Good evening everybody glad that you guys are here come on in find your seat
excited to be with you would ask that you pray for brother Gentry who was
scheduled to speak tonight he's currently in the hospital with his son and
so just continue to pray for them yes Lucas is in the hospital thank you for
that clarification but pray for them and for their family as well we're gonna
start a brand new series tonight called it's all about Jesus it is it's all about
Jesus isn't it we're gonna be in Luke chapter 4 so if you have a copy of
scriptures that invite you to open up there the Luke chapter 4 as we begin
looking at Luke's gospel here I don't know if you guys are familiar with this
but before the whole social you know very beginning of the social media craze
before Facebook there was a website called MySpace anybody familiar with
MySpace anybody ever had one of those MySpace was kind of all about that it
was dedicated to like your favorite things your favorite music you know when
you came when your page came up your music your favorite music would begin
to play and all that kind of stuff very very early on in the whole social media
craze but it was kind of all about expressing yourself expressing about
who you are and kind of making your statement in the world declaring this
is this is me it's all about me it's kind of the whole idea of my space but
people love to express themselves that's kind of just the way that people are
it's nothing new a lot of times people you know they hold on to certain
different identities as a way of expressing themselves either they talk
about you know if you ask about ask a question about like who people are
generally they'll respond with maybe their career or their where they're from
or maybe what sports team they're aligned with there's a lot of people things
that people kind of grab on to as far as expressing who they are and their
identity maybe some of you are familiar you know like have baseball players kind
of how they kind of have that their walk-up song if you're familiar with
that you people walking up and you know wrestlers they do that too but it's just
a way of it's not just like their favorite song but it's a way of expressing
who they are right and so they're they're trying to tell you without telling you
who they are tonight when we look into Luke chapter 4 we're going to see Jesus's
declaration in a very overt way of who he is and what his mission was in coming
to the earth and that's where we're gonna pick up in Luke chapter 4 but I want
us to be able to kind of walk away tonight understanding that that's a
mission of Christ understanding what the mission of Christ is and how we fit
into that mission today can be revealed by what we're gonna be studying here in
Luke chapter 4 let's go to open up on a word of prayer and then we'll jump into
the the scripture tonight Father in heaven we thank you for the opportunity
that we have to look into your scripture this evening Father I pray that you
would illuminate us in our hearts use the Holy Spirit interact with the word of
God to penetrate our hearts Lord that we would not just walked away more
knowledgeable on a certain subject Lord but that we would be motivated to be
conformed to the image of Christ to be on mission fulfilling the mission that
you began when you came and that we are have been commanded to go and to
accomplish in your spirit in your power so Father I you would I pray that you
would teach us Lord from your word these things in Jesus sing we pray amen
so here's where I want to jump into Luke chapter 4 we're going to jump about
halfway down into the scriptures beginning in verse 14 if you're not
familiar the beginning of Luke chapter 4 Jesus has drawn away into the desert
there he's tempted in the wilderness responding to Satan with scripture
being a time of testing but that testing is complete in verse 13 the devil
withdraws to parts from him from a time a season that says and then verse 14 this
is where we're going to pick up in our text tonight so verse 14 and we'll read
on says Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went
out a fame of him through all the region round about and he taught in their
synagogues being glorified of all and he came to Nazareth where he had been
brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day
and stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the
prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was
written the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he had anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach
deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set
at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord
and he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down and
the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him and he
began to say unto them this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears and all
bear witness and wondered at the gracious words which preceded out of his
mouth and they said is this not Joseph's son and we'll stop there tonight I want
us to be able to kind of look at three emphasis there's three emphasis
that's that Jesus really kind of draws out in this this this passage to help
us understand not only his mission but also how we can then continue on this
mission with the same emphasis the first emphasis if you're taking notes is the
power the power that was in Christ verse 14 talks about Jesus returning in the
power of the spirit now we when we think about Jesus a lot of times we think
about Jesus in the right way of course that he is the son of God that he is
was God incarnate in the flesh but all times that we miss really the the
practical emphasis that Jesus was also 100% man and that when he came he
humbled himself as scripture says that he emptied himself of many of the traits
of the Godhead right that he wasn't everywhere at all one all time he was in
one place in one body yet he was still God he was born to a poor family like he
exemplified humility in the way that he lived born into a poor family how do we
know that well scripture talks about that Joseph and Mary when they went to
dedicate him at the temple they gave the the the least amount that they were
able to give the two turtle doves that would emphasize their inability to have
a whole lot of money he was born born and raised not in Jerusalem and a high
brow society he was raised in the city of Nazareth we know that Nazareth wasn't
not necessarily well known in the community for a place where the uppity
people live right some of the people or even one of his disciples would say
well is there anything good that could come out of Nazareth right and so he
grew up in a very humble place in a very humble family some would say that you
maybe even hit in his baptism he indicated this idea of humility in that
when he was baptized John the Baptist was doing his ministry and a lot of people
come to think that the place where John the Baptist would center a lot of his
ministry around was in some of the literally physically lowest places of
the earth near the Dead Sea that he was there doing his ministry in the power
and spirit of Elijah a place where was traditionally believed that where Moses
came to see the the the land before he was taken away and not permitted into
the land it was a place where Joshua crossed over the Jordan into the Promised
Land also a place traditionally understood as a place where Elijah also
parted that with his raiment and so because he was coming in the spirit of
Elijah to prepare the way a lot of people thought that this might be a place
where even Jesus was baptized in the Jordan near the Dead Sea even in the
lowest parts of the earth that Jesus exemplified humility but as a man Jesus
relied not necessarily in his own power but in the power of the spirit that he
exemplified what it meant to live in the power of the spirit that he was led by
the Holy Spirit and we see this a time and time again where Jesus was conceived
by the Holy Spirit we've been doing a lot of study about the Holy Spirit we've
actually just covered this topic of Jesus's ministry and the influence of the
Holy Spirit in Jesus's ministry but he has conceived of the Holy Spirit Matthew
chapter 1 we know that in this specific chapter Luke chapter 4 the beginning of
it talks about him being filled with the Holy Spirit so talked about Jesus being
led and prepared and then even being victorious over the devil by the spirit
and by the power of the spirit in Matthew chapter 4 and he ministered in the
power of the Holy Spirit here in chapter 14 chapter 4 verse 14 Jesus
returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee his messages were we're so a
so forceful and so fruitful because of the working of the Holy Spirit the lesson
I think for us really is to is that we ought to also emulate that that when we
when we minister we can't minister on power we have to minister in the spirit
of God that's what Galatians says in Galatians 5 16 he says this I say walk in
the spirit and you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh
lust is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are
contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things which he would
Jesus to his disciples in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says we shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you he shall be witnesses unto me both
Jerusalem and all Judea and the Samaria unto the uttermost parts of the earth and
Jesus exemplifies this in his earthly ministry that when he comes in the very
beginnings of his earthly ministry he does not come to tout his own power even
though he would have been right to do so yet he exemplifies humility and a humble
servant of God being led by the Holy Spirit just playing to us that if we are
going to walk in his footsteps if we are going to continue the mission that he is
on we'll talk about that in just a minute the purpose but that we must be
filled with the spirit that if we were going to walk if we're going to worship
if we're going to witness if we're going to work if we're gonna do spiritual
warfare we must do it in the power of the Holy Spirit that we cannot do it in
our own power I illustrated this the opposite of this very very
flagrantly when I was young in ministry I had just finished college came to work
a internship at a church down in Florida and we would put on these rather
large community events for the size of our church in our area and one of the
things that I was kind of tasked on to early on was to run a fall event we
called trunkertreat so it was kind of a way for us to be able to interact with
the community around the Halloween time and so I was in charge of basically
running this event and of course when you're young in ministry you have a lot
of assurance that you can do it right you're gonna prove yourself right and
so I was way in over my head but at that time my head was so big I needed some
ways to be I needed to be deflated a little bit and that was the experience
that I had and trying to run that event there was a lot to be done and we had it
out in the parking lot and we had people coming in but we didn't just have you
know people decorating their trunks and handing out candy we had fire trucks and
we had hot dogs and we had gospel presentations and we had some guy that
was carving out a pumpkin and we had all these multiple all these ministries
happening at the same time and what's that we had we even had that and so we
had all kinds of stuff going on at the same time and I felt like I had to be
over everything and doing everything and I could I couldn't fathom how on the
world I was gonna be in one place of the parking lot and then be another place in
the other parking lot and so I came up with this grand idea that I would wear
rollerblades and I would rollerblade all over the parking lot now of course I'm
if you know me and a little bit about me I love kids ministry I love being
thematic and so I was also in a costume and so I was in a costume in on
rollerblades and so I was rollerblading all over the parking lot trying to be
here and trying to be there and try to give instructions to these people try to
give instructions to these people right and instead of instead of doing what I
was supposed to be doing as far as as raising up leaders and helping people I
was trying to do it all myself and I thought I'm the only one most qualified
I got to do everything and so like I said big head and so I'm I'm zooming around
the parking lot and it's a gravel parking lot it wasn't a great parking lot
you know it was it wasn't like amazing like we have a nice nice parking lot it
was not always very well taken care of and yeah you're already beating me to
the punch here but as I'm going all over the place and trying to do everything
in my own power guess what happens when you're going five different places on
a rollerblades in a costume you bite it right and so I hit the ground hard and
of course I'm just I'm just deflated people are looking at me like what a goofball
like he's just rolling around all over the place what is this guy doing finally
I took the skates off and I had to I had to start playing a different game I had
to start playing the game of let's train leaders and let's try to help people
let's trust people let's let's let's equip people for the work of the
ministry imagine that right and so that's what I learned and then there there
was no way I could do it in my own power and that's still something that I do
learn to be honest just as a place of vulnerability I like I'm a list person I
like to make the list check it off twice you know I like to make sure that I get
all of my ducks in a row and I like I like to be someone who does planning and
likes to plan a lot in the future and I like to be able to get things done but a
lot of times I forget that it's not just about what I'm doing it's about what
God's doing and that I have to be reminded that if I'm going to be doing
ministry if I'm going to be walking with the Lord if I'm going to be raising a
family that loves the Lord if I'm going to be making a difference for the cause
of Christ if I'm going to be trying to minister with the gospel and train others
to do the same and I cannot do that in my own power that I must do it in the power
of the Holy Spirit and that's what Jesus here exemplifies that he begins this
ministry and he's doing it not just in his own power although he would have at
every right to do so but that he is returning in the power of the spirit
here says that he went out and the fame of him throughout all the region around
about him he taught in the synagogues being glorified of all now what we see
here really leads us to this our second our second emphasis is is that Jesus
his ministry and this is interesting just by side note Luke here is writing
not necessarily in a chronological order the other gospels give us accounts
that Jesus is actually about maybe one year into his ministry but Luke is
trying to highlight something we'll talk about that in a minute second
emphasis that we see is not only that Jesus is the emphasis of the power the
Holy Spirit power but that he is also emphasizing his purpose of why he has
come to do what he has been called to do in these verses that we find the
anointing of Jesus and the assignment of Jesus both on display in this synagogue
event now I mentioned Luke here Luke's a man of detail if you know anything about
him he is a man of detail he's good at keeping the details and keeping the
accounts orderly but he records here Jesus coming to Nazareth and I believe
that he is choosing this event and placing it in his early early part of
his gospel and he's kind of pulling it out of chronological order but putting
in more of what he would consider what I would consider more of a logical order
here he's trying to emphasize something for the reader for us to be able to see
what's going on why is he doing this well remember that Luke here a little
bit about a background about the author Luke here we don't know exactly for sure
most people traditionally have believed that Luke may have been a Gentile there
are some evidence that would suggest that maybe he was a Hellenistic Jew but in
either case Luke was not necessarily part of the in-crowd when it came to the
Jewish mindset he would at best been kind of a social outcast if he was a
Jew well Luke here he's doing something I believe he's highlighting in an
unmistakable way the purpose of Jesus's mission and that was to reach
everyone that Jesus didn't just come to minister to the Jews but Jesus had come
to reach anyone Jews and Gentiles with his mission and we'll see more proof of
that farther on in the text we don't have the time to study all of it out
tonight but you but Luke will bring that out in the text further on you can do
your own study as well but Jesus does here what the average Jew would have done
right he's going back home to Nazareth that was his hometown verse 16 he came
came to Nazareth and when he where he had been brought up and as his custom was
verse 16 it says he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood
up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet
Isaiah and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me so Jesus here he's doing what he had always
done remember that Nazareth was his hometown he grew up there and so he
would have been going back seeing you know there yeah there's Timmy there's
Jimmy and there's Sally and there's people that had had grown up with and
people that knew him as a boy and people that knew his family knew his parents he
was kind of coming back home if you will if you've ever maybe done that maybe you
maybe you've grown up anybody here grow they grew up in Trinity like Trinity like
you've never known any other church you've just been in Trinity your whole
life so several people so it's kind of like if you had gone away for a trip and
then come back to Trinity right and you're coming back home people knew you
people know you and they grew up around you maybe some of you have a place like
that where maybe you go back you're visiting family for me that my church
like that is in Florida and so when I go back I see people and they know me and I
know them we have this long history together right and so Jesus is coming
back home and so as he would do as a good Jew would do and as a as he had his
cousin's custom was he would go to synagogue and so it was time for the
community to come around to to exegete scripture to to have a time of reflection
over God's word and as he would have probably had done many times before as
he was growing into adulthood he has handed the scriptures to read and now
we see I believe it's in Matthew's Gospel where he is preaching to the
Pharisees as a young boy right and they're astounded at the questions that
he has and it's down to that at the answers as they're as they're having
these scriptural discussions doctrinal discussions and so Jesus had probably
most likely already had a history of being able to communicate God's word to
the people around him and here he stands and he's going to read the scroll of
Isaiah which is handed to him and so he begins to read it and Jesus reiterates
what we talked about in our first point namely that he had been anointed by he
had been filled with the Holy Spirit and that it was in that power that he came
to do the ministry then he shows us the assignment for his life from a heavenly
perspective that Jesus he's assigned here to preach the good news verse 18 he
goes to Isaiah this is Isaiah chapter 61 we're gonna read it here in just a
second but here he opens up the book to the place where it's written verse 18
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he had anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach
deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to
say that liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord
here Jesus is assigned to preach the good news he says his preaching was to be
to the poor about the freedom of captives and recovery of sight to the
spiritually by and the oppressed being set free and the freedom for all to
accept the Lord by faith here he talks about preaching the acceptable year of
the Lord most people who study this would believe that he's referencing
Leviticus chapter 25 that year of Jubilee Leviticus 25 verse 8 through 10
gives us a little bit of insight into what that was all about it was a a about
every 50 years for the Jews it was a it was an exciting time it was a time when
people were set free if you had become a bond servant or a slave to pay off debt
your debts were wiped clean and you were able to return home if you had sold off
ancestral property to pay off bonds that ancestral property would have then been
returned to you it was a very exciting year for the people of God
Leviticus 25 gives us a little bit of illustration that verse 8 it says
thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto the seven times seven years and
the space that the seventh Sabbaths of years shall be unto the 40 49 years
then thou shalt cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the
seventh month in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound
throughout all your land and ye shall hollow the 50th year and proclaim
liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof it shall be a
Jubilee unto you and ye shall return every man unto his possession and ye shall
return every man unto his family but remember Jesus's mission wasn't just to
deliver the people from the bondage of the Romans or even to enforce the year
of Jubilee it was to bring spiritual freedom to those who were in spiritual
bondage to sin and what Jesus is saying here what Luke I believe is trying to
highlight to his readers at the very beginning of his book but of this
gospel is to help people understand that Jesus's mission the purpose of him
being on this planet was to declare the spiritual year of Jubilee not just for
the Jews but for all nations that he was going to be bringing freedom from sin to
those who would believe but not just the Jews but to the Gentiles also I think
this is highlighted more in chapter 4 verses 25 through 27 we don't have time
to study it but basically Jesus brings up several times in Old Testament
history where God worked not in the Jews but among the Gentiles and that is at
that point the crowd turns on him and thrusts him out but I want you to notice
something that's I think easily missed I don't have the scripture up but if you
could turn in your Bibles real quick to Isaiah chapter 61 Isaiah chapter 61 is
where Jesus is here reading in the synagogue and I want you to notice
something that's I think significant to to Jesus's purpose Isaiah chapter 61
beginning in verse 1 scripture says this the spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he has
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of
the Lord and a day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn but I want
it I want you to notice something if you I don't know if you can do this kind of
look back and forth but if you look if you compare Isaiah chapter 61 and the
first two verses there one and two with what Jesus reads you will notice
something interesting 61 is captured and encapsulated in verse 18 of Luke chapter
4 but Luke 19 we see only the very first phrase of Isaiah 61 verse 2 the rest of
that phrase says and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that
mourn but you'll notice Jesus does not read that part in Isaiah chapter 61 it
says in verse 20 of Luke chapter 4 he closes the book and I think that this is
significant and sometimes easily missed because what Jesus is communicating here
is that Jesus is the living exegesis of Isaiah chapter 61 and that when he comes
he comes to preach deliverance for the captive and sight for the blind and and
and healing for those who are broken-hearted and he preaches this
year of jubilee this acceptable year of the Lord but he stops why is that
significant well here's the thing when Jesus came the first time that was his
mission that was his purpose to bring salvation to bring deliverance and
spiritual freedom but if you know anything about what scripture teaches
Jesus is coming again he's coming a second time and what's he's second time
characterized by well it's characterized by the rest of Isaiah 61 verse 2
vengeance and deliverance for those that mourn see Jesus here is the living
exegesis of six of Isaiah chapter 61 this prophecy and the reason why he
stops is because he's only come the first time he's coming to deliver good
news good tidings salvation his purpose and you know what's exciting according
to John chapter 20 verse 21 Jesus's purpose of being sent is now our purpose
in being sent John chapter 20 verse 21 Jesus says as the father has sent me in
the same manner so send I you that we have been sent not to deliver damnation
and vengeance of God but to deliver the ultimate good news the ultimate good
tidings that Jesus has come and deliverance is here and salvation is for
anyone who believes whether you're Jew or Gentile that everyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved Jesus's mission of deliverance and good news and good tidings is the same
mission that we have the same purpose the same the purpose Christ had in coming
to deliver to deliver that good news in the same spirit is our purpose in going
and sending there's been I'm sure many stories and maybe some of you may have
stories to tell of times when good news wasn't delivered and what what devastation
that that that can rot the story that came to mind when I was thinking through
this is the story I don't think I've heard about it just I just in paraphrase
but the story I don't know if it was Japan or if it was some some island in
the Pacific where they discovered these soldiers that had been there and they
were World War two soldiers and this was multiple decades after World War two
had ended but these soldiers had never been delivered the news that the war was
over and so that they were kind of had turned almost into guerrilla warfare
people where they were there were scavenging weapons and they were attacking
anybody who had come near them but how devastated these people were when they
realized that they could have gone home decades ago but that that good news that
the war was over had never reached them I don't know if you're familiar with that
story it's an incredible true story but that's we have an even greater story to
tell we have even better good news to tell and how much how much more
devastating will it be for those who have not heard the good news that Jesus
has come to pay for their sin when they step on the other side of eternity and
find out that they had not heard the good news that's why we're so that's why
we're so motivated to partner with church-planting missionaries that's why
we're so motivated to get the gospel not just in our community but around the
world because there is an entire world of people who still have not heard the
good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and while we are bold to not just once
a year once a year we highlight it but throughout the year encourage you to
give sacrificially to faith promise missions because we have a job to do
and we're partnering with other people who have felt that call to go and why
we are on purpose why we are motivated here to boldly ask you to go that's
what the whole the whole who's your one thing was for Easter but that doesn't
stop at Easter there's still a people in our county who need to hear the good
news of the gospel who have not yet repented and believed the gospel they
need to hear and so we need to go so our Jesus's purpose has become our purpose
to go and to deliver the good news that Jesus has come that the that God has sent
good tidings to free the captives the spiritually spiritual captives and to
preach that salvation has come all right the last emphasis that we see with our
time remaining I want us to point out is what we call the predictions we've got
the power we've got the purpose and the predictions look here at verse 20 verse
20 in chapter 4 it says he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister
and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were
fastened on him and it began to say unto them this day is the scripture
fulfilled in your ears many of the Old Testament scholars suggest that there
are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament alone several of
which had been already fulfilled up to this point remember we're kind of a
little bit chronologically out of order Jesus is already most likely had
already transpired almost a year into his ministry until this point but Luke
kind of pulls us up out of the narrative and places it here to help us
understand that Jesus's emphasis of his ministry was not just for Jews but for
everyone the fact that he would be born in Bethlehem and he would be preceded by
a messenger John the Baptist that that he would enter and drew some of the
donkey he would be betrayed by a friend sold for 30 pieces of silver born of a
virgin hated without a cause silent before his accusers executed like a
thief he'd be raised from the dead they were all fulfilled by Jesus those and
so so many more and the point of this passage makes the point this passage
makes is that Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 61 1 and 2 right
before their eyes as they're gathered in the synagogue he came to proclaim and
produce salvation for all who would believe on him here Jesus is emphasizing
that the Scripture had already been fulfilled that they were experiencing
the predictions that were made hundreds of years before Christ being fulfilled
in their very presence that he had come just as the Old Testament had promised
that that Messiah would come and he was telling them the Messiah is now here and
as Jews they would have heard this declaration the point I want to make in
this sermon tonight is that the ministry of Jesus is worthy of believing and
modeling because it's based on God's word that Jesus Jesus in fulfilling the
predictions of the Old Testament only goes to further should only go to
further our belief in who Jesus was that we should find encouragement and
strength and then boldness to share the gospel because we know that the story of
the gospel that Jesus came bled died sacrificed himself the judgment was
placed upon his shoulders and that he died for our sins that he was buried
and that he rose again all of it is rooted in Scripture and was declared by
Jesus and that all the predictions and all those things go to only prove that
Jesus was who he says he was and that Jesus lives still today the gospel the
story of the gospel though is rooted in history see what do you say that yeah
that's kind of an obvious thing well here's here's the reason why I say
yeah because the fact that the gospel is rooted in history it's not something
that you can just dream up somebody can't be in some foreign country and sit
under a tree and begin to reason out logically the story of the gospel and
then come to faith in Christ because the story of the gospel is rooted in
history because it is a story like all stories it must be shared otherwise
no one will ever come to the conclusion that God exists that he sent his son and
if I call upon him I'll be saved you can't reason that you come can't come to
that through some kind of logic up to a certain point things can be revealed to
you as Romans chapter 1 says but you must hear the gospel why because faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God the lost must hear the gospel
the lost must hear the the word of God for them to come to faith in Christ our
world is full of stories right and people like to share stories I do I like
to share what I learn and we're filled with stories you know if you watch the
news or you read the newspaper or you listen to podcasts or if you're on
social media and you're scrolling through all kinds of articles and if I find
something funny I like to share it or find something interesting I like to
share it but a lot of times this is the way that the world works like we're
sharing these stories we don't even necessarily know that if the story that
we're sharing is even a hundred percent true but sometimes we're sharing it
anyway but we've got a story that's a hundred percent true that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus and whosoever believeth in
him should not perish everlasting life we have the story of the gospel and it's
gotta be shared and if we keep it to ourselves if we keep it in here and we
just talk about it and we amen brother and amen sister all day long in this
building and never take it out and it never comes out of our lips and never
goes into our workplace and never goes into our families never goes into our
schools it never goes into our places of influence the people who've never heard
it are not going to come to the conclusion that they need Jesus they need
to hear the history of the gospel we have that story Paul says we have that
treasure and earth and vessels so what I want to challenge you tonight is that in
the same power we have the Holy Spirit the same spirit that raised Jesus from
the dead lives in us in the same power of the Holy Spirit for the same purpose
of declaring good news of the gospel that salvation has come that the blind
can see the dead can walk again the captive can be made free and because all
those predictions are true I want to challenge you to take the gospel that
you have so believed and share it with others and let's do it because it's all
about Jesus pastor are you gonna be doing that prayer quest if you have a pro quest
I want to encourage you we can you can write one of those slips down if you
have it raise it up for the door and come by and grab it for you as we move
into a time of prayer tonight