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Good morning my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I have a question… as you get to know me, you’ll learn I love to ask questions, because that’s how I learn. So, here’s the question:
What’s the greatest news you’ve ever heard?
Here’s another question to ponder…
If you could write the headline for tomorrow’s news…, what would be the greatest news the entire world would most appreciate?
Perhaps you’re thinking about a safe, reliable vaccine for the Coronavirus; or maybe sudden peace in every war torn place in the world; or maybe a safe home for every refugee and orphan in the world? The greatest news would of course meet the greatest need right?
So this week we’re digging into Isaiah 61 in the Bible. Do you have your shovel, are you ready? Yesterday we considered the first phrase: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me…” and I hope you learned that this applies to EVERY genuinely born again, follower of Jesus Christ in the world!
Today, let’s dig into the next phrase or two: “…because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” (Is. 61:1) Is this ‘poor’ only the financially impoverished or is it wider than that? When you consider poverty… what other types of heart breaking poverty do you see in our world? How about the paralyzing poverty of HOPELESSNESS… we call it hopeless despair, do you see that crippling people? Or the heartbreaking poverty of loneliness? Or paralyzing fear or shame? Oh my, when we look at it this way, financial poverty is a minor player in the league of global, life shattering poverty, would you agree? May I lump them all together and call this ‘poverty of the soul’? That deep, deep poverty that money cannot solve!
Throughout history there has been one great, reliable, life changing answer for ‘poverty of the soul’. Do you know what it is? The unconditional, undeserved, personal, love of Almighty, Creator, Holy God! Now don’t push that away as simple minded my friends. Let it soak in. I’ve been in some of the most impoverished places around the world, and there I have found people, with absolutely nothing considered essential for life... shelter, food, medical care, employment, education… and yet I’ve seen them content in their poverty, confident, that the God who created them loves them, and is watching over them!
God told Isaiah to proclaim and write that there would be a day when people, who have the Spirit of Almighty God upon them, would bring ‘good news’ to impoverished people, and that ‘good news’ would bring them HOPE in their extreme poverty. I have had the privilege of living in this reality my entire life. As a boy, I grew up and later lived as an adult, in the poorest country in the western hemisphere with people clothed in rags and no shoes, living in mud wall, mud floor, grass roof, one room huts, having no education, no health care, no employment, no food, yet singing their starving children to sleep at night, thanking God for His love!! And more than that, singing of their confident hope that if they died in their sleep they would awaken in heaven totally free from every type of poverty known to mankind, because the inheritance which awaits them there, is riches beyond what anyone can imagine!! Do you have that confident contentment, my friends?
I’ve lived in middle income America most of my life, but I’ve had the opportunity to be with some very wealthy, highly educated, extremely successful people… who have everything they ever desire, but still they cannot quench the ‘poverty of the soul’ which haunts them! How is that possible? It’s possible because wealth does not eradicate ‘poverty of the soul’!! Only receiving and living in the love of God does that!
Mark 1:14,15 says this about the launch of Jesus’ ministry life: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into the Galilee proclaiming the ‘good news’ of God. ‘The time has come’, Jesus said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Now there it is! Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy made 650 years before! THAT is great news…did you see it? “The kingdom of God is near”…oh my! Is this possible, in a world of broken political systems, corrupt governments, corrupt legal systems, out of control crime and lawlessness? Surrounded by widespread greed and anarchy . . . how extremely wonderful would it be if God’s perfect, holy kingdom, came near and started cleaning up all this mess!? Remember Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Now THAT would be great news for any place people live, on our sin filled planet earth, do you agree?
So I propose to you, my friends, that the ‘good news’ God spoke to Isaiah about, and he wrote about in Isaiah 61:1, is the same ‘good news’ that Jesus proclaimed! And remember one of the last things Jesus said to His close followers was this: “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Me. As you are going through life, make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey all the good news I have taught you…”! (Matt. 28:18-20) Wow, my friends…do you see it? Authentic, redeemed, ‘born-again’ by the Spirit of God, followers of Jesus Christ, who have the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD upon them, also have the privilege and responsibility to PROCLAIM to our broken, hopeless world, God’s good news, which they have heard and learned from Jesus Himself!!!
That ‘God good news’ is the BEST news, because it’s God telling our world that HE is Sovereign over all and He loves humanity with an unconditional, undeserved, unearned LOVE, that passes all human understanding! Listen: “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that HE LOVED US and sent His Son (Jesus) as an atoning sacrifice for our sins! (1 John 4:9,10) John, Jesus’ best human friend, wrote that, about the Jesus whose love had changed his life!
Now listen to this from Paul: “God demonstrates HIS own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Now hear the words of Jesus Himself: “Almighty God, so extremely loved all humanity, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will not perish [spend eternity apart from God] but will have everlasting life in a loving relationship with God.” (John 3:16)
Now back to Isaiah 61:1 for just another moment… hear it again, and add another phrase: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted…” So my friends, what is the best healing balm for a broken heart? You and I both know, and so does every living person, because we’ve all experienced a broken heart, haven’t we? Broken promises, being abandoned or rejected by those who should love us, injustice and so much more causes the world wide plague of broken hearts. And the best healing balm is . . . unconditional, undeserved, unlimited LOVE! And the only place that type of love can come from is Holy, Almighty, Eternal, Love filled GOD! Now do I hear amen all around the world?
So I’d like to invite you to consider WHO you know, who has a broken heart which needs healing? And how can you imagine the powerful, unlimited LOVE of God could possibly reach down deep into that person’s heart and do its wonderful healing work? I have a song for you to listen and watch because it’s a YouTube video… as you ponder those questions and I invite you to talk to Jesus… right now, about your need for the healing, powerful work of God’s love which HE, Jesus, is ready to lavish upon you and every person you know who has a broken heart!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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