Week of January 26, 2024

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;” Luke 4:18 (NKJV).

This was an amazing moment. You would have liked to have been in the room. This was the announcement that people had longed to hear for generations. But, sadly, many did not believe. Jesus walked into a Synagogue and picked up the scroll of Scripture to read. He read Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s role to heal, free, and restore. The people had heard that passage read before, but today it was different.

Jesus finished, handed the scroll back to the attendant, looked out at the people looking at Him, and in so many words, said I am that person. In Luke 4:21, someone questioned how Jesus could possibly be the promised Messiah. It turned out that the people were angry with Jesus. In fact, they were so angry that they wanted to kill him. Why did they respond this way? Because now the long-awaited promise had arrived, and now they either had to choose to believe or to doubt. Many chose to doubt because believing required too much of them. Some believed, and some doubted. How do you think you would have responded that day? Maybe God is asking you to trust Him in an area of your life. Will you move forward and believe, or will you doubt?

God Bless, Pastor Rick