(c) Matt Tullos

Multisensory object: small square of white cloth.

Focal Scripture: So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up,(say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:33 Amplified Bible

Songs:

All to Jesus I surrender
You are my All in All
Give me Jesus

Read the story of the healing of a woman with a hemmorage.
Mark 5:21-34

Desperate People are willing to surrender completely.

Have you ever been at the end of your rope?

Personal Illustration: Tell a story of a time when you felt like you were are the end of the rope.

In this passage we meet a woman who seemed to be at the very end of her rope. An illness robbed her of life as she once new it. This woman hemmorage couldn’t be stopped and the curse of her sickness affected her in a number of ways.

She was labeled unclean. In the Jewish culture this meant that she could not receive the ministry of the holy people of her town. Their laws made her untouchable. She couldn’t go through the rights of purification and she certainly could go to the Temple because of the illness.

The illness devastated her finances.

And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she was worse. (Verse 25-26)


Have you ever been in a situation that completely ruined your bank account? The more you throw money at it the greater the problem seems to grow. Listen to this prayer:

Female Actor: Lord, I don’t know how long I can live like this! We’ve been through counceling, he went through treatment, we asked from prayers from out family and our friends. Lord, how do you expect us to fix this? What are you doing, Lord. And now I look in the floorboard of his car. More beer bottles. It’s killing our family God! It doesn’t matter how much I threaten him, how much I beg him, how much I suffer for him, he just keeps going back to his old way of handling life. The kids are sick of it. I’m sick of it. It’s taken away all our intimacy and I don’t know where to turn. Is it another psyciatrist? Is it another hospital? Is it a family counselor? I can’t afford it anymore.

Optional illustration: Driving an old car or house that you’ve owned that turned into a money pit.

Video Idea: A short scene from the movie: “The Money Pit” This movie has lots of slapstick moments of a house falling apart.

The illness couldn’t be solved by “The Experts.”

She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better.

Have you ever suffered a great deal from Doctors and other experts without getting any better?

Through the intenet and TV experts are a dime a dozen. Everyone has a diet plan, and exersise program, a new lifestyle solutuion. Hpynotherpy, magnets, vitamins, fat sweating belts, organizational software.

America Spends roughly 33 Billion Dollars on diet solutions alone.


We’ll pay anything to fix ourselves when our lives are unmanageable.

She finally reached the point of surrender.

She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe. For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed." Verses 27-28

She surrendered in humility. She didn’t talk her way to the front. She didn’t scream herself into his path. The implication of touch the hem of his robe is that she got down on her hands and knees crawling in the dirty, quietly negotiating her way through the feet of the people who had shamed her for years to courageous touch the end of his robe.

She surrendered in faith. Notice her great faith. All I need to do is touch Jesus- to touch only His robe.

Because she surrendered, the glory of Jesus engulfed her.

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" (verse 30)

Question: Is God asking that same question this morning as we worship. Is he sensing his bride touching him and receive the power that flows from his resurrected body? Is he asking “Who touched Me? Are we desperate enough to surrender all our quick fixes and self-saving strategies to touch Jesus.


Invitation: Ask the members to take hold of the small white cloth and ask them, “What area of you life seems unmanageable or out of control today. Invite them to pray as they hold the cloth and to offer unconditional surrender to God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Son of God. I confess that I don’t have the answers. I confess my restlessness, my failures, and my disbelief. Today I surrender this circumstance to you knowing that I must let go so that you can do Your work of faith and revival in my life. I surrender to your Lordship. I choose You over all my self-saving strategies. Restor unto me the joy of my salvation and my relationship