Jesus Can Straighten Up You Crooks

JESUS CAN STRAIGHTEN UP YOU CROOKS
By Michael D. O’Neal     Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church     Albany, Georgia

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17

Text: Luke 13:13

Luke 13:13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Introduction: This woman was bowed over like a horseshoe for 18 years!

She could “in no wise” straighten up.

… UNTIL she met JESUS! And He laid his hands on her: and IMMEDIATELY she was made STRAIGHT!

Amen! God can not only straighten out your PROBLEMS, but He can also straighten up your POSTURE!

By the way, crooked is bad; straight is good! Sayings: “crooked as a snake” … “crooked as a dog’s hind leg” in contrast to: “straight as an arrow.”

Jesus came to make the crooked STRAIGHT (are you queers listening?):

Isaiah 40:1-4 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

Isaiah 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight …

When Paul got saved he got on STRAIGHT Street (see Acts 9:11).

I want to bring you a message this morning called

JESUS CAN STRAIGHTEN UP YOU CROOKS

I. JESUS CAN TAKE SOMEONE WHO IS BENT CROOKED TOWARD SIN AND STRAIGHTEN HIM UP IN SALVATION

Psalms 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

A. Rich people and poor people alike are crooked and need to be saved

B. Religious and non-religious people alike are crooked and need to be saved

II. JESUS CAN TAKE SOMEONE WHO IS BENT CROOKED TOWARD THE SOIL OF THIS WORLD AND STRAIGHTEN HIM UP TOWARD THE STANDARDS OF THE WORD OF GOD

Observe the dirt of man’s nature that can be removed by the sharp sword of the word of God:

Judges 3:21-22 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.

The scriptures can replace:

A. A dirty mouth

B. A dirty mind

C. Dirty merriment

D. Dirty music
1. Country and rock music both came from Africa, a “type” of the world, and a land of
darkness, debauchery, defilement, and disease. The words came from hell!

III. JESUS CAN TAKE SOMEONE WHO IS BENT CROOKED TOWARD SADNESS AND SORROW AND STRAIGHTEN HIM UP TOWARD SWEETNESS AND SINGING

Psalms 126:1 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.

A. Through the presence of the Spirit

B. Through the precepts of the scriptures

C. Through the participation of the saints

III. JESUS CAN TAKE SOMEONE WHO IS BENT CROOKED TOWARD THE SHADOWS AND STRAIGHTEN HIM UP TOWARD SUNLIGHT

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

A. In regeneration

B. In reading and illumination

C. In the rapture and resurrection

Don’t be content to stay crooked!
Look to Jesus!
He’ll straighten you up!
He’ll make you “straighten up and fly right!” praise God!