Amen. Thank you. Appreciate the song this morning. You know, as you get older, you forget stuff. I forgot this morning to turn my microphone on, and they reminded me 14 times, and Luke came over here and said, did you turn your microphone on? I said, yeah. I just turned it on before he got there. So I didn't lie to him. I just didn't turn it on when they told me to. So as you get older, your mind starts slipping, right? And so y'all pray for me. And I'm getting old. That's what happens when you have children in it. And it really happens when you're a pastor. I found that out. You go crazier sooner. I think they got a whole wing at the mental hospital just for pastors. And we get to, the problem with it is on Sunday mornings when they have chapel service, they don't know who to get to preach. So, but I sure appreciate you being here this morning. And again, As we come into November, it is time to remember how good God's been to us. But also I want to take just a moment this morning, and Veterans Day is this week, and I'm thankful for the country we live in. Let me say this, we got a lot of problems in this country. And a lot of things need to be fixed. But if you've ever been anywhere but here, You're thankful to live here. So the reason we have what we do have is because there have been men and women down through the years that have fought and many have died so that you and I can have what we have. And so if you ever talk to them, most of them don't want credit, recognition. They just want you to live in a way that would honor their sacrifice. And if you ever try to buy them, I was in a restaurant one time and saw some guys in there and wanted to buy their lunch. And they said, no, we can't accept that. And I said, well, I'm going to. And they said, we can't accept that. I said, let me put it like this. I said, now, I'm a taxpayer. And I said, you get paid by taxpayer money. Is that right? He said, yes, sir. I said, so really, that makes me kind of like your boss, doesn't it? He said, yes, sir. And I said, well, your boss is going to buy you lunch today. So then they kind of, I think it kind of startled them a little bit, so I just went on. You ought to do all we can, our police officers, firefighters, EMS workers, our military guys. Here's a good idea. Just once in a while, just be nice and buy somebody's lunch. Just buy their lunch. And they don't even have to be one of those. But one of the things we're missing in this day is civility. And so I just want to say this morning how thankful I am to those who have served. And also to those families who have who have served as well because many times we we talk about those that have served but really the whole family serves and so if you're this morning if you're a veteran would you do us the honor would you just stand up and let us just- recognize you this Anymore? What I would do, you can be seated. Before you leave, I would stop one of these folks and just tell them how much you appreciate their sacrifice and how much you love them and appreciate them. And so thank you, all of you that stood. And again, we have some that have always been a vital part of our church that have gone on to be with the Lord and we remember them as well. And don't want to forget them. But again, thank you for being here this morning. Appreciate you being in your place. And I mention it often in that all these folks fought for our freedom, but I'm glad there can be no freedom or liberty without the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can be anywhere in the world and experience that liberty and freedom. I want you to turn to Luke chapter 13. this morning, Luke chapter number 13. We're gonna begin in verse number 10. And if you're able to, let's stand together as we respect the reading of the word of God. Luke chapter 13, and we'll begin in verse number 10. Last week we were looking at the fact that Jesus spoke a parable about a fig tree and how that God, the parable was that the owner would prune the fig tree. And that oftentimes God has to prune things out of our life to make us fruitful. And so this morning we look at, kind of change gears in verse number 10. The Bible said, and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. That's important. Now, we understand that we do not go to synagogue and we do not worship on the Sabbath as they did in that time, but the principle is the same. When it's the day to go to church, you ought to be in church. Let me say it again. When it's the day to go to church, you ought to be in church. And so the Bible said that Verse 10, he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hand on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. Look at verse 14, the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because it Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day and said unto the people there are six days in which man ought to work in them therefore come and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. Verse 15 the Lord then answered him and said thou hypocrite doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering. And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these 18 years be loose from this bond on the Sabbath day. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed and all the people rejoice for all the glorious things that were done by him. Let's pray. Father, we so love you and we thank you for your word and we're so thankful that even today you are healing people from infirmity and Lord I realize today the great infirmity mankind has is sin and without you there can be no healing of sin and so speak to every heart there may be one here today maybe many here today that do not know you as personal Savior there may be some here today that sin has so crippled them and God just hurt them to the degree they can't walk with you. And so I ask you, Father, to meet every need that you would glorify yourself and speak to hearts that lives would be changed because of this service today. And for all this done, we'll thank you and praise you and give you all the glory in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. You can be seated. So I'm interested in verse number 12. The Bible said when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, and her woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. So a couple of things I see in this scripture is one that the Lord was fully aware of this one particular woman. in the congregation multitude, I don't know how many were there, maybe a crowd this size, maybe larger, maybe smaller, but the Lord was aware of this single person's infirmity, and so it brings me comfort in knowing that even though God is concerned about everybody, he's concerned about me. He's concerned about you this morning. And so in there he said woman thou not shall be loosed and not try to do better and try to live for me But the Lord loosed her from that infirmity and I want to encourage you this morning Whatever your problem is whether it is you're not a Christian You've never trusted Christ or sin has so wrecked your life that you cannot walk with God, whatever it is that the same God that loosed her from that infirmity is able to do that for you this morning. So this portion of scripture is interesting and provides principles that are still relevant today. Brother Gary, oftentimes we'll read the Bible and say, well, that's not practical. It doesn't help me today. It's not a self-help, but it really is because from Genesis all the way till today, the problem that man has is the same, sin. It wrecks homes, it wrecks lives, it wrecks churches, it wrecks countries, it has wrecked the world, this sin problem. And friend, I wanna say this, you can pass all the laws you want to, but it's not gonna fix the sin problem. You can turn over all the new lease in life you want to, but it will not fix the sin problem. And so we find a variety of priorities and attitudes in people that are found in our lives today. Some don't think they have a problem. I mean, there are people maybe even sitting here today, your life is a mess and you think that's normal. You think that, man, listen, the path that I've chosen is just what I've gotta live, I can't do anything different. Sin has so a hold on you that you cannot change. May I say there's hope for you this morning. There are those that you've walked away from God, you were once walking with God, but even if you were honest today, you'd say you have slid back, you're not where you used to be, and you say, well, I just can't do it. I wanna say there's hope for you this morning. I'm saying that there is still hope in Jesus Christ today. There's not hope in the government, there's not hope in most of society, but I'm saying there is still, listen, there's not hope in religion. But there is hope in Jesus Christ this morning. And so we face infirmities in our life, all kinds. Some are physical, some are emotional, some are spiritual. Some have to do with relationships. Some have to do with confidence. Whatever it is, I'm saying that there's a solution for us this morning. And some of these things that Jesus has the power to loose us, from all our infirmities, not some, but all of them this morning. So wherever you are, I'm telling you, doesn't matter what the question is, doesn't matter what the problem is, the answer is always the same. His name is Jesus. And so in his name, may I say that demons tremble. And at his name, prayer has power. And at his name, lives are changed forever. In other words, he looses all that infirms us today. May I say this thing of sin has so destroyed all that it has touched that there is still hope. We look and talk about the drug problem in America. May I say that the drug problem is a sin problem. All the issues, the social issues that we face, may I say to you today that they are all the same. They're sin problems today. And so how is it that we can be loosed from our infirmities? Now I wanna share with you from this scripture a few things. First of all, in verse 10 and 11, the Bible said, and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. It is interesting to me that where you find Jesus is at church. Amen? So he was teaching in one, now I know, but don't walk out here and say, well, preacher, are you saying the only place you can find Jesus is in church? No, uh-uh. See, God's everywhere. You say, well, I can worship God anywhere I want to. I can worship him in a boat somewhere. Sure can. I can worship him in a tree stand somewhere. You absolutely can. But here's what you won't get. You won't get all of us there with you. That choir ain't gonna be in your fishing boat singing. You're not gonna have the atmosphere around being other believers. You say, I can stay at home, watch it on TV, or watch it on Facebook Live. Sure can. And you can hear the message, but you're not gonna get the atmosphere. There's something about being in church, and God can heal us from infirmities anywhere. But I believe this, when it's time to go to church, that's where you ought to be. And there's something different about being in the house of God with God's people, hearing the songs, and hearing the word of God preached, and the word of God read, I believe God honors that, don't you? And so in verse 11, the Bible said, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. So here's a, first of all, number one is a sick woman. Could we agree with that? We're living in a day where there's all kinds of sickness. Every time I turn on TV, it's about some sickness, right? So here's a sick woman. Well, notice this, I want you to see number one, the place of her infirmity. Now, I want to be very clear, I believe in being balanced. I believe that you should be in church every time the doors are open. But, just because you're in church does not mean you don't have problems. Being in church doesn't solve all your problems, does it? Because here, we often think those outside the church are the only ones cursed with infirmities. We think the problem, Brother John, is out there. The problem's in here. So whether you're in church or out of church, you still may have problems even being in the house of God. Church does not solve all your problems. But I will say this, it is a great tool to help you in your walk with God. relationship with God does not does not on TV just got done with Halloween every time turn on TV there's a scary movie it's a horror movie look at some of the stuff you let your kids listen to did you did you hear about this this concert down in Texas this last week this all these all these people died you hear what they're saying that they were they were jabbing people with needles. They were drugging them. Now that's what they're investigating. It's this big concert down there. I think nine people died. So they were down there injecting them with drugs. That's what's coming out. We'll see, right? Man, that's demonic. Look at all this pornography, demonic. I'm gonna go ahead and plow it up. All these Disney stuff coming out now, demonic. Huh? I know you're looking at me going, Preacher, what's wrong with Disney? Watch it, look at it. What's wrong with, Preacher, what's wrong with these little kids and their rock music and all? Listen to the words. Well, they, Ms. Vine, they thought it was bad when I was growing up. Now they've camouflaged it, right? We're letting all this demonic influence in our lives, right? Then we can't figure out what's wrong, why kids are having such problems. Because what's going in here? It's going in here, going in here. It's staying in here. I know it's not popular. I wasn't planning on winning a popularity contest this morning. And years of all that intake affects people. We don't want to get close to God. We want to be entertained. Amen, good preacher. So here's the problem of infirmity is that it was not just a physical infirmity, it was an emotional and a spiritual and a mental infirmity that affected her physically. Now I'm saying this. that friend, no matter what infirmity you have this morning, things that maybe no one else can see and you smile and you try to put on a happy face and all the things people think you got it going on, but inside you're dying, God can fix that for you this morning. You need the Lord. So here's a sick woman And she was in the right place, she was in church, she was in church where Jesus was, but she still had problems. And this morning, I guarantee you that you got problems. You may be anxious about the days ahead. I know there's a side of me, I'm a little anxious about the days ahead. We just spent 1.2 trillion dollars and nobody knows what it's for. Infrastructure. Well, it seems to me like when too many years ago we had shovel-ready jobs and spent a lot of money on that, nobody ever worked there either. I digress. There's all these things that are causing anxiety in our lives. When you gonna figure out what the answer is? The answer's not Democrat, Republican. The answer is Jesus. So this morning there's a sick woman, but then I see number two, a sensitive savior. The Bible said in verse 12, and when Jesus saw her. That's interesting, Brother Matt. Here's all these people. You know one of the, let me take a break. You know one of the problems that our young people have while they act out? Well, Danny, because they don't feel like people see them. They don't feel like people listen to them. They think they're, you know why we do youth services? So that those kids know that you don't have to be an adult to serve God. A lot of times, people feel this emotional sickness, this mental sickness because they feel like they're invisible, that nobody cares. Listen to me church, you ready for this? That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for, to show a world that needs Jesus, that somebody cares about it. Now that's easy to say because many of you are sitting there going, that's right, I don't feel like anybody cares about me. Well, let me ask you this, who do you care about? See, cause we always like to be the recipient, right? We like to put ourself where this woman is and say, I need this. But how many of you are willing to go out and be that blessing to someone else? How many are you willing to be the one that takes Jesus to them? Don't always be the one saying, listen, the church ought to be doing this for me and people ought to be reaching out to me. Who are you reaching out to? Got a lot quieter then. So here it is, this woman here, the Bible said when Jesus saw her, he called her to him. Did you get that? He didn't just say, woman, you got some problems, I feel bad for you. He called her to him. He brought her to him. Huh, you with me? And said unto her, woman, thou art loose from thine infirmity. Well, you ready for this? Brother Harley, he didn't ask her what it was. He didn't ask her. He didn't go into detail and say, listen, let's sit down and talk a while and you tell me all that's going on in your life and all that's going on. He already knew. He didn't spend days and weeks, he just said, woman, you're loose. That's what my Bible says, maybe yours reads different. and he laid his hand on her, hands on her, notice this, and immediately she was made, what's that next word? Straight. Now I know it's talking about physically, but I believe this, when God lays his hand on you spiritually, mentally, emotionally, it makes you straight too. Right, makes your gun barrel straight. Makes you think right. Okay, so what the Bible said here, ready? Said, woman, thou art loosed. He lays hand on her immediately. She was made straight. And what happened next? And glorified God. He didn't just do it to fix her problem. He did it to bring glory to God. So I see a sensitive Savior. Watch this. He talked to her. He talked to her. He was touched by her infirmity. Isn't that good to know? Because you're sitting here this morning, you're going, nobody understands, nobody cares. But Jesus was touched by her infirmity and he is touched by your infirmity as well. I cannot help you in many cases. I've not been through what you've been through and I can't give you all the answers and say, well, here's what you should do and here's what I would do if I were you. I can't say that to you because it doesn't mean anything. If I haven't been where you are, I can't offer you my advice on how to fix your problem. Right? But I can turn you to the word of God. And if Jesus is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, which the Bible says he is, he's been tempted in all points as we are yet without sin, then he can give us the ultimate help no matter what your problem is this morning, right? So he talked to her, he drew her to him. Notice that, you know what that's called? Conviction. This morning, if you're not a Christian, if you're never been saved and there's something going on, you're saying, I don't feel right. I feel guilty. Some people call it guilt, but it's really conviction. Guilt is feeling bad about something. Conviction is knowing that I'm not where I need to be with God. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm just trying to let you see this morning that wherever you are, God has a solution for you. That conviction, he's drawing us to him. This morning, it's up to you, right? He's the solution, he's the one drawing us to him, but it's up to you whether or not you come. So here it is this morning, he's talking to her, he spoke healing words, he spoke specific words. He said, woman thou art, what? Loosed. So this morning, you know what? You say, I don't hear God speaking. I just read it to you. This is the way God speaks to us through his word. You want to get some help, right? Read, study. How many times, don't raise your hand, but I know I see some of your social media posts and you'll post something like this, I read this this morning and the Lord helped me. You know what that is? Number one, that's encouraging. That's stuff you ought to be putting on social media. Number two, you're proving that, man, I'm reading the Word of God, and the Word of God is speaking to me, and it's bringing comfort to me, and it's bringing healing to me. It's not what some man says, but what God's saying. That's the way it should be. And the more time we spend in God, isn't it amazing that we can read the Word of God today, and it means one thing to us, and God speaks to us in a different way tomorrow, but it's always on time. He gives us what we need. We just gotta dig in the Word of God, and as we dig in the Word of God, He understands us, He knows our condition, and He's drawing us to Him, and He's speaking the specific healing words that we need. There's sometimes, Brother Jimmy, somebody will post something, you know, on social media and they'll post the verse and they'll say, God spoke to me about this this morning. I look at them going, I'm not getting that. But here's the thing, I don't have to. God may be speaking to me the same verse, something different. How many times you've been in church, somebody preach a message on tithing, and you go, boy, God really helped me. Man, he showed me how good he is and how much grace he's extended. And you're like, that ain't what I preached. See, God can do what he wants to. Right? He doesn't need our permission. So he talked to her, but then he touched her. He was touched by her infirmity. Then he touched what bothered her. In other words, he fixed her problem. And then number three. Can you see the difference? She had a relationship with the Lord. Right? You with me? Hang with me. She had a relationship with him, one on one. Now watch this, verse 14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day and said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work, and then therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? You see a couple things. You see, first of all, their haughtiness. The word indignation means anger. Now, let's set the scene, okay? In church, Jesus is there. I don't know about you. How many of you want to be in church where Jesus is? Me, amen. All right, so here's a woman. Guess what? She's got problems. How many of you want to be in a church where people have problems? I do. That's what we're here for, right? So here it is. Jesus is there. Here's a woman with problems. Solution, problem, same place. By the way, that's what church ought to be. I don't think you're getting it. Some of you, when I asked you how many won't be on church with people with problems, you went, not me. You might be the problem then. Listen, you don't go to the doctor office for a family reunion. You go to the doctor's office because you're sick. So here he is, Jesus, woman with problems, they meet, problem fixed. I'm giving you the cliff notes, amen? You'd think everybody would be shouting, running the aisles, worshiping God, praising God, hallelujah, singing again, choir, but you know what the religious folks did? That ain't supposed to happen in church. We don't, watch this, we don't allow people to get help in our church. We don't want people getting right with God in our church. Huh? Better be careful, Independent Fundamental King James Baptist, because if you're not careful, that's the way we get. They're not dressed just exactly like we think they ought to be dressed, and they don't sing, and they don't say amen in the right place. You better be careful. Amen, better be careful, because you might be the one, you might be like that dude. He said, wait a minute, Jesus, you can't be healing in church on the Sabbath day. My question to me, what are we doing here then? If you can't get help in church on Sunday, what are we doing here? They rebuke Jesus, can you believe that? They rebuke God. You say, we never do that, do we not? Whoa now, Lord. The worship hour's over, now don't be meddling during the invitation time, we got to go. Let people get right with God on their own time. Choir, don't you sing that song again. We got a schedule to keep. I promise you there is nobody in this building that wants to keep a schedule more than me. That's my wife. But this ain't our time. This is God's time. We're on his time, amen? He can take as long as he wants. He can keep us here all day if he wants to. And listen, if it means people getting help, praise God, you ought to just hunker in for the long haul. See, they were mad because they were losing power with people instead of pointing people to Christ. That's what religion does. Religion controls, Christ liberates. And when the church gets full of Jesus, it's not gonna be about what I can make people do, it's gonna be how can I get them to Jesus. Friend, our job is not to control people, our job is to get them to Jesus. And if the Holy Ghost can't fix them, I promise you some preacher can't fix them and some Sunday school teacher can't and some rules and regulations won't fix them. I'm telling you, if we can just get them to Jesus, It'll fix the problem. So you see, next, they're hypocrisy. The Bible's in verse 15, the Lord answered and said, thou hypocrite. Listen, it's one thing for people to think you're a hypocrite. It's another thing for Jesus to just say you're a hypocrite. I mean, that's bad for people to think, boy, I think he's a hypocrite. But Jesus knows their heart, see? He said, let me put it in 2021 Davison Redneck English. You a stinking hypocrite. That's what he called him. And he said this, the Lord said, you hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose your ox? He said, are you telling me that you don't let your animals out to eat and drink on the Sabbath? And you're telling me I can't help this woman get help on Sunday? I'll give you an example, ready for this? Because I know how we like to go to our Sunday lunch. We'll say this, I just don't believe in cooking on Sunday because it's the Lord's day. And I don't believe in working on the Lord's day. and there'll be skid marks out the driveway heading up to the restaurant. Huh? That's hypocritical. I'm not going to cook on Sunday, but I don't mind somebody else doing it for me. That right? And we all got to looking at somebody else and I'd never do that. But then somebody's looking at you going, I wouldn't do that. You better worry about your own garden. Jesus saying this, he said, listen, you worried about this woman getting help? And you're letting your animals out? I'll tell you what, you want to upset people? Talk about animals. They'd rather, Brother Jerry, people rather you kill people than kill dogs. Now I like animals, there's people, I like dogs a lot better than some people, I'll be honest with you. But we don't value human life. I saw a sign, I saw a sign in Winston the other day, and it, I don't even know, I couldn't even tell what it was. It was a piece of meat on there, and it was for, Talking about people not eating meat. If you don't want to eat meat, don't eat meat. Right? You want to be a vegan, be a vegan. But the whole thing was, and I don't even remember what the caption was, but basically, you're killing this poor life so you can eat meat. Yep. Yep. That's exactly what I'm doing. Eating it. Now, again, Some folks don't want you killing a deer or a cow or a pig or a chicken, but they don't mind you killing a fish. They don't mind eating fish. Fish don't have lives. Right? But they don't mind you eating lettuce. That's alive. I'm saying eat what you want to. You don't make people mad. You start talking about animals. They don't care about people. They care about critters. And this guy cared more about his critters than he did this woman getting help. Don't be like that. Don't be hypocritical. Be sensitive to people getting help. Getting help and don't Don't look at your life and say, well, I tell you what I wish our church was. I wish it was full of people that love Jesus. Well, if it's full of people that love Jesus, we're not doing our job. Because the job of the church is to go find people that don't love Jesus, get them in the church, see them saved, baptized, discipled, and teach them how to love Jesus. And then finally, I want you to see their humility or their humiliation, verse 17. Bible said when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. Let me, I'm gonna say this now close. Jesus always wins. He always wins. So why not be on his side? This morning, you're not where you need to be with God. Get on His side. This morning, if you've got things in your life that ail you, right, that aren't right physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, whatever it is, there's help for you this morning. But here's what I'll say. Come get help. And if you say, I don't need help, Don't be like the hypocrite. Don't get in the way. Woman, thou art loosed. That's what he said to her. And he's saying it to each one of us this morning. Whatever your illness, whatever your infirmity, He wants to help you. If you're not saved, you're not a Christian, He wants to help you with it this morning. If you're walking away from God, He wants to help you with it. If you just can't get victory over something, He wants to help you with it this morning. He is the solution. Let's stand together. Stand together all over the auditorium. Our heads are bowed. Eyes are closed today. No one's looking around. The altar's open. I want to ask you this. Would you be honest and Slip your hand up this morning if you don't know for sure you'd go to heaven when you died. I wanna pray for you, it won't come to you, just wanna pray. Preacher, if I died right now, don't know for sure I'd go to heaven. I want you to pray for me. Is there one? Is there one? Raise your hand, put it right back down. Preacher, pray for me. Thank you. Is there another? Many are on the altar praying. Father, I thank you for that dear precious soul that was honest enough to slip their hand up today, took courage. And I ask you, Father, in this time of invitation, with many on the altar already, you'd give them the courage to step out of their seat so we could show them from the Bible. And there may be others who didn't raise their hand, but in their heart it's not settled. Father, we just want to help them. So in this invitation time, speak to hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Listen, whatever your need this morning, you come. If you just lift your hand up and said, I don't know if you're sure I'd go to heaven, if you'd like to, if you'll come, we'll show you. If you didn't raise your hand, but in your heart something's not settled and you wanna know, if you'll come, we'll show you. Not gonna embarrass you, wouldn't try to make you feel, I just, we wanna help you. The greatest thing you'll ever know is where you'll spend eternity. So you come. If you raised your hand or you didn't, but you want to know, you come. Maybe this morning you come and you just got many things going on. You're unsettled about things. Please come. God wants to help you this morning. He wants to help you. He's helped many before. Same problem you got. He'll help you this morning. So maybe it's bitterness. Maybe it's unforgiveness, maybe whatever it is going on in with you. You know what? Spiritual problems cause emotional and mental problems and a lot of times cause physical problems. Now not always, but many times what's going on with us. Can't sleep, anxious, whatever it is. Not always, many times, but then it's spiritual. Something going on. Unforgiveness, envy, strife, discontentment, whatever it is. We just can't get help. God wants to help you this morning. We want to help you this morning. People are coming, you come on in.