On Sunday, September 15, 2024, VLC gathered in person and also broadcasted online via YouTube. Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message about when Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath and healed a woman who had been physically afflicted for eighteen years. He then taught the people about compassion. From this Pastor Stuart encourages us to have compassion for people and see them as God does, understanding that compassion reveals God’s kingdom and sets people free.

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Luke 13:10-17 (NIV)