"Touching Lives with the Love of God"

Hi there this is Lon Solomon and I like to welcome you to our program today.

You know it's a tremendous honor that God is given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward and I'm so glad you tuned in to listen and be part of them. Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio and now let's get to the word of God when I say the name is Eric Clapton what image comes to mind. Well, you were raised in the 60s and 70s. The way I was.

You get an image immediately. Very Clapton you get the image of a long-haired guitar playing defiant irreverence.

So for sure and maybe even cocky musician and this is how we knew him.

Mrs. Ally new Eric Clapton. Recently, however, he's had a hit song and a hit video entitled in heaven, but it's very much out of character for the man that I think of when I think of Eric Clapton because it's kind of a melancholy kind of all of plaintiff's kind of a heavy hearted soul.

The line goes like this will you know my name if I see you in heaven, will you be the same if I see you in heaven. You see, several years ago Clapton had a little boy H2 as I recall who fell through an upper story window accidentally in his home and plunged to his death in the street below, and Clapton was so stricken with grief that he literally disappeared for months like fell off the end of the world typing and when he finally reemerged from his self-imposed exile, he reemerged with the song that he'd written to his little boy when you know my name if I see you have will you be the same if I see you have as the song goes on, you realize he doesn't have any answers to all these questions that he's asking about have and as you listen you feel the man's pain you you can feel his confusion. You can feel his grief coming through Evernote every word in the soul. Not too long was watching on television when the video came on of the song and as I sat there watching him students from his guitar and sing this song to his little boy. I was really can't overcome with emotion I was moved to tears. And I thought what I really wanted to do was cut a reach right through that picture to and put my arms around the spurting man and give them a big hug and looking right in the eyes and tell them about loving the assurance that he can have in Jesus Christ. When obviously I can't reach them.

Television set.

Neither can you, to touch the life of Eric Clapton with the love of God, but every day folks you and I pass hurting people on the street in our offices in our neighborhoods every day that we can reach out and touch with the love of God. In fact we made this omission.

The stated mission for our church. You know what our church's mission is touching lives.

What with the love of God to read the front of your bulletin this morning touching lives with the love of God and this morning were to see Jesus Christ do this very thing, and I hope in this example will be a great source of motivation for you and me to follow in his footsteps.

Let's look at chapter 5, verse 12, while Jesus was in one of the towns meaning.

One of the towns around the Sea of Galilee, a man came along who was covered with leprosy now will really help us understand this passage. If we understand leprosy.

If we understand what it was like in ancient Israel. Leprosy is a bacterial disease, it's often called by another name.

Hansen's disease, it's contagious. It's called by touching the discharge that comes from the nose or out of the skin sores of people that have the disease today.

Leprosy can be treated with modern drugs cannot technically be cured but in most cases it can be made in active by these drugs. However, in ancient Israel. There was no treatment for leprosy.

There were no drugs that could stop its progress and people who contracted leprosy lived miserable lives, the leprosy, the bacteria would slowly eat away at people skin, making them deformed and hideous looking once more as a bacteria airway and people stand. It destroyed their nerve endings, meaning that people couldn't feel with their fingers or toes or their nose. For example, and that made them very prone to injuries that would then get infected and would then cause the loss of limb because they couldn't feel that they were hurting themselves.

Leprosy was literally a living death and to make it even worse. There was the rejection that went with the disease because since it was a contagious disease. The fear of getting leprosy was a downright paranoia. In ancient cultures. It was Israel.

The Old Testament says that anyone with leprosy had to live outside of the city they had to live segregated lives, they were literally isolated and blackballed from all of society. And what's more, in ancient Israeli culture. A person with leprosy was under the obligation to warn other people that he had leprosy or that she had leprosy and the way they did.

It is by having to cry out unclean unclean about themselves. Whenever anyone approached the can you imagine having to walk around and whenever anybody got near you and the other human being. You had to get out unclean about yourself.

The way these people made a living the way they survived is either by begging from a distance or scavenging and apart from a miracle. This is how they would spend the rest of their lives and how they would die in this man who came to Jesus we need to understand did not have a minor case. Look at verse 12 it says that he came along and he was covered with leprosy. The Greek word here means that he wasn't falloff are filled with leprosy. He probably a part of his fingers in his toes and his nose eaten away already by the disease they probably have open sores all over his arms and his legs and his faith.

Just losing bacteria laden parts. This is the man Jesus meant in one of these little towns around CDL and with no hope of Jesus, so verse 12 when he saw Jesus he fell with his face on the ground and he begged him, saying, Laura is you are willing, you can make me clean. This is a great prayer.

If you are willing, you can make me clean. Did you notice he did not say morning if you are what enable he can say that these are morning. If you are willing, you can make me clean. And the reason this is such a great prayer is because this is a prayer that presents Jesus with the right kind of faith as a Christian were asking him to change something you see the issue with this leper was not God's ability.

But God's will, even asked whether God was able, he asked whether it was in the will of God and whether it was best for him to get what he wanted which was healing and I believe when any of us come to the Lord as Christians and ask for things we need to take this man's prayer is an example of how to approach the Lord and asked for something.

It's not a question of whether God is able God is able to do anything. It's a question of what's best for us in the will of God.

I don't know what you're praying for the God would change in your life. Maybe your life is perfect and you don't need anything but mine is in one of the things that I'm approaching God on and asking God for us to heal my daughter who has epilepsy and to change that part of our lives in our family but you know I have to constantly remind myself when I asked the Lord about this. If the issue is not whether God is able God is able. The issue is