Tim: I just want to dive right in if that's okay. I want you to go to the gospel according to St. Matthew. The gospel according to St. Matthew. I want to read, just four verses in Matthew 8. Just starting off I want you to know that as we peer into these stories, these real-life accounts of miraculous things that Jesus did as he interacted in people's lives. I want you to know that those miracles are still happening today. I hope that it builds faith in you to understand that God is no respecter of persons. If he did it for these people, he'll do it for you. You have miraculous power available to you at all times.

Matthew 8, starting at the first verse, I'm reading from the New Living Translation of the Bible. Here's what it says. "Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. 'Lord,' the man said, 'if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.' Jesus reached out and touched him. 'I am willing,' He said. Be healed!" There's an exclamation mark

[laughter]

Wherever there's an exclamation mark, you should give it the same energy that the writer did. You should not be reading your Bible like, "And then the Lord did this and that and then he said, be healed." "Be healed." Just woke up eight people.

[laughter]

Instantly, the leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus said to him, "Don't tell anyone about this." Really Jesus?

[laughter]

Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." Oh, that's just good already. If you're taking notes on this message, just two words, be healed.

[laughter]

Some of y'all are waiting for June to be over already.

[laughter]

You're like "This dude is way too loud for me. Bow your heads. Let's pray over the word before we get started. Shall we? Holy spirit, heal us all. Amen.

Congregation: Amen.

Tim: I know I made all the intercessors mad.

[laughter]

I promise you daddy heard us all. I get to embark on this journey of unfolding what is a very limited scope of all the miracles that Jesus did in his earthly ministry. The miracles that Jesus did were not self-aggrandizing. They were not for his own credit. They were not for his own glory. These miracles were literally displayed to give glory to the one who sent him. Jesus is our first apostle. He is chief of the apostles. He is the first one sent to build, that he could build people to send. He is our leader.

As he went about his earthly ministry, there were these encounters that he had over and over and over and over and over again. So much so that John would later write that if I were to list everything that he did, there wouldn't be enough volumes of books to be written to contain everything that he did. We have these snapshots, we have these glimpses of Jesus going about his everyday life and miracles happening as a result of him just going about doing his daily work.

This is what I love about Jesus. Jesus wasn't getting up in the morning, having tent revivals, handing out business cards in Jerusalem, saying, "You need to come to the tent and see a miracle happen tonight. God's going to do something amazing in your life." He's literally just going about his day-to-day life and miracles are happening because he is here. Emmanuel, God with us. Dwelling in a human body to interact with us and to show us up close how much he loves us, how much he cares, and how much he is concerned With us.

Jesus had just got done giving what would've been the greatest shotgunned message of all time. This would be hermeneutically and hermetically a message. If you were to read Matthew 5:7, some of what we would call the most scatterbrained thoughts you could ever throw out and call it one message. Jesus was talking about judgment, then He's talking about divorce, then He's talking about seas, then he is talking about light. He's talking about all this different--

He's just throwing up, throwing it out there and when he is done, the people are enamored and Jesus leaves. This is what I love about Jesus. Jesus throws stuff out there then He just leaves, because He understood that as the Messiah, He was here to deliver a message. He wasn't concerned about your reception, He was concerned about his delivery.

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We just need to understand that when God gives us a message, it is for us to receive. That means we have to be the ones to open up and receive it. You have never seen your Amazon delivery person continue to bang on your door after they've dropped off your package. That is not their assignment. Their assignment is not actually, did you receive it? Their assignment is, I delivered it. I took a picture of it. I sent you a text message and an email. It's by your front door. If that ain't at your front door, by the time you get home, it ain't my fault.

Jesus comes to deliver these messages and delivers these messages, He does. He has now moved on and these people are following Him and this leprous man comes out of nowhere. I think it's right that Matthew would say suddenly because when a leper comes out of nowhere, that is a suddenly. The reason why it was a suddenly is because in Jewish law, a leprous person could not get into close proximity with the people in his community.

From a far off, he had to be able to declare, "Unclean, unclean," from 50 feet away, 100 feet away, 500 feet away. If anybody were to get in close proximity to him, he would literally have to warn them. "I'm contagious. I'm unclean. If you get close to me, you can get infected. You must be warned that from far away, I look good, but the closer you get, you'll see, I'm not that good."

I know we're talking about a physical infirmity today, but let's be honest, we all got a little bit of leper on the inside of us. Leprosy is an illustration for sin. It's lower than the skin. It's below the surface of the skin. It's wildly infectious and contagious. The only thing that you can deal with properly is burn it up. That was the state of our souls before we had an encounter with Jesus, born in sin and shaping and iniquity, the leanings of our own hearts too wicked for us to even know. A loving Jesus decides to get close enough to a man that should have been far away.

Do you know how gangster this moment is right now? Do you know the type of faith this leprous man had to have? For this man to understand what Jewish law was, for him to understand what it meant for him to breach the boundaries of the community and run straight to a guy that he's only heard about. He literally says to himself, "I know I'm supposed to say unclean, but if I shout unclean, they might run the other way. I heard some of those disciples like to rough people up, especially the Peter guy or the Peter, or whatever his name is, I heard that dude is a little bit gangster, he carries a sword. He's a fisherman, but he's a pretty brawny guy, I don't want to get close. If I yell from afar off, unclean, unclean, they might whisk him away. I don't want to take the chance so I'm not even telling them."

He covers up. Be lying. Come straight up to Jesus. This is why I believe the word suddenly is in here because Matthew's like, "Oh, this is not supposed to happen. This leprous man broke rank, broke protocol, broke boundaries, and come straight up to Jesus, and he's like, 'Hey, I know you can heal me if you're willing.'" This is all he says. This is all you need to see a miracle happen is to know God can do it if He wants to.

Jesus's response is so golden. Jesus's response is so divine, that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it theologically because Jesus's response is three words. The first two words is Him. Jesus walks up and sees this man and He goes, "I am." That's enough right there. For anybody that's read their Bible for more than three months, you know, that when God says I am, He's telling you who He is. The name that He gave to Moses to go tell Israel was I Am. That I Am, it's the blank check, I Am. Jesus says, "I am willing."

He matches this guy's ability to break protocol by breaking it himself. The guy broke ranks to get into close proximity, Jesus breaks rank and touches him. You don't touch no leper. I don't know if you know how leprosy goes, but you're not supposed to touch one. Jesus literally touches the leper, and then says two words, "Be healed." Those two words takes care of a man's lifelong problem.

If you ever want to know why I give short prayers, it's probably because my Lord and Savior gives short responses. He didn't say, "So here's what I'm going to do. Since I'm the God of the universe, and I can see that your skin condition is really really bad, I'm just going to use my divinity that is so sovereign that if I were to even try to explain it, your head would burst. I'm going to break down the molecular structure of your skin cells, and by doing that because I'm the one that created you and spoke you into existence, your cellular structure is going to obey at a DNA level through the bone marrow everything that I tell it to do."

[applause]

He could have, but He got no time for that. He said, "Be healed." That skin knew what to do. In the same way, He said, "Let there be light," and light that never existed knew what to do. In the same way, He said, "Let there be water," and water that never existed knew to be wet. When He gives a command, He doesn't need to follow it up with an explanation, it does exactly what is said because His word cannot come back void.

[applause]

I got three points because you know this is Gateway and we shoot three-pointers here. We as a church of the Golden State Warriors of churches, we shoot threes, we should shoot threes. No hates to Dallas Mavericks fans. Y'all are just not ready yet. It's just it's not ready yet. There's probably some Mavericks that go to this church. I love you guys so much in the name of Jesus, and you ain't ready yet.

[laughter]

I got three points to this message. Write the first one down. Proximity didn't bring pollution. There's just some things I want you to glean through these points that I feel like it's very very important to the narrative. The first one is that proximity did not bring pollution. How would I bring this into a current moment where somebody's trying to believe God for a miraculous thing but feels like they've done too much in their life, and that there's too much distance between them and God? I just want you to understand that God tells us, He invites us that if you draw nigh to me, I will draw nigh to you.

The thing I love about this statement that Jesus makes is that I don't need your step to be as big as mine. I'm not intimidated by you. I'm not afraid of you. As a matter of fact, there's nothing that you have going on, that will ever make Jesus distance himself from you. Whatever you have going on, He will still come to you because He's not afraid of being contaminated by you. Quite the opposite. If you get in Jesus's presence, you won't infect Him, but He will heal you.

[applause]

This proximity did not bring pollution. I can just imagine in my mind's eye, this leprous man going, "I'm close, I'm close. Oh my goodness, I'm close, and He didn't run? "I just got close and told him I had leprosy and He didn't go, whoo." He actually just looked at me like, okay, and?" I know so many people that want to get closer into the relationship with Jesus, and they fear that if they come with their vulnerability, and really expose their true selves that God's going to be shocked. People are shocked, God is not.

He is not threatened by your dysfunction, He is not threatened by your symptoms, He is not threatened by your ways, He is not threatened by your behavior, He literally invites you closer to Him when other people would push you away. Proximity did not bring pollution.

Point number two. Please write this down. The Lord is willing. That is present tense. You got to understand that whenever God or Jesus says I am, whatever word He says after that is in perpetuity. It is legal forever. It is never going anywhere. When He says I am willing, He wasn't just willing for that man, He has been willing before that man, with that man, after that man to every man and woman that would dare to believe that God still does miracles. He is willing. He is willing to save, He is willing to heal, He is willing to break through, He is willing. He has never been unwilling. Here's what He says in 2nd Peter 3:9.

I had to go back to the New King James for this because there's some certain things-- I read in OT, but there's certain things it just hits different in the New King James. I can't go, old King James, that's just too far back. It's like reading regular King James is like off-roading in a Honda Civic. It just hurts. We shouldn't be out here in this vehicle is all I'm saying.

Here's what it says a New King James. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness but is long-suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is willing right now.

[applause]

I was born June 26th, 1975. I know some of you all are shocked. This man cannot be almost 47 years old. Look at that skin.

[laughter]

I give thanks to my ancestors for that. My mother gave birth to me at 8:26 PM, June 26th on a Thursday evening, I was born breeched, came out feet first. I had some form of pneumonia that kept me in the hospital for the first month of my life in an oxygen tent to stabilize my body temperature and literally my life.

After that month, I was brought home and there was something about being in that oxygenated space for the first month that caused a skin condition. Obviously, it was not leprous. My entire body was covered in what looked like scales. There was no amount of lotion, ointment, medicated cream that was taking away the condition that I had in my skin and my parents were devastated.

My mom would pray every night, she would anoint me with oil, she would ask the Lord to heal her baby's skin condition. One night while she was on her knees, the Holy Spirit said to her while she was crying about my condition, "Take the tears that you're shedding and go wipe them on your son's face." Now can we just be honest in this moment, as beautiful and holy as this sounds, do you ever get a word from the Lord in a moment of vulnerability where you're like--

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"That ain't you."

[laughter]

"That's got to be me." Take my tears? Yes. Here's what I love about my mama. My mama was like--

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Because what's the worst that can happen? Sometimes God is asking us to do stuff and it sounds absolutely crazy. Your miracle could be on the other side of it if you don't think yourself out of it.

[applause]

My mama took all them tears. [crying sounds] Within three days, I was back to this skin because I still got it. I was back to this skin right here. He did a miracle for me before I had the intelligence to ask for one. He did a miracle for my mama she wasn't smart enough to pray for. You know why? He is still willing. He has never stopped being willing to do miracles for His people.

[applause]

Point number three, please write this down. This is my longest point but I like it. It's hard to keep miracles to yourself. I told you it was a long point, just write it down. They'll keep it up there long enough for you to write it. It's hard to keep miracles to yourself. Jesus says something that is just like, "This dude has been a leper. I don't know if since birth, but he's been a leper for a long time." Verse number four says, Jesus said to him, "Don't tell anyone about this." "Sir. You are so holy, and you are so sovereign, and you are so divine. I receive you as not just Savior but also Lord. This is going to be hard."

"Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you." "I know that's Mosaic Law. It goes back to Leviticus, it's absolutely right and very, very Jewish, and I will do it. However, that's going to be hard." "Take along the offering required in the Law of Moses, for those who have been healed of leprosy, this will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." "Yes, it will but this seems so anticlimactic. Only my priest going to know? I'm going to go the temple and do all the things that is required."

I mean you got to go back to Leviticus to read what was required because it is a lot. There's a bird that's got to be snapped in half and blood coming out, and there's another bird that you got to throw in the air and let it fly away. There's a bird that's got to be tied to a stick. Go read in Leviticus, it's a lot. Then you got to put blood on your ear lobe and on your thumb and on your right toe, and then you got to put oil on top of the blood on your ear lobe. This dude is like sitting there going through the whole process like, "Mmm." Hurry up.

Mark tells us something that Matthew doesn't tell us. I don't know why Matthew doesn't tell us. Maybe because he sources from Mark. Maybe Mark wanted to keep this detail to himself. I have no idea. I have to read you what Mark tells us about the same exact situation that happened with this leprous man. We know what Matthew says in verse number four. Don't tell anyone about this. Has anybody ever gotten a word from the Lord that you're like, "Sir? How am I going to do this?"

Spoiler alert. When I'm about to read you shows this guy couldn't hold it. Mark 1:45 says this, "But the man went and spread the word-"

[laughter]

-proclaiming to every one what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus and he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places but people from everywhere kept coming to him." I have heard Jesus tell people after miracles, "Go and sin no more." He tells this man don't tell it to anyone. This man nods in our Savior's face.

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Got it. "Don't tell anyone." "Breathing anyone?" "Anyone." "Got it."

[laughter]

"Hey, you know what just happened to me?"

[laughter]

"That man Jesus healed me up my leprosy."

[applause]

"Hey, you know what just happened to me? That dude, Jesus, healed me up my leprosy." "Balcony. Hey, all you all up there. I got good laws because I have to say unclean all my life. Guess what? I ain't got to say it no more."

[applause]

"That man, Jesus, just healed me from my leprosy." As far as we know, this is the only time someone has disobeyed Jesus-

[laughter]

-and didn't get smacked as a result of it. He didn't rebuke him. He didn't go back and say, "Hey, man, I can't even go to the store anymore because of you."

[laughter]

Now I'm out here in these remote places, can't even come down enjoy some fish on the lake, get more disciples because of you." He rebuked Peter for seemingly less because you are not supposed to keep a miracle to yourself. There are miracles in this room that are going to preach more effectively than Pastor Robert on the weekend. There are miracles in this room that are preaching better than me right now. I'll give you one more then I'm out till next week.

[laughter]

Charles Edward Ross, my hero, my daddy, had a brain aneurysm in 2003 while at a church service, started to feel symptomatic. By the time he got home, tried to get out of his car, he collapsed. He was hospitalized and put in the ICU and he was given a 1% chance to live. Everybody else in that same ICU died. My father was given a 1% chance to live while kissing both my hand and my younger brother's hand. He was telling us that he loved us and he went code blue. The doctors had to come in and take emergency measures.

They drilled a hole in his head with us right on the other side of the door. That's how fast they had to move to relieve pressure from his brain. That man sits on the front row of Embassy City Church every Sunday.

[applause]

If you ever get close to Charles Edward Ross, he's going to tell you something. "You know what happened to me? I was given a 1% chance to live and I should have been dead, but I'm still here right now to listen to my son preach. Why? Because it's hard to keep a bonafide miracle to yourself."

[applause]

I believe the best preachers are sitting in our rows. I believe the best stories are coming from the pews. If you would just dare to believe that God still does miracles, you will see Him do supernatural things in your life.

[applause]

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, let me pray for us. God, thank you so much for giving us this amazing opportunity to be encouraged through your word. I thank you for the many miracles that are out here among us right now. I thank you, Lord, God, that right now, you are still willing to save, to heal, to set free, to deliver to breakthrough. God, I pray that you would take every sin, sick souls that's become cynical, every weary person that's prayed for years, and that you would infuse hope on the inside of them again. That you are not done doing miracles. You are not done in our lives. That we can be healed and spread that glory to anyone who will listen. Thank you for what you are going to do for us in Jesus' name. Amen. I love you guys. Bye.