Paul had to deal with carnality in the early church. They had allowed some terrible things creep into the church. In our text, Paul talks about some things in life that will be in everyone’s life. No matter how much we may pray and how faithful we may be, some of the experiences that Paul mentions will find their way into our life. He determined that he wanted men to know that he was a Christian while dealing with these inescapable things. It is easy to praise God when all is going right, but when things are at their worst is when men must be able to see that we serve a faithful and merciful God. Bro. Hughes explains that some of the things that come into our life do so in order to make us stronger. Jesus said that we must each take up our own cross and follow Him. Not a cross, but our cross. This cross is something personal to each one of us that we must carry. It is a burden, but without it we cannot become the Christian that God desires us to be.

Many people skip over our scripture text as being a simple genealogy. It is monotonous for most of us and we have trouble pronouncing the names. Even so, there is a message in this text. There is more than just a genealogy of Adam’s line. There are 10 names mentioned and they cover a period of approximately 1430 years. Bro. Hughes notes that each of the names has a dictionary meaning, and when he looked at the meanings and the order in which they were born, he discovered a sentence that when read all together form a sentence that took over 1400 years to be fully revealed. The sentence when put together is: God has appointed that mortal man shall sorrow, but the blessed God came down teaching that his death shall bring strength and comfort through his name. If God would take over 1400 years to carve out this message of hope and encouragement, He certainly knows about all of our problems and that He has an answer for that problem. God wants us to know that there is hope. God wants us to know that He is there. Bro. Hughes tells us that is the only thing that matters. If God is there, all will be okay. God cares and God knows.

Many people skip over our scripture text as being a simple genealogy. It is monotonous for most of us and we have trouble pronouncing the names. Even so, there is a message in this text. There is more than just a genealogy of Adam’s line. There are 10 names mentioned and they cover a period of approximately 1430 years. Bro. Hughes notes that each of the names has a dictionary meaning, and when he looked at the meanings and the order in which they were born, he discovered a sentence that when read all together form a sentence that took over 1400 years to be fully revealed. The sentence when put together is: God has appointed that mortal man shall sorrow, but the blessed God came down teaching that his death shall bring strength and comfort through his name. If God would take over 1400 years to carve out this message of hope and encouragement, He certainly knows about all of our problems and that He has an answer for that problem. God wants us to know that there is hope. God wants us to know that He is there. Bro. Hughes tells us that is the only thing that matters. If God is there, all will be okay. God cares and God knows.

Life can be trying. It inflicts hurts and pain that can result in a withering of the spirit. Bro. Hughes notes in our text God’s ability in the midst of disability. God’s abilities and strength can overcome our inability and weakness.

Many people let the setbacks of life marginalize and sideline them. Our text describes a man with a withered hand. Most Bible scholars agree that this man was inured wile working as a brick mason. With his hand injured and damaged he could no longer work. He surly felt as if he was not useful and that he was less than he was before. When we meet him, he is standing on the sideline in the temple. Many things can cause life to wither: betrayal, broken promises, failed ambitions, personal failures, and sinfulness. These things can frustrate and limit us. Bro. Hughes notes that even though the man in our text was sidelined, but he was still in the temple. He continued to go to the House of God.

Jesus did not go to the synagogue that day to be seen, or to engage the Pharisees in a theological debate. He went to that place that day to find the man with the withered hand. Jesus is not deterred by our problems. He wants us to bring our withered lives to Him so that He can make us whole.

Jesus asks the man to stretch forth his hand. He knew the man’s problem and He went straight to it. We try to hide our problems from each other, but Jesus knows and goes right to the heart of the problem. Not only that, Jesus ask the man to do the very thing that he had been unable to do for so long. The challenge for that man at that moment was to obey. He hand not been able to do what Jesus ask him to do for so long. He had to decide if he was going to believe that he was hearing from Jesus, or if he was going to believe his feelings. He must have thought, “I’ve tried to stretch my hand before, and it did no good.” When this man looked into the face of Jesus he saw possibility, hope and ability. As did he, we do not see eyes that condemn us. We see eyes that cry out: “You can do it!”

For most people, life is governed by what we plan to do versus what we actually do. We plan to do better, to be better, to face situations and to deal with problems. However, much of that is relegated to the future. “I’ll do that someday.” It is in the mind of most of us to take care of situations at some point. In our text, Jesus had traveled to Samaria. While there, He encountered a woman at the well whose life was less than an example of moral living. She in fact had many problems in her life. He spoke into her life and ministered to her. The disciples went to find Him to provide Him food. He replies that the meat of doing God’s will had filled Him. Jesus further admonished them; even through the time of harvest were yet to come, the fields were ready now. In this simple story, Brother Hughes sees the message that we must seize the opportunity now. We can put off resolving issues now, but God asks “Why not now?” Jesus bids us to quit waiting for a better time and seize the opportunity now.

Life can be trying. It inflicts hurts and pain that can result in a withering of the spirit. Bro. Hughes notes in our text God’s ability in the midst of disability. God’s abilities and strength can overcome our inability and weakness.

Many people let the setbacks of life marginalize and sideline them. Our text describes a man with a withered hand. Most Bible scholars agree that this man was inured wile working as a brick mason. With his hand injured and damaged he could no longer work. He surly felt as if he was not useful and that he was less than he was before. When we meet him, he is standing on the sideline in the temple. Many things can cause life to wither: betrayal, broken promises, failed ambitions, personal failures, and sinfulness. These things can frustrate and limit us. Bro. Hughes notes that even though the man in our text was sidelined, but he was still in the temple. He continued to go to the House of God.

Jesus did not go to the synagogue that day to be seen, or to engage the Pharisees in a theological debate. He went to that place that day to find the man with the withered hand. Jesus is not deterred by our problems. He wants us to bring our withered lives to Him so that He can make us whole.

Jesus asks the man to stretch forth his hand. He knew the man’s problem and He went straight to it. We try to hide our problems from each other, but Jesus knows and goes right to the heart of the problem. Not only that, Jesus ask the man to do the very thing that he had been unable to do for so long. The challenge for that man at that moment was to obey. He hand not been able to do what Jesus ask him to do for so long. He had to decide if he was going to believe that he was hearing from Jesus, or if he was going to believe his feelings. He must have thought, “I’ve tried to stretch my hand before, and it did no good.” When this man looked into the face of Jesus he saw possibility, hope and ability. As did he, we do not see eyes that condemn us. We see eyes that cry out: “You can do it!”

For most people, life is governed by what we plan to do versus what we actually do. We plan to do better, to be better, to face situations and to deal with problems. However, much of that is relegated to the future. “I’ll do that someday.” It is in the mind of most of us to take care of situations at some point. In our text, Jesus had traveled to Samaria. While there, He encountered a woman at the well whose life was less than an example of moral living. She in fact had many problems in her life. He spoke into her life and ministered to her. The disciples went to find Him to provide Him food. He replies that the meat of doing God’s will had filled Him. Jesus further admonished them; even through the time of harvest were yet to come, the fields were ready now. In this simple story, Brother Hughes sees the message that we must seize the opportunity now. We can put off resolving issues now, but God asks “Why not now?” Jesus bids us to quit waiting for a better time and seize the opportunity now.

We are all aware that we have an enemy. The bible identifies him by many names, but the goal is always the same: to attack and destroy. He attempts to tear away and destroy the things that are vital to our salvation. We have all felt that evil working against us at times. While we may not see it coming, God is never caught off guard. He always has a plan before the devil ever comes against us. Before the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, God knew that Jesus would die on the cross for the salvation of mankind.

There is nothing that can come into our lives that God does not already have a plan to see us through. God does not want any of us to fail. We mail fail at some things, but we are not failures. With God the only way we can fail is to quit. As long as there is prayer, there is hope for each of us.

In our text the Lord warns Peter that he is about to be sifted. His life was about to be tumbled and thrown around. But before that even happened, Jesus had a plan for Peter’s life. His specific prayer was for Peter’s faith. Because He knew that if faith could stay alive, Peter could go on to do what God had called him to do.

No matter what comes into our life, if we maintain our faith and continue to live for God, we can survive and outlive whatever comes along. No matter what plan the devil may have God has a counter plan that will see us through.

We are all aware that we have an enemy. The bible identifies him by many names, but the goal is always the same: to attack and destroy. He attempts to tear away and destroy the things that are vital to our salvation. We have all felt that evil working against us at times. While we may not see it coming, God is never caught off guard. He always has a plan before the devil ever comes against us. Before the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, God knew that Jesus would die on the cross for the salvation of mankind.

There is nothing that can come into our lives that God does not already have a plan to see us through. God does not want any of us to fail. We mail fail at some things, but we are not failures. With God the only way we can fail is to quit. As long as there is prayer, there is hope for each of us.

In our text the Lord warns Peter that he is about to be sifted. His life was about to be tumbled and thrown around. But before that even happened, Jesus had a plan for Peter’s life. His specific prayer was for Peter’s faith. Because He knew that if faith could stay alive, Peter could go on to do what God had called him to do.

No matter what comes into our life, if we maintain our faith and continue to live for God, we can survive and outlive whatever comes along. No matter what plan the devil may have God has a counter plan that will see us through.

Our scripture text has been used as a basis for many sermons. Bro. Hilton takes a little liberty with the fact that we do not know much about the woman that is the subject of our text. We do not know her age. We do not know if she is married. We do not know if she had children. We do not know how much money she started with, but we do know that she had expended all her savings trying to become cured. We can surmise that she suffered from her disease, and also from continual disappointment and perhaps lost all hope. Over the course of her twelve-year ordeal with this disease, she traveled from physician to physician and found no relief. We can imagine that she awakens each day and goes about her day trying to get through life. She sends her husband off to work with what she can provide for lunch. Then the children get up and go off for their day. In the quiet of the home after the morning routine, she sits down in her chair exhausted. We do not know the full nature of her illness, but we know that diseases that affect the blood can make those who suffer from them very weak. One day she hears a commotion in the street. She struggles to get outside and investigate and finds that Jesus was passing by. She had heard of this Jesus. She had heard that Jesus healed people. She began to say within herself “If I can but touch Him, I will be made whole.” Bro. Hilton describes how she pressed through the crowd seeking Him and how she did touch the hem of His garment. She was made whole that day because of her inspiration in side herself to seek Jesus. We do not know if it happened the way that Bro. Hilton supposes, but we do know that it did happen. Because of this woman’s faith and drive, many more were healed. If she had not had such faith, all those in chapter 14 would have missed their opportunity.

Bro. Hilton asks “What would have happened if she had not overcome her fear and weariness to seek Jesus?” Like this woman, when we finally get tired of living like we are living and dealing with what we are dealing with, we will finally step out and do something about it.