He set me free
Intro: I went on a mission trip this week and it was awesome. We had a wonderful time. Whenever you are in the center of the Lords will doing His work, great things happen. Well we met quite a few people. We had a great time rebuilding someone’s home. When you loose everything you have life has a different perspective. When life takes turns on you and brings you in a direction that you don’t want to go and you feel you can get out of it can defiantly take a toll on you. And my heart goes out to all those families that lost all they have and are now poor.
But on good thing about the trip is what I would call our theme song. We were singing and praising God the whole way up. It was something special. But there was one song that gripped everyone for some reason and it was the song. He set me free. We sang that song I don’t know how many times. There was just something special about it.
I asked a few people if they new what it meant. They said no not really. But there is a special meaning behind this song. It’s an important truth about what we proclaim as Christians. And you find it in the gospel of Luke 4:14
Luke 4:14-21 (NASB)
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.
15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
In this proclamation we find some amazing exciting things. We first find that
Jesus has good news
1. Don’t you like a bringer of good new?
a. No one likes bad news.
b. We get bad news all the time we like good news.
i. Bills are due.
ii. Car breaks down
iii. Someone gets sick
c. Don’t you hate bad news?
d. But Jesus is a bringer of good news here
2. For some though Jesus is bad news.
3. Good news to the poor.
Question who are the poor?
1. Monetarily poor,
a. No money
b. No things
2. Spiritually poor.
a. Where the spirit and the excitement and joy of life has gone.
Question: What is the good news?
• Freedom for the prisoners.
• Sight to the blind and the oppressed.
• Year of the lord’s favor.
That’s good news. Especially to those that are prisoners and blinds and oppressed.
1. Prisoner
Question: Have you ever been a prisoner? Have you ever been in a place where you weren’t calling the shots in life? Being prisoners isn’t fun. Being bound by something is bad.
Jesus said he is going to set them free.
But what type of prisoner?
Prisoner from sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2 (NASB)
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
That’s good news.
All who will accept his message will receive eternal life.. Our sins can be forgiven and we have been given a new chance on life to live with him for eternity,
No more will Satan be able to tell us what to do.
No more will we not have freedom and feel there is no where to turn. Life can take on a whole different out look.
Year of the lord’s favor
Story of young boy
Met with a young man who lost all his friends. I told him his analogy about being a prisoner.
Emancipation proclamation
What type of freedom do you have?
No more picking cotton.
