August 4, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A
little later in the program, we'll tell you how you
can get a copy of doctor Graham's book, Powering Up.
But first, here's the message Why Jesus Came.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
From Luke's Gospel, Chapter four.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We're going to be talking about the fame of the
Lord Jesus, then the claim of the Lord Jesus, and
then the aim of the Lord Jesus. Why he came
is the title of this message and what you're about
to see. And here is a message from Jesus himself
(00:44):
in which he delivers his identity and his mission on earth.
It's a sermon that is delivered by Jesus. It is
the grace of God, delivered by the one who brought
this great grace. And so, beginning at verse fourteen, Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and
(01:07):
a report about him went out throughout all the surrounding country,
and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all
that is the fame of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
More about that than just a moment.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,
and as was his custom, note that he went to
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up
to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the
place where it was written.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And here we see his aim why he came, and
his claim.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the port.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set it
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor or grace salvation. And he rolled up
(02:07):
the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and
sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue
were fixed fastened on him. Imagine that, locking eyes with Jesus,
(02:27):
looking at his face and experiencing his presence. That was
the privilege of these at the synagogue that day. And
with every eye fastened on him, he began to say
to them, here's the sermon today, keyword today, this scripture
(02:49):
has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well
of him and marveled at the gracious words that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Were coming from his mouth.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Jesus delivers not good advice, great advice, but good news.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It is the good news of God's grace, the good
news of God's favor. And he's speaking to all humanity
broken and bound by sin, and he brings hope to
trouble hearts.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Isaiah chapter sixty one is the text that Jesus chose
to deliver his message. And this message was delivered in
the power of the Holy Spirit. We've already learned that
Jesus as man, was filled with the spirit of God.
He was anointed and appointed from his birth onward. The
(03:48):
Holy Spirit overshadowed the womb of Mary. We speak of
the virgin birth, it was in reality the virgin conception,
as the Holy Spirit produced the Christ child Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Within her womb.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And so Jesus walked in the spirit and lived in
dependence and obedience to God through the power of the
Holy Spirit. And he preached in the power of God's
Spirit in this annoying And so Jesus came in the
power of the Holy Spirit. And this is the secret,
if you will, of his success. This is the magnetism.
(04:23):
This is the miracle of his life. This small town
boy out of Nazareth, who grows up and now delivers
the good news of salvation, so that the whole world
could hear, and everybody is loving it so far, so
Jesus returns, as Luke tells us in Luke four, John
(04:50):
the Apostle tells us many of the stories that happened
by the way around the Galilee, and so does Mark
up until this point. But Luke starts under the inspiration
of Holy Spirit right here in the synagogue in Nazareth.
You could still go in Israel to a place of
probably a second or third century synagogue in Nazareth, and
beneath that would have been the place where Jesus opened
(05:12):
the scroll and delivered this message. Now, let me tell
you a little bit about synagogues, because you need to
know something about it in the life and times of
Jesus and even synagogues today. But frankly, once the temple
was destroyed in the Old Testament period, then the synagogues,
as men would gather in the synagogues in small places,
(05:35):
small rooms, and typically the same thing happened again and again.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
There would be the.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Singing of hymns, primarily from the Psalms.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
There would be the reading of scripture.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And notice here when Jesus read gave the scripture, he stood.
And this is why in many churches to this day
people stand in honor of the reading of God's that's
a good habit, that's a good custom. Notice that as
he's reading the scripture, after the reading of scripture from
an Old Testament passage, first full law. This happens in
(06:12):
every synagogue service or reading from the first five books
of the Old Testament. The pentitook the Law of Moses,
and then from the prophets, primarily the major prophets of
Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel, but from the.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Other prophets as well, and also from the.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Writings, which is the Psalms and Proverbs and so on.
But what is clear to me in this passage of
scripture is our Lord was of course fully literate and
familiar with the scriptures, after all, he did write them.
But now as a man, a young man thirty years
(06:48):
of age, he would have grown up in this synagogue
as a little toddler, as a little boy. Synagogues were
places where boys and girls were taught as well. They
were like elementary schools in the community. And it's a precursor,
if you will, to educating religious training and religious education
(07:12):
in the church or in the synagogue, and so you
would have that it was also a place where judicial
decisions were made among the people. But primarily it was
a place of worship. And it was happening like this
every Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week.
We worship on this the Lord's Day, the first day
(07:32):
in view of the empty tomb and the resurrection, but
this is the Sabbath, this is the seventh day, and
the people would gather inside these building, small buildings, and
they would sing the psalms, they would pray prayers, read
the scriptures, and someone would deliver a message. There was
(07:54):
no full time preacher or full time rabbi in the synagogues,
but someone who was capable, someone who has learned, someone who.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Could was handed a scroll.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
And delivered the scriptures and then delivered an exhortation or
gave a sermon or gave a message. Does this sound familiar,
because the ancient Jewish form of worship in the synagogue
is very similar to what we do to this very
day in the church. And we sing songs, and we
(08:27):
offer prayers, and we read the Word, and we preach
the Bible, we give a message.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Now Jesus.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. So when
Jesus is reading the Word of God from Isaiah sixty
one and then bringing a message, he is clearly linked
to the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Jesus loved the Bible.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
He quotes from it, duds to it, and affirms it
again and again from the books of the Law, most
of them.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
He quoted or alluded to.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
All of the books of the Law in his messages
or in his conversations. He referred to most of the
prophets and some of the writings. One of his personal
favorites was Deuteronomy, which he quoted fifteen or sixteen times, Isaiah,
which he quoted over forty times, the Psalms, which he
quoted thirteen times. He also referenced Daniel and Zechariah. Jesus
(09:31):
references and quotes all five books of Moses, which means
that Jesus believed Genesis chapter one one. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. Yes, Jesus talked
about the flood. He read about it in the first
five books of the Bible. Jesus knew about the exodus
and the power of the miracles.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, Jesus grew up learning and listening to these stories.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Can you imagine little Jesus as a boy growing up,
hearing and listening. And it says that he went to
the synagogue as was his custom.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I love that if you want to follow in the
steps of Jesus, and I believe you do.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
If you know him and you are trusting him as
your savior and Lord, you will follow his steps into
the place of worship customarily because you know it's the
right thing to do. You show up and you set
an example to others. Bring your children with you. Let
your children grow up. They may not understand it all,
they don't get at all, but bring them into the
(10:32):
place of worship.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
why Jesus Came? Are you feeling tired, frustrated, and spiritually dry?
Maybe you're wondering if there's more to your walk with
Jesus than just trying harder.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
There is.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
That's the encouraging truth Pastor Jack Graham shares in his
book Powering Up. Powering Up will show you how to
walk in boldness, joy and supernatural strength as you live
fully connected to God's power.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
This resource is our thanks for your gift of ten
dollars or more to help Powerpoints share the gospel around
the world. So text now to request your copy. Text
the word power to five nine seven eight nine. That's
power to five nine seven eight nine. We are excited
to share that we have a new way to connect.
We've just launched a brand new texting service designed to
(11:23):
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and truly enriching content. To join, start a new text
conversation by texting connect to five nine seven eight nine.
Again text connect to five nine seven eight nine. Now
let's get back to today's message. Why Jesus came.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
This is Jesus' fame, now that we're talking about Jesus
well known.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
He certainly was well known among.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The people of Nazreth. They'd known him since he was
a child. He'd seen these men in the synagogue for
many years. But now he comes back after this evangelism tour,
this Bible teaching tour, and everybody knows him, and so
the man, the attendant, the head of the synagogue that day,
(12:20):
hands Jesus.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
The scroll, and it was the scroll of Isaiah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
He was going to be reading the Old Testament portion
of the synagogue service, and so Jesus opened it up
to this passage Isaiah, chapter sixty one, and that is
what he reads.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And in this he turns from his fame to his claim.
Look again at.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
The passage, Jesus says, and I've stopped and emphasized it
in verse twenty or verse twenty one. Today, today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And what was fulfilled? This is a messianic prophecy.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
This is a description of the Messiah who would come
and deliver his people, the bound, the broken, the blind,
the bruise.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Of the people. Probably in the.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Synagogue that day and certainly across Galilee and across Israel.
They were expecting a political revolution. But Jesus did not
come with a political revolution. He came with a spiritual revolution.
And he's now claiming today you're seeing this fulfilled. He
(13:46):
is saying, I'm the one Isaiah is talking about. And
so then Jesus gives his aim. We've talked about his
fame his claim, this messianic claim, and he would claim
many times his equality with God the Father, and his
mission on earth as Messiah.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Jesus said, here's my aim. The spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he's annoyting me.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
To proclaim good news again, not good advice, good news,
not religious advice. Good news to the poor, to the
liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind.
This is all in verse eighteen again, to set it
liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
This sheer grace. Jesus is inviting and inclusive.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Jesus came for four kinds of people, and you will
find yourself in this passage because he came first for
the bankrupt, for the poor. And the word that he
uses for the poor is a word which means bigger,
(15:04):
abjectly impoverished. He's really referencing a street person, not the
working poor. Jesus would have been among the working poor,
but the poorest of the poor, those who had absolutely nothing.
(15:24):
I've come for the poor who are so desperate they
have nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He's not just talking.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
About material poverty, but spiritual poverty. And every one of us,
every single one of us, are spiritually bankrupt without God
by our first birth. We have nothing to bring to God.
We cannot earn or buy our salvation. We have nothing
(15:54):
to bring to Him. Why we are poor. We are
left by the side of the Jesus said, blessed are
the poor in spirit.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
For they shall see God.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So when we humble ourselves and admit our emptiness and nothingness,
that's when we have become a candidate for this good
news of Jesus Christ. So many people think that they're
too good or they have too much. It's why rich
people it's hard to reach sometimes rich people and wealthy
people with the gospel because they love their riches and
(16:27):
they love their wealth. You have to come to the
place where you lay your pride in the ground and say,
I have nothing, and.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I need Jesus with all my heart.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
But not only did he come for the bankrupt, but
he came for the bound. He talked about those he
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. Captives here
reference war criminals or people living in slavery. Captives here
(16:58):
who are thrown in jail because they cannot pay their debts.
It's a word here which literally means forgiveness liberty. Here
is all about forgiveness that God forgives the death, the
wages of sin, the consequences of sin.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
This debt is death.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But Jesus came to go to the cross to do
what we could never do for ourselves, which was to
die on the cross for our sins to rise again.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
This is the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
And therefore to set us free. He breaks the power
of cancel sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood
can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me.
This is why Jesus came. He also came not only
for those who are bound and those who are beggars
(17:56):
are bankrupt, but he came for the blind. And again
Jesus is speaking of those who are blind, blinded by Satan,
blinded in living in darkness. This is the world. This
is you and me without the light of Christ. There's
(18:17):
liberty in Jesus. There's life in Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
There's light in him.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
We see this light, and now life makes sense. When
Jesus opens your eyes, then life begins to make sense.
When Jesus opens your eyes, you're no longer groping in
darkness and headed for the darkness of judgment and hell.
But now the light and the love of Jesus fills
(18:44):
your life. And then he comes for the broken. This
is his aim to the bankrupt, to the bound, to
the blind, and to the broken look at it and
recovering sight of the blind, to set it liberty those
who are oppressed, that is, those who are beaten down
(19:04):
by life. Life can be hard, and life can beat
you up. And many are oppressed and distressed and depressed
in these days. Jesus said, I came for you. I
came for you. Satan will beat you up, take you out.
And many people are oppressed. You could use the word
(19:24):
abused here. Many of you have been broken by abuse
of various kinds in your life, and you don't know
how to be set free from that. You can't get
over it, you can't get through it.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
It seems.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Many are addicted to alcohol, and you're wondering again this
chain ever be broken.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I've tried so many times to quit, but I.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Just can't seemed to stop these habits that are beating
me up and breaking me down.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Jesus said, I'll set the captives for and this good
news is the news we.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Must tell to the world because his aim is our aim.
Let me remind you that these are the people who
were excluded in many ways from common culture and society,
and often from the synagogue, from the religious experience. They
were cut off. But Jesus said, I've come for these.
(20:27):
The problem with people who are religious is they often
they don't think they're blind. They don't think they're bruised,
they don't think they're battered. They don't think they're broken,
they don't think they're bankrupt. They look in the mirror
and say, I'm enough.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I can do it. No, you can't. You cannot save yourself.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You cannot pull yourself up with your own bootstraps.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
You are not enough for God, but He is enough
for you. Everybody needs Jesus. And this is the story
that we tell again and again. Here's the sad ending
to this story. However, when Jesus said these things, they
(21:11):
first loved it. They liked it, they liked his words.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
But then when he began to talk to them about
their own need for salvation, and he gave two Old
Testament references. He talked about a Syrian leper by the
name of Naem and a captain in the army, and
also talked about a widow, a gentile widow. So he's
now talking about gentiles coming in to the family. Now
(21:37):
he's talking about a Syrian coming in to the family.
And it enraged many of these people in the synagogue.
And when they begin to think about it, who does
he think? He is claiming that he's the Messiah, and
a mob got it and they begin to push him
out of the synagogue and down the streets and out
to the edge of a cliff. You can go to
(21:59):
a traditional place this day, the edge of the cliff
where they would have taken Jesus to shove him over
the cliffs and end his life. You see, that's what
mobs do. They want to cancel you. They were ready
to push him over, and we're not told how this happened.
Something supernatural happened. In my view, because in the midst
(22:22):
of this angry mob, the scripture says he walked out
through the midst of them. I think about that a lot. Actually,
just the power of his person, the power of his presence,
the Messiah, majestic and regal, because it was.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Not his time.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
There would be a time when he yielded and gave
himself on the cross and gave in to the mob
as it were.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But not now.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
He said, my time is not yet calm, my mission
is not yet finished. And so he just walk right
out through the middle of them. What happened to those people?
They invited Jesus out, they rejected Jesus, and he walked away.
(23:17):
And the same thing can happen to you. He came
into his own and his own received him, not but
to as many as received him. To them, gave you
the power to be called the children of God, even
to them who believe in his name. John one twelve.
If you accept Jesus, you become a child of God.
But if you reject him, he walks away, and you
(23:39):
may never get another opportunity like the one that is Today.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message why Jesus came through the Holy Spirit. God empowers
you to love when it's hard, forgive when it hurts,
and persevere when you're worn out. You to live with joy,
peace and boldness no matter what circumstances you face. In
his insightful book Powering Up, Pastor Jack Graham shares how
(24:09):
you can live the life God intends for you. We
want to send you a copy of Powering Up as
a thanks for your gift of ten dollars or more.
To request your copy of Powering Up, just text power
to five nine seven eight nine. We are incredibly excited
to share that we have a new way to connect
with PowerPoint. We've just launched a brand new texting service
designed to keep you connected with everything happening here. Imagine
(24:32):
getting all the latest news, inspiring devotionals, and helpful reminders
for the Bible in a year podcast, all delivered right
to your phone. You'll be the first to know about
upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content. To join,
start a new text conversation by texting connect to five
nine seven eight nine. You'll receive a reply back and
(24:53):
that will add you to our text group. Just text
connect to five nine seven eight nine. Pastor what is
your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Well, let me say first of all that as I
look around today our church, our community, and as I
visit and preach literally across the country and around the world,
I've never seen so many broken people, so many people
that are hurting, whether it is broken relationships or broken
health or broken financial condition. And there's many kinds of
(25:24):
brokenness in life, the struggle that so many people have emotionally,
just so much brokenness, so much pain. And there are
many self health answers, and most of them don't work.
The fact is that we desperately need the message of
Jesus Christ. We need God to heal the inner brokenness
of our lives. We need the power of Jesus to
(25:47):
restore our lives and to help us to live again.
Every person experience broken times in their lives, so don't
feel like you're the only one as a Christian. You
may think you have to bow up like you're not broken,
But the fact is we all are broken at some
level of our lives, and we all need the power
of Jesus Christ to put all the peaces of our
(26:09):
lives back together again. And really think about this, because
Jesus can heal. Jesus can bring you restoration in your life,
from your broken marriage, from your broken relationship, from your
broken body, from your broken soul, and there you can discover,
in the power of Christ, a peace that passes all understanding.
(26:31):
I don't care what you're going through, I don't care
what the circumstances of your life. He will give you peace.
This is good news for broken people, good news for
a broken person like you. So run to Jesus, get
on your knees right now, find in him the strength
to carry on, to persevere, and to endure, and let
(26:53):
God heal you step by step every single day of
your life. And you will discover that the brokenness can
become whole again, and that you will be stronger at
the broken places. I know when I was a little boy,
I broke my arm. In fact, I broke it twice.
I was told later that when a bone actually healed
having been fractured, that it is stronger at the broken
(27:14):
place than any other place. You can be strong at
the broken places of your life. Jesus will give you
the strength to carry on and to work through and
to find in him hope. That's good news for a
broken world.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book Powering Up as our thanks. Just
text the word power to five nine seven eight nine
and join us again next time, as doctor Graham brings
a message about why Jesus called us to be more
than secret admirers, that's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
(27:51):
PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministry s
Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A
little later in the program, we'll tell you how you
can get a copy of doctor Graham's book, Powering Up.
But first, here's the message Why Jesus Came.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
From Luke's Gospel, Chapter four.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We're going to be talking about the fame of the
Lord Jesus, then the claim of the Lord Jesus, and
then the aim of the Lord Jesus. Why he came
is the title of this message and what you're about
to see. And here is a message from Jesus himself
(00:44):
in which he delivers his identity and his mission on earth.
It's a sermon that is delivered by Jesus. It is
the grace of God, delivered by the one who brought
this great grace. And so, beginning at verse fourteen, Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and
(01:07):
a report about him went out throughout all the surrounding country,
and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all
that is the fame of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
More about that than just a moment.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,
and as was his custom, note that he went to
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up
to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the
place where it was written.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And here we see his aim why he came, and
his claim.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the port.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set it
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor or grace salvation. And he rolled up
(02:07):
the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and
sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue
were fixed fastened on him. Imagine that, locking eyes with Jesus,
(02:27):
looking at his face and experiencing his presence. That was
the privilege of these at the synagogue that day. And
with every eye fastened on him, he began to say
to them, here's the sermon today, keyword today, this scripture
(02:49):
has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well
of him and marveled at the gracious words that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Were coming from his mouth.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Jesus delivers not good advice, great advice, but good news.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It is the good news of God's grace, the good
news of God's favor. And he's speaking to all humanity
broken and bound by sin, and he brings hope to
trouble hearts.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Isaiah chapter sixty one is the text that Jesus chose
to deliver his message. And this message was delivered in
the power of the Holy Spirit. We've already learned that
Jesus as man, was filled with the spirit of God.
He was anointed and appointed from his birth onward. The
(03:48):
Holy Spirit overshadowed the womb of Mary. We speak of
the virgin birth, it was in reality the virgin conception,
as the Holy Spirit produced the Christ child Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Within her womb.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And so Jesus walked in the spirit and lived in
dependence and obedience to God through the power of the
Holy Spirit. And he preached in the power of God's
Spirit in this annoying And so Jesus came in the
power of the Holy Spirit. And this is the secret,
if you will, of his success. This is the magnetism.
(04:23):
This is the miracle of his life. This small town
boy out of Nazareth, who grows up and now delivers
the good news of salvation, so that the whole world
could hear, and everybody is loving it so far, so
Jesus returns, as Luke tells us in Luke four, John
(04:50):
the Apostle tells us many of the stories that happened
by the way around the Galilee, and so does Mark
up until this point. But Luke starts under the inspiration
of Holy Spirit right here in the synagogue in Nazareth.
You could still go in Israel to a place of
probably a second or third century synagogue in Nazareth, and
beneath that would have been the place where Jesus opened
(05:12):
the scroll and delivered this message. Now, let me tell
you a little bit about synagogues, because you need to
know something about it in the life and times of
Jesus and even synagogues today. But frankly, once the temple
was destroyed in the Old Testament period, then the synagogues,
as men would gather in the synagogues in small places,
(05:35):
small rooms, and typically the same thing happened again and again.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
There would be the.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Singing of hymns, primarily from the Psalms.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
There would be the reading of scripture.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And notice here when Jesus read gave the scripture, he stood.
And this is why in many churches to this day
people stand in honor of the reading of God's that's
a good habit, that's a good custom. Notice that as
he's reading the scripture, after the reading of scripture from
an Old Testament passage, first full law. This happens in
(06:12):
every synagogue service or reading from the first five books
of the Old Testament. The pentitook the Law of Moses,
and then from the prophets, primarily the major prophets of
Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel, but from the.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Other prophets as well, and also from the.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Writings, which is the Psalms and Proverbs and so on.
But what is clear to me in this passage of
scripture is our Lord was of course fully literate and
familiar with the scriptures, after all, he did write them.
But now as a man, a young man thirty years
(06:48):
of age, he would have grown up in this synagogue
as a little toddler, as a little boy. Synagogues were
places where boys and girls were taught as well. They
were like elementary schools in the community. And it's a precursor,
if you will, to educating religious training and religious education
(07:12):
in the church or in the synagogue, and so you
would have that it was also a place where judicial
decisions were made among the people. But primarily it was
a place of worship. And it was happening like this
every Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week.
We worship on this the Lord's Day, the first day
(07:32):
in view of the empty tomb and the resurrection, but
this is the Sabbath, this is the seventh day, and
the people would gather inside these building, small buildings, and
they would sing the psalms, they would pray prayers, read
the scriptures, and someone would deliver a message. There was
(07:54):
no full time preacher or full time rabbi in the synagogues,
but someone who was capable, someone who has learned, someone who.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Could was handed a scroll.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
And delivered the scriptures and then delivered an exhortation or
gave a sermon or gave a message. Does this sound familiar,
because the ancient Jewish form of worship in the synagogue
is very similar to what we do to this very
day in the church. And we sing songs, and we
(08:27):
offer prayers, and we read the Word, and we preach
the Bible, we give a message.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Now Jesus.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. So when
Jesus is reading the Word of God from Isaiah sixty
one and then bringing a message, he is clearly linked
to the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Jesus loved the Bible.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
He quotes from it, duds to it, and affirms it
again and again from the books of the Law, most
of them.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
He quoted or alluded to.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
All of the books of the Law in his messages
or in his conversations. He referred to most of the
prophets and some of the writings. One of his personal
favorites was Deuteronomy, which he quoted fifteen or sixteen times, Isaiah,
which he quoted over forty times, the Psalms, which he
quoted thirteen times. He also referenced Daniel and Zechariah. Jesus
(09:31):
references and quotes all five books of Moses, which means
that Jesus believed Genesis chapter one one. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. Yes, Jesus talked
about the flood. He read about it in the first
five books of the Bible. Jesus knew about the exodus
and the power of the miracles.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, Jesus grew up learning and listening to these stories.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Can you imagine little Jesus as a boy growing up,
hearing and listening. And it says that he went to
the synagogue as was his custom.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I love that if you want to follow in the
steps of Jesus, and I believe you do.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
If you know him and you are trusting him as
your savior and Lord, you will follow his steps into
the place of worship customarily because you know it's the
right thing to do. You show up and you set
an example to others. Bring your children with you. Let
your children grow up. They may not understand it all,
they don't get at all, but bring them into the
(10:32):
place of worship.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
why Jesus Came? Are you feeling tired, frustrated, and spiritually dry?
Maybe you're wondering if there's more to your walk with
Jesus than just trying harder.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
There is.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
That's the encouraging truth Pastor Jack Graham shares in his
book Powering Up. Powering Up will show you how to
walk in boldness, joy and supernatural strength as you live
fully connected to God's power.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
This resource is our thanks for your gift of ten
dollars or more to help Powerpoints share the gospel around
the world. So text now to request your copy. Text
the word power to five nine seven eight nine. That's
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We've just launched a brand new texting service designed to
(11:23):
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conversation by texting connect to five nine seven eight nine.
Again text connect to five nine seven eight nine. Now
let's get back to today's message. Why Jesus came.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
This is Jesus' fame, now that we're talking about Jesus
well known.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
He certainly was well known among.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The people of Nazreth. They'd known him since he was
a child. He'd seen these men in the synagogue for
many years. But now he comes back after this evangelism tour,
this Bible teaching tour, and everybody knows him, and so
the man, the attendant, the head of the synagogue that day,
(12:20):
hands Jesus.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
The scroll, and it was the scroll of Isaiah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
He was going to be reading the Old Testament portion
of the synagogue service, and so Jesus opened it up
to this passage Isaiah, chapter sixty one, and that is
what he reads.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And in this he turns from his fame to his claim.
Look again at.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
The passage, Jesus says, and I've stopped and emphasized it
in verse twenty or verse twenty one. Today, today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And what was fulfilled? This is a messianic prophecy.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
This is a description of the Messiah who would come
and deliver his people, the bound, the broken, the blind,
the bruise.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Of the people. Probably in the.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Synagogue that day and certainly across Galilee and across Israel.
They were expecting a political revolution. But Jesus did not
come with a political revolution. He came with a spiritual revolution.
And he's now claiming today you're seeing this fulfilled. He
(13:46):
is saying, I'm the one Isaiah is talking about. And
so then Jesus gives his aim. We've talked about his
fame his claim, this messianic claim, and he would claim
many times his equality with God the Father, and his
mission on earth as Messiah.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Jesus said, here's my aim. The spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he's annoyting me.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
To proclaim good news again, not good advice, good news,
not religious advice. Good news to the poor, to the
liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind.
This is all in verse eighteen again, to set it
liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
This sheer grace. Jesus is inviting and inclusive.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Jesus came for four kinds of people, and you will
find yourself in this passage because he came first for
the bankrupt, for the poor. And the word that he
uses for the poor is a word which means bigger,
(15:04):
abjectly impoverished. He's really referencing a street person, not the
working poor. Jesus would have been among the working poor,
but the poorest of the poor, those who had absolutely nothing.
(15:24):
I've come for the poor who are so desperate they
have nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He's not just talking.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
About material poverty, but spiritual poverty. And every one of us,
every single one of us, are spiritually bankrupt without God
by our first birth. We have nothing to bring to God.
We cannot earn or buy our salvation. We have nothing
(15:54):
to bring to Him. Why we are poor. We are
left by the side of the Jesus said, blessed are
the poor in spirit.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
For they shall see God.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So when we humble ourselves and admit our emptiness and nothingness,
that's when we have become a candidate for this good
news of Jesus Christ. So many people think that they're
too good or they have too much. It's why rich
people it's hard to reach sometimes rich people and wealthy
people with the gospel because they love their riches and
(16:27):
they love their wealth. You have to come to the
place where you lay your pride in the ground and say,
I have nothing, and.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I need Jesus with all my heart.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
But not only did he come for the bankrupt, but
he came for the bound. He talked about those he
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. Captives here
reference war criminals or people living in slavery. Captives here
(16:58):
who are thrown in jail because they cannot pay their debts.
It's a word here which literally means forgiveness liberty. Here
is all about forgiveness that God forgives the death, the
wages of sin, the consequences of sin.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
This debt is death.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But Jesus came to go to the cross to do
what we could never do for ourselves, which was to
die on the cross for our sins to rise again.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
This is the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
And therefore to set us free. He breaks the power
of cancel sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood
can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me.
This is why Jesus came. He also came not only
for those who are bound and those who are beggars
(17:56):
are bankrupt, but he came for the blind. And again
Jesus is speaking of those who are blind, blinded by Satan,
blinded in living in darkness. This is the world. This
is you and me without the light of Christ. There's
(18:17):
liberty in Jesus. There's life in Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
There's light in him.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
We see this light, and now life makes sense. When
Jesus opens your eyes, then life begins to make sense.
When Jesus opens your eyes, you're no longer groping in
darkness and headed for the darkness of judgment and hell.
But now the light and the love of Jesus fills
(18:44):
your life. And then he comes for the broken. This
is his aim to the bankrupt, to the bound, to
the blind, and to the broken look at it and
recovering sight of the blind, to set it liberty those
who are oppressed, that is, those who are beaten down
(19:04):
by life. Life can be hard, and life can beat
you up. And many are oppressed and distressed and depressed
in these days. Jesus said, I came for you. I
came for you. Satan will beat you up, take you out.
And many people are oppressed. You could use the word
(19:24):
abused here. Many of you have been broken by abuse
of various kinds in your life, and you don't know
how to be set free from that. You can't get
over it, you can't get through it.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
It seems.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Many are addicted to alcohol, and you're wondering again this
chain ever be broken.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I've tried so many times to quit, but I.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Just can't seemed to stop these habits that are beating
me up and breaking me down.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Jesus said, I'll set the captives for and this good
news is the news we.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Must tell to the world because his aim is our aim.
Let me remind you that these are the people who
were excluded in many ways from common culture and society,
and often from the synagogue, from the religious experience. They
were cut off. But Jesus said, I've come for these.
(20:27):
The problem with people who are religious is they often
they don't think they're blind. They don't think they're bruised,
they don't think they're battered. They don't think they're broken,
they don't think they're bankrupt. They look in the mirror
and say, I'm enough.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I can do it. No, you can't. You cannot save yourself.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You cannot pull yourself up with your own bootstraps.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
You are not enough for God, but He is enough
for you. Everybody needs Jesus. And this is the story
that we tell again and again. Here's the sad ending
to this story. However, when Jesus said these things, they
(21:11):
first loved it. They liked it, they liked his words.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
But then when he began to talk to them about
their own need for salvation, and he gave two Old
Testament references. He talked about a Syrian leper by the
name of Naem and a captain in the army, and
also talked about a widow, a gentile widow. So he's
now talking about gentiles coming in to the family. Now
(21:37):
he's talking about a Syrian coming in to the family.
And it enraged many of these people in the synagogue.
And when they begin to think about it, who does
he think? He is claiming that he's the Messiah, and
a mob got it and they begin to push him
out of the synagogue and down the streets and out
to the edge of a cliff. You can go to
(21:59):
a traditional place this day, the edge of the cliff
where they would have taken Jesus to shove him over
the cliffs and end his life. You see, that's what
mobs do. They want to cancel you. They were ready
to push him over, and we're not told how this happened.
Something supernatural happened. In my view, because in the midst
(22:22):
of this angry mob, the scripture says he walked out
through the midst of them. I think about that a lot. Actually,
just the power of his person, the power of his presence,
the Messiah, majestic and regal, because it was.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Not his time.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
There would be a time when he yielded and gave
himself on the cross and gave in to the mob
as it were.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But not now.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
He said, my time is not yet calm, my mission
is not yet finished. And so he just walk right
out through the middle of them. What happened to those people?
They invited Jesus out, they rejected Jesus, and he walked away.
(23:17):
And the same thing can happen to you. He came
into his own and his own received him, not but
to as many as received him. To them, gave you
the power to be called the children of God, even
to them who believe in his name. John one twelve.
If you accept Jesus, you become a child of God.
But if you reject him, he walks away, and you
(23:39):
may never get another opportunity like the one that is Today.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message why Jesus came through the Holy Spirit. God empowers
you to love when it's hard, forgive when it hurts,
and persevere when you're worn out. You to live with joy,
peace and boldness no matter what circumstances you face. In
his insightful book Powering Up, Pastor Jack Graham shares how
(24:09):
you can live the life God intends for you. We
want to send you a copy of Powering Up as
a thanks for your gift of ten dollars or more.
To request your copy of Powering Up, just text power
to five nine seven eight nine. We are incredibly excited
to share that we have a new way to connect
with PowerPoint. We've just launched a brand new texting service
designed to keep you connected with everything happening here. Imagine
(24:32):
getting all the latest news, inspiring devotionals, and helpful reminders
for the Bible in a year podcast, all delivered right
to your phone. You'll be the first to know about
upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content. To join,
start a new text conversation by texting connect to five
nine seven eight nine. You'll receive a reply back and
(24:53):
that will add you to our text group. Just text
connect to five nine seven eight nine. Pastor what is
your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Well, let me say first of all that as I
look around today our church, our community, and as I
visit and preach literally across the country and around the world,
I've never seen so many broken people, so many people
that are hurting, whether it is broken relationships or broken
health or broken financial condition. And there's many kinds of
(25:24):
brokenness in life, the struggle that so many people have emotionally,
just so much brokenness, so much pain. And there are
many self health answers, and most of them don't work.
The fact is that we desperately need the message of
Jesus Christ. We need God to heal the inner brokenness
of our lives. We need the power of Jesus to
(25:47):
restore our lives and to help us to live again.
Every person experience broken times in their lives, so don't
feel like you're the only one as a Christian. You
may think you have to bow up like you're not broken,
But the fact is we all are broken at some
level of our lives, and we all need the power
of Jesus Christ to put all the peaces of our
(26:09):
lives back together again. And really think about this, because
Jesus can heal. Jesus can bring you restoration in your life,
from your broken marriage, from your broken relationship, from your
broken body, from your broken soul, and there you can discover,
in the power of Christ, a peace that passes all understanding.
(26:31):
I don't care what you're going through, I don't care
what the circumstances of your life. He will give you peace.
This is good news for broken people, good news for
a broken person like you. So run to Jesus, get
on your knees right now, find in him the strength
to carry on, to persevere, and to endure, and let
(26:53):
God heal you step by step every single day of
your life. And you will discover that the brokenness can
become whole again, and that you will be stronger at
the broken places. I know when I was a little boy,
I broke my arm. In fact, I broke it twice.
I was told later that when a bone actually healed
having been fractured, that it is stronger at the broken
(27:14):
place than any other place. You can be strong at
the broken places of your life. Jesus will give you
the strength to carry on and to work through and
to find in him hope. That's good news for a
broken world.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book Powering Up as our thanks. Just
text the word power to five nine seven eight nine
and join us again next time, as doctor Graham brings
a message about why Jesus called us to be more
than secret admirers, that's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
(27:51):
PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministry s
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