The Structured Life - Part 2 | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

if you have your bibles in just for a few moments turn with me to matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28 i truly desire to help someone today and i'll be transparent with you the apostle paul told timothy that as he would preach and teach the word that he would not only he would not only save those that would hear him but he would save himself and so i'm not only here today to help you i'm here today to help myself amen i'm here today because life is hard but we have hope amen and this is this is our hope matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28 29 and verse 30. jesus said come unto me let's read it slowly and let it sink in come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light i want to minister today on the structured life part two the structured life part two father i love you i thank you for the awesome privilege today to minister your word lord you said in your word that if i loved you i would feed your sheep father help me today with all that is within me to feed the sheep today god help us lord to have a greater knowledge of you help us lord to have a greater understanding of life so that we can victoriously serve you and with joy lived for you god bless this message today in jesus name we pray amen and amen you may be seated i have just read to you in verse number 28 i just read to you of all the invitations that you will ever be given in life with all of the invitations that you'll ever be given in life i just read to you the greatest invitation that you'll ever receive is when jesus said come unto me three of the most powerful words that could ever be spoken come unto me what an invitation come unto me all ye that labor verse 28 all ye that labor and are heavy laden he gives this invitation and then he specifies who the invitation is to all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you i will give you rest this word here this word here labor according to thayer's dictionary it means to grow weary to be tired exhausted it means to labor with wearisome effort it means to toil it speaks of bodily labor so the mixture of the word is you are laboring you are laboring but you are laboring in weariness you are you are laboring but there is a weariness that is upon you and then the word heavy laden simply means to load up to overburden with ceremony to be heavy laden to be over burdened you know we've often used the scripture that the lord will put no more on us than we're able to bear and i'm a firm believer of that verse but it doesn't say that we wouldn't put sometimes we put things on us that god never intended us to carry and so i began to think about how what a spiritual resemblance there is to what is in our world today called burnout burnout anybody ever heard that word burn out i know you may not want to raise your hand but anybody ever said those words i'm burnt out i'm burnt out you know used to burn out with something that you did and you could recuperate from it you could burn yourself out and then you could get away for a few days and the burnout left you you came back with a zeal but according to stats today they say that we're living in the burned out generation that there's no getting away from it there's no there's no day spa that you're going to go soak your burn out away there's no kind of oxygen facial mask or some kind of rub down that you're going to go and recuperate from burnout they just simply say that this is the generation that has learned to live with burnout they just learned to live with this weary exhausted overburdened frame of mind now i'm going secular on you just for a moment but a definition of burnout the burnout syndrome is a prolonged state of physical and mental exhaustion usually due to long-term exposure to high pressure atmosphere this don't relate to any of us today does it the term is becoming increasingly common with studies reporting close to 30 percent of american workers suffer from burnout in high pressure fields the frequency can rise above beyond 50 even among workers who do not directly report burnout many experience intolerable levels of stress emotional distress and again this is just not relating to any of us today and you know that i'm being facetious with that remark many experience intolerable levels of stress emotional distress and family problems highlighting how widespread this problem has become in forbes forbes magazine dr ballard who is the head of the healthy workplace program says in reference to burnout in those situations in those situations the demands being placed on you exceed the resources you have available to deal with the stressors left unchecked burnout can wreak havoc on your health happiness relationships and job performance in order to catch burnout and combat it early it is important to know what to look for to say well i don't really know if i'm burned out or not well let me give you a few things to look for dr fowler says there's 10 signs that you may be experiencing burnout number one if you are exhausted a clear sign of burnout is when you feel tired all the time all the time i would say that could fit anybody that gets up in the morning after a good night's sleep and says i'm so tired exhaustion can be emotional mental or physical it's the sense of not having any energy and being completely spent number two it could be a lack of motivation a lack of motivation when you don't feel enthusiastic about anything anymore or you no longer have the internal motivation for your work there's a good chance you're experiencing burnout other ways this manifests it may be harder to get going in the morning and more difficult to drag yourself into work every day number three frustration listen to this now this could be a sign of burnout frustration and being cynical and other negative emotions just cynical critical negative you may feel like what you've been what you're doing doesn't matter that much anymore or you may be disillusioned with everything you might notice that you feel more generally pessimistic than you used to while everybody experiences some negative emotions from time to time it is important to know when these are becoming the usual for you i'm not saying that a negative thing or a negative way of looking at something is not healthy but you shouldn't be negative all the time cognitive problems burn out chronic stress may interfere with your ability to pay attention or to concentrate when you're stressed our attention narrows to focus on the negative element that we perceive as a threat in the short term this helps us deal with the problem at hand dr ballard says but our bodies and brains are designed to handle this in short bursts and then return to normal functioning when stress becomes chronic this narrow focus continues for a long time and we have difficulty paying attention to other things this fight or flight tunnel vision can negatively affect your ability to solve problems or make decisions you might find that you're more forgetful and have a harder time remembering things now i'm going to take it today that we're quiet because we're either listening or this is hidden close to home slipping job performance not sure whether your burnout compare your job performance now to your performance in previous years because burnout trends to happen over an extended period of time taking this long-term view might reveal whether you're in a temporary slump or experiencing more chronic burnout related number six inner personal problems at home and work this tends to play out in one of two ways you're having more difficult more conflicts with other people such as getting into arguments or you withdraw talk you withdraw talking to your co-workers and family members less you might find that even when you're physically there you are tuned out seven we're almost there not taking care of yourself when suffering from burnout some people engage in unhealthy coping strategies like drinking and smoking and just being lazy doing activities while lying down or sitting just lazy eating too much junk food not eating enough or not getting enough sleep self-medication is another issue and could include relying on sleeping pills to sleep drinking alcohol at the end of the day to de-stress or even drinking more coffee to summons boy that one hits me not the drinking but the coffee hits me more coffee to summon up the energy to drag yourself into work in the morning eight we're almost there we're going to get real spiritual in a few moments and get off this non-related business all right and you realize that if we can learn how to deal with burnout that we are made up of body soul and spirit and that all of these are connected together and whatever is going on in your body affects your spirit and how do we worship god in spirit and in truth so we can we can think that this last few moments why in the world would he get up there and talk about burnout i'll tell you why probably nine out of 10 people probably probably 99 of this congregation can relate to what i'm preaching this morning and the one percent in denial generally decreased satisfaction this is the tendency to feel less happy and satisfied with your career and with your home life you might feel dissatisfied or even stuck when it comes to whatever is going on at home in the community or with your social activities number 10 health problems over a long period of time serious serious chronic stress can create real health problems like digestive issues heart disease depression and even into obesity can i tell you today the greatest invitation was given to you and i when jesus christ said to a group of burnout religious people they were burnt out he spoke to a bunch of burnout religious people that were laboring and heavy laden and he simply spoke the word and said come unto me all ye that are burned out and i will give you rest this word here rest simply means recharge it seems to it means to be refreshed he says come unto me and i will recharge you come unto me and i will refresh you can i tell you today that servant jesus should never become old servant jesus should never become old because if you served him in your 20s it's a new day you're in your 60s now serve him in your 60s because serving jesus should never never never grow old isn't it a wonderful life to live for the lord come unto me come unto me all you that labor come unto me all you can just put that in the scripture come unto me all ye that are burnt out come unto me all you that are burned out and i will give you i will give you rest i will give you a recharge that's why we protect our sundays here that's why fac of maryville we are dogmatic about protecting our times in the house of the lord if there's ever a day in a culture of burnout that we need more of spiritual refreshing it's now we don't need us as as most denominations are moving to having less worship services i say is the end approaching that we have believed the apostle paul and that we gather together so much the more as we see the day approaching why why do that because church is not a stress church is an invitation from god to come unto me oh ye that labor under heavy lady can i tell you today that if church is a stress to you then you are you are serving a religious form that is giving you heavy laden and you're not serving the lord jesus christ because when you're serving the lord jesus christ sunday morning at ten o'clock is an opportunity to come publicly and to display publicly to any guests to my brothers and sisters i still love jesus i still praise jesus i still am head over heels crazy about jesus i love him i serve him he's the best thing that ever has happened to my life and it's my opportunity to shine come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden i've got a battery powered uh blower i've got a battery-powered blower and one of the one of the frustrating things cause it's a whole lot better take that little machine and blow off the driveway than it is to the old manual way but frustrating is when you want to please the one that wants the driveway clean and you're out there blowing off and all of a sudden it goes can you figure out the problem the battery needed to be recharged sometimes we run out because we're not getting back on that charger like we ought to you see church is not a waste of your time it's really a recharging station so i i don't know i don't i don't know how you you you go to church like that oh don't i i don't know how you got that much time no it's no we know how to prioritize our time we understand that the better i am spiritually the better my marriage is and the better my marriage is the better my family is and the better my family is the better the church is and the better the church is the better the community is and the better the i'll get this this morning and the better the community you know why we've got all this crazy stuff going on in our world right now those folks need to recharge they need to recharge they need to go back to sunday school they need to go back to the word of god but he said come unto me all ye that labor now now please understand the audience that he was talking to religious burnt out people that we're being told that how you please god is you've got to obey the sabbath and you've got to keep the sabbath and that means you can only walk so many steps on the sabbath and you better keep count and that was back before they had you know eye watches and all that you got to keep count as a matter of fact if you were going to fry an egg on the sabbath day you had to make sure you you know you buying eggs now the range-free chickens and all of this stuff and and they said that chicken's not kept in uh cages that are not stressed out burn out i guess the chickens could could benefit from this today but but if he's in the world if he's in if he's living in that day you'd have to make sure before you crack that egg hey was this egg laid on the sabbath day because you couldn't eat any eggs that were late on the sabbath day why because the hen labored to deliver it see where's that at in the bible it's not that's where religion came in and kept laying things on them and laying things on them so this is a bunch of burnt out people they are totally burnt out they're stressed out they have no joy in their sacrifices they have no joy in life jesus comes along and says come unto me oh hallelujah come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest it doesn't stop there he says now you gotta understand when jesus shows up he's a rabbi they're waiting for him to teach because rabbis wanted to gather students all right and students we would know them by disciples you would hear a certain rabbi and then you would like what that rabbi said and you would say hey i'm going to pattern my life after this rabbi i go to i go to rabbi so and so i belong to rabbi so-and-so because that rabbi won your mind rabbi came along he got the teaching and you became a disciple of that rabbi so now jesus comes along he's a rabbi and he says i want you to come to me because the verse of scripture said he was teaching in the synagogue he comes along and he says i'm gathering disciples i'm gathering students you do understand that students do have certain things about them pen paper pencil they do have certain things about them and we if we are truly a disciple of jesus christ we have something certain about us come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest but it doesn't stop there take my yoke upon you now just stop right there do you realize that a yoke if you if you go ahead and put the picture of that yoke up on the screen for me do you know that a yoke is a farming tool so in essence he's talking to burn out people and he said i want you to come unto me and he hands him a shovel wait a minute you you don't understand i'm tired but then again we don't understand the yoke because what the yoke is is you'll notice here it's got two of these u-shaped pieces of leather or wood and that's where the heads and the necks of the oxen would slip through and so anytime you were hooked up to a yoke there's one thing you have to understand you're not working alone you're not working alone now i can just tell you that i benefit greatly i benefit greatly brother snitzer from working with you and working with people here at the church i benefit greatly but that's not what the yoke is talking about because i have to take that yoke i get to take that yoke up on but i understand that i'm not working alone because who is yoked up to me jesus christ so in essence in essence he says come unto me all you that labor under heavy lady i will give you rest take my yoke upon you whose yoke is it it's the yoke that belongs to jesus see too many people that are burnt out with church are burned out with church but you could never have jesus and be burned out with jesus because jesus shows you how to do life let me read your scripture let me quote it i am the way the truth and the what say it again it make you feel good if you say it i am the way the truth and what life you know the problem is we don't focus much on the way we lack the truth and the life but you can't have the truth unless the truth is welded and wedded to the way the way is a lifestyle too many people want the life of jesus but they don't want his lifestyle let me see if i can get home you see this slit slick sleek guy running down the road jogging you look at him he's shaped man he's he's he's got it all in the right place i mean he's shaped and and and he's strong he's running man and you look at that and you say i like that life i like that life i want that life you go buy you some nike tennis shoes you go buy you some a jogging pants and shirt you don't look like that guy you saw but you have hopes oh come on now you have hopes of one day that's why down at these gyms well they got all around there i never understood they got all these mirrors around there i just watch them man i go in there to get on the treadmill and they're those guys over here and women i'm thinking wow but i want the life but i don't know if i want to get out at daybreak at 37 degrees in the dark and run i don't know if i want to get out and run until my lungs feel like they want to burst and sweat drenches everything in my body but the truth of the matter is you're never going to have the life until you get the lifestyle and the same is with jesus christ you'll never have a life at the end of that verse until you have the lifestyle at the beginning of that verse but that's all right you say i don't know how to do life that's great get in the yoke of jesus and let him show you how to do life he says take my yoke upon you get in this thing with me and learn of me what's he saying just watch me watch how i deal with life watch how i do with those that despitefully use me watch how i do with those that would crucify me watch how i'm willing to forgive them because there's a greater purpose in my life oh friend oh i feel the presence of the lord right now too many of us is in a yoke of church business and we need to get in the yoke of jesus christ how do you do life jesus how do you do life well i'm feeling my sp i'm feeling my holy ghost coming on right now how do you do life jesus how do you do life you know i'll just pick some just pick some random men out here today and some random people out here today but there's certain occupations that if i went into if i went into i'd i'd just want to rub shoulders with some of the men here why because they're doing it they're doing it joel mayo for example if i wanted to fly a plane i'd get around joel mayo get around nolan carpenter i'd get around these i get around these uh these two these two young men and joel you're you're employed by serious seriously i'd get if i wanted to fly i'd get around him why because he's doing it and there's other things where builders are or or or truck drivers or whatever your occupation may be a bookkeeper's accountants i'd get around you that's not a that's not some lightbulb revelation is it why would you get around them because they know how to do it take my yoke upon you and learn of me take my yoke upon you do life with me get in this harness with me and when you face the difficulties of life look and see how i face the difficulties of life but not only past tense history but thank god he said when you put your neck in that yoke i will never leave you nor ever forsake you so if i'm sick guess who's sick right alongside me jesus is sick if i'm if i'm in a dark room and i can't feel my way out guess who's right beside me i may not be able to see him but i've got the confidence of the scripture that he is there come on come do life with me come and do life with me you know people overcome getting laid off people even overcome major decisions of their life but the number one killer of christians is when you get hurt the number one killer and especially hurt by someone who claims to know jesus let's just let that sink in for a moment i've seen him overcome getting laid off i've seen i've seen in my years of pastoring i've seen them overcome getting laid off i've seen them overcome bankruptcy i've seen them overcome a lot of things but the percentage of people that overcome hurts is far far far less than those of overcoming bankruptcy you know why it is we haven't truly looked at jesus and how did he respond to hurt there could be no greater hurt well you don't know what i'd done for them you can you believe they would do me this way after all i did for them sound familiar don't raise your hand well how about jesus christ god in the flesh he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not so how does he choose when luke 23 33 dawns and the bible says and when they had they were come to the place which is called calvary there they crucified him and the male factors one on the right hand on the other and the other on the left then said jesus got you got you got your neck in that yoke got your neck in that yoke this morning then said jesus father forgive them for they know not what they do and they parted his raiment that's his reputation and they tore up his reputation and cast lots can i tell you that jesus come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and i'll give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me it was there on that cross that possibly a young man by the name of stephen stood and was affected by that because on the cross he prays for those that have done him wrong come on church can i tell you the fastest way out of that hurt is to pray for the one who hurt you say how in the world do you do that and why would you do that i'll tell you why you would do that it takes your mind off revenge it takes your mind off your hurt pray for the ones who have hurt you and in doing so you're taking your mind off revenge and you're giving it into the hands of god and listen to what he says vengeance is mine i shall repay and can i tell you the truth of the scripture is that many times when you have followed the direction of praying for those that have hurt you that when that of vengeance comes from god you will find yourself praying for that person that's under the heavy hand of god's vengeance that's what our teacher taught us you know a teacher wants you to learn a teacher wants you to learn what he or she knows i just want that to sink in for a moment that's the teacher's job a teacher wants to that they want to teach you what they know they want you to learn that they want you to they got knowledge up here and they want to impart that knowledge through teaching to you and the teacher wants you to walk out of that room with the same knowledge that the teacher has take my yoke upon you and learn of me and learn of me why did he do that on the cross that day father forgive them they know not what they do because in acts chapter 7 and verse number 57 because the one and the yoke beside you who is jesus wants you to learn some things and he says in acts chapter 7 verse number 3 57 excuse me stephen is being persecuted by this religious group and the bible says then they cried out with a loud voice the religious group cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and they ran upon him with one accord and they cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was saul now you understand that saul in acts chapter 26 i'm going to keep reading here so just just listen to this acts chapter 26 paul said it was my voice that triggered the first stone to be thrown at stephen because it was almost stoning was almost like a daytona 500 ready set go and so they needed one qualified person that would say go and guess who that qualified person was saw who would later become paul the apostle and so paul saul stood there and watched stephen as in saul's mind stephen was a blasphemer and it was saw that all the men with the with the stones were waiting and it was saul that said go and when saul gave those words the stones begin to hurl towards stephen but wait a minute now verse 59 and they stoned stephen calling upon god saying lord jesus receive my spirit he knelt down and cried with a loud voice lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep oh there's a lot here i could say but you know why stephen can be so confident in this time is because of who he is yoked up with who he has yoked up with what has brought us through the covet what has brought us through interruption since march this past march it's not been a church filled with religious order but it has been a group of people that know that we are yoked up to jesus brother carpenter i've got the covet you may have the covet but you're yoked up with jesus brother carpenter this has happened and that has happened that's right but we are yoked up with jesus how in the world does a man who is having stones hurled at him begin to say begin to you begin to pray and the bible says that he begin calling upon god saying lord jesus receive my spirit watch this now he knelt down and with a loud voice what was the last thing he prayed lord lay not this sin to their charge where did stephen learn this who taught stephen this come unto me take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly do you know how stephen can say father forgive them for they know not father lay not this think about that think about this throwing the stones at him father don't put this to their account father go ahead and forgive them father go ahead and do this father you know why stephen witnessed possibly at calvary a crucified savior saying father forgive them for they know not what they do and i want you to know this too many people never overcome their hurts because they never fall asleep too many people can never overcome their works look at how look at how it reads here look at how it reads here lay not this end of their charge and when he had said this what happened to him some folks can never put it to bed because they're never willing to yoke up with jesus christ and you can't have your neck in a yoke and be unforgiving by somebody you can't have your neck in a yoke and say things like i just don't really like that person could you really ever fathom can you ever fathom jesus just standing around and saying you know i just don't really like that person there's just something about them that i just don't i just don't j hall with i just don't get along i just say listen i can never fathom him saying that and he wouldn't and the only way we're able to say that is we've slipped our necks out from under that yoke and we're walking on our own thinking if we dressed it dressed just right don't do the long list of things to get in the choir get thrown out of the choir if we do the long list of acceptable apostolic things that we're going no i'm going to tell you what you're going to have you're going to have no joy you're going to have no peace and you're going to be heavy laden you're going to be spiritually burnt out and eventually you're gonna you're just gonna dissolve your way out of the church god none of those things that i said are wrong unless they are your yoke but my yoke is an acquire handbook my yoke isn't a set of rules my yoke isn't in something the pastors ask us to do or not to do but my yoke is the lord jesus christ and i can get my neck under the hair and lord that person offended me and he says just go ahead and forgive them and pray for them pray that i don't pray that i don't hold this to their account just keep on walking because i may have a cross of hurt but i've got an empty tomb of a resurrection i want the empty tomb in my life come unto me i i think i'm gonna play around with this verse number 20 verse number 60 for a minute leave it seven and 60 up i think i'm gonna play around with it for a while i hear people talking i wish that god would wake up my my children to serve the lord maybe certain things can't get woke up until other things fall asleep let me say that again who's standing there holding the coats saul he's as blind as a bat when it comes to who jesus christ is and you cannot tell me that didn't shake paul to the center of his being when he stood there you see being martyred doesn't make you a christian it reveals that you are i wonder what paul had heard in his life when he when he would go to persecute people oh i'm sorry it's not true i was telling a lie but he stands there holding the coats just hoping waiting hey boys keep recording this because he's probably going to tell us that jesus didn't didn't raise from the dead the third day boys keep recording this he's going to tell us that that there was nothing to this jesus thing get your pens out get your paper out and all of a sudden oh stephen begins to say lord jesus lay not this sin to their charge lay it not to their charge and he fell asleep but sometimes there's things in our lives that can't get woke up until other things go to sleep but if we could let bitterness and revenge and pass and hurts and and all those things just go to sleep in our lives maybe we would wake up to joy peace love gentleness hope future doesn't matter if you're 60 or 16 you can wake up in the morning with a bright spirit inside of you that says i'm ready to see what god wants to do with me today oh about saying you'll wake up with some yabba-dabba-doo in ya but you gotta let some things go to sleep you gotta let some things go to sleep i'd like to minister for the last maybe 10 minutes of my sermon i'd like to brother erickson i'd like to minister to the small groups anybody excited about small groups i'd like to minister for just the next few minutes galatians 5 and verse number 1 galatians 5 and 1 says stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of what bondage what's the one yoke i want that jesus yoke this morning right i don't want that yoke of bondage it's a yoke of bondage you know all through the old testament a yoke is used as an imagery of hardness it's used as imagery of being repressed for example genesis 27 verse number 40 by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck it's yokes all through the bible and i just just for time sake you'll find all through the bible a yoke being used of something that was repressing something that was restraining when you put your when you put your neck through that bar that bar kept the oxen's head down pressed his neck down because that's all he was to concentrate on was his feet and moving but in leviticus chapter 26 verse number 13 he says i am the lord thy god which brought you forth out of the land of egypt that ye should not be their bondmen and i have broken watch this i have broken the bands of your yoke and made you go upright because and it happened those animals got so used to that piece of wood laying across their necks that even that even when the piece of wood was taken away they still walked around bowed down to the ground like this they still walked around because the continual yoke just somehow just somehow got here and they could never walk like this because somehow they got they had the muscle to do it they had the ability to do it he couldn't lift up his head but because he continually wore that yoke but god said i'm gonna take the yoke off your life now follow this i'm gonna take the yoke off your life and then i'm going to change you to fit your new life without a yoke there's too many people claiming to know jesus that they're still walking like they had the yoke he said i'm going to change you and you're going to do what you're going to walk upright i'm not just going to take that spirit of repression off you but i'm also going to physically cause you to walk upright your shoulders back let me tell you when you've got your neck in the yoke with jesus christ you have nothing to be ashamed about you have absolutely nothing to fear you have absolutely nothing to be intimidated about in god's kingdom there is no second-class citizens in god's kingdom there is no respect of persons you're just as loved by god as anybody else in this room today i just i can't help but tell you but that's what makes me love jesus so much is that regardless of who you are or who you're not he loves us just the same and we can walk with our head you don't have to bow your head today i don't care how long the rap sheet is uptown at the courthouse put your neck in the yoke with jesus christ and you can walk in here with your shoulders back and your chin up and know that you are a child of the most time god musicians come right now small groups i want to minister to you for a moment remember the story jesus god took the yoke off of them and made them go upright everybody said go upright luke 13-10 luke 13-10 jesus was teaching in one of their synagogues on the sabbath day and behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together she had a curvature of the spine she was bowed together she was bowed together this is this is what this woman looked like her spine was curved notice first what she has she's got a spirit of infirmity and the spirit of infirmity begins to affect her spiritually and physically excuse me and she is bowed together and jesus came into the synagogue and said behold there was a woman which had an infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could could in no wise lift herself up there was no way she could lift herself up she didn't have the strength to straighten her spine out and when jesus saw her oh somebody say thank you jesus and when jesus saw her he called her to him i don't know what pew she was in i don't know i don't know the layout of the synagogue he was in but here she is bowed over by a spirit of infinity and jesus says come here come here she made her way over to him when jesus saw her he called her to him and he said unto her woman thou art loosed from thine infirmity that's the first part of leviticus i take the yolk off you i take the yolk off you the spirit that had bowed her over he said that spirit's gone i take that off of you that spirit is gone but i want you to notice this just having the yoke taken off is just part of it he said in leviticus i'll not only take the yoke off of you but i'll make you to go upright so he comes in verse 13. and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight he said well how are you gonna how's this gonna help the small groups today because now we are the body of christ jesus christ is not here in a bodily form but we are his spirit can rebuke the demonic spirit of infirmity but it would take his fleshly hands to be laid upon her to bring her upright you see what happens in small groups you get a personal touch there see because it's very easy in a large gathering like this to think i'm just one among many but you're not oh you're not today oh a thousand times you're not someone here today that has their neck and that yoke wants to reach over and touch you and i promise you today if you allow the body of jesus christ to continually touch your life if you allow the body of jesus christ to continually touch you sunday after sunday after sunday then small groups small groups social media it's one of the neatest things in all the world i look through through social media i see on monday night something's going on and tuesday night something going on thursday night friday night saturday thing this group's meeting here and that group's meeting there and then i hear the good reports of people saying we had a guest at our small group we had a visitor in our small group we had somebody there you know what's happening to this church the body of christ yes we've got the yoke taken off but we're able now to begin to reach out and our hands becomes jesus's hands and our voice becomes his voice and people that are bowed over are going to start walking upright and the last thing to glorify god would you stand with me right now all over this building would you stand and would you bow your heads and when you begin to create a climate of prayer right now would you begin to create a climate of prayer i have preached the word holy spirit of god come down and work today almighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god come on begin to pray right now oh let there be the low hum of the prayers of god's people lord you know those that are here today that are bowed over god you know those that are here today god that the enemy there's a spirit of infirmity on them today may be a spirit of suicide that i rebuke right now oh they tell me that during covet that suicide rate has tripled the it is tripled alcohol and drug abuse and all kinds of things going on sexual abuse all kinds of things come on church let's be the hands of jesus today let's be the voice of jesus today oh mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god mighty god all this room every head is bowed and every eye is closed and nobody looking around this morning nobody looking around this morning but you're here in this place and you can relate to what pastor has preached today you're burnt out you're burnt out your boat over and you want some help this is not a trick to get you in the altar i truly we're starting 30 days of prayer i'm going to allow your hand to be seared in my mind's vision right now would you slip your hand up would you slip your hand up god bless you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you oh god pastor i'm just burnt out pastor would you just would you here's my hand pastor i'm asking you would you remember me in prayer god bless you thank you thank you thank you thank you today god bless you god bless you keep praying right now keep praying right now keep praying i really want to stand this crowd because i want god to sear this to my mind right now i want god to sear this thank you david thank you thank you i want y'all to sear this to my mind right now oh yes thank you ma'am thank you thank you thank you yes young man yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes hallelujah jesus hallelujah jesus hallelujah oh spirit of the living god oh god i need you like never before lord they're going to come right now they're going to begin to sing if you'd like to have prayer this morning if you'd like someone to pray with you this morning make your way around this altar right now somebody will come by and pray with you the hands of jesus will be upon you this morning lord i love you god in the name of jesus