Pastor Elaine Fisher - Through Her Eyes - Forever Changed

why I'm honored to be here I'm honored to be a part of Gateway Church and to call gateway church my family obviously I have been a part of the church since the very beginning and when it started in my parent's home and I've grown over the last 15 so years to grow all this my family and so I'm really honored to be among family today so thank you for having me and I do believe that we have one of the best pastors in the world and I know you all agree with me but I really have come to learn that you are some of the best people in the world I've learned as we've traveled with my parents and we've gone to all over the world we get stopped everywhere and people tell us how much gateway has impacted them and we've come to know that that is because of you it's because of how you love and how you serve and how you give and so I just wanted to say thank you for being you and making gateway who it is because of y'all really are the best people in the world so thank you so much for being who you are well today I titled the message forever changed if you have your Bibles you can turn to Luke chapter 8 and we're going to talk about the woman with the issue of blood but before we get there I thought I would tell you about my brothers who have an issue with blood now you've heard my brothers you've heard stories about them that they are awesome hunters they are fantastic they've cleaned deer they've cleaned fish they just they're all-around animal blood all the time and never once as it bought it bothered them but in their words people that they love in essence human blood just makes them a little queasy it I mean really they'll pass out and so about ten years ago if you were part of the church you might remember this my father and I were in a motorcycle accident it was pretty severe and they care flighted me to downtown and then they buy a Mullin stick my father to Baylor great mine and so my mom and my dad decided that my mom would meet me in downtown and my two brothers would go to the ER and grapevine with my father and so here my brothers are in the room with my father and just to kind of set up the scene for you if the ed was here my brothers are standing next to each other next to my father and Josh my oldest brother's holding my father's hand and James is touching my father's leg and so they come in to change the IV on my father's arm and when they go to unplug it some blood comes out now I got my family together and I asked them the story so I could get the full context of it and when I asked this part of it my father said it was a drop of blood my brother Josh said it was a stream of blood now James he replied back it was a mini super so great was going like this and so here obviously we all agreed it was a little bit more than a drop probably not a mini super soaker so here it is it's going into there touching my father and all the sudden James says there's this wall right here and he just leans on like this it was cold and he begins to shake and he's getting a little clammy and he's like he just starts to go farther and farther down the wall and Josh said there was this pole right here on them like a hospital bed you've seen it and it was cold so he just wouldn't put his head on it never once they take the hand off of my father so Josh looks around and James is now laying on the hospital room floor because it's cold gross josh is looking at him and James is going floor Josh floor Josh floor and so Josh looks down he said he looked awesome so he goes okay and they way they laid on the floor together not wise did they let go of my father and so here they are they're laying and they open their eyes and they are face to face and they notice a drop of blood has landed in between them oh so a few weeks after this had happened we were all sitting around as a family we had extended family in and my father begins to brag on my brothers and he said it was just so sweet they were in the room with me the whole time and I just remember this one moment when they came in to change my IV and I was in so much pain and I just looked over my son's fell to their knees to pray for me obviously we had a little confession session later that day my brothers have an issue with blood and so I wanted to talk about a woman with an issue of blood so we're picking up at the end of chapter 8 and right before this Jesus has just healed the demon-possessed man from Legion which means many demons so he's coming back from that over the lake of Galilee back to this crowd and just real briefly I just want to notice that about the demon possessed me and he was obviously under the influence of Satan but the moment he saw Jesus he fell to his knees to worship and I just want to notice that no matter how much influence Satan has he can't stop us from worshiping Jesus and so whatever we're going through today or whatever our children or our friends are going through today I hope you'll hear the truth that Satan can't stop our nation or us from worshiping Jesus so we're going to start in verse 40 it said on the other side of the lake the crowds welcomed Jesus because they had been waiting for him then a man named Jairus a leader of the local synagogue came and fell at Jesus's feet pleading with him to come home with him his only daughter who was 12 years old was dying as Jesus went with him he was surrounded by the crowds a woman in the crowd had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding and she could find no cure coming up behind Jesus she touched the fringe of his robe and immediately the bleeding stopped who touched me Jesus asked everyone denied it and Peter said master this whole crowd is pressing up against you but jesus said someone deliberately touched me for I felt healing power go out from me when the woman realized that she could not stay hid and she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him the whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed he replied daughter your faith has made you well go in peace while he was still speaking to her a messenger arrived from the home of gyrus the leader of the synagogue he told him your daughter is dead there's no use troubling the teacher now but when Jesus heard what had happened he said to gyruss don't be afraid just have faith and she will be healed today I want to look through the eyes of the woman with the issue of blood and I believe an encounter with Jesus will change three things in our lives and so the first thing that I believe in encounter with Jesus will forever change is our perspective our perspective will be forever changed when we have an encounter with Jesus when I look at this story I see three different perspectives I see the first one that being the crowd people just following people they have no idea who's in their presence they have no idea what's truly going on they're just following the crowd the second perspective I see and this is that of the disciples they're saved they've committed their lives to follow Jesus but they have no idea how capable their God is they have no idea the fullness of who God is and on that day the disciples learned a lesson they learned that we do not rob each other of God's gifts see while God was on his way to heal one person he stopped to have an encounter with another but that didn't rob gyruss daughter of the healing needed for her it didn't rob gyruss his daughter of the power that was within Jesus when the woman's reached up to touch Jesus that didn't steal the healing power away from the daughter because see Jesus is an unlimited fountain he's so full of power that he can meet all of our needs because he has leisure of heart for both and he has power for both he can feel for both needs going on and he could heal both needs going on the disciples learned that day that all are welcomed that day they encountered a woman who was poor and all alone but on another moment they encountered a man who was wealthy and well-known they encountered a woman who was power and a man who was full of power Jesus said no matter who you are you're welcome at my feet and what brought me to think about that is because he met both people right where they were because our means are no need of no ground for our king no matter how much money or how little money we have we are still welcomed at the feet of Jesus and no matter how much money or how little money we have it does not matter how big our God is in our life he doesn't look at our means and say well for you I'll be big but for you I'll be small he looks at our means and he says for you I'll be God the third perspective that I noticed in this story is that of the woman this woman acknowledged her need for a savior in mark 5 it's the same story but in a different gospel it said she had heard about Jesus I'm sure that this woman had heard the whispers going around that this man was the Messiah that he was healing people all over and I wonder if that woman had a thought that said maybe he would heal me and so on that day she decided I've tried everything else I'm going to lay all that I have on the line and I'm just gonna see I'm gonna test the rumors and see if this man would heal me and on that day not only did she receive physical healing she received spiritual healing if you remember how he responded to her in verse 48 it said daughter your faith has made you well on that day through his eyes he didn't see a random girl in the crowd he didn't see a burden he didn't see an issue he didn't see a problem on that day he saw a daughter and on today no matter what you've walked into the church with God doesn't look at you and his perspective of us is not that we are a burden an issue or a problem we might have all of those but that's not who we are see when God has a perspective of us it is that we are his children and so today God's perspective of you and I is that we are his sons and we are his daughters I believe that our perspective will determine our encounter with Jesus many have we'll come into church with a perspective that he is a man that heals some but my prayer is that all of us today would have an encounter with Jesus that our perspective turns to be one that he is my Messiah see this woman's perspective changed it was no longer who rumours said was the Messiah it was this is my Messiah it was no longer who rumors in the story told that this is just what he does for some it was now he does it for me it was now this is my story this is my healing this is my Savior my great I am when I was a little girl my father traveled to speak and so one time while he was out of town my mother was at home with me and the boys and when I was a little girl I tended to be a little bit bossy I don't I've obviously outgrown that obviously so I just you know I was and so one time my mother said hey Elaine can you do this for me and I replied back I don't have to she said excuse me I said I don't have to she probably in all honesty was just trying to collect herself before going crazy on me she goes and why is that and I said well because that's the boss and when dad's out of town I'm the boss it didn't take long for my perspective to change after an encounter with my mother that day the second thing that is forever changed we have an encounter with Jesus is our relationship our relationship will be forever change it will be deepened it will be uh we will grow within our relationship when we have an encounter with Jesus if you remember Jesus said who touched me just a point to take from that is that our God is aware he knew when the healing power went out from him and he acknowledged it he noticed that the virtue left him and he acknowledged her I think sometimes we think that God is so busy healing everyone else that he that he won't notice if we just slip in grab what we need and leave maybe we think of him something like an ATM we can drive up we can tell him what we need we type in a pin whether that be a prayer a scripture or a tithe and then we grabbed what we need and we go on about our life but see God won't allow us to slip in and to slip out because he desires a relationship with us God is aware of us and he's aware of our needs he's aware of our once and he wants to have an encounter with each and every one of us today he asked who touched me and Peter being Peter replied the whole crowd is pressing up against you and Jesus said no no Peter someone deliberately touched me see there's a difference between pressing up against Jesus and deliberately reaching out to touch him many that day had involuntarily reached out and pressed up against Jesus but only one deliberately reached out and touched him and that one was the one that received a life-changing encounter with him I wonder how many of us come into church and we just merely follow the crowds and press up against Jesus but are we coming in with faith that says I will deliberately reach out and touch Jesus when Ethan and I were first married and we had been married a little over a year so we had lived in one apartment at one apartment for a season we are moving into a new home for a little bit and at the time I had a desire that I asked Ethan to sleep closest to the door and so in our first apartment what worked out great we had become acquainted with our sides but then the next apartment caused us to have to switch sides and so as you might imagine that caused a little bit of learning and so after the first couple nights it was one morning and I was awoken by this loud obnoxious sound and I was getting more information as the noise kept getting louder and louder and finally I woke up enough to realize that it was his alarm and so when I opened my eyes I noticed that we are face to face we are facing the middle of the bed and he is sound asleep so I'm staring at him trying to figure out do I touch him do I just wait here a minute and finally there's some stirring that goes on over there so I think praise God he's waking up I'm going back to bed I got another hour of sleep goodnight so I closed my eyes and I feel of movement come across my head like this and I opened my eyes and I was like what he's out I was like okay going back to sleep the noise and his stopping he's stirring he's gonna get it and then again I feel movement a little bit more intense this time go across my forehead like this um okay now if you have an iPhone in the home in this house you immediately it's dawning on you what is going on but if you don't let me just quickly explain any I feature when you have an alarm on it it makes an annoying noise until you slide your finger across the bottom of the phone and so here he was going across my forehead so for the third time it's dawned on me I'm looking at him I'm now giggling but not trying to wake him up you know the laughs and he reaches out and with full force all the way across my forehead now if you could have seen his face he would have been just like you and I would if we were extremely tired and we want to be a noise to stop I'm now laughing finally it dawns on him he rolls over he turns his phone off he gets out of bed gets in the shower cuz that's what men do they don't acknowledge it right all the men in the house a man huh huh okay he gets out of the shower I'm crying and I look at him he goes what what's so funny and I go did you try to style it he learned that day you can never silence me on that day because of a touch our relationship was deepened why did God ask this woman to give a public confession many might think it was an embarrassment to her but in all actuality this public confession was for her not for him see this public confession led to an encounter with Jesus this public confession was an encouragement to gyrus it was a rebuke to the crowd and a public confession no matter whether it be for salvation for repentant or for acknowledgement of who God is it will always be for our sake and not for his because it will always remind us who our God is and God doesn't want us to come in and just steal away from the crowd because he desires a relationship with us and on that day if this woman would have come in and stolen away with her healing she would have never gotten to meet Jesus personally see Jesus called her out that day because he wanted her to realize that it wasn't the mere physical touch that healed her that it was more than merely physical it was also moral see on that day she had received the power of his healing she had received the blessing of his power but she needed to stop to receive the blessing of his word how many of us come into church and we received the blessing of his presence and of his power but do we ever stop to receive the blessing of his word in verse 47 if you remember said that she realized she not stay hidden so she fell to her knees before Jesus my daughter who will be two in August and she is quite funny her little personalities coming out and she's learning to talk but she loves to play this hiding game but it's very funny to Ethan and I to watch her hide because it's something like this and we just laugh cuz she assumes that because she can't see us we can't see her I wonder how often we do that with God we think because he can't or we can't see him he doesn't see us but because we cannot stay hidden from God I want us to realize that we should be okay to come before God and lay out all of our problems to lay out our heart and to lay out our troubles because he already knows them and he desires so badly to have an encounter with us that same daughter climbed into a chair that we have we call it a taco and but it's really like a rock and play and it's for her little sister Kate and so she climbed into that and one day she got stuck so Ethan and I watched as she tried to get herself out of that and she finally gave up and she goes dead to any help I need help and so Ethan walks up and he picks her up and he sets her on the floor and this little girl with all her might jumps as high as she can because I did it I did it I did it and we began to laugh but the more I thought about that I said you know although she didn't get herself out of the predicament she got herself into she did do it by asking her father for help our efforts will not bring forth our healing but our faith can activate the gifts of God the third thing that will be forever changed when we have an encounter with Jesus is our future our future is forever changed when we have an encounter with Jesus this woman was considered ceremonially unclean it explains it in Leviticus 15 verse 25 it says if a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period or if the blood continues beyond the normal period she is ceremonially unclean as during her menstrual period the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues any bed she lies on any object she sits on during that time will be unclean just as during our normal menstrual period if any of you touch these things you will be ceremonially unclean you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in the water and you will remain unclean until evening because of this it was actually very um uncommon or it would be rare for her to be among amidst of crowds because if she were to have touched somebody they would have been considered ceremonially unclean so because of that she probably was either divorced or never married she probably had very few friends if any she probably felt unwelcomed in church and she might have been unwelcomed in church in mark 5 verse 26 that same story it says she had endured much at the hands of many physicians and she had spent all that she had and was not helped at all but rather had grown worse this woman had tried everything the world told her would heal her and instead of receiving relief or healing she grew worse I'm reminded of how some of us have an issue of blood and we've tried everything that we can to fix it and we can't fix it we might be looked down on by others and we probably look down on ourselves because of this issue in our lives we've tried everything to get rid of it we've tried everything to overcome that habit but for some reason we just can't heal it we just can't fix it but in an instant just like this woman who had an encounter with Jesus if we will stop to have an encounter with Jesus we will be forever changed because our God is powerful enough to heal even our habit when I was going to oru um I was an average girl in the crowd and then one time my father got invited to come speak at chapel and so he had come a little bit early so I could show him around campus a little bit and spend some time with him and so students began to see me with this guy and then he gets up to speak and he stops and before he gets into his message and he introduces me as his daughter after he finishes he leaves our relationship didn't it change it was actually probably deepened from the time spent together we continue to talk we begin to continue to grow closer and closer but my relationship with the crowd that I was among changed my identity was no longer an average student among the others my identity was now his daughter my identity was now oh you're Robert Morris's daughter yeah I am so now I had friends that wanted to be my friend because of who my father was I had people that wanted to hear my story because of who my father was and see this woman here she was an average probably an outcast among the crowd and then her father came into the scene and he called her out by daughter and no longer was she an average outcast in the crowd she was now his daughter and people now wanted to talk to her because of who her father was people now want to talk to her because of her story because of her healing they wanted to be her friend because now she had been healed by the Messiah and the point in my illustration there is not that I have a well-known have an earthly father but my point is that we all have a well-known Heavenly Father and because of that we have a world that would like to know our story they would like to know about us because of who our father is they would like to know about our healings because we are no longer the average person in the crowd we are now the ones that have been healed by the Messiah and so wherever you are and your scene of life whether you're a stay at home or whether you're a CEO I pray that you would embrace where you are and tell your story because you are no longer an average Joe you are now his sons and his daughters that day this woman encountered Jesus and in that encounter he silenced her fears he commended her faith and he sent her away in peace what did that be just a sweet moment to be sent away by the peace our peace with the term go in peace wouldn't that just mean so much more to you to hear the words from the peace of all peace saying go in peace maybe he was saying something like don't forget me let's stay in relationship on that day it was her faith her strong confidence that was the means for her restoration it was the power of Jesus that cured her but that power would not have been exerted but in connection with her faith so in salvation or in anything else no one is saved who does not believe but faith is the instrument not the power that saves we all have a story to tell and my story is that I grew up in a Christian home but I believe that I had no need for a savior I was a good kid I lived in a very good home so why would I need Jesus and then I grew older and I began to believe more and more lies and I began to get in a more and more dark and sinful life and I you could say I had an issue with blood I had this void I had this hurt inside of me that I could not feel and I tried what the world I told me would help fill this void and just like this woman I didn't get any relief I didn't get healed instead I grew worse maybe you can relate but one day I was tired of living this shameful sinful hurtful life and so I remember saying okay I'll test the room murrs okay I'll see if you are who you say you are and I lay down on this cold cement floor of an empty garage and that night I cried out to God It was as though I deliberately reached out to touch the hem of His garment and on that night for me he turned and had an encounter with me and in that encounter my perspective was forever changed my relationship was forever changed and my future was forever changed but since that moment since that moment I've had so many encounters with him that have changed my perspective in my relationship in my future and I believe that God is a God who wants to have daily encounters with us that will change our perspective in our relationship in our future every single time we have an encounter with Jesus it will forever change our perspective on our relationship and our future would you bow your heads and close your eyes I want to ask you something today and I realized that the majority of us here will probably say yes to this but I just want us to take a moment and to acknowledge it if you are here today and you would say I need a touch from God I have this issue in my life I have this child that's run away from God I have this job issue I have marriage issues or relationship issues or whatever that issue might be if you're here today and you say I have an issue and I need a touch from God would you just lift your hand up so I can see it there are hands all over the place you can put your hands down I want to tell you that sometimes we need to come into agreement with someone else we need to do what this woman did when we press through the crowds and we come up before the feet of Jesus and we deliberately reach out to touch him and so in just a moment we're going to go back into a worship song and I'm going to ask you to do what this woman did and as soon as we see end up would you press through the crowds don't leave if you don't have to because there will be people coming up here to have an encounter with Jesus but if you need that touch from Jesus I'm going to ask you to press through the crowds and I'm going to ask you to stand up and come to the altar and allow someone to come into agreement with you and today we're going to reach out and touch God and have an encounter with God that will forever change our perspective and our relationship and our future so in just a moment if you need prayer for anything at all at any campus in overflow rooms wherever you are if you need prayer you just step up as soon as we stand out stand up you step up and you come out come up front and let us pray for you so lord I ask that you would draw every single person that needs an encounter with you today and that you would have that encounter with them that will forever change their relationship their perspective and their future in Jesus name Amen I was 19 years old when I gave my life to the Lord and everything changed I didn't have any desire to go back to that old life I wanted to walk with the Lord and learn more about him and some people helped me to learn the Bible and to learn how to pray and to learn about my new life in Christ and that's what we want to do for you I am so excited that you've given your life to the Lord he's forgiven all of your sins and you're on your way to heaven but we need to learn some things now about the Bible about prayer about some basics of the Christian life so that you can be victorious and live for the Lord like I know you want to so we've designed a class called fresh start and I want to encourage you to sign up for this class because we want to help you grow in your walk with the Lord now I love you and I'm so proud of you

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

Views: 38,135

Rating: 4.7948718 out of 5

Keywords: gatewaypeople, Gateway Church, Pastor Elaine, Elaine Fisher, Southlake, Texas, DFW, Lord, God, Jesus, Christ, Church, Through Her Eyes, Forever Changed

Id: 5p3CnPpS1II

Length: 32min 40sec (1960 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 08 2015