Mark chapter 3, we're going to read some scripture from there and try to preach if the Lord will help us this morning. Good to see you. I appreciate you being here in the house of God on this day the Lord has given us. Members, service tonight at 6 o'clock. Evening service at 6 o'clock. Mark chapter number 3. We'll start reading verse number 1 in Mark chapter number 3. The Bible said that he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill? but they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other." I want to preach, if God will help me this morning, on God's healing hand. Now, in this Scripture here, There are some disputes from the Pharisees, a real religious sect of people, about the Sabbath day. They're asking Jesus, is it lawful for you to do things on the Sabbath day, what was recorded in the law? And Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, and therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And we find here that after he said that, that he goes into the synagogue of them Pharisees. It was their synagogue they met here. And we find here when they went in on the Sabbath, that there was a man there that had a withered hand. His hand was drawn up. His hand was dried up. Mark said here that it was a withered hand. Luke said his right hand was withered. And Matthew said it had a hand that had withered. And so it looks like to me that this man, from some disease or some disability, that he's in the synagogue that day with this hand that's been withered up. And we find here that this weathered up means it's dried up or shriveled or just pining away. And that's the way a lot of people's lives are. They're dried up this morning. They're pining away. And they need God to do something for them. I want to say this morning, this man, it was evident that he had a bad hand. It sure did seem, my friend, When they looked at this man's hand, it was evident that he needed God to heal him. It was evident that he needed something done. History says, I said history, the Bible didn't, that this man was a bricklayer. I don't know whether it's true or not. But I do know this man needed his hand. to work and do what he needed to do. But he couldn't until God helped him. I want to say in the Scripture that you remember it was a hand of Eve that take food from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then in the beginning when she sinned that she grabbed a hold of that fruit and it was with her hand. And that hand, my friend, a hand of a sinner. Amen. And we find here that men today are sinners. Everybody has sinned against God Himself. I've sinned. You've sinned. Because of sin, there's disability. Because of sin, there's depravity. That means man's corrupt in his heart. And he needs God to help him. Here's a man in the synagogue with a weathered hand. I don't know if it was the first time he'd been. I don't know if he'd been attending in the synagogue on a regular basis. But this day it was different. It wasn't just the Pharisees meeting that day, but that day Jesus came in. I'm glad when He comes into the service, that's right. I'm glad when Jesus shows up that He can help you. Amen. And know the thought of it this is, here's a man with a need, and the only one that can meet the need is Jesus Christ. I'll tell you, there's people here this morning And may I say, everybody here has a need this morning to thank God to be helped of God. But it'll take God to help you. I can't help a man. I can only go so far. But I'll tell you, God can help you. I need the help of God myself. And brother, I'll tell you this, when they come into that synagogue that day, Here's a man that his head's weathered up. It's weathered by sin. It's weathered by the tolls of this life. I visit people and see them time to time, and the older they get, they see their life a-weathering away. Of the tolls of old age. Of the tolls they're afraid of some physical condition that they have. But here's a man that's got just one problem. And the hand's the problem. It wasn't nothing wrong with his arm. It was his hand. Usually there's that one thing that hinders a man from doing stuff for God. A lot of times men ain't gonna have problems with other parts of their body, but here he's got a problem. with this hand. And the hand, my friend, needs to be helped. Amen. He's in a good place to get some help because Jesus is there. If you can get around where He's at, you can get some help today. It'll take Him to help you. Wouldn't you like to know it today? He's the best friend I ever had. Amen. He's the best friend any man could have. That's right. That's right. He'll help you. The first thing to get help is you've got to say you need help. He'll not help you unless you will admit that you need some help. That's right. Amen. Now here's this man with the withered hand. And you've got to realize this. Everybody in there was a bunch of Pharisees besides the Lord Jesus Christ. And we find here this man's amongst them. And the Pharisees are saying, I wonder if He's going to heal him today. And we might accuse Him for doing it on a Sabbath day. And Jesus told that man, He said, stand up in amongst them. And here's this crowd of men, and this man with a withered hand stands up in front of all that crowd, and he's standing there amongst all them Pharisees. Let me tell you something this morning. If you're not willing to do what He says, You'll not get no help. You've got to do what He says. You know the problem with people today, and the same problem is in every man, is he wants to do his own thing. But you've got to do what He says if you want some help. I do what He says. I've got to get some help. This man had to stand up. He wasn't embarrassed about it. He knew he needed some help. You know why a lot of people don't come to the altar and pray? They're too proud. They wouldn't stand up and come. But I'll tell you, I do that. If you want God to help you this morning, you've got to do what God says. Here's a man standing up with a withered hand amongst a bunch of people that's waiting to accuse Jesus. But I'll tell you what Jesus said. He was more interested in that man that had a withered hand, thank God, than the rest of that crowd that thought they didn't need no help. Amen. I want to tell you this, you come to church this morning, and you're just looking around to accuse somebody, or you're looking around to try to find fault in somebody, I tell you, I'd run the honor right now and repent, because this ain't a place to come. If you're trying to accuse or find fault, it'd be better to repent. and get right with God, that you might get some help. I'll tell you, this man here, thank God was the only one that stood up, that needed some help, and the rest of that crowd was looking at him. Jesus was the way to come, for one sinner that needs some help, and then the rest of that crowd that wants a fine fall. Amen. That's right. You know what's wrong with the Baptist churches today? All they're trying to do is find fault on people. That's right. I'm going to tell you what I didn't come to find fault. I come to tell you the one that can, amen, help you and thank God take away sin in your life. I'm glad, thank God, I met him one day. I'm not beyond public opinion. It don't really matter what men say about me. I tell all that matters, thank God. That's what he thinks and what he knows. I'd rather have his approval. I'd rather have man's approval. I'd rather come to church. I'd rather be honest with him and get some help from God. Amen. I'd rather sit there and look around and try to find out what's wrong with somebody else. Amen. That's right. You know what your problem is this morning? You won't look at anybody else but yourself. That's what it is. Oh, it's somebody else's fault because I've sinned. It's somebody else's fault that I've done this or that, not your fault. It's nobody else's fault. Look up here this morning. You're the accountable one for what you do. Amen. I'm accountable for what I say and what I do. You come to the house of God and say, well, old Chris up there, he wasn't singing as loud as he ought to. But praise God, get beside him. Amen. You know what? We've got a lot of people in the church that's trying to look at everybody else. That's sort of looking at their own self. I tell you, that man seen he needed some help. He stood up amongst that crowd. That crowd wasn't for him. I tell you what, I'm glad that I got a crown vest for me. Amen. That's right. Do you know what it wrote on his hand? It was withered up. It was shriveled up. Amen. He said, stand up. And he looked around at that crown. Did you see what I read to you this morning? It said Jesus was angered. You know why? Because of the hardness of their hearts. You don't want a lot of people to come to the altar and pray. There's people sitting in the pew. You know what they'll think? They'll say, I wonder if God can really help them. I wonder if God really trusts them. You know what your problem is? You've got a hard heart. You don't believe God for nothing. Jesus looked around that crowd. And they had a hard heart. I can't do you good this morning, praise God. I've got to preach. If you'll just get in with God and confess your sins, ask God to help you and quit having that old hard heart and hard neck. Hey, the Bible said, he that be an offer of proof, harden his neck, or he'll suddenly be destroyed. And with that, without remedy, you can sit there with an old hard heart. I don't care what you need. You need God to soften it up. Hey, God will get you right. Amen. That's right. That's what the problem is. Amen. That's right. It's not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, oh Lord. I stand in need of prayer. And then he said, stand up. Here this man, no doubt he must have been sitting around there. Sitting down, Jesus said, stand up. Here he is standing. He's doing what the Lord's saying. I will reiterate again, you'll never get no help until you do what God's saying. And man, he looked at that crowd and he was angry to see them. Of course, they didn't believe him for nothing. They had a hard heart. And this is what Jesus said. Look it here. I said, the hand and the hypocrites. Amen. I'd rather be with a man with a hand than to be with them hypocrites. I'd rather have no problem. that I know God can take care of, and to be a hypocrite and say I didn't have any, and I really did. You know what a hypocrite is? A hypocrite is somebody that plays the part, but they're not real. Amen. They're a play actor. They're just a puttin' on. I'd rather be a man, thank God, that had a withered hand, that had a sinful life, that I knew God could help, than play and I didn't have any. I don't care what happened. I've got to cut off a hypocrite, huh? But he'll help a man with a withered hand. Amen. That's right. God will help you this morning if you'll admit what you are. I need God to stand up. Amen. He said, stand up. Amen. That's right. He did. He stood up. This is what Jesus said to him. He said, I'll tell you what you do. He said, stretch forth thy hand. That's what he said in the scripture. Amen. You know what he done? He took that hand and he stretched it out. And I'm going to tell you this, you've got to do what God says if you want God to help you. If you don't want to obey God, you can't get no help. There's no help for them that's in disobedience. It's all in obedience. And when that man stretched out his hand, thank God it was made whole. It was restored, unlike to the other. I'm telling you this morning, thank God when that man stepped his hand out and stretched it out, thank God as soon as he obeyed the Word of God, that hand was made whole. It was made like the other. It wasn't dried up no more. It wasn't shriveled no more. It wasn't pining away no more. I got this upon the Word of God, upon the obedience to the Master. His hand was made whole. It was restored, the Bible said. And that man can go back and use that hand like he done before. But the whole thing is, you're going to have to do what God says. If you don't do what God says, you'll stay in the shape you're in this morning. That's right. Amen. Now let me give you this little thought this morning. Jesus didn't say stretch your leg out. That wasn't the problem. You know what people want to do? They don't want to deal with the problem. I've seen people when the Holy Ghost get on them, convict them of their lost condition, you know what they'll try to do? They'll try to stick their leg out and rededicate their life. I never have been nothing to dedicate. I need to get saved. That's right. I've seen when God dealt with somebody about personal sin in their life, that God says you need to repent and get it right. I've seen people of God deal with that old withered hand, that withering sin that's in their life, and things that's going to take them to the grave, and things that's withered them and took them down. And God says, deal with it. If you do this, I'll do the rest. But you know what? When He says, stick that hand out, or stretch that hand out, you know what? they want to do, they want to hold the hand back, that's a hindering them, and put out the other hand, but he had to put out the hand that was withered, he had to come that way, you got to come the way God says, or you'll never get any help, amen. That's right, that's what's wrong with people today. Amen. They don't want to stick their right hand out. You know why? Because that's what's withered. That's where the sin is. That's where the trouble is. That's where you need to get right with God this morning. I thank God to say I need to be honest. It's my hand that's withered. It's my life that's withered. It's my sin that's withering me. It's not my wife's sin. It's not my husband's sin. It's not my children's sin. It's not my parents' sin. It's not the church's sin. That's sin. That's withered my hand. I can blame it on a lot of things. And that man could have looked at his hand and said, well, it's really not that bad. I've been getting along like this. But the fact of it is, it was still withered and it never would have been made whole unless he'd have done what God said. That's right. Listen to me. There's a man in John chapter 9. He was born blind from his birth. He was born blind. And one day Jesus come through, He passed through the Bible said, passed by, and He told that man, He said, go and wash in the pool of Shalom. Now that man could have stood there and said, I'm not that bad, I'm not that blind, but he was. And the Bible said that man got up, and the Bible said he went and washed in the pool of Siloam, and he came seeing. He cut his sight, but he had to do what Jesus said. If you're not willing to do what he says, you'll never have no change. You'll never have no power. You'll never have no restoration. It's going to take an act of God speaking to you, but you're going to have to do what he says to do. That's right. One night the fishermen had fished all night and didn't catch a thing. That's right. It was in Peter's boat, apparently. And Jesus said, cast your net out into the deep. Peter said, well, we pulled all night and we hadn't caught one fish. And Jesus said, I said, cast it out into the deep. And this is what Peter said. We hadn't caught nothing, but nevertheless at thy words, I'll throw the net." He threw the net out in the deep. You know how many fish got in there? So many it broke the net. What did he do? He obeyed the spoken word of Christ. He could have held that net all he wanted to. He could have held that net in his hand and said, I don't believe God. I don't believe what Jesus is saying. But he had enough sense, had enough faith to believe God. Thank God to throw that net out. And when he threw that net out, all them fish got in that net. And the Bible said it break the net. And the next thing you see, Peter, down at the knee of the Lord Jesus, saying, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. You know what the key is? He done what he said. You want me to tell you what's wrong with this church and what's wrong with every church we preach in and preachers are preaching in? You know why? You want me to tell you? I'm going to tell you right now. People sitting on these pews and listening to this preaching, but they ain't doing what they hear. We want the blessing of God. We want what God's got for us. We want God to help us. We want God to take control of us. We want God to cleanse us. We want God to bless us. But we're not willing to do what God said to do it. to get it. If you're not willing to do what he said, don't expect to get it. Stretch forth thy hand. That's a little unusual. He could have said, well, your hand's healed. He said, stretch forth thy hand. Then he could do this. That's right, he could do that. He might have had it hit at first. Stretch forth thy hand. There was an adulterous woman brought to Jesus in John chapter number 8. The Pharisees brought her through her down. He said, this woman's been caught in a very active adultery. Jesus didn't say nothing to him right at first. He began to write in the sand. Took his finger and wrote in the sand. It never said what he wrote. Maybe he wrote some Old Testament scripture. Maybe, I don't know what he wrote, but he wrote in the sand. And he looked up at them men, and he said, you that is without sin, you go ahead and stone her. Cast the first stone. Throw it over. That was a penalty of me and my friend committing adultery in the Old Testament. They took that woman and that man, and they stoned them. So if you are without sin, You throw the first stone. And he stooped down and rode in the ground again. And this is what the Bible said, from the first to the last, that he was convicted in her conscience. And here's this adulterous woman standing in the presence of our Lord, and here's the rest of that crowd walking off. They left him, and they left her there. And he said, Where art thine accusers? He asked the woman that. Who condemns thee? And she said, No man, Lord, for they was gone. And this is what Jesus said to that woman. He said, Neither do I condemn thee. And this is what he told her. Listen to me. Go and sin no more. I'm just saying this morning. If you respond to the preached Word of God, if you respond to that Bible when God speaks to you, there will be action taking place. I've got to help you. You're a withered person. You've got a withered hand. You've got a withered life. You've got a withered home. You've got a withered response. My friend, your responsibility is withered. And you need some help from God. But you'll never get no help until you stretch forth the hands. You say, I want to see people get help. I do too, but I'm going to tell you what they ought to do. They ought to obey God. There's never been anybody blessed by the Lord God unless they obey Him. You can't disobey God and have the blessing of God on your life. Here's a man in a synagogue amongst a bunch of Jews that didn't want Him there, that truly didn't want our Lord there. And thank God he stretched forth his hand that was withered, his right hand. And when he stretched it forth, It was made whole and restored like the other. Here's the thing that I'm about to prove. Jesus Christ can immediately take care of any problem or any need if a man can obey God. It don't matter what it is. If he needs to get saved, if he'll obey the Holy Ghost, in the growing power of God, he can be saved and have his life changed immediately. Amen. Whatever need he's got, if he'll obey the Holy Ghost, if he'll obey God, there's a God in heaven. That can make him whole. That can restore him. That can make him new. But he'll have to do what God says. If you really want help, He's got it. That's what you want. If you want to walk around and say, well, it really ain't that bad. It really ain't that bad. Pretty bad. It's dried up. It's shriveled. I can't use it. But when he stretched it, it was made whole like the other. And that wasn't done by man, it was done by God. Listen, I don't give this to the church to come through. In a service, if you obey the Holy Ghost, there's no telling what God would do. But listen to me, you know what you do? You're sat in the pew, and God tells you to do something, and it's in the Spirit of God and according to the Scriptures. And God might say, stand up and stretch your hand out. You don't know what the Holy Ghost might do, but you know what you'll do? I can't do it. You can't do it. If you don't do it, you're not going to be blessed because you've got to do what He said to do. He said, I've come to order to get right with God. If He tells you to do, you do. It's like that old man, he went down to the preacher and he said, Preacher, I need to get saved. He said, let's go down to the hog pen. He said, I'm not going to the hog pen to get saved. He said, if you're going to get saved, you have to go to Hogpen. He got back to the house. He got thinking about going to hell and wasn't right with God. About two hours later, he knocked on the preacher's door and he said, Preacher, I need to get saved. He said, let's go to Hogpen. He said, I'm not going to Hogpen. He said, you have to go to Hogpen to get saved. He said, I'm not going. He left. Boy, conviction got on him heavy. Brother Morrison, Got in trouble back at the house, going to hell. He said, I'm just going to go down to that hog pen. He knocked on the preacher's door and he said, Preacher! He said, I'm ready to go to the hog pens! He said, you don't have to go, you just have to be willing. Amen, that's right. You know what's wrong with people today? They don't want to do what they're willing to do. Thank God to take care of the need. That's what the church needs in this hour. You can sit there all day if you want to, but if you'll obey the Holy Ghost, if you'll do what God said, I'll tell you there's no telling what God might do. That's right. My old brother John Henry the other morning, Listen, I'm preaching the truth. It's actions that speak. After he had that surgery, he came in. He said, you know, Brother Robert, how I used to feel. I used to feel about like that. Remember that? He said, I feel like this now. You remember that? I felt God all in that. You know why? He's just obeying the voice. That's why churches don't have the blessing of God. I'm telling you, I'm preaching it right this morning. That's why sinners don't get saved. That's why people don't get right with God. Jesus says, stretch your abs! But it might be you have to stretch it out here. And there's somebody watching you. You don't want to be embarrassed. You've got too much pride, you know. You're not that bad. There's nothing wrong with you. That's why you don't get no help. Because I can diagnose every one of you. Every one of you is man. You're flesh. You're corrupt, you're sinful, every one of you, including myself. I've got four pointing back at me. Everybody in here is a sinful creature, and they need the help of God, but they're so pious, and they're so reverent, and they're so good in themselves, they don't need no help, but they'll never get none until they see they need some help. Amen. That's right. Brother Miller preached that message on the doctor's end. He said, when the man got sick, the doctor's in. You get sick, doctor's in. Amen. He come not to call the righteous, but He come to call sinners to repentance. He didn't come, thank God, to bring healing to the righteous. He come to heal the sinner. Amen. That's why He's here. Thank God He can heal you this morning, help you this morning. I don't know what your need is. If you need to be saved, He can save you. If you need healing, He can heal you. Thank God if you're withering up in sin, He can take that away too. But you've got to say it's me, oh Lord, it's my hand. I'll do what you tell me to do. If you want me to come to order, I'll come and pray. If you want God to just stand up and say it's me, I'll do that. I'll just be honest. If people got to obeying God in this church this morning, we'd have all-time revival. We'll have an all-time meeting, but we come like there's nothing wrong. The fact of it is, you're deceiving yourself because our things are wrong in your hearts. Amen. And the only help you've got is to be honest and stretch forth thy hands. That's right. Amen, preacher. That's right. Let's stand this morning and preach that you're hearing the Word of God. God.