No, You're Not Ready (part 1) by Brother Duke Hansen

         Before we begin this morning's sermon, I wanted to establish something that many of us do not consider. The reality you know is fashioned by your immediate past. I'm not speaking about when you were a kid growing up, but I am talking about 2 weeks ago. Our memories keep falling away to that of a goldfish. However, because we are only living in the moment, we do not pay attention to history of any kind, so  we end up making or repeating mistakes either personally or collectively. 

        Our first scripture reading will be coming from the book of Luke chapter 8. We will start at verse 41. It is a very familiar story that has been shared and gone over repeatedly behind this pulpit. 

        41 And, behold, there came a man named Jarius, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet. and besought him that he would come into his house:

        42 For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.

        43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,

        Now, there is a reason in which the woman with the issue of blood had spent all her living on physicians rather than go to the synagogue. The reason was that she was following the law established in the time of Moses and had been passed down from generation to generation. The country's history had been shared as well. That history never was lost among the people where as today, you have many who ignore history, have no appetite to consume history, deciding to be blissfully ignorant in their emotion. Turn to the book of Leviticus chapter 15. We will start at verse 19. 

        19 And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.

        20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitters upon shall be unclean,

        21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

        22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even

        23 And if it be on her bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even

        24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. 

        The whole book of Leviticus is a guide of instruction and laws to the Israelites out of their sinful past. There's an emphasis on the need of personal holiness. This scripture read is explaining about what the woman with the issue of blood in Luke chapter 8 is going through.

        25 And if a woman have an issue of blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.

        26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.

        27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

        28 But id she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

        So, if we look back on Luke chapter 8 and wondering why the woman was hiding herself, it is because she was to be separated. 

        29 And on the eighth day she shall take upon her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

        30 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the Lord for the issue of her uncleanness.

        The sin offering the priest offers goes back to the original sin in the Garden of Eden.

        31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.

        32 This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth before him, and is defiled therewith;

        33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.

        Put a pin on the phrase when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. We will be coming back to that in a little while. We need to think about the perspective of the woman in Luke chapter 8. Before the moment she reached to touch the hem of Jesus' garment, she was operating on no faith. The reach out and touch was a last ditch effort by a woman who was at the end of her rope. It wasn't like they would allow her into the court of tabernacles let along the temple because of her condition. She spent everything she had to get medicine of the time to fix her issue. God tells us there is a lot of sin that remains on us from the garden, and too many of us seek the world's advice because there seems to be no shortage of options. We are headed to a day where evil is good and good is evil. When all the options the woman had were exhausted, that's when she put her faith in Jesus. He even states that he felt virtue leave. We have too many options to turn to in the world that are time wasting distractions. Many denominations have fashioned knock off substitutes of Jesus. The world at large has no problem discussing sin with the believer, but it is going to scoff when you seek Jesus as your solution. The woman knew the law, she shouldn't have been in that throng around Jesus, yet she moved her faith away from the world and towards him for her healing. If you think whatever sin your hiding in the church is good and right, bring it out of hiding and into the sanctuary if you are to be so bold! It is lost on many that our body is a tabernacle for the Holy Ghost. The woman knew that by law she would be turned away. She took it by force, knowing she wasn't worthy by the worlds standards and received her healing.

        It is your job to judge yourself, study and show yourself approved. It is amazing what we can do when there is one option left. Restrictions were placed on women as an example of sin defiling the temple, and yet today sin is openly practiced but in some churches embraced. Self righteous, blowhard fools out there saying "There's nothing wrong how I do it! I will profess how God does things to do it!" As if the admission of sin without any repentance is a license to live like the world and you're okay! Grace! Radical grace pastor!! 

        A relationship has never worked like this, It never will. Quit lying to yourself. God expects us to overcome the basic sins first and then to the hard carnal sins like jealousy, bitterness, emotions our flesh loves to stay in and move into perfection.

        There is a select group of people who think it is doing the church a favor by professing their calling to represent God and Christianity as elected representatives. The only thing politics ultimately do is put money over people and sow division among the people. Did you know that states have what is called a sin tax? It's true! Lawmakers who will use their hollow faith to pass harmful laws, took it upon themselves to pass a sin tax that collected 60 billion in revenue back in 2016. What is listed in the sin tax? 1) Alcohol 2) Tobacco 3) Drugs 4) Coffee 5) Sugar 6) Gambling 7) Pornography. The sin tax is meant to be a deterrent to others and I'm standing here thinking how sad is it that the government can perceive what is harmful to man, and too many churches out there embrace it as "everyone has feet of clay brother!"

       To be concluded Monday November 14