sometimes the strategy is to stand I'm going say that one more time sometimes the strategy is to stand sometimes the strategy is to not die sometimes the strategy is to live where you get that from thereus Paul says having done all to stand when you don't know what to do when there's no blueprint when there's no strategy you look up and you look at yourself in the mirror and say I'll live and not die to declare the works of the Lord you look the storm in the face and you say one of us is going to quit first and it's not going to be me I may cry but I'm not quitting and I may fold but I'm not quitting I may bend but I'm not quitting well listen our Atlanta locations are streaming in today Make some noise for ATL everybody come on Jersey make some noise for [Applause] ATL man we're excited we're excited about all that God is doing and let's get to the word we're in the Book of Luke Today Chapter number 13 man I'm super excited we're in part 11 okay I got 13 people excited let's try that again every location we're in part 11 of the Godus series Luke 13:10 says on a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years she was bent over and could not straighten up at all and when Jesus saw her he called her forward and said to Heroman you are set free from your infirmity then he put his hands on her and immediately imately she straighten up and praise God then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and she praised God I want to tag this title to this in our time together I want to talk from this subject I need some straightening clap your hands everywhere if you're ready for God's word I need some straightening family in one of his most popular Works author and thought Leader Peter scazzero says in his book emotionally healthy spirituality that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature in other words spiritual growth requires emotional healing Holiness come here requires wholeness after Christ gives us a new heart he has to help us work through some old hurts so family it's important for us to know that even though my spirit is saved my soul is still carrying some scars and as a consequence I can be forgiven and still fractured on my way to heaven while still carrying some hurt delivered but damaged and is there anybody in any location that is honest enough to admit I'm traveling down your street have pulled up into your driveway came in the living room didn't even ring the doorbell went into the kitchen got some Kool-Aid and some Red Bull come on delivered and damaged and when this is not accurately understood individuals are unable to live out their purpose because they're stuck in their programming see our past doesn't just pass away our past produces patterns and a lot of what we're calling our temperament might actually just be our [Applause] trauma and a lot of what we are calling our personality might just be our pain maybe we aren't wired that way maybe we been wounded that way maybe we aren't built that way maybe we've been broken that way and if we don't deal with the damage we will turn Seasons into cycles and we'll conf our dysfunction with our design but I believe I'm talking to some people at every location today that have a revelation that is going to cause a revolution in your life that you were not wired to live wounded and you were not saved to stay stuck Hallelujah that God did not bring me out of Egypt just for me to die in the wilderness if he brought me out of Egypt I'm going all the way into Canaan I'm not settling for first way I'm not setting a tent in second way I'm settling for third way I cried too much I prayed too hard I fasted too long and I survive too much to stay here the enemy owes me back pay and I'm coming for everything he owed me [Applause] and if this resonate if this Revelation is resonating with you I've got some good news for you this morning I said if this Revelation is resonating with you I got some good news for you I said if this Revelation is resonating with you I got some good news for you yeah I can't be a gospel preacher and not give you some good news do you want some good news here's a good news your savior is also a surgeon I feel like running I said your savior is also a surgeon he's called the Great physician and this surgeon has never lost a patient he doesn't just treat the symptoms he deals with the sickness his scapel is the truth his anesthesia is Grace and his operating room is the church you didn't just come to a service today you came to surgery and I want somebody that wants Jesus to work on you to throw your hands up in the air and say work on me Jesus work on me until I get free work on me until I get strong walk on me until I get focused work on me until my testimony is that a weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning work on me why y'all got me preaching so happy this [Applause] morning our savior is also a surgeon he doesn't just stitch wounds he restores wholeness so if you bring him your Brokenness he'll bring you his wholeness if you'll surrender your scars he'll Supply the strength and when he's done operating on you your testimony will be the testimony of job when job said he knows the way that I take but when he has tried me I shall come forth as pure gold my past helps explain me but my past won't def find me did you hear what I just said my past may explain me but my past won't Define me my past may be the reason I am the way I am but my past is not the reason I have to stay where I am because my savior is a surgeon and the surgeon wants to do some [Applause] straightening and everything I'm trying to articulate is here in the text that we just read together in Luke chapter number 13 Luke Chapter 13 exposes us to an encounter Jesus has when he is teaching in a synagogue when he is exposed to an issue that Luke describes this way a woman is crippled by a spirit for 18 years I'm going say that one more time I said Luke says there's a woman in the synagogue who's crippled by a spirit that has her unable to straighten up her back for 18 years I'm going say that one more time Luke says there's a woman in the synagogue in the synagogue who's CRI that's it who's crippled by a spirit that won't allow her to straighten up her back for 18 years now Luke tells us what's happening with her Charles Spurgeon tells us how what's happening with her shows us what happens with us see Spurgeon says that the literal miracles in the New Testament can be metaphors for the spiritual Miracles God wants to work in your life so Spurgeon says if all we do is look at the literal Miracles literally then we minimize the ministry of the master because if all Jesus can do is heal physical sickness when we got an emotional issue we're in trouble when we've got a relational issue we're in trouble so when you see Jesus healing blind eyes in the Bible even if you're not physically blind you ought to be excited and ecstatic because that means just like he healed physical blindness he can heal spiritual blindness cuz sometimes you hadn't lost your sight but you lost your vision let me go to this side I said sometimes you didn't lose your sight but you lost your vision and when Jesus heals blind eyes he restores your vision back to you I feel a little Pentecostal and prophetic this morning I pray that God give somebody who's lost it they Vision back I don't know what took your vision maybe failure took your vision maybe pain took your vision maybe stagnation took your vision but just like he healed blind eyes in the Bible he can heal your vision May 2025 be the year you get your vision [Applause] back am I making sense so so when you see a miracle in the Bible and Jesus enabled someone who couldn't hear physically to be able to hear what Char Spurgeon is saying is that you need to look at that and recognize that there are times when we can't can't hear spiritually where's my un section right where okay well maybe well maybe some of you just hear God all the time you just no Pastor that's not me I always well for the rest of us who sometimes find ourselves in situations where we've got to make decisions and we know the importance of decisions we know that every decision is pregnant with the potential to produce a season you didn't hear what I just said I said every decision is pregnant with the potential to a season some people are living through a whole season based off one decision you can decide it in 3 seconds and have to deal with it for three months come on here so when you understand the consequential nature of your choices when you understand that your ability to choose is a gift from God when you understand that when God created the human species he created the human species with something called volition we call it free will he says create man put him in the garden and then let them eat so they had the ability to choose because God could not create a species the human species that he wanted to love him without giving that species the power to choose love requires choice so am am I am I making sense here so now and this is what happens when people don't understand this they blame God when humans mismanage the gift of choice right so when so when so when bad people make bad choices and those bad choices create bad consequences for other people then we end up looking at God saying God what are you doing and God like that's not me I gave them the gift of choice that's not me not being God that's not me not being all I'm supposed to be that's them not being all they're supposed to be cu the gift of choice is like a brick you can build a home with it or you can injure somebody with it the problem's not the gift of choice the problem's who's doing the choosing and he gives a gift of choice because this is how you co-create with him he gives you Vision which is a picture of a Preferred Future this is what I want to do with your life then he gives you choice and and he wants to influence those choices this this is what the Old Testament calls order in your steps come on here so he gives a preview of where he wants to take you that's called Vision we might call it Destiny that's his desired destination for you and he's already given you the gift of choice and you have to use the gift of choice to choose in alignment with what he's chosen so he wants to influence your choices and that's called ordering your steps the steps of a good man now I know some of y'all grew up Baptist you should have helped me preach right there I'mma do it one more time I said the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord steps are systematic and sequential patterns of movement that move you from one place to the next systematic Left Foot Right Foot Right Foot left foot sequential one after the other so your steps are your decisions amen cuz you make systematic and sequential decisions and it moves you from one place to another so when God says I'm going order your steps he's not saying I'm going to move your feet he's saying I'mma influence your [Applause] choices are you hearing what I'm saying and those of us who understand the Power of Choice at sometimes if you're honest we deal with anxiousness when it comes time to make some choices when we don't feel like we clear on what choice God want us to make am I making sense some like Jesus now I need to do something here but I don't know what to do and you know what to do but I want to do what you want me to do cuz I got some experience that I know how to do what I want to do yeah but doing what I want to do hadn't seemed to work out for me so at this point I'm like here the keys I'm just I got to get somebody else to do it I'm I I don't even trust my own decision making at this point but I need you to order my steps but sometimes all the other voices are so loud I need him to heal my hearing so the physical miracles in the Bible are metaphors for Spiritual Miracles so when we see Luke telling us that there's a woman who's dealing with this condition that has are crippled I don't want you to just see her in the text I want you to see you in the text because this woman being crippled watch this this is important means her movement wasn't absent it means her movement was limited she wasn't paralyzed that means she couldn't move at all but her movement was impaired come on here she could step but her steps were slow her posture was slowing down her pace her acceleration was impacted she was moving but she wasn't moving at the speed of her potential she was moving at the mercy of her [Music] pain and if we would all pause and be honest for a minute we can we would have to admit if we are objective that there are some areas in our life where we moving but we moving slow where we're progressing but we're not progressing according to our potential we're progressing at the mercy of our pain is there anybody honest enough to say there are some areas of my life where I want them to be moving faster and there are times where others are perplexed as to why you're not satisfied with your pace cuz they're coveting a pace you're not satisfied with and they don't understand how you are not satisfied with your pace is because they're comparing their Pace to your pace when you're comparing your pace to your potential cuz I'm not going to be held accountable whether or not I'm fasten in you I'm going to be held accountable with how I'm stewarding what God gave me and you might be happy with where I am that doesn't mean I have to be happy with where I am because I know what God put on the inside of me and I got to be accountable for my potential so you're not satisfied no I'm content but not satisfied I'm grateful but not satisfied I'm thankful for what is done but I'm I'm anticipating what he's getting ready to do I'm a praise him for what he's already done and then I'mma praise him prophetically for what he's getting ready to do and if you don't believe he's getting ready to do something be quiet but for everybody that believes God for 18 years her pace is at the mercy of a pain Luke says something that was interesting though he says Donna he says he says there's a spirit that caused the crippling did you hear what I just said she says there's something that we can't see that's causing the condition that we can see say that one more time Luke says there's a spirit right that's contributing to her condition so we could see her condition she can't straighten her back up right making sense yes but there's something we can't see that is causing and contributing to the condition that we can see we see the symptom Luke tells us the source listen to me I'mma say this one more time and I believe every location is going to get this when I say this one more time there was something that we couldn't see that was contributing to the condition that we could see there was something we could see she couldn't straighten out who's going to help me preach this we could see she couldn't straighten her back out but the reason she couldn't straighten something out was because of something we couldn't [Music] see did you hear what I just said so no matter how many muscle relaxers she [Applause] got you aren't talking to me no matter how many chiropractors she went to see no matter how much stressing stretching she got done she couldn't have straightened it out because if there was a muscle relaxer or a chiropractor or stretching they would have been dealing with the symptom but not the [Applause] source her back was bent but that's not what was [Applause] broken so you couldn't straighten out what you could see until you fix the thing that you couldn't see and there are some things now if you Baptist you should have said something right there there are some things that we can't straighten out because there are some things we haven't dealt with that we can't see this is another one of a million reasons why the Bible prohibits [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] judging because we see the condition but we don't see the contributor and you don't know what shape you would have been in let me go over here you don't know what condition you would have been in had you experienced the spiritual warfare she was experiencing this was not a Godly spirit that was a in affecting her this was a evil spirit that was affecting her this is a result of spiritual warfare [Music] notice this I need somebody to talk back to me at every location here and Luke says Chris Luke says she's in the [Applause] synagogue I need somebody to help me preach it she's in the synagogue she's in church still not straighten out on the Dream Team still not straighten out went through change track still not straighten [Music] out today cuz the synagogue doesn't straighten you out right [Applause] [Music] hey the Savior streng you out but she had enough resilience to keep coming to the synagogue because what if she decided the one Saturday that Jesus was going to show up is the one Saturday she skipped but she happened to be in the right place at the right time and that's why somebody got in they car and they drove and they got through the traffic because Jesus might just show [Applause] up she kept coming cuz today might be my day today might be my day today might be my day today might be my day worship was good but I didn't get he he but today might be my day today might be my day and what ends up happening is she gets introduced to not just the Savior she gets introduced to the surgeon did you hear what I just said she didn't just get introduced to the Savior she got introduced to the surgeon Jesus used her situation as an opportunity to give a revelation of an aspect of him she didn't know existed they just knew him as a rabbi they just knew him as one who could teach but Jesus is using their situation to show them I can do more than teach if you're going to be goated I got to do more than teach you you got to let me touch you it is God showing us a side of himself in the midst of our crisis I don't know who's in a situation but God might want to use your situation as an opportunity to give you a revelation that I'm more than a teacher I can [Music] touch 18 years she is dealing with a wound that's a result of warfare and somebody has probably diagnosed her condition by the symptom if somebody asked her what was wrong with her she would have probably said I got a bad back did you hear what I just said for 18 years she's thinking I got a bad back and when I was reading this Wednesday as I Was preparing this I'm saying to myself brother Ira I said wait it seems like the gospel writers randomly tell us the amount of years certain people dealt with certain issues just like randomly like John 5 the man of the pool of Bethesda it tells us 38 years Mark 5 with the woman with the issue of blood it tells us 12 years right uh uh uh the the man who we talked about a couple of weeks ago whose son was dealing with the spirit that would cause these seizures he was dealing with it since birth and I started thinking about this woman 18 years why did the gospel writers do this I don't know but here's what we can learn from it the time and the tenure that you deal with the issue reveals who you really believe has the last say about your [Applause] issue did you hear what I said the time that we deal with an issue reveals what you really believe is Sovereign cuz if I've dealt with this 18 years it's easy to believe that I am going to have to deal with this for the next 18 years cuz if it hasn't changed in all of this time what makes me think it's going to change this time that attitude is an indication you believe time is Sovereign not [Applause] God come on here whenever you get a revelation of sovereignty you understand two things can't be Sovereign at the same time two things can have power at the same time but two things can't be Sovereign at the same time somebody's got to have the last say and I want to ask you does the time of the issue have the last say or does your savior have the last say I came to tell somebody it doesn't matter how long it's been 18 years 38 years 12 years of your whole life when your issue meets your surgeon then your issue has to Bow its knee to your master y'all ready to go [Applause] I'm I don't want us to just see her in the text I want us to see us in the text because there are certain things that we can see that we can't straighten out cuz we hadn't dealt with what we can't see and there was a spirit that was at work in this woman and I would imagine I'm I'm making a exegetical assumption here but I would imagine you don't have that condition without some pain y'all see where I'm going here we turning the corner you see where I'm going I I said I would imagine you can't have that issue that long without some sort of pain so part of the way she was in object of spiritual warfare was pain and as it was with her so it can be with us the enemy can use pain to keep us from being able to straighten some things out this was pain in her body but the enemy will use pain in our soul because a brok broken Soul leads to a bent life come on Church you remember last week we talked about soul wounds which are injuries to our innermost being that occur as a result of negligent acts of omission and harmful acts of commission done to us or by us and many people can't straighten family out or company out or emotions out or relations out because there're old woman won't let them straighten up so I need some straightening and the surgeon wants to do some straightening Jesus listen to this Jesus family has paid for our healing yes did you hear what I just said but we got to position ourselves to receive it healing is not automatic it requires our participation just as a doctor can prescribe treatment and the patients got to take the medicine God offers healing we got to position ourselves to receive it so there spe there are some specific postures and perspectives we need to embrace to fully walk in the healing he provides I'm done here it is let me give you these postures and perspectives number one we've go to we we have to make sure we acquire the right perception somebody say perception you can't heal what you won't [Applause] see I didn't say come on here don't help me preach now I didn't say you can't heal what you don't see what you can't see I'm saying you can't heal what all that's true but you can't heal What You Won't See Come on here am I making sense yeah you can't fix what you want face and here's some people's issue some people have done this they've come to their own conclusions about their condition they've diagnosed themselves did you hear what I just said yep you may be right about what you're dealing with but that doesn't mean you're right about why you're dealing with it and some people can't the what because they've already come to the conclusions about the why they're like the man at the pull up but that's the when Jesus simply ask the man do you want to be made whole and Jesus and this man starts giving Jesus all the reasons he isn't whole yet well the angel only come one time a year and stir the water and when somebody when he Stir the Water somebody get in the water before me and I don't have anybody to help me everybody hating on me they Throwing Shade at me they crashing out on me Jesus said do you want to get up or [Applause] not so I'm trying to show you the reason you think you're stuck is not the reason you're actually stuck and if you'll let me show you the reason you're actually stuck I can get you unstuck so I need a soul check am I protecting my wounds instead of Allowing God to heal them I need to write perception I'm dum man of God I need to write posture healing flows where humility grows our healing requires our participation but you can't be healed if you rather be right [Applause] it's got to be a recognition God I I can't do this I've been able to fix that but I can't fix this I can't do surgery on myself Soul check is my pride keeping my soul in prison [Applause] number three the right process if you rush the process you risk [Applause] relapse cuz God uses the process to create some things to make Freedom permanent and if you rust the process God won't build in you the things you need to properly Steward the freedom he's going to provide if you look at the text her Freedom was a process yes he spoke King James says Woman Thou Art loose from thy infirmity that's what he spoke then the text says he laid hands on her he touched her come on then she straighten up and praise God so when he spoke her body didn't get free her body got free when he [Applause] touched cuz God's like to straighten you out I got to deal with your mind your spirit then I can get to your body come on here I I got to deal I got to deal with your ego your assumptions then I can fix the relationship it's a process it's a process Soul check am I committed to healing or just looking for quick relief number four the right partnership the right people people accelerate healing the wrong ones reinforce Brokenness Soul check are my relationships leading me toward healing or keeping me in cycles of [Music] hurt I'mma say this and then I'm moving on to point five I promise you just you might want to uh write this down or memorize it or something um it might apply now or it might apply later it's hard to stay healed if you walking with the reason you broken all right number [Applause] five like I can't get fully healed before I'm [Applause] reinjured number five patterns healing is is not just about removing the wound it's about retraining your soul so you no longer return to patterns that are product of your pain your Pain's created some patterns and even when God removes a condition you got to relearn new patterns there's got to be a new normal that you got to develop like if you've been hurt and betrayed when you feel somebody start getting close there are patterns some of you start withdrawing it's too good to be true something wrong patterns and so even when the pain is gone the patterns still take time thank you Lord don't just deliver me from the pain deliver me from patterns Soul check do I love the old me more than New Freedom this is the way I've always been but that's a pattern that's a product of pain and God just dealt with the pain we got to shift the pattern we done we done Hallelujah Jesus wants to do some [Applause] straightening my father's pinky finger doesn't fully extend I was 13 years old we were playing basketball I hit it it broke my dad ow school he didn't go to the doctor so he can use it but he can't straighten it so because he can't straighten it it's limited in his use here's what's cool though it don't hurt but he still can't use it fully it doesn't hurt cuz it healed it just didn't heal straight and so one day I asked him I say rev um why did why didn't you ever get your finger fixed he said well I went to the doctor and she told me she'd have to rebre it and some of our hearts look like my dad's [Music] hand there's something that happened it doesn't hurt but you don't have full use of the heart and for Jesus to do some straightening he says you going to have to let me touch that hurt place again you don't want to think about it no more but you're going to have to let me touch that again and it's going to feel like I'm hurting you but I'm healing you cuz if you'll let me if you'll let me touch it one more time you're not just going to heal you're going to heal right receive this father I pray for each and every person under the sound of my voice that needs some straightening would you kind father do it as only you can you heal the brokenhearted and you bind up their wounds I pray for father wounds of Abandonment I pray for wounds of abuse I pray for wounds of betrayal I pray for for wounds that were incurred during divorce I pray for wounds that come from Bad Business Partnerships I pray for wounds that come from Bad breakups and I pray that the Potter would put the broken pieces of people's hearts back together again do it all I pray in the name of Jesus somebody say yes say Amen clap your hands everywhere [Music]