Our church service started with beautiful worship focusing on the beautiful name of Jesus and His worthiness. Missionaries to children in foreign countries shared on their efforts to show that children can know Jesus as well as adults. They take the message to schools, village outreach, and youth camps in the Polynesian islands, like Fiji.
Pastor continued his message on Anointing, this week centered on Luke 4:18-19. He reminded us that we are set apart for God's purpose. The Spirit abides in us. You can't manufacture true anointing because the real power comes from the Spirit. Luke 4:14. Jesus was quoting the text from Isaiah 61:1-2. He tells us his purpose, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10.
The power is the Spirit in is. When we listen to preachers we need to be discerning and question, “What is the text of preachers? Is it real? Is it Biblical?” The Spirit doesn't pass away. The apostles and disciples had a supernatural mindset, not a computer. We shouldn’t resist the Spirit. Accept the touch, surrender to Him living in you. The Spirit is on your life “to proclaim”. v19. The enemy doesn't want us proclaiming the word of God. But God created you with a voice to proclaim.
There is a difference in Luke 4:18-19 from Isaiah 61:1-2. In Isaiah there is an additional phrase: “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,”. The hearts of men are broken because of sin which makes us sick. Brokenness became part of our nature because sin disrupted the human DNA as it was intended by God’s creation.
The Bible speaks repeatedly of the pain and death brought by sin. Romans 6:23; Genesis 2:17; Proverbs 14:12; James 1:15; and more. Jesus heals the hearts hurt by sin.
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10. Repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry.” Repentance involves a change of behavior.
Since the believer is to proclaim good news to the poor, we cannot run from the Spirit. But some people want to wallow in sin. Sin owns us until we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. (We are slaves to sin until we accept Christ and righteousness. Romans 6: 20-22. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. God does not condemn us for our sins, but sent His Son to save us. John 3:17-18.
Christ gives believers sight which is part of the recovery from sin. The current generation has not been taught commitment. A thirty-year-old today is most often less mature than an eighteen-year-old in the 1960s. The current generation has no vision nor direction. People perish without direction. Proverbs 29:18 ESV. We must encourage each other to seek the Will of God.
The anointing of God is prophetic. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Proverbs 14:12. The Spirit will give you direction. The anointing will set you free and lead you if you allow it to live and flow. Luke 4:18-19. The year of “the Lord’s favor” is more than a year of Jubilee; it is a year of reset. Judgment isn’t here yet but judgment is coming.
God's wrath is the last resort. God is out to get you, not with wrath but with grace and love.
There is a saying that ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know.’ Dwight Moody once said that the anointed intellect is a precious thing. God wants you to allow the Spirit to anoint your gifting, whatever it may be. God wants you to have life more abundantly. John 10:10.
I didn’t find this song with a lyric video but I do like this song: Your Spirit.
Verses for Today:Luke 4:18-19 NIV
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Again, Lord, I pray that you anoint me and use me to Your Purposes.
