all of these little details, and there's messages in these details. And so he's saying that the man who is demon-possessed, who's living in the caves, who is banished from society, the wild man, that he worships Jesus, but on the other hand, there are these religious rulers, and remember, not most of them are against Jesus, but there were some of them, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and a couple of others, who actually worship Jesus. So he is being worshipped by these two extremes, those who are total outcasts and those who were the rulers of the synagogue. And he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying. She was in the process of dying, literally, as we can see, obviously, a couple of minutes or an hour or so, and she was gone. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. So Jesus responds, and he says, well, you know, I'll come, and I'll pray for your daughter. It's interesting, the difference between this man and the centurion that we looked at a few weeks ago, in the beginning of this chapter, I think, or the last chapter, it doesn't matter. But the centurion, who is an unbeliever, he says to Jesus, don't even come to my house, just speak the word. This man says, come and pray for my daughter. So who had the greater faith? The centurion, obviously, because the centurion recognized that Jesus didn't even have to come to the house. But he still believes, and he's still asking Jesus to come. And so as Jesus is on his way there, the multitude is thronging him. Remember, we're talking about several thousand people following Jesus, just wanting to see the miracles, wanting to hear what he had to say, for various reasons. Obviously, some were friendly, and some were less friendly, and some were really just looking for a reason to trip him up. But he's being thronged, and he can't move. And I think we can imagine the ruler of the synagogue's frustration, as he recognizes his daughter is literally on her deathbed, and Jesus is being held up by all these people. And I'm sure there must have been maybe in his life, in his heart, some question as to, you know, all these people who, you know, they really don't, they're not important. I'm important. I'm the ruler of the synagogue. Can't Jesus just leave them and get on and come and heal my daughter? There must have been some frustration in his heart. But Jesus is concerned with everyone. His concern is not just for those who are important, but his concern is for those who are less important, including this woman now, who comes and touches him. So, a woman, she is unnamed in all of the Gospels, having a flow of blood for 12 years, who has spent all her livelihood on physicians, and could not be healed by any. This woman was in a terrible place. The physical ailment that she had made her weak. Anyone can understand that if you're losing blood all the time, you're anemic. You just don't have energy. So she is weak. She is susceptible to all sorts of other diseases. But more than that, she is an outcast from society. The book of Leviticus, the law very specifically says that if a woman has this problem, she is unclean until the flow of blood stops. And so she is unclean for 12 years. She could not go to the synagogue. She could not go to the temple. More than that, anything that she touched was unclean, and therefore anyone who touched that would be unclean. So she could not even have a marriage relationship, because if she touched her husband, he would become unclean, and he would become an outcast. She could not make food for people, because whatever food she prepared became unclean. And so she is physically down and out, and she is spiritually downtrodden in the extreme. She is just one little step above the demon-possessed man, who is also an outcast. She is able to live, it seems, in her house. She has some means, she has some money, because it says she spent all her livelihood, everything she had, she spent on the doctors, on the physicians. And it's interesting, the book of Mark says, that instead of making her better, they were making her worse. That's a sad situation. Of course, when you look at the kind of quackery, and Luke is a physician, he understands what this stuff is, and when you look at some of the cures that they prescribed for this kind of disease, it's just absolute nonsense. It's the kind of stuff that which doctors in third world countries prescribed for their victims. They are not patients, they are victims. And so they subjected her to all of this stuff, and took her money, and she is no better off. And so, she comes from behind, and she touches the border of his garment, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. So, she comes from behind, she obviously does not want to be seen, because if she is seen to touch the teacher, then there would be big trouble, because she would then render him unclean, and she was not supposed to be there at all amongst the people, and so she stealthily comes from the back, and she touches the hem of his garment. Now, remember we spoke about the tassels, the tzitzit, or tzitziot, which are the little fringes that they were to put on the end of their garments, given to them when they were still in the desert, and you remember they kept looking down, looking for the leeks, and the garlics, and the onions, and God says, put these little blue tassels on the end of your garment, so when you look down, you are reminded to look up. Blue is the color of heaven. And we see these fringes right through the Old Testament, and they come right into the New Testament, and specifically when it says the border of his garment, it is particularly those fringes that she touches. There was a superstition at the time, that if you touch the fringes of a teacher, or of a rabbi, or of a man of God, that there was power in those fringes. And obviously there is no power in the fringes, but there was power in Jesus. And so she touches him, and she is immediately healed. Now, Jesus then said, Who touched me? And when all denied it, Peter said to him, Master, the multitude is wrong, and press you, and say to you, Who touched me? Peter is just being foolish again. Peter just says these things without thinking. And obviously Jesus recognized that someone had touched him on purpose, not just someone had bumped into him, but that something significant had happened. And I want to touch on that, but Jesus said, Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me. Now remember, he is being thronged. There are people shoving and jostling and pushing, and there are people all around. Everybody wants to get close to Jesus. Everyone wants to hear what he has to say. Everyone wants to bring their sick people to him that he might be able to heal him. So he is being touched all the time. But there was something different in the way that this woman touched Jesus. She touched him on purpose. She didn't touch him by accident, but she touched him on purpose, because she recognized that Jesus had the answer, that Jesus could heal her. And that's the problem we have even to today, is that there are many people who touch Jesus. They go to church. They may read their Bible. They may watch so-called Christian television. They may pray occasionally. They may pray, Our Father which art in heaven. They're touching him, but they're not touching him on purpose. They're not touching him in order to receive something from him. They're simply touching him because they think, well, it's a good thing to do. They may have their needs, as these people had. They're sick that they were bringing to Jesus, praying that he would heal them. Others wanted to hear a word of comfort. Others wanted to hear a word of great wisdom and of great knowledge. And so they all had the things that they wanted from him, but nobody really wanted healing in the way that he was able to offer. And so she comes, and she touches him in faith, not just an accidental touch, not just brushing it past him, not even touching him in the sense of being, saying, well, I touched that great teacher. I got so close to him that I actually touched him. Because Jesus was pretty famous at this point, going home and saying, well, I touched him. No, she touched him with a specific reason and a specific purpose, and that is that he would heal her. And I think that it's important for us to understand that there are many who reach out to him, but they're not touching him in faith. And they're not touching him with the express purpose of saying, Lord, I desperately need you to heal me. And, of course, her healing is physical, but it's also spiritual. I'm going to come back to the spiritual aspect, but remember that she is not just physically sick, but she is spiritually an outcast. She needs to be restored physically. She needs to be restored in her worship to the temple and to the synagogue. She needs to be restored in fellowship with her family and with her friends. And all of these things, she is coming to him and she's saying, Lord, you're the only one who has the... I've tried everything else, but nobody has... All they've done is taken my money. But Jesus was able to heal her. And it's the same today. There are people here this evening who may have problems and have needs. And there are those who are watching who have needs. And maybe the problem is that we tend to, first of all, run to the physicians. And I'm not saying necessarily doctors as such, but to some kind of earthly solution, hoping that maybe this person or that person or this professional will help me. And it seems that when we get to the end of all of that, because it says she spent all her money, so she didn't have any money left to go and see these doctors. She had come to the end of the road. And it's in that position that she stretches out her hand and she touches Jesus and she is healed. And you'll see a similarity between her and Jairus. It's only in the moment when the girl had already died that Jesus intervenes. Remember Lazarus, and we'll see Lazarus later on. The same thing. Jesus waits four days. And it's only when hope was gone, when there was a recognition that there are no answers in this world. It's only then that Jesus is able to help and He's able to intervene. And we see that right through the ministry of the Lord Jesus. When they were fishing, they were fishing all night, and Jesus was just there waiting for them. And in the morning when they'd given up hope and they said, well, this is a waste of time, this is a waste of a whole night of fishing, and they pack up and they're ready to go, that Jesus says, throw your nets out on the other side. You see, it's necessary for Him to wait for us to come to the end of our own resources. It's only then that He can help. It's only then that He can intervene. Because if He helps before the time, what happens is we say, well, I helped myself, or I just, you know, I just got over it, or the problem just went away, or the professionals helped me, or whatever it was. But it was when they came, when she comes to the very end of all of her resources, she recognizes that there's only one left that can still help, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And my prayer is for those who are struggling, whether they're physical or spiritual or emotional stuff, or even financial stuff, that we would come to a place where we recognize that there is really only one who has the answer, and it's Jesus, and that we would reach out, and that we would touch Him on purpose. We sometimes are waiting for Him to touch us, and we say, well, you know, why doesn't the Lord help me? Why doesn't the Lord get involved in my situation? Well, maybe He's waiting for you to reach out to Him. And did Jesus know about this woman? Of course He knew about her. He knew about her even before she came to that particular crowd, to that particular day. But He's waiting for her. And the day she comes and she touches Him, at that very moment, power goes out from Him, and heals her. And so, verse 47 says that, when the woman saw that she had not been hidden, in other words, that she was exposed, she came trembling and falling down before Him. She declared to Him, in the presence of all the people, the reason she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately. So she now makes a confession of faith. So, not only does she receive the healing, and say, well, I got what I wanted, so now I can sneak away and go back and get on with my life. No, when Jesus challenges her, she comes out with it, and she makes a public confession. And I think it's an important step for us to understand that sometimes God intervenes in our lives, He meets our need, whatever it may be, and we just quietly go away, and we say, well, thank you, Lord, that's good, it's all sorted now, I can go my merry way. No, I believe that there's a need for us to make a confession, and to bring witness and testimony to what He has done in our lives. Whether that be in the times and the meetings when we have opportunity to bring those testimonies, but particularly as far as the world is concerned, because she is declaring to Him in the presence of all the people. She's making a public declaration as to what happened. And I believe that there's need for us as Christians to make those public declarations of what God has done in our lives. And yes, there will be those who will poo-poo it and say, well, you know, it was just coincidence, it just happened. There would be those who mock, but in fact there will be those who will listen and recognize God's power and God's hand in our lives. And for their sake that we need to make that witness. Now, verse 48 is the last verse on her, and he said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Now, the word here, has made you well, is the Greek word from which we get salvation, or saved. Sozo. So, your faith has saved you. And he is applying this in two ways. He is applying it to her physical salvation, but I believe that he is also applying it to her spiritual salvation. And there's a number of other instances where Jesus heals people, and then forgives their sins, or then gives them salvation. So, I believe that Jesus is saying, your faith has healed you, but also brought you salvation. And then, he was still speaking to the woman, and someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher. Terrible, terrible news. Remember, she's his only daughter. She's 12 years old. She's obviously very, very special to him. And now she's dead. And this is the end of the road. Do not trouble the teacher. Just notice that Jesus is given different titles, different things that he is called. The word teacher here is literally translated, correctly translated, the Greek word didaskalos, teacher. So, this is separate from a rabbi, who is really a master, but he is recognized as a teacher. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, do not be afraid, only believe, and she will be made well. Wonderful words of comfort of the Lord Jesus. He had just healed this woman, and he is saying, she will be made well. And when he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in, except Peter, James and John. Remember, those are the three that are in the inner circle of the Lord Jesus. Those are the ones who are closest to him, and the father and the mother of the girl. So, there's six of them together. Now, all wept, and this is now the crowd. So, the news that she had died had obviously spread through the village or the town, and people had come. And as we saw with the young man of the widow who had died, there are professional mourners, women who are being paid to come. And because this man is a senior man in the society, the wailing and the mourning and the shouting and screeching is extra loud. And so, there's this terrible performance going on. And Jesus says, don't weep. She is not dead, but she is sleeping. And their response is, they ridiculed him, they mocked him, knowing that she was dead. Again, I think that sometimes Jesus makes statements to us, and they may be general statements in the word of God, but they are directed to us personally. Don't be terrified. You know, I'm going to take care of this. And yet, we don't believe him. They had just seen, well, those people hadn't, but there were others there that had seen him just heal this woman, had seen him cast out the demons out of the man called Legion that previous day, had seen him still the storm. He had raised the other young man from the dead. And yet, they don't believe. And I think that that's the sad situation that many of us, I think that all of us find ourselves in, that we see God's hand in our lives. We see his provision. We see the miracles that he does as he delivers us from sin, sets us free, saves us, causes us to be born again, meets our many, many needs, sometimes performs miracles of healing or other miracles in our lives. And yet, the very next time we face a problem, we don't believe. And he gives us his word, and he says, don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. And we say, well, you know, he's dead. The problem is too big. Somehow, obviously, they believe that while she was dying, he could heal her. Once she was dead, now it's too late. But in fact, obviously for Jesus, it wasn't too late. And of course, he says she is sleeping. And this is a euphemism. It's a nice way of speaking of death. Remember, we have our own ways of speaking, saying that someone has passed on because we don't like to deal with this word dead. You know, gone to the other side, gone to be with Jesus, whatever words we use, because we don't want to use the word dead. Now, Jesus is not using a euphemism in that sense. He's not simply saying, you know, no, she's just sleeping. But he's making a theological statement. Now, this is not soul sleep, and we're not going to deal with the issue of soul sleep. But simply, he is recognizing that the body is sleeping and will be woken up again on the resurrection. In this case, it's going to be the same day. But generally, it would be at the resurrection. And so death is not the end of the road. That's simply the point that Jesus is making. Remember, he says the same thing about Lazarus. No, death is not the end of the road. There is a resurrection. So don't weep. She is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed him, knowing that she was dead. But he put them all outside, took her by the hand, and called, saying, Little girl, arise. I wonder why he got rid of all the people. I think partly because they were a distraction, obviously. But I think also that he wasn't going to entertain their unbelief with a miracle. I think that sometimes God doesn't show us miracles and puts us outside in that sense while he does his great work because of our unbelief, because we're just not willing to believe. And he's saying, Well, I'm not going to entertain you. I'm not going to show you something that you don't want to believe in anyhow. But he brings those together who are closest and those who believe. Then his spirit returned. And she rose immediately. And he gave command that she is to be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished. But he charged them to tell no one what had happened. And so, why does he say, Give her something to eat? Because he's trying to prove that this is not an apparition. This is not a ghost. This is not some kind of hallucination that they're seeing something, that she's in fact... And remember that Jesus does the same thing after he was resurrected in the upper room. And he says, Give me something to eat. And he eats. And he proves that he is physically alive, that he is not just spiritually alive, but that he is physically alive, that he can actually eat, that there is bone and flesh, there is substance to him. And so, he proves to them. So, why does he prove this to them? Because there's still some unbelief. Even in those who were present and saw the miracle. There was still the question, Well, maybe this is a mind game. Maybe this is some kind of trickery. No, Jesus says she is literally and really alive. Remember, this is the second of three miracles, or three times that Jesus raises the dead. And it's interesting that she is the youngest one. She is 12 years old. And then there was the widow's son that we saw a few weeks ago. He was a young man. So, he is, I don't know, 18, 20 years old. And then there's Lazarus. He is a mature man. And so, Jesus raises these three different age groups. And Jesus could have raised thousands of people, but he chose not to. He raises simply three people. And they are proof and evidence of his power. Remember that this has been the theme of this chapter, that he has power over the demons, that he has power over sickness, that he has power over the wind, that he has power over the waves, that he has power, did I say, over the demons, and that he has power over death, that he has all power. And that really is why, why does he choose the three different age groups? Simply to say that his power to raise the dead encompasses everyone. It is not limited to young people or to older people, but that he raises and can raise everyone. Now, I think by means of closing, I want to just apply that in a spiritual sense also, before I speak about the last part of the last verse. And that is that he still raises the dead. And we say, yeah, well, that's the resurrection. And we say, well, but, you know, I want to apply it in a spiritual way. The reality is that many of us have things that are dead in our lives. Our prayer life may be dead. Our relationship with the Lord may, in fact, be dead. Our service of Him may be dead. Our overcoming may be dead. There may be other things in our lives, like our relationships, our marriages, that may be dead. There's all sorts of areas in our lives that are, in fact, dead, that were sick for a long time, and now just doesn't exist anymore. But he is able to heal, and he's able to raise the dead in that sense also. If he can raise the physically dead, then he can raise the troubled marriage. If he can raise the physically dead, then he can raise those who are emotionally dead and damaged by the stuff of life. There is nothing that he cannot do. What we just need to do is bring him into our situation. So the woman had to go out and touch him. This man had to bring him into his home, and Jesus performed the miracle. Both of them met with Jesus on purpose, with intent. It wasn't just Jesus passing by, and somehow as he passed by the young girl was healed. No, he was brought into the situation. And when they brought him into the situation, he touches her and he raises her up. And maybe there's an area in your life which is sick like the woman, or maybe there's an area in your life which is dead. You need to meet with Jesus with intent. You need to meet with him with purpose, and say, Lord, I need you to heal me. I need you to raise this area of my life which is dead, which is not functioning anymore, and may have been dead for a long time. She was only dead for, I don't know, an hour or two. Lazarus was dead for four days. It doesn't make any difference to Jesus. And there may be areas in your life that have been dead for a long time. He is able to bring life into that situation. And I think that particularly when it comes to our prayer life, there are many Christians whose prayer life is dead. It just doesn't exist anymore. And when they go through it, it's going through the motions. It's doing a ritual thing. You know, Lord, while I lay myself down to sleep, I pray the Lord to keep my soul to keep, or however the little rhyme goes. But there's no reality. There's no communion. There's no fellowship with God. There is no touching Him. But we're just going through the motions. He's able to raise your dead prayer life. He's able to raise your dead relationship with God. Unfortunately, there are so many Christians who are just going through the motions of a relationship with God. They may go to church. They may read their Bible. They may pray. They may do all of those things. But in fact, it's dead. There's no life there. There's no spirit there. And unfortunately, as a shepherd, I see that all the time. And I look at situations. I say, well, you know, he or she is dead. There's no life there. They may be going through the motions. They may be doing the stuff. But there's no life. Jesus is able to bring life into the deadness of your relationship with Him in the midst of every situation. It doesn't matter how long it's been like that. He is able to raise the dead. And He's able to raise the dead stuff in your life if you'll only bring Him into your life, into your house and say, Lord, I need you. You're the only one who can heal me. I've tried for 12 years. I've tried all of the physicians. I've tried all the cures. I've tried this and that. Nothing helps. Lord, you're the only one who has the answer. And then He says He charged them to tell no one what had happened. And obviously that wasn't going to stop people from talking about this. And we're still talking about it now, 2,000 years later. We're still talking about the event. So what is Jesus saying? Why doesn't He want them to talk about it? Why doesn't He want them to spread this message abroad? Because He doesn't want His ministry to be hampered by bigger crowds and bigger fame. Today preachers are chasing fame. And the more people they can get, more followers they can have on Facebook or likes they can get or whatever it is, these are the things that they measure their success in. Jesus says, No, I'm not interested in those things because those things become a distraction from the real ministry. Where was Jesus' real ministry? It was with the demon-possessed man. It was with this woman who was an outcast of society with her 12 years of being sick. It was with this leader of the synagogue whose daughter was dead. These are the people that Jesus is interested in. He's not interested in the crowds. He's interested in the ones and twos who will hear His voice and who will touch Him in faith. Millions touched Him, or thousands certainly touched Him, but only a few received healing. So He's not interested in the crowds. He's not interested in the casual touch. He's interested in those who come by faith. And maybe tonight you recognize that there is something that is sick in your life. There is maybe something that is dead in your life. He is able to heal today as He did 2,000 years ago. He's able to raise the dead stuff in your life today if you'll only come to Him and touch Him and say, Lord, You alone have the answers. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You, Lord, for Your power, that Jesus came and revealed to us, the Father, revealed to us the power of the Father to heal, to still the storm, to cast out demons, and to raise the dead. And Lord, I pray that there may be miracles in our lives. Lord, oftentimes we're looking for miracles like a new car or some earthly thing, but Lord, we need spiritual miracles more than anything else, Lord. We need the dead areas in our lives to be raised up. We need, Lord, the sick parts of our relationship with You and in our walk and in our makeup. We need those things to be healed. And Lord, we know that You can. And so we pray, Lord, that we may be not those who shrink back from You, but Lord, that we will be those who reach out with intent and with purpose and with faith, touch You and allow You to heal and to raise and to perform those miracles. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray for Your presence now as we come around the table. And Lord, once again, we would not just do this out of ritual, but Lord, that we may touch You today, that You may touch us.