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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

I don’t care about your background I

don’t care about your history I don’t

care who’s misused you or abused you you

can tell them now I’m a child of the

king because I belong to Jesus Christ

I’m standing up and I’mma stand up

straight it doesn’t matter what the

preacher says doesn’t matter what the

people say it doesn’t matter what the

public says because you know that you’ve

been

[Music]

[Applause]

redeemed

there are far too many

people and far too many women who do not

know what they’re

worth and therefore they have allowed

themselves to be

devalued by the

culture by

Men by other people

because circumstances have stripped them

of their True

Value so what I want to do is is remind

you of your value to remind all of us so

that you see yourself through Kingdom

eyes and that you have a kingdom vision

of your identity Amen in Luke Chapter

13 we’re introduced to a lady without a

name her name is not given to us

so we don’t know what to call

her but we are introduced to her in

verse

10 and he Jesus was teaching in one of

the synagogues on the

Sabbath and there was a woman who for 18

years had had a sickness caused by a

spirit and she was bent

double and could not straighten up at

all we’re introduced to a woman let’s

let’s look at her

condition Jesus is teaching in the

synagogue so the woman was at church and

she heard the sermon because it says

Jesus was teaching so she went to church

she got her

spot but when she came to church she

brought an 18 18 year problem with

her it says for 18 years she was bent

double there was a spine injury of some

sort or a spine

disease that it caused her to bend over

and you’ve seen people like that who

can’t straighten up it

says cuz she was bent

over far too many many people a day live

their lives bent over in other words

they can’t get stuff

straight cuz it says she couldn’t

straighten up that they can’t get stuff

straight stuff stays crooked in their

lives crooked in their

relationships crooked in their

priorities crooked in their

self-analysis

now in you if you are bent over that

means you spend all of your time looking

down and your focus is always ground

level in other words you you can’t look

up cuz you can’t straighten up we’re

told this woman was bit double for 18

years now we don’t know how old she was

but 18 years is a long time to have the

same

problem

now we don’t know the specific

illness we do know it had devastating

repercussions and I don’t know how long

she’ had been going to

church but however long she was going to

church going to church never fixed

it cuz she still going to church but she

going to church bent

over I wonder how many people today in

this house or in your

house listen to the teaching every week

bent

over how many folks say Amen while you

bent over how many folks say praise the

Lord while you bent over how many folks

sing the songs while been bent over

because nothing has

changed the problem you came in with is

the problem you leave

with but we’re giv some insight

information because we’re told in

Chapter

13 Verse 2 she had a sickness caused by

a spirit all don’t miss that she had a

sickness caused by the spirit let me

take you a little deeper verse

16 says whom Satan has Bound for 18 long

years

oo the devil was behind her

problem it says the

spirit had invaded her physical

body orchestrated by the

devil and the devil was running This

Woman’s life for 18 years while she went

to

church a number of things can bring

about Satan IC influences in our lives

and in our

circumstances

one is there is unaddressed

sin that serves as an infection that

demons can enter

into so one

possibility is that she had some

spiritual issues she was failing to

address

spiritually creating an open wound that

the demons were able to go into and

create more havoc in her physical

well-being in other words what you need

to understand is like many of the movies

you’ve seen demons need a

host they need a vehicle through which

to express themselves and the way they

find the host is to find some

unaddressed evil that serves as an open

wound for them to enter into to cause

greater Havoc than the wound you started

with and let me tell you something about

demons once they get in they’re not in a

hurry to

leave so we got a 18-year

problem

so something has gone wrong in This

Woman’s life now every sickness is not

due to sin every sickness is not due to

disobedience

but there is more that is due to it that

we don’t recognize cuz we don’t have

spiritual eyes to see

it all we see is the circumstance being

bent over so here’s what I want you to

ask your question you must ask the

question is my inability to get

straight to straighten

up due to the fact that I got the devil

all over

me and I have invited him into my

world and now he won’t go

nowhere he’s made himself home he’s

built a crib in your physical

house and so there’s a headache you

can’t get rid of a life AE you can’t

overcome an addiction you can’t be

delivered from see unless you got eyes

to even look in that

direction Kingdom Vision then you you

will spend all of your time and all of

your money on the wrong thing anybody

ever spent a lot of money on a doctor

and hospital or some

[Music]

professional and you’re still no better

off so that’s our our condition that’s

our

situation this is our problem she was

being held

hostage while going to

church when Jesus saw her verse 12

says he called her over and said to her

woman you are freed from your

sickness and he laid his hands on her

and immediately somebody say immediately

immediately

she was made erect again and began

glorifying

God oh this is

sweet Jesus is

teaching she’s bent over and it has

become a

lifestyle Jesus sees

her now she not the only one in

church

but he zeros in on

her but he does something

else the verse says he calls her over to

him that’s I don’t want you to miss

that see you can be in church and still

not come to

him she has a decision to make Jesus

calls but will she

come that decision becomes critical to

her health and her healing that when he

calls her

over she comes

in and he says to her woman you are

freed from your sickness let’s not go

too

fast up until this time we’re told he

was

teaching so he is preaching the

word but when she

comes he no longer is speaking

generically to the whole

congregation he says

woman I meaning he’s talking to

her he says you are freed from your

infirmity that we call that a rama

word all right a rama word is a personal

utterance see you can hear the word but

never hear a rama

word a rama word is a word from God that

has your name on

it he’s calling you by name he’s

speaking into your personal situation

when you come to the synagogue the

church

house you don’t just want to ask God to

give you the

word you want your word a a word that

speaks into your

life we’re told

that he laid his hands on

her she got a personal

touch that’s what the Holy Spirit does

now physically Jesus did it when he was

alive but that’s what the Holy Spirit

does now gives you a Personal Touch and

immediately she was made erect again and

began glorifying

God the reason why she needed a touch

from

Jesus is that a demon and the devil

needed to be dealt with not a bad

spine a bad spine was fruit not

root but because Jesus saw the spiritual

which you’ll see again in a

moment he could touch the reality and I

love the word because it shows up so

many times in scripture

immediately it says she was made a w she

stood Straight Up Wait A Minute are you

telling me sir you can be messed up for

18

[Applause]

years doctors can’t help you friends

can’t help you your peeps can’t help you

your posy can’t help you you can be tow

up from the flow up for 18 years and

just a

touch I just a

touch from Jesus can turn that thing

around overnight you’ve been drunk for

18 years you’ve been a crackhead for 18

years you’ve been going through divorce

after divorce after divorce you’ve gone

through mental anguish for an extended

period of time and you mean to tell me

just a

touch from Jesus can turn that thing

around

[Applause]

overnight but only if you’re willing to

recognize the

spiritual and not limit yourself to the

circumstantial so she she getting a

praise on according to verse uh 13 you

know cuz when God comes through for you

you can’t keep it to yourself so she

getting a praise on she glorifying God

up in the

house but the synagogue

official like the senior

pastor not me him but the synagogue

official verse

14 indignant that means ticked

off because Jesus had healed on the

Sabbath began saying to the crowd cuz

see there’s a crowd in the house and

this woman and going crazy cuz she

glorifying God there are six days in

which the work should be done so come

during them and get healed and not on

the Sabbath

day translation we trying to have church

up in here you didn’t mess with the

order of service but the Lord answered

him and

said you

hypocrites

you Hypocrites you

two-faced does not each of you on the

Sabbath untie his ox and his Donkey from

the stall and lead him

away to water

him in other

words you’re not going to use the

Sabbath to deny the

responsibility of giving life and

well-being to your

Ox you you going you going to take care

of your ox

amen now why you going to take care of

your ax you going to take care of your

ax cuz that’s making you your

money you see cuz in a farming and all

of that you use the ox to plow and all

that see you you know when your money

get

funny you going to adjust the rules on

the

Sabbath if the boss requires you to work

on Sunday and you going to adjust the

rules on the Sabbath in other

words what you just condemned you

do you take care of needs on the Sabbath

that affect you cuz it’s your Ox so that

affects

you now everything comes down to what

I’m going to say

next and this woman I I don’t know her

name a daughter of Abraham see you you

didn’t hear that and this woman a

daughter of Abraham as she is should

Satan have bound her for 18 long years

should she not have been released from

the bond on the Sabbath

day he

says let me tell you about this

woman she’s a daughter of of

Abraham now I don’t know a

name but Jesus gives her an

ID should not this woman who is a

daughter of Abraham it’s the only time

this phrase is used in the Bible for

some reason she didn’t get that this was

the devil and a spirit causing this she

runs back smacking to Jesus who sees the

spiritual

issue and he says to the senior pastor

you

hypocrite this is not merely a bent over

woman this is a daughter of

Abraham in other

words while not denying her condition

because he had to fix

it he clarifies her

identity cuz far too many women have

been given the wrong

name you you’ve not been given the name

based on who you are now now watch this

it says she is a daughter of

Abraham which means for 18 years she’s

been a daughter of Abraham since she

currently is a daughter of Abraham but

just cuz you have the identity don’t

mean that you are living in in the

identity only when she met Jesus was she

dubbed who she really

[Music]

is in Genesis 12: 1-3 God made a promise

to

Abraham and he told

Abraham if you do what I tell you to

do I’m going to bless

you I’m going to show favor to you amen

and when I show favor to you here it is

through you all the nations will be

blessed so when God made a covenant with

Abraham it was to show

favor in order to use the favor to be a

blessing to somebody else who needs to

see Divine

favor sometimes God got to wait tell he

knows you ready to open your

mouth until you’re ready to praise and

declare the glory of

God you know what he’s

saying she’s got the right to be

delivered oh yeah she got the right if

you got the right to feed your Ox I got

the right to feed my

daughter if you got the right to take

care of an animal for financial gain I

got the right to take somebody who’s an

offspring of the promise I gave Abraham

that says I’m going to show favor so she

can give favor don’t tell me I can’t do

what you do every

Saturday but he makes another

point he says all y’all talking about is

the

Sabbath now in the Old Testament that

was a seventh day Saturday but here’s

the key of the

Sabbath for six days you

worked and then on Saturday you didn’t

work you

worshiped and you enjoyed and celebrated

the goodness of

God it was a time of freedom and

rest Jesus said y’all don’t understand

the

Sabbath the Sabbath was designed to set

you free

and give you rest don’t don’t

misunderstand rest rest is not

sleep no on the seventh day God

rested when he created he didn’t go to

sleep on the seventh day when he rested

he enjoyed what he had done the previous

six days when he created the world so on

the seventh day God didn’t take a nap he

looked out and said M good woo m m

good he was

enjoying what he had done so you know

what the Sabbath is for most of us that

Sunday is looking back and seeing the

goodness of God over this last six

days God took care of me this last week

he provided for me this last week he fed

me this last week he clothed me this

last week he covered me this last week

he sustained me this last week he

empowered me this last week and I’m just

going I’m just going to

rest and celebrate the goodness of God

in the land of the

living he say she got a right to be

healed she got a right to be

delivered I want to suggest to you

ladies today that you are Couture not

Bargain

Basement cuz you are a daughter of

Abraham

you say but but that was Old Testament

not

quite cuz when you read Galatians

chapter 3 he says in Galatians 3 verse

verse 6 even so Abraham believed God and

it was reckoned to him as righteousness

therefore be sure that it is those who

are of Faith who are the sons of Abraham

verse 9 so then those who are of Faith

are blessed with Abraham the

he says in verse 13 Christ redeemed us

from the curse of the law having become

a curse for us for it is written cursed

is everyone who hangs on a tree verse 14

in order that in Christ Jesus The

Blessing of Abraham might come to the

Gentiles so that we would receive the

promise of the spirit through faith but

I’m not finished yet verse 28

there is neither Jew nor Greek there is

neither slave nor free man there is

neither male nor female for you are all

one in Christ Jesus and if you belong to

Christ then you are Abraham’s descendant

hes according to the promise somebody

ought to get excited up in

here he says if you have come to Jesus

you are Abraham’s daughter you’re

Abraham’s son and you are a descendant

of the promise which means nobody can

put you down anymore you walk with your

head up high now nobody I don’t care

about your background I don’t care about

your history I don’t care who’s misused

you or abused you you can tell them now

I’m a child of the king I’m a descendant

of Abraham because I belong to Jesus

Christ you can call me what you want but

I ain’t bent over no more I’m standing

up and I’mma stand up straight if they

call you the N word it don’t matter no

more you’re a child of God if they call

you another name it don’t matter no more

because you know who you are you’re a

son or daughter of Abraham if they put

you down it don’t matter no more because

once you know who Jesus says you are it

doesn’t matter what the preacher says

doesn’t matter what the people say it

doesn’t matter what the public says

because you know that you’ve been

redeemed and guess what that means you

got a right to be free you got a right

to be victorious you got a right to be

sustained you got a right to be proud

you got a right to be victorious you got

a got a right to be strong oh don’t

don’t don’t don’t bend over no more cuz

Jesus has straightened you up when you

come to

[Applause]

[Music]

him when you become a citizen of a

country you get the rights and

privileges that go with that

citizenship when you become a child of

God but there are covenantal privileges

that belong to you that are your rights

to

claim the tragedy is when you don’t

either know those rights or you don’t

utilize those rights so you don’t

benefit those rights but even though you

possess those rights well if you’re a

kingdom citizen if you’re a child of the

king then you’re underneath his

covenantal

umbrella and God wants you to know what

to lay hold of what to lay claim to so

that you can benefit from all the good

graces that he has provided you as a

member of his family so don’t live in

this world as a citizen of heaven

without benefiting from your true

citizenship because when you do you will

discover that this world doesn’t have

the last say so that world that you

really do belong to

does

[Music]

a

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