Physical Touch
The Five Love Languages of Worship

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Thanks for listening to the podcast from gary combs and the preaching team at wilson community church in wilson, north carolina. Check us out on the web at wccnc.org for more and now here’s the sermon.

Good morning church good to see all of you here this morning i bring greetings from the men’s retreat we have a large group of our men that are in ashboro north carolina at camp Caraway this weekend and it is still going on right now and they are having a wonderful time there with the men from both of our church campuses. i got home last night about twelve thirty am after enjoying the great weekend somebody’s got to come back and preach right and so myself and my son jonathan who’s preaching this morning at the rocky mount campus got in late last night. I am fired up about your men ladies thanks for sending your men hopefully that when we get him back to you they’ll be better than when you sent him although they might be physically sore because we can’t go on a men’s retreat without somebody saying let’s play basketball all night or something like that so we we have men who played basketball way up in the morning and all kinds of things and i can barely walk right now because i got involved in some of those things so but anyway i’m here and praise the lord

another thing i’d like to point out is to use these invite cards that are in your seats when you came in you saw two invite cards and we are starting a new series next week through the book of romans entitled righteousness revealed and this idea that god has through the person of jesus revealed to us how we might be made right with god now do you have two people that you know that are far from god that need to come and hear this series and that’s why we’ve given you these tools so put them to use if you need more some of you love to invite people to come to church and hear the gospel so we have more for you at guest services if you want to pick up a few extra and so that’s in your seats for that purpose

now we’re concluding our series this morning about the five love languages of worship and today we will be concluding it with physical touch this will be the most challenging of the five to apply to worship but stay with me i think you’ll find this helpful

we based the series off of gary chapman’s nineteen ninety five best selling book the five love languages where he offered advice to couples on how they might rightly express their love and receive love and he found that people have different love languages and among them he has listed words of affirmation some people want to have verbal affirmation quality time, others experience love through that receiving gifts acts of service we’ve talked about these and how we might apply them to worship now finally physical touch

our theme verse has been based on god’s command to us that we love him it says you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength and how you do that and we’ve been applying this idea how could we express through these five love languages our love for christ and for the lord

this one gave me a fit this week i just need be honest with you physical touch was like okay we have reached too far to try to use something in the culture in order to engage and i couldn’t quite figure it out but i think i got something here i think you’re going to be moved by this

if god is spirit and jesus has ascended to the father and he’s no longer physically present he will return someday but for this season of life that we’re in how can we express our love and worship for god through touch that’s what i will attempt today from the book of romans to answer that question

now i look forward to the day when i can come to jesus in person don’t you where i can just embrace him you know because we are physical creatures after all and god made us that way but for now how do we say jesus i love you how do we express it through our bodies? I think that’s kind of the question i started thinking was what how has god loved us in a physical way and maybe that would be a good starting point then i was reminded that god didn’t love us from a distance he said no i’m going to send my son jesus and his name is emmanuel god with us he sent him so that both christmas and easter are intertwined in one person so that he came physically into our existence so that he went through everything that a human goes through and then more because he died in our place

he didn’t just love us from a distance no he came near so that he might touch us with his life you see touch is an important expression of love

dr gary brown who specializes in pediatric psychology wrote this he says touch is a fundamental human need touch is essential for baby’s development for their physical and emotional and eventually their social health in fact touch is the first of the five senses to develop the need for positive touch the connection and reassurance it can bring is literally in our dna and so you can see that infant right that just immediately grasps mother’s finger just one touch and cries for touch and so touch is the first of the five senses that even in the womb at a very early stage a child can experience, touch and feel

margaret atwood says this about it she says touch comes before sight before speech it’s the first language and the last and it always tells the truth you see it’s the first one that we start with as you get old you start losing your hearing and your sight often it’s the last one you’re left with touch and this is a sad part of the thing because of this story because it’s often the elderly that are sequestered into a nursing home and the only touch the experience might be clinical and not relational and so they’re starving for love the love that’s expressed through human touch there are singles perhaps here this morning i met some students here that are with us from barton today you’re away from home and you’re still getting to know people and and you’re starving for just that hug that touch that

because we’re made for god and for one another we practice one of the one anothers right now you don’t have to get out of your seat or move or anything, but if there’s someone nearby if you sat in the seat alone don’t do that in the future set near someone because you never know what i’m gonna ask you to do, reach out and pat somebody on the back or shake a hand or put an arm around somebody as appropriate don’t get weird and i want you to get weird but some people i want you just think about this when you come to church on sunday especially if you’re blessed with a family and you’re not starving for this i want you to look for that person that might be because the only touch that they might get during the week might be right here on sunday morning

it’s not professional in the business world or somehow clinical or so but relational well touch is important we’ve established that it’s a love language now how can we apply it because i can’t touch the lord i begin to see what he did for us how can i then express my love for him by doing the things he did in his name can we touch people in jesus name and then would that show our love and worship to him i begin to think yes that’s it isn’t it for now since we’re not physically present with the lord for now how might we express our worship for the lord through physical touch by touching others in jesus name so that’s what i’m getting

we’re going to go to the book of romans that talks about the reality that we can offer our bodies from head to toe to the lord as our spiritual worship in this way we would express our love and worship physically by offering him all that we are so this is what we’re going to talk about we’re going to look at three ways that we might offer our bodies as our spiritual worship

turn with me if you have your bulletins it’s in there it will be on the screen i want you to read along with us romans twelve starting verse one i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect for by the grace given to me i say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that god has assigned for us in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function so we though many are one body and christ and individually members of one another this is god’s work amen

lord speak to us now we want to know how we might love you in ways that express our physical worship to you here’s the the first one offer your mind to christ this is the beginning point offer your mind this seems obvious right you have to offer your mind you’re thinking your world view and i want you to look at the first few verses and circle the words bodies worship mind because this is where we’re going to get out and i want you to always see when we’re talking from god’s word that the authority comes from the text not my opinion and then circle what the mind does hopefully yours does this think circle think i think that’s in there isn’t it that’s what the mind should do just think now let’s dig in

so we’re going to talk about how to offer your mind to christ as an act of love and worship i want to take note of a few things as we unpack this one Paul instructs us now here he was an apostle he had the authority to command in the name of jesus he could command the romans to offer their bodies but then they wouldn’t be offering it freely so he appeals to them and he begs them he appeals to them he says literally come over to my side and do what i’m doing t that’s the idea and the greek verb is come and be with me offer your body from head to toe as your spiritual worship to god and he says i appeal to you therefore now what do we ask when we see therefore in the text what’s it therefore anytime you see therefore asked what’s it there for because it’s an equal sign in the text that says what preceded now equals what is coming because this happened therefore this is the result

he says i appeal to you therefore brothers by what the mercies of god so for eleven chapters paul has unpacked to the romans and to us the mercies of god and then as a result chapter twelve verse one he says i appeal to you therefore because of all that god has done and how christ willingly offered his body to die in your place for your sins so that all those that are far from god could be brought near therefore i’m begging you do the same give your bodies to him i appeal to you to do that and he gives according to the mercies of god that’s a description of what was before

dr c k barrett says the mercies of god forms a very adequate summary of what was considered in chapters one through eleven paul has summarized chapters one through eleven if you want to get cliff notes for chapters one through eleven paul just did it he says mercies of god that’s what i’ve been talking about since you’ve learned this do this it’s literally in the greek has this idea of the bowels of god’s mercy and at first, that seemed a little unusual to me. But then i remembered how love sick i got when i first fell in love with my wife. Have you heard this phrase? I got butterflies in my stomach. That is mercy from the inside out. Chapters one through eleven. God loves you with such loving kindness and mercy. Compassion from the inside out, it’s. Just crazy love that he has for us.

Paul says because of that you should present your bodies present to yield, to offer to give, because of all that god has done, what do you have to offer the one who owns everything, he’s, the creator? What do you have that he doesn’t have? Well, my friend, if you haven’t given your life to christ yet that’s, all you have to offer. So the only reasonable thing to offer is to say, lord, i present myself from head to toe to you. I start with my mind, my thought life it’s, yours i am begging you to do this. Present your bodies, that is your physicality. All that you are in this physical universe, give that to god, and i’m glad, he says, a living sacrifice that could have gone the other way right. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

We look in the old testament, i don’t think the heifer and the lamb got to do that. I don’t think they volunteered. I don’t think like they went into the sheep pen and said, have got any volunteers. No, i think they picked one, so they weren’t offered as a living sacrifice.

Another way, you might say, they were a willing sacrifice. They were not. You can’t be a willing sacrifice unless you’re a living sacrifice. In other words, you have to know the lord is not saying i am commanding you to do this, he says, i want you to, because that’s, what i have done for you, i want that’s how jesus offered himself willingly. He offered himself a living sacrifice, and he gives not my will, but yours be done, offer myself, and therefore, i beseech you, i urge you, i appeal to you to do the same, because that would be wholly acceptable to god offer your whole life to him. He would accept that because that is the one thing that he doesn’t have, is you. He’s allowed you the free will to offer yourself This is your spiritual worship.

This is the most profound way that you can say, i love you, god, with all your heart, all your soul , your mind, all your strength. Here it is, lord, everything. I present it to you, starting with my mind. That word spiritual is a greek word in the original language. It’s where we get the word logical it’s translated spiritual that’s good every version you read tries to at that a different way, because it’s a difficult word, it could be translated reasonable, as many translations do

paul says. If you think about it, the only reasonable thing to do is to offer god, everything you have. offer god your whole body because that’s the only reasonable worship it’s spiritual that’s, what you should do, it makes sense to do this. It’s, logical, it’s appropriate it’s, acceptable worship.

And then he gives us in verse two he gives us first a negative instruction followed by a positive instruction the negative instruction first he says do not be conformed to this world speaking of your mind that word conformed has to do with external pressure that forces you into a certain pattern and so our minds are the result our worldview the way we think or our thought life has been formed by the worldly system he says you need to put that off you’ve got a cast that off don’t let that happen anymore you can do this now because you’ve offered your body to christ and now the first move now after you’ve offered your body which includes your mind you’re going to take your mind off of the world so stop being conformed to the world and instead be transformed from the inside out not outside in inside out

the spirit of god dwells in you because you’ve offered your body to the lord as a living sacrifice from now on the holy spirit and dwells you and lives inside of you so that you are abiding and walking in the spirit now let him do his work in you

one of the most beautiful greek words here is where we get the word metamorphosis it’s translated transformed we talked about butterflies in your belly but now we’re talking about that beautiful picture in nature of the caterpillar that is, metamorphosis it’s transformed into the butterfly, who, without the knowledge of what we see, nature could ever guess that a caterpillar crawling on its belly would turn into a butterfly that would fly through the heavens. This thing would become this beautiful, wonderful thing. Metamorphosis, transformation, Paul says. Stop allowing the world to conform your mind to its thoughts, because the world is broken and fallen and sinful and full of violence, selfishness Instead, yield your body, yield your mind to the spirit so that he transforms your thinking into this beautiful, wondrous identity of who you are in christ and who these other beings are, that we’re surrounded by. That all have eternal value so that god gets butterflies when he thinks about how much he loves you. He wants to transform your thinking in the Phillips translation. He does a nice job. He does a good job of getting at the sense of this verse, he says. Don’t let the world squeeze you into its own mold. Let god remold your minds from within. Give him your minds, surrender, your thoughts, be transformed.

Verse three. He says, but don’t think so highly of yourself he says, don’t be so (greek word) in the greek hooper it’s from the word hyper means above don’t be so big headed that’s the english translation i’m going with, don’t think so highly (greek word) hyper elevated of yourself because i’m telling you that won’t be the result of surrendering your mind. You won’t have high mindedness, big headedness, but instead think with sober judgment interesting, sober (greek word) it’s got the compound (greek word) which means to think, sophia, i don’t know if anyone here has the name sophia, your name means wisdom, you put those together, you’ve got wise thinking, appropriate thinking he doesn’t say low thinking low mindedness, he’s not trying to destroy our identity. No, he wants to give us accurate thinking, not puffed up thinking not low self esteem, sober minded so that you think of yourself as christ thinks of you, which is awesome, accurate, wise, appropriate give your mind to christ.

Now you can do this, we can offer our minds to christ and so yield our thinking, and when we do be forewarned, you will have a servant attitude, you will begin to think like jesus who paul discusses in philippians chapter two, he says, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus. In other words, get this. Did you know this? Come on now, did you know this? You have the mind of christ, it’s already yours. If you’re a believer,i hear this all the time, people. I just wish i knew the will of god, just praying. Would you pray with me, pastor, that i could know the will of God ? You have the mind of christ, get in the book, talk to god. This pastor doesn’t need to tell you. Now I will pray for you. I mean, that might be appropriate to pray. I’ll pray, lord, help this person start talking to you and reading their bible so they can get the mind of christ. Maybe you don’t want me to pray for you, because what i’m saying is, yield your mind to the mind of christ and, you know, it’s. Hard to drive a parked car so get on the move. He will help direct you fuel head toward you. Probably already know what he wants you to do. The reason you’re praying for god’s wheels, because you wish he’d tell you something else. Like, i don’t really want to do that, would you pray for god’s will . So i could do this other thing that i really do want to do. That’s what i usually personally run into with my own life.

Have this mind among yourselves. We’re looking at philippians which is your in christ jesus, who boy here it comes. Look what jesus did here. It is mercies of god who though he was in the form of god, he’s god, he did not count equality with god. A thing to be grasped, to be hung on to hang on to it. You know adam and eve, satan said, if you eat this, you’ll be like god and they went they grasped they didn’t deserve it. Here’s god, here’s jesus! He says, i’m god, but i’m going to release it. I’m going to release my rights. Look what he does. He empties himself in other words, as as one commentator said, he removed the insignia of majesty. He took off his crown and his robes and he stepped down from the throne. And he climbed down the ladder of love and he entered into human flesh. This is what he did. He emptied himself but taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross that’s what he did. He had that mind. It’s all good. We got that pastor I don’t want that mind. That’s crazy.

You know, the next verse is, therefore, god exalted him. You want the applause of the one offer your body and your mind to the one let him exalt you and don’t think so highly of yourself think sober minded live like a servant and let god applaud you he willl lift you up if you’ll lay your life down

first corinthians chapter two says we have the mind of christ it’s yours yield to it now how does this yielding my mind to christ how does this allow me to express myself physical love to the father to the lord look what jesus says in john chapter fourteen it says if you love me you’ll keep my commandments if you love me you’ll do what i say i think that’s it you want to show me that you love me offer your body do what i say give me your life turn it over to me and then he says if you will offer your minds it looks like this it looks like abiding

john chapter fifteen as the father has loved me so i have loved you abide in my love if you keep my commandments you’ll abide in my love just as i have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love this is how this is how i showed the father i loved him i followed his commandments now you do it and i depended on him to strengthen me physically so i could do it he says these things i’ve spoken you that my joy may be in you, that your joy might be full. This is my commandment that you love one another, as i have loved you so offer your mind, and be filled with love and joy in your mind, will you do it? Will you give your thought life to the lord?

We have this phrase, this acronym from those who have been working with computers for the last fifty sixty years garbage in garbage out right you know how you get a mind that conforms to the world how you get stinking thinking this is garbage in what goes in the eye gate in the ear gate comes out the mouth so you have to stop conforming say i have the mind of christ but i want to take it in so you read god’s word and you pray and you spend time with god’s people and you ask the lord to transform your mind will you do it

here’s the second we’re starting at the top of the head now we’re here at your hands look at your hands i want you to look at them look down at your hands will you offer your hands to the lord let’s talk about what that would look like look at verses four and five for as in one body we have many members i want you to circle the word body you might have already done it earlier but kind of look at it again verse four and five circle body and take note in that verse four the body is the individual body your body the human body but in verse five he shifts and now he’s talking about the corporate body of christ, which is the church, the believers. Now you are the body of christ.

Christ is the head and we are the body and paul’s working this out,he’s saying, look at your body, you see how you have hands and feet. Well, look at my church,, i’m the head. I have no hands but yours. This is what this is. My strategy for touching the world is that you are my hands. You’re my body, i’m the head. You’re my hands, you’re my feet, you’re my mouth, you’re my ears. You’re the one that listens to people in Jesus name, speaks to people in Jesus name, touch people in Jesus name go to where they are in Jesus name. Your body offered now becomes the body of christ, which now is your reasonable , appropriate spiritual worship.

when you touch people in the name of jesus, with your hands, you’re loving them in jesus name. But you’re also worshiping him because you’ve now done it as worship these are your hands, lord, and they become his hands.

I found the song i was looking for, a song i remembered earlier in my life. We would sing, christ has no hands but yours; no feet but yours. That was the song, and then i went on the internet, found another one in. I would encourage you to look at that. There are several songs like this, but i’m often looking for a song to inspire me. I love music, and but just contemplate that for a minute, you’re his hands

colossians one eighteen. Christ is the head of the church, which is his body first corinthians twelve twenty seven. Now you are the body of christ and individually, members of it. Ask this question. We’re asking another question . When christ was on the earth, what did he do with his hands? Let’s. Just kind of chase that for a second in the new testament. What would christ do with his hands what were some of the things he did and so i’m kind of looking at that i want you to think about how jesus instructed peter how he might express love back to jesus because jesus was getting ready to leave so that’s what we’re gonna look at. what did jesus tell peter about how he could express his love and then let’s look at what peter had learned from jesus by watching him

first of all this the story in john chapter twenty one he said to him the third time simon son of john do you love me he said to him the third time do you love me and he said lord you know everything you know that I love you jesus said feed my sheep remember that story you know peter had denied jesus three times before the crucifixion he said i don’t know the man jesus told him you’re going to deny me three times before the rooster crows and peter was broken and even after he saw the resurrected lord he still didn’t feel right and so on those were bad days for peter right? You probably had a monday or two like that he told the other disciples i’m going fishing. Peter was such an influential leader in the group. i guess we’ll go with you. They’ve already seen the resurrected jesus, but they went fishing because that’s what they did on this particular day. they were fishing but they hadn’t caught anything . And john saw someone on the beach and little bit of smoke was coming up from a fire and that someone stood up and john goes, i think that’s jesus, i think that’s the lord peter looked and because he’s peter, he dove in to start swimming, right, and Jesus calls out to them and says, have you caught anything and they said no and Jesus says , go over on the other side. they about sunk the boat with fish. Peter come running up, soaking wet to jesus. You know, Jesus already had some fish. I don’t know where he got them. I want to ask him about that someday.

Where’d you get those fish? I already had some cooking and he tells peter, i gave you a bunch of fish. bring some of those fish in. Peter comes up, they’re sitting around the campfire there, eating breakfast that jesus prepared, he leans over in front of all the disciples. Peter, do you love me? Right in the heart i mean like do you love jesus yes feed my sheep I am getting ready to ascend you can’t express your physical touch my way but you know if you want to show me your love you’ll feed my sheep he asked him a second time peter do you love me more than these? I don’t know where he pointed when he said that he said more than these more than these more than these he might have pointed at the fish and said are you going to go back to fishing for fish? I thought you were following me to fish for men don’t you love me more than these fish that might have been it where you might have pointed at the other disciples are you going to put them ahead of me or maybe he pointed out i don’t know maybe it’s all of the above do you love me more than these tend to my sheep feed my lambs he asked three times if you want to show that you love me peter take care do what you saw me do feed my sheep tend to my lambs if you love me

what did jesus do with his hands? In matthew chapter seventeen after the disciples had heard the lord god say this is my son in whom I am well pleased listen to him they were upon the mount of transfiguration they fell down on their faces and were terrified but jesus came and touched them saying rise and have no fear and they lifted their eyes and they saw no one but jesus only he touched them , he said, don’t be afraid if we’re the hands of jesus, we’re going to go to the fearful we’re going to encourage them, we’re gonna lift him up so they don’t be afraid don’t be afraid, isn’t that the constant repeating phrase of jesus? Don’t be afraid

god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind we can touch people that are fearful look at mark chapter ten and they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them hey, wait a minute, this is an adult’s service, the children you know… and jesus when he saw what the disciples had done, he was indignant in other words he was ticked and he said to them, you let these children come to me, don’t you hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of god Truly i say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of god like a child shall not enter it and he took them in his arms and blessed them and he laid his hands on them

you can’t really do much with hands without arms so, give Him the arms, too, you need those. They’re connected to your hands. Where you touch the least of these, that in the name of jesus, that can give you nothing back in return. You see, a lot of us will touch somebody, because we know now they owe us, and they’ll give something back. But the least of these are not able. Will you bless them. That’s what it looks like to offer your hands, people that you’ll touch, the fearful in the name of jesus and encourage them. You’ll touch and embrace the least of these the weak that are unable to repay, expecting no payment in return

In matthew, chapter eight. We see this story where a leper came to him and he fell down. He knelt before jesus. lord, if you’re willing, you could make me clean. I believe you could do it , but you have to want to do it, because i understand who you are and jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and he said, i’m willing be clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Now leprosy was a devastating disease. We study on that the body was dying a little, a little at a time. It was literally rotting away, so a person in an advanced stage of leprosy the sight and the stench would be overwhelming. They were called the untouchables. Many times in the new testament jesus healed from a distance when the centurion went home his servant was healed he could heal from a distance but the leper the untouchable comes he falls at christ’s feet lord if you want to you could heal me and he stretches forth his hand that’s interesting isn’t it i think the leper pulled away why else did he have to stretch because the leper was like come on don’t touch me i want you to hear me but you can’t touch me because you don’t know how messed up i am but our lord jesus man he just won’t have any of that he leaned out and stretched his hand right there on that man he was cleansed from leprosy

the bible is a picture of the human condition because of sin we’re dying a piece at a time and yet jesus came and he touches us and he cleanses us if we will ask him and we can touch and heal these are the things that jesus did with his hands he touched and so come we because why because we’re now his body he has no hands but ours

matthew chapter eight He visits peters, mother in law’s house and she’s laying there sick with a fever. And he goes over and he touches her hand, and she jumps up and starts cooking a meal for him. Everywhere he goes, those hands, i bet those disciples never forgot what those hands looked like, especially after they were nail pierced and they could see the wounds. And they knew he did that for me. Don’t you want to see his hands? You’re his hands.

Do you remember what your mother’s hands looks like some of your mother’s are alive you’re blessed your mother still alive there’s just something about a mother’s hands my mother is with jesus i can remember her hands i remember like a year after she died i thought i was getting better you know, like i was through the grieving and only the sweetness remained but i was in the shower started singing you know you sound so good in the shower and i was washing i looked at my hands and all of a sudden i remembered my mother’s hands and singing in the shower is great for crying because it just washes away singing and crying thinking about my mom’s hands I get to see them again someday i remember like the week before my mother died i went up there to see her and she made breakfast for me and she’s sitting at the table she took my hand she was looking at it I said to her mom i am trying to eat one handed here i mean my mom’s breakfast I needed two hands to eat it you know you don’t eat it with one hand she’s looking at my hand like mothers do and said you’ve got hands like your daddy then she got a tear in her eye Use your hands to touch to heal to bless to encourage to lift up to embrace from now on

then finally offer your feet trying to cover the whole body they only gave me a little time so i’ll start at the top of the head we’ve worked this out now let’s finish out with the feet we’re still in verses four and five we’re still talking about the different functions that the body has different members it has hands and it has arms it has feet other parts but we’re summarizing now feet we’re finishing with feet what would it look like to give christ your feet i think your feet are given to you so that you might go places it’s called walking by faith you need your feet for that

In the book of luke jesus was walking to a town called Nain as he went there the disciples were with him and a great crowd gathered around him and as he drew near the gate of the town behold a man who had died was being carried out through the gate and a big crowd is following him he was the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a considerable crowd from the town was with her and when the lord saw her he had compassion on her she was weeping she’s wearing black with a veil maybe she had her hand on the bier as they were carrying it, he said, don’t weep. And then he came up and touched the bier. Now, if you don’t know want that, is it’s, like a like a stretcher, what we would call a casket, except it would be open because they would carry the body to the tomb, and at the tomb they would prepare the body with spices, and they would wrap it so he’s open, and maybe the men are either carrying it on their shoulders or carrying it like this, but they’re carrying the body. Jesus goes up, puts his hand on the biel and the pallbearers stood still, and jesus said, young man, i say to you, arise and the dead man sat up and began to speak I don’t know what he said. I’m going to ask him some day, got a whole long list of things to ask , and jesus gave the man to his mother.

Just imagine that today; you’re in a funeral procession. Got your headlights on. You’re following the hearse. Got the casket inside. Somebody waves down the procession. That is bad manners, right there stopping a funeral procession in the south. Don’t we pull over and let it go by ? That’s, kind of a lost thing. He is jesus, he stopped the funeral procession, huh? What? Hey, pull over, the hearse reaches him, he pops the casket open. Hey, wait a minute! What did he do? He says get up! Arise! goes to the next car and says to the mother here’s, your boy, he’s out there, preaching the boy, he’s got out of the casket, he’s preaching about jesus already. I think that’s, a pretty amazing story. Jesus’ feet took him there.

Can we go where people are spiritually dead, and can we give them the good news that would cause them a rise to new life? We’re christ’s feet! What do the feet have to do with sharing the gospel? How can feet preach the gospel romans chapter ten:14-15 How then will they call on him, whom they have not believed and are they to believe in him, whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching, and how are they to preach unless they are sent? It is written as he quotes the prophet. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? What does feet have to do with it? They carry the gospel. That is how the gospel gets to the people who have never heard the gospel. Are you wearing gospel shoes today? Do you carry the gospel everywhere you go now, if you want beautiful feet, ladies, you go pay some money over there. Get yourself a pedicure, huh? That lasts for only a moment, the put on some gospel shoes. Come on, man, you could get pretty feet two and man, you got some ugly feet. I know you do. But you can have pretty feet you have beautiful feet you put on some gospel shoes

ephesians six fifteen speaks of the armour of god says and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace come on put them on carry the gospel everywhere you go give your feet to god how does carrying the gospel express your love? Remember what he said? If you love me you’ll keep my commandments what’s the great commission that he gives to his body go therefore and make disciples of all nations right baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything i’ve taught you until i return in i’m with you right until the end of the age right that’s the great commission if you want to show that you love him get your gospel shoes on and start telling others about jesus get involved with sharing the gospel you can stop funeral processions there all over the world now people marching to their death without christ every day thousands and hundreds of thousands of people are passing into eternity without christ and here we sit with these feet that we’ve yet to offer to christ you can offer him in so many ways you can offer him through the way you allow missionaries by praying for them and financially supporting them there’s so many ways that you could carry the gospel get your gospel shoes

will you do it will you do the reasonable thing the logical thing based on the mercies of christ and will you offer your body your bodies mind your hands your feet to christ his worship and i love you with all that i am because that’s what christ did he said i love you this much and he stretched out his hands and he died on the cross for our sins it’s the only reasonable thing to do is to offer your life back to him

Let’s pray. thank you for jesus and thank you for the way he has touched us now I pray for the person first of all that’s here this morning and you have yet to respond to christ love by giving him the only reasonable offering and that’s yourself to say all that i am is now yours i want you in my life i believe i believe in you now friend you can pray right now with me if that’s you if you’re someone who came in here today and you’re looking for peace you’re looking for purpose you’re looking for freedom for relief for rest it’s all in christ would you say right where you’re at in your seat would you pray with me dear lord jesus you can say it right now silently or you could say it aloud dear lord jesus, i believe you died on the cross that you were raised from the grave and that you live today. I believe that. Would you come into my life? Forgive me of my sin. Make me what you’d have me be. I offer all that i am, to you, my mind, my hands, my feet and everything in between it’s, yours. And i pray that you’d make me a child of god. I want you to be my savior and lord, if you prayed that prayer, oh, my goodness, the lord is ready, he’s, ready to save you and to , make you a child of god, others are here today, and you’ve received jesus, but you’re holding back. I mean, you’ve asked him into your life, but maybe you’re holding your mind back, or your hands, or your feet or there’s, something you’re like holding back. Would you express your love to him today by offering your whole life a fresh today to him in christ’s name? Amen.