HE TOUCHED A LEPER

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Greeting
2. The Context of the Previous Sunday's Message
3. The Power and Priority of Love
4. Understanding the Life of a Leper
5. Emotional Reflection on Separation
6. Modern Comparison: Technology, Isolation, and Relationship
7. Imagining Family Separation in Ancient Leprosy
8. Love in Marriage, Family, and Daily Life
9. God’s Love as the Source of All Love
10. Love Reflected Back Toward God
11. Loving Yourself Through God’s Love
12. The Value God Places on Us
13. Love as Strength, Energy, and Power
14. Love Realized → Faith Energized → Miracles Realized
15. Reading Mark 1:40–42
16. More Than “I Am Willing”: Sacred Cows Broken
17. The Leper’s Doubt, Unbelief, and “If”
18. Hebrews 4:16 and Coming Boldly
19. Approaching Grace Without Steps, Rituals, or Worthiness
20. Jesus Touches the Leper
21. Final Encouragement: He Is Willing

Introduction and Greeting

Pastor Lenny opens the message joyfully, greeting everyone and expressing how being with the viewers and with Pastor Lori is the best part of his day. He talks about how blessed he feels, saying he knows the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and he knows they love him deeply. He also expresses heartfelt gratitude for his wife, Pastor Lori, acknowledging that God has blessed him with a beautiful marriage. Together, they welcome viewers and prepare to share God's Word, expressing their desire that today's session will bless everyone watching.

The Context of the Previous Sunday Message

Pastor Lenny explains that this teaching is an extension of a Sunday morning message and encourages viewers to watch the previous sermon for clarity and deeper understanding. He mentions that viewers can find the prior message on their website, YouTube channel, or Roku. He reaffirms how grateful they are for everyone who supports the ministry through cards, letters, emails, texts, and financial offerings, saying these gestures reflect people being “God’s hand extended.”

The Power and Priority of Love

They introduce the theme: continuing the discussion on love. Pastor Lenny references his book The Two Greatest Forces in the Life of a Believer, noting that the number one force is love. They encourage viewers to get the book on Amazon or through the ministry directly. Then he explains that the previous message was titled “The Power of Love” or “The Love for a Leper.”

Love, they teach, is an incredible power in the believer’s life. They emphasize that love is not just an emotion—it is a force that transforms everything it touches.

Understanding the Life of a Leper

The pastors revisit what it meant to be a leper in biblical times. It was, as they say, “a death sentence”—physically, socially, economically, and spiritually. They mention that rabbinic tradition taught that curing leprosy was as difficult as raising the dead, because it was viewed as a physical manifestation of sin’s consequences.

A leper was considered unclean. People avoided him. He lived completely separated from society. He had no friends, no family, and no future. People hurled insults, garbage, rocks, feces, and other things at lepers due to fear and disgust. It was a life with absolutely no love.

The pastors ask the viewer to imagine: All you could do was wait to die.

Emotional Reflection on Separation

Pastor Lori reflects on how hard it is even to imagine such a life. Even with modern hardships, people today at least have some access to care or communication. But back then, a person diagnosed with leprosy would instantly lose all human contact.

Pastor Lenny deepens the emotional picture: Imagine having to hide behind a tree just to catch a distant glimpse of your spouse or children. You could not speak to them, touch them, or ever be close to them again. You were considered “dead” to your loved ones.

This absence of love would devastate any person.

Modern Comparison: Technology, Isolation, and Relationship

The pastors contrast ancient life with today’s access to FaceTime, phones, and modern care. Even in isolation today, people have ways to communicate. But the leper had nothing—no comfort, no virtual connection, not even someone who could minister to them, because anyone touching them would also become unclean.
Lori says she cannot imagine such a situation, especially thinking of her mother. She FaceTimes her mother often—multiple times a day—and the loss of that connection would be crushing.

Imagining Family Separation in Ancient Leprosy

They extend this reflection to children and grandchildren. Pastor Lenny notes how much Pastor Lori lights up when she sees her grandchildren. To lose that relationship forever—to be declared dead to them—would be unbearable.

This emotional reflection sets the stage for understanding how shocking and profound it was that Jesus touched the leper.

Love in Marriage, Family, and Daily Life

The pastors share personal examples of how love works in everyday relationships—husbands inviting wives to the mall, wives preparing meals for visiting family, cleaning out of love, and cherishing time spent with loved ones. They reflect humorously on family visits, joking about Pastor Lori’s “ministry of cleaning up.”

These stories illustrate not only human love but also how deeply connected and valued relationships make life rich.

God’s Love as the Source of All Love

Pastor Lenny transitions by reminding viewers that all the love we experience—from spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends—comes from God’s love for us. He asks Pastor Lori if she is fully convinced God loves her, and she responds confidently, “Absolutely 100%.”

He explains that once you are convinced God loves you, that love rebounds back to God without any commandment. This leads into the next section.

Love Reflected Back Toward God

The pastors explain that the Old Covenant had a commandment saying “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength.”

He explains that Israel had the commandment, but could not obey it. But when a believer receives and knows God’s love first, the love for God naturally flows back—a love no commandment could ever produce.

Loving Yourself Through God’s Love

Pastor Lenny asks Pastor Lori if she loves herself, and she says, “100%.” He explains this is not pride—it's recognizing that you must be lovable because God loves you. Understanding God’s love is the foundation for personal value, confidence, and inner peace.

The Value God Places on Us

They share that value is determined by the price paid. God showed His value by giving His own Son as a sacrifice. This means every believer is precious and of extreme worth.

Love as Strength, Energy, and Power

The pastors describe love as energizing—filling the “love tank,” giving strength, making life feel bright, and empowering believers like “Superman.” Pastor Lori says when her love tank is full, she feels ready to take on anything.
Love releases power, and this leads to their spiritual formula.

Love Realized → Faith Energized → Miracles Realized

Pastor Lenny shares his well-known phrase:

“Love realized equals faith energized, and faith energized equals miracles realized.” That is the heart of the miracle seen in the story of the leper.

Reading Mark 1:40–42

Pastor Lori reads the passage. 
Mark 1:40-42-“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and said unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.”
They note that most sermons focus only on Jesus saying, “I am willing.” But this story contains even more powerful truths that break religious “sacred cows.”

More Than “I Am Willing

Pastor Lenny explains that while most preaching emphasizes Jesus' saying “I am willing,” this passage reveals more—it destroys long-standing religious beliefs (“sacred cows”) that create guilt, shame, and condemnation. These sacred cows hinder believers from experiencing God’s love, which then prevents faith from being energized, which ultimately stops the miraculous from manifesting.

They emphasize that guilt, shame, and condemnation shut down the heart, making it impossible to feel loved by God. And if love is not realized, faith cannot be energized. If faith is not energized, miracles cannot be realized. The story of the leper confronts and overturns these barriers.

The Leper’s Doubt, Unbelief, and “If

The pastors point out an important detail:
The leper came to Jesus, saying:
“If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
This is an “if” statement. It carries uncertainty. Doubt. Hesitation. Lack of confidence. It reveals unbelief.

And yet Jesus did not reject him.

They say it plainly: Religion teaches, “If you pray with an ‘if,’ God won’t answer you.”
But Jesus disproves that here.

This man had:

• fear

• doubt

• uncertainty

• unbelief

• a broken covenant life

• zero confidence in God’s love

And still, Jesus did not push him away.

To emphasize the man’s unbelief, Pastor Lori identifies the sacred cow exposed here:

He had doubt when he came to Jesus. He had unbelief—and Jesus still received him.

They explain that under the Old Covenant, sickness such as leprosy was linked to covenant violation. If someone got leprosy, the people assumed he must have broken commandments. But Jesus—Grace Himself—does not treat him based on the Law.

Grace destroys the “if.” Jesus received him exactly as he was.

Hebrews 4:16 and Coming Boldly

The pastors connect this story to Hebrews 4:16, which they quote:

Hebrews 4:16-“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

They explain that the leper “came boldly” to Jesus, because simply approaching anyone while being a leper took unbelievable boldness. Imagine approaching Jesus, the most famous teacher in Israel. That required a courage far beyond human ability.

“Boldly,” they explain, means:

• frankly

• bluntly

• without perfect words

• without perfect steps

• without needing to “get it right first.”

This Scripture and the leper’s act show God’s heart: Just come.
You don’t need:

• perfect faith

• perfect words

• perfect behavior

• perfect understanding

God says Just come.

Pastor Lori shares a powerful personal story:
She once had index cards full of steps and verses she thought she needed to say “correctly” to receive from God. One day, the wind blew every card away—none were ever found. Pastor Lenny says God Himself blew them away to teach:

“No more steps. No more formulas. Just come to Me.” Grace replaces steps with rest.

Approaching Grace Without Steps, Rituals, or Worthiness

The pastors show that the leper came with no steps, no formula, no ritual, and no worthiness. His theology was wrong (“if you are willing”). His faith was weak. His understanding was limited. His life was broken.

And Jesus answered him anyway.

Why? Because love responds to need, not perfection.

The pastors urge viewers:
Do not let guilt, shame, or condemnation keep you from coming to Jesus.
He will never reject you for coming with an “if.”

Jesus Touches the Leper

They highlight the miracle before the miracle:

Jesus touched him.

This alone was shocking—touching a leper was forbidden. Touching him made a person ceremonially unclean. People threw rocks at lepers, not compassion.

But Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the man first.

Before healing him.
Before the leprosy left.
Before any change happened.
Before faith was perfect.
Before anything was fixed.

The touch was a message: “I love you.”

And then the words came: “I am willing. Be thou clean.”
This is love realized → faith energized → miracle realized.

Final Encouragement: He Is Willing

Pastor Lori closes with a simple, powerful truth:

“He is willing. Just go to Him. He has all you need. You will be changed.”

She emphasizes again:

• no steps

• no formulas

• no conditions

• no perfect prayers

Just come. The pastors end by saying they love the viewers, and they pray that the message blesses everyone watching.

Thank you for reading this detailed article based on the teaching “HE TOUCHED A LEPER” by Pastors Leonard and Lori Rola. We pray this message reveals the depth of God’s love and encourages you to come boldly to Him, knowing He is willing, compassionate, and ready to meet your every need. Please share this teaching with others so they, too, can experience the transforming power of His love and grace.