February 9, 2025 • 34 mins
This sermon delves into what it means to be led by the Spirit, illustrated through the life of Jesus in Luke 4. Ben speaks about the significance of following His example and the power of announcing the good news of the Gospel, even when faced with challenges and persecution.
• Exploring the parallels between baking macarons and life's spiritual journey
• Understanding the importance of precise guidance when following the Spirit
• Jesus' mission as proclaimed in Isaiah and its relevance today
• The opposition faced by Jesus and what it teaches us about sharing faith
• Remaining steadfast amid trials through the empowerment of the Spirit
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Just like to say it's good to see everybody in the
house of the Lord today.
Happy Valentine's Day week.
You're welcome, guys.
Valentine's Day is Friday, justin case anybody forgot.
You're welcome.
And on top of that, ladies, ifyou're appreciative of me
reminding them, you can give alittle extra to Peyton.
(00:23):
No, I'm just kidding, but todayor no?
I'm just kidding, but today orno.
I'm sorry, not today.
Yesterday.
Yesterday, dean and I got to goout and have kind of an early
Valentine's.
You know it's Super Bowl Sundayas well.
I know the guys didn't forgetthat one.
But with it there you go.
But with it being Super BowlSunday.
You know they always say thatthe what is the best defense is
(00:46):
good offense, isn't that right?
And so with that, dean and I'vehad early Valentine's.
Yesterday we went to go makemacaron cookies.
I don't know if y'all know whatthat is, but it's kind of like
a.
It's kind of like a cookiesandwich, right, you have the
almond flour.
I know what this is.
Now.
I knew what it was to eat one.
I never knew what it was tomake one, but you make it with
almond flour and a meringue andyou have this filling in there,
(01:08):
which is really good and that'skind of where your flavor comes
from.
And you know, I could have, ifI wanted to have made macaron
cookies on my own.
I could have gotten online andfound a recipe and I could have
done all the stuff you know.
But you know what's nice orwell, actually, what's not nice
about macarons is that they'rehard to make.
If you make macaron cookies youmake them one day and they turn
(01:31):
out perfect you make them thenext day.
You do exactly the same thing.
You follow exactly the samerecipe.
When you bake them, they crack.
And what I discovered yesterdaybecause I knew nothing about
making a macaron cookie, what Idiscovered yesterday because I
knew nothing about making amacaron cookie, what I
discovered yesterday is thatmacarons are very finicky.
They're one of those thingswhere the cookie you have to let
(01:52):
it sit so that it develops askin, because when you bake it,
the inside's supposed to bechewy and it puffs up, you know,
and so it's very particular.
As far as baking is concerned,you really have to be careful.
You have to follow exactmeasurements and you have to
follow exact rules, and theinstructions are really, really
important.
And I don't know about y'all,but I'm kind of a free spirit,
(02:13):
so when I follow instructions,every once in a while I don't
quite follow them to the letter,I just get close, and so it
would be hard to make a macaronwithout an example.
But going through the class,you know she's telling us all
the little tricks, For instance,to use grams on your scale,
(02:33):
because you have to be soprecise you don't want to use,
you know, cups or ounces orwhatever Grams are the way to go
.
She told us all about how youhave to be careful with your
moisture content, and so if it'srainy outside and it's really
humid like it is right now whichis why I'm sweating myself to
death you have to let yourmacarons dry longer before you
(02:53):
put them in the oven.
It was helpful to have a livingexample.
Luke, chapter 4, is where we'regoing to be at today.
We're going to be looking atthe living example of Jesus
being led by the Spirit, and sothe living example of Jesus
being led by the Spirit is oneof those things that, through
(03:14):
prayer, I just believe was goingto be really helpful for us,
because, as you know, we'restudying the book of Acts and
we're studying the Holy Spirit'sempowerment in our lives.
And if you're like me and youdidn't grow up with the Holy
Spirit's empowerment in ourlives, and if you're like me and
you didn't grow up with theHoly Spirit's empowerment in
your life, that thing can be alittle scary.
You know, like it's scary tothink that the Holy Spirit could
use me to speak to a crowd of3,000 people and they get saved.
(03:35):
It's scary to think that Icould be walking through Walmart
and through the Spirit'sempowerment, he says, hey, pray
for that guy, and I do it and hegets healed.
You know, it's scary to thinkthat, if I can be honest, that
the Spirit's empowerment in mylife makes me confront the fact
that I can't play church anymoreand so it's helpful to have a
(04:04):
living example of Jesus.
So, as we step back to Luke,chapter 4 today, that's what
we're going to be looking at.
We're going to be looking atthe Spirit's empowerment of
Jesus and how that caused Him to, you know, live out His life,
so to speak, and what that meansfor us as the believer today.
If you're taking notes, my mainpoint today is that to be led
(04:25):
by the Spirit is actually tofollow in Jesus' footsteps.
To be led by the Spirit is tofollow in Jesus' footsteps.
And so, again, what does thislook like in our lives?
We're going to be studying allof that out, but before we get
there, you know what we need todo.
We need to pray and ask God'shelp, because spiritual things
are understood in spiritual ways.
The Spirit to help us.
(04:46):
So, heavenly Father, we come inthe name of Jesus and we ask
today that you would bless thistime together, that as we study
your word, that we would learnfrom it, father, that I would
rightly divide the word of truthand as we study it, god, would
it change our lives?
Lord, words on a page areimportant, but your spirit,
(05:08):
helping us to understand thoseand be changed, is even more
important, god.
It helps us to live lives offaith and to follow you as best
we can, and so may we do thattoday in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen.
And so let's look at Luke,chapter four.
We're gonna be in Luke, chapterfour, starting in verse 14 and
following Luke 4,.
14 says this and Jesus returned, in the power of the Spirit, to
(05:32):
Galilee and a report about himwent out through all the
surrounding country and hetaught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all.
And he came to Nazareth, wherehe had been brought up, and, as
was his custom, he went to thesynagogue on the Sabbath day and
he stood up to read.
Then the scroll of the prophetIsaiah was given to him.
He enrolled the scroll andfound the place where it was
(05:54):
written.
The Spirit of the Lord is uponme because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
He sent me to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set atliberty those who are oppressed
, to proclaim the year of theLord's favor.
And he rolled up the scroll andgave it back to the attendant
and sat down and the eyes of allin the synagogue were fixed on
(06:16):
him and he began to say to themToday this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.
And all spoke well of him andmarveled at the gracious words
that were coming from his mouth.
And they said is not thisJoseph's son?
And he said to them doubtlessyou will quote to me this
proverb physician, heal yourself.
What we've heard you did atCapernaum, do here in your
(06:37):
hometown as well.
And he said truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in
his hometown.
But in truth, I tell you, therewere many widows in Israel in
the days of Elijah, when theheavens were shut up three years
and six months and a greatfamine came over all the land,
and Elijah was sent to none ofthem, but only to Zarephath in
the land of Sidon, to a womanwho was a widow.
(06:58):
And there were many lepers inIsrael in the time of the
prophet Elisha and none of themwas cleansed, but only Naaman
the Syrian.
When they heard these things,all in the synagogue were filled
with wrath and they rose up anddrove him out of town and
brought him to the brow of thehill on which their town was
built, so that they could throwhim down the cliff, but passing
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through their midst, he wentaway.
But passing through their midst, he went away.
And so we come to this passagein Luke and if in case you don't
know, again we're studying inthe book of Acts and when we go
back to Luke, what we're doingis we're kind of getting the
prequel.
You know, Jared and I weretalking.
It's kind of like if Acts ofStar Wars.
You know we're, we're in theforce or, I'm sorry, we in the
(07:43):
Phantom Menace.
That's where we're at today.
We are looking at a passage ofScripture, written by the same
author, but focusing on Christ,versus Acts, which focuses on
the Holy Spirit and the lives ofthe apostles and the church, so
to speak.
And so, as we come to this, itsays Jesus returned in the power
(08:05):
of the Spirit to Galilee.
Now, where has he been inchapter 4?
In chapter 4, actually, let'sgo back just a little bit
further.
In chapter 3, you see Jesus whois baptized, not in the Spirit,
but baptized physically inwater.
And then it says too that theSpirit then descends on him like
a dove.
So what we know is that thepower of the Spirit comes on
Jesus there, so you could saybaptized in the Spirit as well.
(08:26):
But what happens is the powerof the Spirit comes on Jesus
there at his baptism, and whenthat happens, a voice from
heaven says this is my belovedSon, in whom I am well pleased.
Right From that moment forward,you have chapter 4.
And in chapter 4, it is after,over and over, led by the Spirit
(08:48):
, led by the Spirit, led by theSpirit, jesus is sent here and
there and everywhere.
What you see is in verse 14,jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit to Galilee from thewilderness where he was tempted
by the devil.
If you go to verse 16, and hecame to Nazareth.
If you go on from there, if yougo a little bit further, he
goes to the synagogue.
(09:08):
If you go down to verse 31, hewent down to Capernaum, a city
of Galilee, on the Sabbath, andhe goes to their synagogue.
If you go on from there, he'sgoing to go out to a desolate
place and he's going to pray byhimself.
Jesus is going to go lots ofplaces because of the leading of
the Spirit, and if you aresitting here and you're going,
(09:29):
what does that mean for me?
What it means is we as peopleof God, as real followers of
Jesus, if we want to follow inJesus' footsteps and be led by
the Spirit, we must follow theSpirit's lead.
If you're taking notes, we mustfollow the Spirit's lead.
We have to go where he leadsand we have to do what he says.
Jesus goes all over thecountryside there, it seems like
(09:50):
, and he's going one place toanother.
It's quick and it's sudden, butwhat he's doing is something
that's very intentional.
If you looked at it from theoutside, it may not seem so
important, because he's justgoing from synagogue to
synagogue, and yet what we knowis that the Bible tells us that
is when he started to proclaimto repent and to turn from your
(10:10):
wicked ways, so to speak, thatthe kingdom of heaven has come
near.
What we see is that not only ishe led by the Spirit to go from
place to place, but he's goingto start doing some mighty works
.
And so when it says in verse 14that a report about him went
out through all the surroundingcountry, it's funny that Luke
(10:31):
doesn't mention why the reportis going out about him
throughout all the surroundingcountry.
We actually have to go back toMatthew to kind of get some
ideas about that.
And so in Matthew and I'll justkind of paraphrase it, but in
Matthew, if you look up Matthewchapter 4, it gives you the same
story and it says that Jesus ishealing all who had diseases
(10:51):
and afflictions and deliveringpeople from demons.
And Jesus is teaching in theirsynagogues and everyone who had
an issue, a sickness, wasbrought to him and they were
healed.
Sickness was brought to him andthey were healed.
Can y'all imagine, like in ourday, if that happened, how we
(11:12):
would?
Also a word about somebodywould go.
Can you imagine if Hunter Dealover there?
He's seven feet tall anyway, sohe's easy to see.
But can you imagine if he, like, had the thing right and he
could be like you have a brokenleg and he prayed for you and
your leg was healed?
And it says that Jesus, eventhat the paralytics would come
to him and they were healed.
And we pray for Casey all thetime.
Can you imagine if Hunter waslike Casey, get out of that
wheelchair.
And she just popped up and waslike you know, we would talk
(11:33):
about Hunter right, like, andnot in the way we talk about him
now, like we would talk abouthim, like we would talk about
Hunter.
And that's what they do aboutJesus.
A report about Jesus goesthroughout the whole region, but
Luke doesn't mention that.
(11:55):
What it does mention is that hetaught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all.
It's easy to follow theSpirit's lead when you're being
glorified by all, and we'll talkabout some stuff here in a
minute because, if you remember,at the end of this story
they're going to take him out ofthe town and they're going to
try to throw him off a cliff.
Right, we'll get there, don'tworry.
(12:16):
But what we see is that Jesusis on the move and he is
following the Spirit's lead andhe's doing these miraculous
signs and he's teaching in theirsynagogues and he's bringing
truth where they hadmisconceptions.
And he's doing all this stuff.
And the question that we seekind of asked, it's kind of
implied In our lives, is if theSpirit were to call you, would
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you go?
If the Spirit were to lead,would you follow?
And if the Spirit were tocommand, would you act?
Would you be the person who,when led by the Spirit, you
prayed for the person on thesidewalk, not knowing if that
person would be healed or not,not knowing what it would do to
your reputation?
Would you be the person whowork, would be bold enough that,
(13:03):
when somebody's just havingthat really bad day, that you
could be the person who says man, you may be having a bad day
now, but there's a Jesus wholoves you and he can fix your
brokenness?
Yes, you've broken the law, butyou can be saved and put on a
different path.
Would you follow the Spirit'sleading?
And if he asks, would you go?
(13:23):
Would you go to?
You know, in the assemblies welove missions, and would you go
to one of the places that wehave on our missions wall out
there where all of these othermissionaries would go?
Would you go and follow theSpirit's lead in your own life,
here, in the grocery store, oreven to the ends of the earth?
Jesus does, and so he goes fromplace to place, and we must
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follow the Spirit's lead as well, just as Jesus did.
And so it goes on from there.
And it says in verse 16,.
And he came to Nazareth, wherehe had been brought up, and, as
was His custom, he went to thesynagogue on the Sabbath day and
he stood up to read.
Now what does he read?
Let's find out.
(14:06):
It says, and sorry, the scrollof the prophet Isaiah was given
to him.
He unrolled the scroll andfound a place where it was
written the Spirit of the Lordis upon me because he has
anointed me to proclaim goodnews to the poor.
He sent me to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set atliberty those who are oppressed
(14:27):
, to proclaim the year of theLord's favor.
He reads the prophet Isaiah,and in the prophet Isaiah he is
reading a prophecy about himself.
The scroll of Isaiah has apassage that was written about
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Jesus hundreds of years beforeJesus was born.
And this is the mission ofJesus.
He is going to say the Spiritof the Lord is upon me.
Did you hear the first part?
The Spirit of the Lord is uponme because he's anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
If you're taking notes, today,not only do we need to follow
(15:10):
the Spirit's lead, but, numbertwo we need to announce the good
news.
And that's what Jesus does, asbeing one being led by the
Spirit.
The Spirit of the Lord is uponhim, and now he's going to go to
the synagogue and he's going toproclaim some amazing things.
He's going to proclaim thatthere is good news for the poor,
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that there's liberty for thecaptives, there's sight for the
blind, there's liberty for thosewho are oppressed.
And verse 19,.
We don't understand, as us inAmerica today, but to proclaim
the year of the Lord's favor forthese people would have meant
so much.
You see, for about 700 years,during that time, the Jews had
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been conquered by people afterpeople, after people.
You know, if you read the OldTestament much, you'll hear a
lot about David.
You'll hear a lot about how hewas this great king and they had
this great time of prosperityand all these things.
And if you go back farther fromthere.
You'll hear about how, when thelaw, which was the first
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covenant was made with God'speople, what happens is that God
says if you'll follow my law,I'll bless you and you'll have
this land that I'm gonna giveyou and you will be my people
and I will be your God and I'lltake care of you, and the famine
won't come upon you and youwon't have sicknesses and all
these things.
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You see this covenant that Godmakes with them.
But he says but if you turnaway from me and you worship
other gods, I will curse you andI will allow peoples to conquer
you over and over and overagain, and eventually it'll get
so bad that it's like the treewas cut off and I'm even going
to burn the stump.
He says in this first covenantthat if you do these things,
(17:00):
there are consequences for youractions, and that's what we see
for 700 years, before Jesusstands up in their synagogue and
reads Isaiah, they have beenconquered by people after people
after people Assyrians,babylonians.
Anybody know about Alexanderthe Great, that guy, actually,
that guy, it's funny.
He came to Israel to conquerthem and he actually passed him
(17:21):
by, because there's a prophecyabout a goat, not like football,
the greatest of all time.
Not that goat, but like there'sa prophecy about a goat in the
Old Testament and that was likeit had a lot to do with
Alexander's symbolism and stuff.
So he actually sees himself inthe Old Testament scriptures in
in this prophecy and passes bythe nation of Israel.
It's funny, we see and this isjust for you, this isn't in my
(17:46):
notes but we see that God knowswhat he's doing through all of
these prophecies throughout theOld Testament.
So when Jesus stands up and hereads the scroll of Isaiah to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor means so much more to
these Jewish people than werealize, because what it means
is that that time of conquer andconquer and conquer should be
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over.
And that's going to beimportant because it's about to
play into why they're going tothrow him off a cliff.
Jesus is coming to announce thegood news of the gospel of the
kingdom and if you remember,when we looked at Acts, chapter
1 and verse 8, it says thatJesus tells the apostles that
he's about to ascend into heavenand he says wait in Jerusalem
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till the Holy Spirit comes uponyou, because you're going to
have power and that power isintended so that you can be my
witnesses throughout Jerusalemand Judea and Sam, samaria and
to the ends of the earth.
You're going to have power.
But why do we need that power?
Why do we want that power?
How is that power not scary forus?
It's not scary because Jesuswas empowered by the Spirit to
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do the same things.
He was proclaiming the year ofthe Lord's favor and, as people
led of the Spirit, we must do soas well, and so we announce the
good news of the kingdom of Godto the world.
Can I just say what an amazing,just mind-blowing message.
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The Spirit of the Lord is uponme, because he's anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor,good news, news that changes
your very existence.
I remember there was a time inmy life when I had no good news,
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and my life wasn't bad.
My mother was great, I had agood childhood.
It had nothing to do with that,but I knew something was
missing.
There was good news for thepoor.
Jesus, says he, the Spirit ofthe Lord, has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives.
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I was bound and I didn't knowit.
I was lost in sin and death andI needed a way out, but I
didn't have one.
He has sent me to proclaimliberty to the captives.
I was blind and I couldn't see.
I didn't know where my nextstep should even go.
(20:26):
But he's come to proclaimrecovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who areoppressed, to proclaim the year
the Lord's favor.
What an amazing, amazingproclamation that we get to be a
part of.
The great thing about theproclamation of the good news,
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to announce it from the rooftops, is that it's so awesome.
It's so amazingly wonderful.
It's so good that how could itbe awkward, how could it be
strange to us?
It's such good news that totell someone about it, even if
they reject it, is okay, becauseat least we got it out.
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I know there are times in mylife where it just seems like
I'm so thankful to the Lord forthe things that he's done in me
that it's like it'll burst outof me at times.
There are times when I, evenwhen I wake up in the morning,
that I'm so thankful for theLord because it says His mercies
are made new every morning.
It's a great privilege that weget to be a part of that story,
(21:37):
and so we can take comfort inthe fact that, following the
same way that Jesus followed.
We can be filled by the Spirit,empowered by the Spirit, we can
follow His leading, we canparticipate in the same actions
and mission of Jesus.
And so what I would urge youthis was a word that was given
(22:00):
on Wednesday the leading of theSpirit, the empowerment of the
Spirit.
It's not awkward, it'sawe-inspiring.
It's not awkward, it'sawe-inspiring.
And so, going on from there, itsays he began to say to them
(22:21):
Today this is verse 21,.
This scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing Today.
This scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing.
If you're sitting there and youput yourself in the place of
the people in the synagogue, atthe time, you go wow.
And then you go wait, because,in case you don't know what's
(22:43):
going on, at this point inhistory, the Romans have
occupied the nation of Israel.
The Gentiles are there, and sowhat that should mean, according
to their understanding of theScriptures, is that means that
this guy, who is led by theSpirit, is going to kick out the
Romans.
Yes, we're going to get ourcountry back.
Yes, we're going to get all thethings that we lost, but when
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we turned away from the Lord,we're going to have times of
great prosperity.
This is going to be great.
And it says verse 22,.
All spoke well of him andmarveled at the gracious words
that were coming from his mouthand they said is not this
Joseph's son?
Isn't this the son of acarpenter?
Isn't this kind of the poor boyfrom the middle of Noblesville,
(23:29):
like redneck guy who you know?
Like he can make cabinets, youknow, but like, is that, you
know?
Is that who this guy is?
I don't, I don't remember himbeing a king, you know.
I don't remember him being oh,I don't know a nobleman.
I don't remember any of thatstuff.
Hmm, then they go on and theysay and he said to them
(23:50):
doubtless you will quote to methis proverb this is Jesus
speaking.
Doubtless you will quote to methis proverb Physician, heal
yourself.
What we've heard you did atCapernaum, do here in your
hometown as well.
And he said to them truly, Isay to you, no prophet is
acceptable in his hometown.
But in truth, now listen tothis.
I tell you, there were manywidows in Israel in the days of
Elijah, when the heavens wereshut up three years and six
(24:12):
months, and a great famine cameover all the land and Elijah was
sent to none of them, but onlyto Zarephath, in the land of
Sidon, to a woman who was awidow.
What does that mean, pastor Ben?
What it means is Jesus wasdoing great.
They were all speaking abouthow great he was and then he had
to keep going.
I've been there, I've done that.
(24:33):
Sometimes you just want peopleto hush and unfortunately,
that's kind of what they wantedJesus to do.
That's not kind of it was whatthey wanted Jesus to do.
Jesus goes and he says thisthing, he gives them truth and
corrects this kind ofmisconception.
You know they're talking abouthow this Jesus guy this is.
He says this is going to befulfilled, which means he's
(24:55):
going to kick out the Romans.
But the weird part about whatJesus just said is, in the time
of Elijah, the only people thatwere helped were Gentiles.
That's a problem for themBecause the Romans have
conquered Israel.
That's a problem for thembecause the Romans have
conquered Israel.
That's a problem for thembecause the Gentiles, for them,
(25:18):
are a sign of God's judgment.
Every time they look atsomebody who's not a Jew, what
they see is you have conqueredme, and that makes me angry.
It's a symbol that I didn't dowhat I should have done all
along, which was worship theLord.
And the thing about it is thesepeople have probably been
worshiping the Lord to the bestof their ability their entire
life.
They're not the ones who areresponsible for the 700 years of
(25:41):
judgment that has happened tothem over and over and over
again and so feel theirfrustration.
Right?
They're thinking this is goingto be the guy.
And then, all of a sudden, whatis he talking about?
Now?
He's talking about the Gentiles.
Are the ones who are going toget the blessing.
Hang on there.
And then Jesus goes on, and ifhe didn't stop there which he
didn't he had to go on a littlebit further.
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Verse 27,.
And there were many lepers inIsrael in the time of the
prophet Elisha, and none of themwas cleansed, but only Naaman
the Syrian.
Now, I don't know about y'all,but I'm a good old country boy.
I came from Ashland, kentucky.
I know that's not easternKentucky, but it is.
It's as far east as you can goin your little northeast section
(26:27):
and we have a lot ofcountryisms in Ashland
especially.
You know my family was fromCarter County.
They're a little bit further.
They're more po-dunky than I am, you know, but you get all
these nice country sayings, andone of them is those are
fighting words where I come from.
Well, that's what Jesus justdid.
He just talked about fightingwords in the middle of the
church.
So not only was Elijah not sentto the people of Israel, he was
(26:53):
sent to this widow woman, whichyou can kind of understand.
Okay, I can have some sympathyon a widow woman, even though
she's a Gentile.
But man, now he's going to gothat much further.
And in verse 27, there weremany lepers in Israel in the
time of the prophet Elisha, andnone of them was cleansed.
But Naaman the Syrian was.
Naaman the Syrian was a guy whowas in the army.
(27:14):
He was a mighty warrior andcommander.
He was one of those people thatconquered Israel.
I'm just fighting words wherewe come from y'all.
And that's what Jesus isproclaiming.
He's saying that whoever wouldlisten to his words could be
saved, including the Gentiles.
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That's not cool with them.
They are ready to have the yearof the Lord's favor for them.
But what Jesus is going to tellus is this is a message for the
whole world.
And then they're going to dothis crazy thing.
Crazy thing A crowd that werejust singing His praises are
(27:58):
going to throw him off a cliff.
Y'all know that was in theBible, you do.
Now they're going to throw himoff a cliff because they're so
angry at what he just said.
Now you're going, pastor Ben,that was a lot of words.
How does that apply to me today?
People will throw me off acliff.
I hope not.
Here's what I will say, thoughthe Bible does tell us that for
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the believer, there will bepersecutions.
People aren't always going tolike the fact that the Christian
message involves turning fromsin and turning to the Lord.
People don't like the fact thatI can't do whatever I want with
the Christian message.
People don't like the Christianmessage often enough for
(28:41):
various reasons.
There was a video I was.
You know how you doom scrollsometimes and those reels just
start coming.
I was scrolling the other dayand it was a video of this guy.
He's on a bus and he has thissign and he's just proclaiming
the gospel and there's this guyreally angry about it.
You know this guy's going hey,you need to follow Jesus.
Jesus is the only way.
(29:02):
He's on the phone has nothingto do with this guy, except that
the guy's kind of close and heis kind of loud on this bus and
man, that guy stands up and he'son the phone and he's like I'm
on the phone, no-transcript outof that guy.
I can't say that that's goingto happen to you.
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I hope it doesn't.
But what I can tell you is thisit can be tough.
It can be tough to live outyour Christian faith in front of
people who may be openlyhostile to the gospel of Jesus.
It can be tough to follow Jesusin your workplaces.
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It can be tough that you know,when they offer you something or
they do something or whatever,and they want you to join along,
that you don't do that anymore.
It can be tough.
It just seems like everythingthat we see on TV just tears
down the Christian faith.
It's hard to live this life offaith sometimes, but you know
(30:05):
what the Spirit's empowermenthelps us to do as much as
anything.
If you're taking notes, this isnumber three Helps us to remain
steadfast.
Helps us to remain steadfast,and that's what Jesus does.
They're literally going tothrow the man off a cliff.
It says verse 28,.
When they heard these things,all in the synagogue were filled
(30:25):
with wrath and they rose up anddrove him out of the town and
brought him to the brow of thehill on which their town was
built so that they could throwhim down the cliff.
But passing through their midsthe went away.
And you would think that if hewent away he's gonna go hide out
for a while.
Let's just check out verse 30,just for giggle, or 31, rather,
(30:47):
just for giggles.
And he went down to Capernaum,a city of Galilee, and he was
what Teaching them on theSabbath?
Literally, they're going tothrow him off a cliff.
He walks through the middle ofthem, he goes to the next town
and he does exactly the samething.
I don't know if I'd be toughenough to do that, but Jesus is
the power of the Spirit, helpshim to remain steadfast.
Just let me give you a couplescripture verses just to just
(31:09):
kind of fill in some of the gaps.
2 Timothy 3.12 says Indeed, allwho desire to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus will bepersecuted.
Matthew 10, 24 and 25,.
A disciple is not above histeacher, nor a servant above his
master.
It is enough for the discipleto be like his teacher and the
servant like his master.
If they have called the masterof the house Beelzebub, how much
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more will they malign those ofhis household.
How do we remain steadfast inthe face of persecution, like
Jesus did?
We need the power of the Spirit.
Let me just give you a couplemore.
You know, the Bible tells usthat we have a couple things,
that um, a couple things toencourage the believer in all of
this.
Jude 1, 20 and 21 says but you,beloved, building yourselves up
(31:56):
in your most holy faith andpraying in the holy spirit, keep
yourselves in the love of god,waiting for the mercy of of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
That leads to eternal life.
The empowerment of the Spirit,when we can pray in the Spirit,
helps us to persevere in timesof hardship.
Did you notice, by the way,that it said building yourselves
up in your most holy faith?
You know how you do that.
You know one of the ways thatyou do that it's by being in the
(32:19):
church.
You see, the church wasactually intended and Hebrews
tells us this that we shouldcome together to be encouraged
by other believers.
Not only do we need to beempowered by the Holy Spirit for
ourselves, we need to beempowered by the Holy Spirit to
encourage others.
And so to be led by the spiritis to literally follow the
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footsteps of jesus.
It's to do the same thingsjesus did.
It's to do this, it's to saythe same things that jesus said,
whether it's popular or not.
And if you take it one stepfurther, we're in the book of
acts, which talks about the, theholy spirit, in the early
church and in the apostles.
It's to follow in theirfootsteps because literally they
couldn't do it either.
You see Peter who, at the trialof Jesus, denies Jesus three
(33:11):
times.
They're like, hey, he's gotthat Galilean accent which
probably sounded kind of like mycountry accent, and Peter just
freaks out right, no, I don'tknow him.
All kinds of stuff.
The apostles were no betterthan us in that, except that the
power of the Holy Spirit cameupon them and helped them to
remain steadfast.
So what have we talked abouttoday?
(33:35):
Let me just give you a quickrecap.
Number one we need to followthe Spirit's lead.
That's what Jesus did andthat's how we should do things
as well.
Number two we have to announcethe good news.
We didn't get the power of theHoly Spirit just to have church.
We say that all the time.
We got the power of the HolySpirit to be empowered, to be
His witnesses, and it's our jobto proclaim the good news
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because it's the greatest.
I don't know about y'all, butit's the greatest thing that's
ever happened to me and I wouldlove.
Nothing would make me happierthan for everybody to have the
greatest thing that I've everhad as well.
And then, lastly, we have thepower of the Spirit to help us
remain steadfast in troubles andpersecutions.
Maybe it has nothing to do withpersecutions, maybe it's just
that doctor's call that washorrible.
Maybe it's just that sicknessthat you have that just doesn't
(34:18):
seem to go away.
Whatever it is, it's to help usto remain steadfast in the
worst of times and in the bestof times when everything seems
to be going well.
May we be people who are led bythe spirit of the Lord.
May we be people who get thegreat privilege of serving Jesus
(34:39):
by the power of the spirit.
May we be people who are led byGod's Spirit in anything and
everything that we would say yesto Him and no to everything
else.
Just like to say it's good to see everybody in the
house of the Lord today.
Happy Valentine's Day week.
You're welcome, guys.
Valentine's Day is Friday, justin case anybody forgot.
You're welcome.
And on top of that, ladies, ifyou're appreciative of me
reminding them, you can give alittle extra to Peyton.
(00:23):
No, I'm just kidding, but todayor no?
I'm just kidding, but today orno.
I'm sorry, not today.
Yesterday.
Yesterday, dean and I got to goout and have kind of an early
Valentine's.
You know it's Super Bowl Sundayas well.
I know the guys didn't forgetthat one.
But with it there you go.
But with it being Super BowlSunday.
You know they always say thatthe what is the best defense is
(00:46):
good offense, isn't that right?
And so with that, dean and I'vehad early Valentine's.
Yesterday we went to go makemacaron cookies.
I don't know if y'all know whatthat is, but it's kind of like
a.
It's kind of like a cookiesandwich, right, you have the
almond flour.
I know what this is.
Now.
I knew what it was to eat one.
I never knew what it was tomake one, but you make it with
almond flour and a meringue andyou have this filling in there,
(01:08):
which is really good and that'skind of where your flavor comes
from.
And you know, I could have, ifI wanted to have made macaron
cookies on my own.
I could have gotten online andfound a recipe and I could have
done all the stuff you know.
But you know what's nice orwell, actually, what's not nice
about macarons is that they'rehard to make.
If you make macaron cookies youmake them one day and they turn
(01:31):
out perfect you make them thenext day.
You do exactly the same thing.
You follow exactly the samerecipe.
When you bake them, they crack.
And what I discovered yesterdaybecause I knew nothing about
making a macaron cookie, what Idiscovered yesterday because I
knew nothing about making amacaron cookie, what I
discovered yesterday is thatmacarons are very finicky.
They're one of those thingswhere the cookie you have to let
(01:52):
it sit so that it develops askin, because when you bake it,
the inside's supposed to bechewy and it puffs up, you know,
and so it's very particular.
As far as baking is concerned,you really have to be careful.
You have to follow exactmeasurements and you have to
follow exact rules, and theinstructions are really, really
important.
And I don't know about y'all,but I'm kind of a free spirit,
(02:13):
so when I follow instructions,every once in a while I don't
quite follow them to the letter,I just get close, and so it
would be hard to make a macaronwithout an example.
But going through the class,you know she's telling us all
the little tricks, For instance,to use grams on your scale,
(02:33):
because you have to be soprecise you don't want to use,
you know, cups or ounces orwhatever Grams are the way to go
.
She told us all about how youhave to be careful with your
moisture content, and so if it'srainy outside and it's really
humid like it is right now whichis why I'm sweating myself to
death you have to let yourmacarons dry longer before you
(02:53):
put them in the oven.
It was helpful to have a livingexample.
Luke, chapter 4, is where we'regoing to be at today.
We're going to be looking atthe living example of Jesus
being led by the Spirit, and sothe living example of Jesus
being led by the Spirit is oneof those things that, through
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prayer, I just believe was goingto be really helpful for us,
because, as you know, we'restudying the book of Acts and
we're studying the Holy Spirit'sempowerment in our lives.
And if you're like me and youdidn't grow up with the Holy
Spirit's empowerment in ourlives, and if you're like me and
you didn't grow up with theHoly Spirit's empowerment in
your life, that thing can be alittle scary.
You know, like it's scary tothink that the Holy Spirit could
use me to speak to a crowd of3,000 people and they get saved.
(03:35):
It's scary to think that Icould be walking through Walmart
and through the Spirit'sempowerment, he says, hey, pray
for that guy, and I do it and hegets healed.
You know, it's scary to thinkthat, if I can be honest, that
the Spirit's empowerment in mylife makes me confront the fact
that I can't play church anymoreand so it's helpful to have a
(04:04):
living example of Jesus.
So, as we step back to Luke,chapter 4 today, that's what
we're going to be looking at.
We're going to be looking atthe Spirit's empowerment of
Jesus and how that caused Him to, you know, live out His life,
so to speak, and what that meansfor us as the believer today.
If you're taking notes, my mainpoint today is that to be led
(04:25):
by the Spirit is actually tofollow in Jesus' footsteps.
To be led by the Spirit is tofollow in Jesus' footsteps.
And so, again, what does thislook like in our lives?
We're going to be studying allof that out, but before we get
there, you know what we need todo.
We need to pray and ask God'shelp, because spiritual things
are understood in spiritual ways.
The Spirit to help us.
(04:46):
So, heavenly Father, we come inthe name of Jesus and we ask
today that you would bless thistime together, that as we study
your word, that we would learnfrom it, father, that I would
rightly divide the word of truthand as we study it, god, would
it change our lives?
Lord, words on a page areimportant, but your spirit,
(05:08):
helping us to understand thoseand be changed, is even more
important, god.
It helps us to live lives offaith and to follow you as best
we can, and so may we do thattoday in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen.
And so let's look at Luke,chapter four.
We're gonna be in Luke, chapterfour, starting in verse 14 and
following Luke 4,.
14 says this and Jesus returned, in the power of the Spirit, to
(05:32):
Galilee and a report about himwent out through all the
surrounding country and hetaught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all.
And he came to Nazareth, wherehe had been brought up, and, as
was his custom, he went to thesynagogue on the Sabbath day and
he stood up to read.
Then the scroll of the prophetIsaiah was given to him.
He enrolled the scroll andfound the place where it was
(05:54):
written.
The Spirit of the Lord is uponme because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
He sent me to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set atliberty those who are oppressed
, to proclaim the year of theLord's favor.
And he rolled up the scroll andgave it back to the attendant
and sat down and the eyes of allin the synagogue were fixed on
(06:16):
him and he began to say to themToday this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.
And all spoke well of him andmarveled at the gracious words
that were coming from his mouth.
And they said is not thisJoseph's son?
And he said to them doubtlessyou will quote to me this
proverb physician, heal yourself.
What we've heard you did atCapernaum, do here in your
(06:37):
hometown as well.
And he said truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in
his hometown.
But in truth, I tell you, therewere many widows in Israel in
the days of Elijah, when theheavens were shut up three years
and six months and a greatfamine came over all the land,
and Elijah was sent to none ofthem, but only to Zarephath in
the land of Sidon, to a womanwho was a widow.
(06:58):
And there were many lepers inIsrael in the time of the
prophet Elisha and none of themwas cleansed, but only Naaman
the Syrian.
When they heard these things,all in the synagogue were filled
with wrath and they rose up anddrove him out of town and
brought him to the brow of thehill on which their town was
built, so that they could throwhim down the cliff, but passing
(07:21):
through their midst, he wentaway.
But passing through their midst, he went away.
And so we come to this passagein Luke and if in case you don't
know, again we're studying inthe book of Acts and when we go
back to Luke, what we're doingis we're kind of getting the
prequel.
You know, Jared and I weretalking.
It's kind of like if Acts ofStar Wars.
You know we're, we're in theforce or, I'm sorry, we in the
(07:43):
Phantom Menace.
That's where we're at today.
We are looking at a passage ofScripture, written by the same
author, but focusing on Christ,versus Acts, which focuses on
the Holy Spirit and the lives ofthe apostles and the church, so
to speak.
And so, as we come to this, itsays Jesus returned in the power
(08:05):
of the Spirit to Galilee.
Now, where has he been inchapter 4?
In chapter 4, actually, let'sgo back just a little bit
further.
In chapter 3, you see Jesus whois baptized, not in the Spirit,
but baptized physically inwater.
And then it says too that theSpirit then descends on him like
a dove.
So what we know is that thepower of the Spirit comes on
Jesus there, so you could saybaptized in the Spirit as well.
(08:26):
But what happens is the powerof the Spirit comes on Jesus
there at his baptism, and whenthat happens, a voice from
heaven says this is my belovedSon, in whom I am well pleased.
Right From that moment forward,you have chapter 4.
And in chapter 4, it is after,over and over, led by the Spirit
(08:48):
, led by the Spirit, led by theSpirit, jesus is sent here and
there and everywhere.
What you see is in verse 14,jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit to Galilee from thewilderness where he was tempted
by the devil.
If you go to verse 16, and hecame to Nazareth.
If you go on from there, if yougo a little bit further, he
goes to the synagogue.
(09:08):
If you go down to verse 31, hewent down to Capernaum, a city
of Galilee, on the Sabbath, andhe goes to their synagogue.
If you go on from there, he'sgoing to go out to a desolate
place and he's going to pray byhimself.
Jesus is going to go lots ofplaces because of the leading of
the Spirit, and if you aresitting here and you're going,
(09:29):
what does that mean for me?
What it means is we as peopleof God, as real followers of
Jesus, if we want to follow inJesus' footsteps and be led by
the Spirit, we must follow theSpirit's lead.
If you're taking notes, we mustfollow the Spirit's lead.
We have to go where he leadsand we have to do what he says.
Jesus goes all over thecountryside there, it seems like
(09:50):
, and he's going one place toanother.
It's quick and it's sudden, butwhat he's doing is something
that's very intentional.
If you looked at it from theoutside, it may not seem so
important, because he's justgoing from synagogue to
synagogue, and yet what we knowis that the Bible tells us that
is when he started to proclaimto repent and to turn from your
(10:10):
wicked ways, so to speak, thatthe kingdom of heaven has come
near.
What we see is that not only ishe led by the Spirit to go from
place to place, but he's goingto start doing some mighty works
.
And so when it says in verse 14that a report about him went
out through all the surroundingcountry, it's funny that Luke
(10:31):
doesn't mention why the reportis going out about him
throughout all the surroundingcountry.
We actually have to go back toMatthew to kind of get some
ideas about that.
And so in Matthew and I'll justkind of paraphrase it, but in
Matthew, if you look up Matthewchapter 4, it gives you the same
story and it says that Jesus ishealing all who had diseases
(10:51):
and afflictions and deliveringpeople from demons.
And Jesus is teaching in theirsynagogues and everyone who had
an issue, a sickness, wasbrought to him and they were
healed.
Sickness was brought to him andthey were healed.
Can y'all imagine, like in ourday, if that happened, how we
(11:12):
would?
Also a word about somebodywould go.
Can you imagine if Hunter Dealover there?
He's seven feet tall anyway, sohe's easy to see.
But can you imagine if he, like, had the thing right and he
could be like you have a brokenleg and he prayed for you and
your leg was healed?
And it says that Jesus, eventhat the paralytics would come
to him and they were healed.
And we pray for Casey all thetime.
Can you imagine if Hunter waslike Casey, get out of that
wheelchair.
And she just popped up and waslike you know, we would talk
(11:33):
about Hunter right, like, andnot in the way we talk about him
now, like we would talk abouthim, like we would talk about
Hunter.
And that's what they do aboutJesus.
A report about Jesus goesthroughout the whole region, but
Luke doesn't mention that.
(11:55):
What it does mention is that hetaught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all.
It's easy to follow theSpirit's lead when you're being
glorified by all, and we'll talkabout some stuff here in a
minute because, if you remember,at the end of this story
they're going to take him out ofthe town and they're going to
try to throw him off a cliff.
Right, we'll get there, don'tworry.
(12:16):
But what we see is that Jesusis on the move and he is
following the Spirit's lead andhe's doing these miraculous
signs and he's teaching in theirsynagogues and he's bringing
truth where they hadmisconceptions.
And he's doing all this stuff.
And the question that we seekind of asked, it's kind of
implied In our lives, is if theSpirit were to call you, would
(12:38):
you go?
If the Spirit were to lead,would you follow?
And if the Spirit were tocommand, would you act?
Would you be the person who,when led by the Spirit, you
prayed for the person on thesidewalk, not knowing if that
person would be healed or not,not knowing what it would do to
your reputation?
Would you be the person whowork, would be bold enough that,
(13:03):
when somebody's just havingthat really bad day, that you
could be the person who says man, you may be having a bad day
now, but there's a Jesus wholoves you and he can fix your
brokenness?
Yes, you've broken the law, butyou can be saved and put on a
different path.
Would you follow the Spirit'sleading?
And if he asks, would you go?
(13:23):
Would you go to?
You know, in the assemblies welove missions, and would you go
to one of the places that wehave on our missions wall out
there where all of these othermissionaries would go?
Would you go and follow theSpirit's lead in your own life,
here, in the grocery store, oreven to the ends of the earth?
Jesus does, and so he goes fromplace to place, and we must
(13:45):
follow the Spirit's lead as well, just as Jesus did.
And so it goes on from there.
And it says in verse 16,.
And he came to Nazareth, wherehe had been brought up, and, as
was His custom, he went to thesynagogue on the Sabbath day and
he stood up to read.
Now what does he read?
Let's find out.
(14:06):
It says, and sorry, the scrollof the prophet Isaiah was given
to him.
He unrolled the scroll andfound a place where it was
written the Spirit of the Lordis upon me because he has
anointed me to proclaim goodnews to the poor.
He sent me to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set atliberty those who are oppressed
(14:27):
, to proclaim the year of theLord's favor.
He reads the prophet Isaiah,and in the prophet Isaiah he is
reading a prophecy about himself.
The scroll of Isaiah has apassage that was written about
(14:49):
Jesus hundreds of years beforeJesus was born.
And this is the mission ofJesus.
He is going to say the Spiritof the Lord is upon me.
Did you hear the first part?
The Spirit of the Lord is uponme because he's anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
If you're taking notes, today,not only do we need to follow
(15:10):
the Spirit's lead, but, numbertwo we need to announce the good
news.
And that's what Jesus does, asbeing one being led by the
Spirit.
The Spirit of the Lord is uponhim, and now he's going to go to
the synagogue and he's going toproclaim some amazing things.
He's going to proclaim thatthere is good news for the poor,
(15:31):
that there's liberty for thecaptives, there's sight for the
blind, there's liberty for thosewho are oppressed.
And verse 19,.
We don't understand, as us inAmerica today, but to proclaim
the year of the Lord's favor forthese people would have meant
so much.
You see, for about 700 years,during that time, the Jews had
(15:55):
been conquered by people afterpeople, after people.
You know, if you read the OldTestament much, you'll hear a
lot about David.
You'll hear a lot about how hewas this great king and they had
this great time of prosperityand all these things.
And if you go back farther fromthere.
You'll hear about how, when thelaw, which was the first
(16:15):
covenant was made with God'speople, what happens is that God
says if you'll follow my law,I'll bless you and you'll have
this land that I'm gonna giveyou and you will be my people
and I will be your God and I'lltake care of you, and the famine
won't come upon you and youwon't have sicknesses and all
these things.
(16:36):
You see this covenant that Godmakes with them.
But he says but if you turnaway from me and you worship
other gods, I will curse you andI will allow peoples to conquer
you over and over and overagain, and eventually it'll get
so bad that it's like the treewas cut off and I'm even going
to burn the stump.
He says in this first covenantthat if you do these things,
(17:00):
there are consequences for youractions, and that's what we see
for 700 years, before Jesusstands up in their synagogue and
reads Isaiah, they have beenconquered by people after people
after people Assyrians,babylonians.
Anybody know about Alexanderthe Great, that guy, actually,
that guy, it's funny.
He came to Israel to conquerthem and he actually passed him
(17:21):
by, because there's a prophecyabout a goat, not like football,
the greatest of all time.
Not that goat, but like there'sa prophecy about a goat in the
Old Testament and that was likeit had a lot to do with
Alexander's symbolism and stuff.
So he actually sees himself inthe Old Testament scriptures in
in this prophecy and passes bythe nation of Israel.
It's funny, we see and this isjust for you, this isn't in my
(17:46):
notes but we see that God knowswhat he's doing through all of
these prophecies throughout theOld Testament.
So when Jesus stands up and hereads the scroll of Isaiah to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor means so much more to
these Jewish people than werealize, because what it means
is that that time of conquer andconquer and conquer should be
(18:09):
over.
And that's going to beimportant because it's about to
play into why they're going tothrow him off a cliff.
Jesus is coming to announce thegood news of the gospel of the
kingdom and if you remember,when we looked at Acts, chapter
1 and verse 8, it says thatJesus tells the apostles that
he's about to ascend into heavenand he says wait in Jerusalem
(18:32):
till the Holy Spirit comes uponyou, because you're going to
have power and that power isintended so that you can be my
witnesses throughout Jerusalemand Judea and Sam, samaria and
to the ends of the earth.
You're going to have power.
But why do we need that power?
Why do we want that power?
How is that power not scary forus?
It's not scary because Jesuswas empowered by the Spirit to
(18:53):
do the same things.
He was proclaiming the year ofthe Lord's favor and, as people
led of the Spirit, we must do soas well, and so we announce the
good news of the kingdom of Godto the world.
Can I just say what an amazing,just mind-blowing message.
(19:21):
The Spirit of the Lord is uponme, because he's anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor,good news, news that changes
your very existence.
I remember there was a time inmy life when I had no good news,
(19:46):
and my life wasn't bad.
My mother was great, I had agood childhood.
It had nothing to do with that,but I knew something was
missing.
There was good news for thepoor.
Jesus, says he, the Spirit ofthe Lord, has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives.
(20:06):
I was bound and I didn't knowit.
I was lost in sin and death andI needed a way out, but I
didn't have one.
He has sent me to proclaimliberty to the captives.
I was blind and I couldn't see.
I didn't know where my nextstep should even go.
(20:26):
But he's come to proclaimrecovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who areoppressed, to proclaim the year
the Lord's favor.
What an amazing, amazingproclamation that we get to be a
part of.
The great thing about theproclamation of the good news,
(20:49):
to announce it from the rooftops, is that it's so awesome.
It's so amazingly wonderful.
It's so good that how could itbe awkward, how could it be
strange to us?
It's such good news that totell someone about it, even if
they reject it, is okay, becauseat least we got it out.
(21:10):
I know there are times in mylife where it just seems like
I'm so thankful to the Lord forthe things that he's done in me
that it's like it'll burst outof me at times.
There are times when I, evenwhen I wake up in the morning,
that I'm so thankful for theLord because it says His mercies
are made new every morning.
It's a great privilege that weget to be a part of that story,
(21:37):
and so we can take comfort inthe fact that, following the
same way that Jesus followed.
We can be filled by the Spirit,empowered by the Spirit, we can
follow His leading, we canparticipate in the same actions
and mission of Jesus.
And so what I would urge youthis was a word that was given
(22:00):
on Wednesday the leading of theSpirit, the empowerment of the
Spirit.
It's not awkward, it'sawe-inspiring.
It's not awkward, it'sawe-inspiring.
And so, going on from there, itsays he began to say to them
(22:21):
Today this is verse 21,.
This scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing Today.
This scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing.
If you're sitting there and youput yourself in the place of
the people in the synagogue, atthe time, you go wow.
And then you go wait, because,in case you don't know what's
(22:43):
going on, at this point inhistory, the Romans have
occupied the nation of Israel.
The Gentiles are there, and sowhat that should mean, according
to their understanding of theScriptures, is that means that
this guy, who is led by theSpirit, is going to kick out the
Romans.
Yes, we're going to get ourcountry back.
Yes, we're going to get all thethings that we lost, but when
(23:07):
we turned away from the Lord,we're going to have times of
great prosperity.
This is going to be great.
And it says verse 22,.
All spoke well of him andmarveled at the gracious words
that were coming from his mouthand they said is not this
Joseph's son?
Isn't this the son of acarpenter?
Isn't this kind of the poor boyfrom the middle of Noblesville,
(23:29):
like redneck guy who you know?
Like he can make cabinets, youknow, but like, is that, you
know?
Is that who this guy is?
I don't, I don't remember himbeing a king, you know.
I don't remember him being oh,I don't know a nobleman.
I don't remember any of thatstuff.
Hmm, then they go on and theysay and he said to them
(23:50):
doubtless you will quote to methis proverb this is Jesus
speaking.
Doubtless you will quote to methis proverb Physician, heal
yourself.
What we've heard you did atCapernaum, do here in your
hometown as well.
And he said to them truly, Isay to you, no prophet is
acceptable in his hometown.
But in truth, now listen tothis.
I tell you, there were manywidows in Israel in the days of
Elijah, when the heavens wereshut up three years and six
(24:12):
months, and a great famine cameover all the land and Elijah was
sent to none of them, but onlyto Zarephath, in the land of
Sidon, to a woman who was awidow.
What does that mean, pastor Ben?
What it means is Jesus wasdoing great.
They were all speaking abouthow great he was and then he had
to keep going.
I've been there, I've done that.
(24:33):
Sometimes you just want peopleto hush and unfortunately,
that's kind of what they wantedJesus to do.
That's not kind of it was whatthey wanted Jesus to do.
Jesus goes and he says thisthing, he gives them truth and
corrects this kind ofmisconception.
You know they're talking abouthow this Jesus guy this is.
He says this is going to befulfilled, which means he's
(24:55):
going to kick out the Romans.
But the weird part about whatJesus just said is, in the time
of Elijah, the only people thatwere helped were Gentiles.
That's a problem for themBecause the Romans have
conquered Israel.
That's a problem for thembecause the Romans have
conquered Israel.
That's a problem for thembecause the Gentiles, for them,
(25:18):
are a sign of God's judgment.
Every time they look atsomebody who's not a Jew, what
they see is you have conqueredme, and that makes me angry.
It's a symbol that I didn't dowhat I should have done all
along, which was worship theLord.
And the thing about it is thesepeople have probably been
worshiping the Lord to the bestof their ability their entire
life.
They're not the ones who areresponsible for the 700 years of
(25:41):
judgment that has happened tothem over and over and over
again and so feel theirfrustration.
Right?
They're thinking this is goingto be the guy.
And then, all of a sudden, whatis he talking about?
Now?
He's talking about the Gentiles.
Are the ones who are going toget the blessing.
Hang on there.
And then Jesus goes on, and ifhe didn't stop there which he
didn't he had to go on a littlebit further.
(26:03):
Verse 27,.
And there were many lepers inIsrael in the time of the
prophet Elisha, and none of themwas cleansed, but only Naaman
the Syrian.
Now, I don't know about y'all,but I'm a good old country boy.
I came from Ashland, kentucky.
I know that's not easternKentucky, but it is.
It's as far east as you can goin your little northeast section
(26:27):
and we have a lot ofcountryisms in Ashland
especially.
You know my family was fromCarter County.
They're a little bit further.
They're more po-dunky than I am, you know, but you get all
these nice country sayings, andone of them is those are
fighting words where I come from.
Well, that's what Jesus justdid.
He just talked about fightingwords in the middle of the
church.
So not only was Elijah not sentto the people of Israel, he was
(26:53):
sent to this widow woman, whichyou can kind of understand.
Okay, I can have some sympathyon a widow woman, even though
she's a Gentile.
But man, now he's going to gothat much further.
And in verse 27, there weremany lepers in Israel in the
time of the prophet Elisha, andnone of them was cleansed.
But Naaman the Syrian was.
Naaman the Syrian was a guy whowas in the army.
(27:14):
He was a mighty warrior andcommander.
He was one of those people thatconquered Israel.
I'm just fighting words wherewe come from y'all.
And that's what Jesus isproclaiming.
He's saying that whoever wouldlisten to his words could be
saved, including the Gentiles.
(27:35):
That's not cool with them.
They are ready to have the yearof the Lord's favor for them.
But what Jesus is going to tellus is this is a message for the
whole world.
And then they're going to dothis crazy thing.
Crazy thing A crowd that werejust singing His praises are
(27:58):
going to throw him off a cliff.
Y'all know that was in theBible, you do.
Now they're going to throw himoff a cliff because they're so
angry at what he just said.
Now you're going, pastor Ben,that was a lot of words.
How does that apply to me today?
People will throw me off acliff.
I hope not.
Here's what I will say, thoughthe Bible does tell us that for
(28:21):
the believer, there will bepersecutions.
People aren't always going tolike the fact that the Christian
message involves turning fromsin and turning to the Lord.
People don't like the fact thatI can't do whatever I want with
the Christian message.
People don't like the Christianmessage often enough for
(28:41):
various reasons.
There was a video I was.
You know how you doom scrollsometimes and those reels just
start coming.
I was scrolling the other dayand it was a video of this guy.
He's on a bus and he has thissign and he's just proclaiming
the gospel and there's this guyreally angry about it.
You know this guy's going hey,you need to follow Jesus.
Jesus is the only way.
(29:02):
He's on the phone has nothingto do with this guy, except that
the guy's kind of close and heis kind of loud on this bus and
man, that guy stands up and he'son the phone and he's like I'm
on the phone, no-transcript outof that guy.
I can't say that that's goingto happen to you.
(29:22):
I hope it doesn't.
But what I can tell you is thisit can be tough.
It can be tough to live outyour Christian faith in front of
people who may be openlyhostile to the gospel of Jesus.
It can be tough to follow Jesusin your workplaces.
(29:42):
It can be tough that you know,when they offer you something or
they do something or whatever,and they want you to join along,
that you don't do that anymore.
It can be tough.
It just seems like everythingthat we see on TV just tears
down the Christian faith.
It's hard to live this life offaith sometimes, but you know
(30:05):
what the Spirit's empowermenthelps us to do as much as
anything.
If you're taking notes, this isnumber three Helps us to remain
steadfast.
Helps us to remain steadfast,and that's what Jesus does.
They're literally going tothrow the man off a cliff.
It says verse 28,.
When they heard these things,all in the synagogue were filled
(30:25):
with wrath and they rose up anddrove him out of the town and
brought him to the brow of thehill on which their town was
built so that they could throwhim down the cliff.
But passing through their midsthe went away.
And you would think that if hewent away he's gonna go hide out
for a while.
Let's just check out verse 30,just for giggle, or 31, rather,
(30:47):
just for giggles.
And he went down to Capernaum,a city of Galilee, and he was
what Teaching them on theSabbath?
Literally, they're going tothrow him off a cliff.
He walks through the middle ofthem, he goes to the next town
and he does exactly the samething.
I don't know if I'd be toughenough to do that, but Jesus is
the power of the Spirit, helpshim to remain steadfast.
Just let me give you a couplescripture verses just to just
(31:09):
kind of fill in some of the gaps.
2 Timothy 3.12 says Indeed, allwho desire to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus will bepersecuted.
Matthew 10, 24 and 25,.
A disciple is not above histeacher, nor a servant above his
master.
It is enough for the discipleto be like his teacher and the
servant like his master.
If they have called the masterof the house Beelzebub, how much
(31:30):
more will they malign those ofhis household.
How do we remain steadfast inthe face of persecution, like
Jesus did?
We need the power of the Spirit.
Let me just give you a couplemore.
You know, the Bible tells usthat we have a couple things,
that um, a couple things toencourage the believer in all of
this.
Jude 1, 20 and 21 says but you,beloved, building yourselves up
(31:56):
in your most holy faith andpraying in the holy spirit, keep
yourselves in the love of god,waiting for the mercy of of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
That leads to eternal life.
The empowerment of the Spirit,when we can pray in the Spirit,
helps us to persevere in timesof hardship.
Did you notice, by the way,that it said building yourselves
up in your most holy faith?
You know how you do that.
You know one of the ways thatyou do that it's by being in the
(32:19):
church.
You see, the church wasactually intended and Hebrews
tells us this that we shouldcome together to be encouraged
by other believers.
Not only do we need to beempowered by the Holy Spirit for
ourselves, we need to beempowered by the Holy Spirit to
encourage others.
And so to be led by the spiritis to literally follow the
(32:49):
footsteps of jesus.
It's to do the same thingsjesus did.
It's to do this, it's to saythe same things that jesus said,
whether it's popular or not.
And if you take it one stepfurther, we're in the book of
acts, which talks about the, theholy spirit, in the early
church and in the apostles.
It's to follow in theirfootsteps because literally they
couldn't do it either.
You see Peter who, at the trialof Jesus, denies Jesus three
(33:11):
times.
They're like, hey, he's gotthat Galilean accent which
probably sounded kind of like mycountry accent, and Peter just
freaks out right, no, I don'tknow him.
All kinds of stuff.
The apostles were no betterthan us in that, except that the
power of the Holy Spirit cameupon them and helped them to
remain steadfast.
So what have we talked abouttoday?
(33:35):
Let me just give you a quickrecap.
Number one we need to followthe Spirit's lead.
That's what Jesus did andthat's how we should do things
as well.
Number two we have to announcethe good news.
We didn't get the power of theHoly Spirit just to have church.
We say that all the time.
We got the power of the HolySpirit to be empowered, to be
His witnesses, and it's our jobto proclaim the good news
(33:57):
because it's the greatest.
I don't know about y'all, butit's the greatest thing that's
ever happened to me and I wouldlove.
Nothing would make me happierthan for everybody to have the
greatest thing that I've everhad as well.
And then, lastly, we have thepower of the Spirit to help us
remain steadfast in troubles andpersecutions.
Maybe it has nothing to do withpersecutions, maybe it's just
that doctor's call that washorrible.
Maybe it's just that sicknessthat you have that just doesn't
(34:18):
seem to go away.
Whatever it is, it's to help usto remain steadfast in the
worst of times and in the bestof times when everything seems
to be going well.
May we be people who are led bythe spirit of the Lord.
May we be people who get thegreat privilege of serving Jesus
(34:39):
by the power of the spirit.
May we be people who are led byGod's Spirit in anything and
everything that we would say yesto Him and no to everything
else.
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