"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, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me- My personal walk, is life change happening, am I walking in empowerment, am I being used of the Lord.
Because He anointed me to preach the Gospel- The message, am I staying on message?
Tom Rainer writes: We have the greatest Hope in the world. We have the promise of the resurrection. We have Jesus. But we know the story. In too many churches minors become majors and focus is lost. Critics outnumber the messengers of hope. And “that’s the way we’ve always done it” becomes the death cry of too many congregations. People are looking for hope.
The Church must be the messenger of Hope. Time is too short. It’s time for hope.
Mark Batterson writes: The only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands. It was so inspiring and so convicting. We care so much about our reputation. We care so much about our approval ratings. We care so much about what people think. But we need to die to those things. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but we don't really care for people until we don't care what they think. We can't really help them until we've been crucified to their opinions. Only then do we preach with an anointed boldness. Am I saying what God wants That is the only litmus test when it comes to preaching. Was God pleased with my message? Unfortunately, many of us measure our messages by human applause. May we be deafened to human applause. After all, the only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.
The poor…the captives…the blind…the oppressed- The people, finding ways to reach the people, having a heart for those in need.
An Alarming statistic- only 13 churches out of 300 hundred in our association grew in the last 10 years. Do we have a whatever it takes mentality?
To proclaim The Favorable Year of the Lord- Your decision, will you claim this to be your year. Will you
God didn’t put you hear to build a steeple,
God put you here to plant a cross.
