| | | | Jesus came to preach to the poor - Luke 4:18-19 This past Sunday we talked about how Jesus is the greatest gift ever given to mankind, and we talked about why He came. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus went into the synagogue an quoted from Isaiah 61:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Isaiah 61:1–2 / Luke 4:18-19
In essence He announced that He had come...
To preach good news to the poor
To heal the brokenhearted
To proclaim liberty to the captives
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
This week we'll be exploring these four points in greater depth.
To preach good news to the poor
In America, even if you're the poorest person in town, you're still rich compared to the majority of the people in the rest of the world! So one might think "I'm not poor, so maybe the good news isn't for me…"
But consider this: A person could build an empire worth billion of dollars, yet the cold hard fact is that we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave this world with nothing. When we go, and we will go, we will go somewhere, and our final destination will not be determined by how much stuff we had, or even how good we were, but whether or not we had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
There's is also a spiritual application to what Jesus said; Before I came to Christ my life was filled with sin, I lived for the moment, and did whatever I pleased. But there was a problem, in that I found that the more I sinned, the more empty I felt inside. No matter what new thing I tried, the result was the same - I was barren, and broken.
It wasn't until I accepted Jesus Christ into my life that I began to be fulfilled. Regardless of how much money I have, today I'm rich because I have the riches of Christ...
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Eph 1:3
So whether you're rich, poor, or somewhere in between, the good news of the gospel is for you!
(This Christmas season ask yourself, "Do I have a relationship with Christ?" If you'd like to know how, CLICK HERE.)
Pastor Clay | | | | | | | |
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