Freedom Rock Sunday | Mount Carmel Church
by admin | Jun 3, 2019
Luke 4:16
Luke chapter 4, I’m going to start reading in verse 16 it says, let me get where I can see it there. So, he came to Nazareth, it’s talking about Jesus, He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day. Jesus was faithful to go to church. I got three people excited about Jesus going to Mount Carmel Church. Are you convicted? Is that what it is? Just let it flow. If it’s conviction just receive it. Jesus went to church, he did.
JESUS DECLARES THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY
I’m just playing and he stood up to read, and he was handed the book of the Prophet Isaiah, and we had opened the book, He found the place where it was written. Here’s what he says, He’s quoting Isaiah, and we’ll get to that in just a moment. He says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he’s 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; those that are downtrodden to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all who were in the synagogue and the church, they were fixed on him. They were Freaking out a little bit. They’re like, what is he doing? And he began to say to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. So, all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words, which proceeded out of his mouth and they said, isn’t this Joseph’s boy?
Notice what happened. Jesus stands up in Mount Carmel Church, reads an Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah, the coming one, the anointed one, the one that the entire nation of Israel was waiting for. It may not mean much to you and I today because we’re not Jewish, but for them in that day, this scripture in Isaiah, please turn with me over to Isaiah 61. this scripture in Isaiah was one of the promises, they call it a messianic scripture, a messianic prophecy. This was a scripture that hundreds of years prior to Jesus that pointed to there was going to come a messiah, there was going to come a savior for Israel,
Our Savior is coming, the one who’s going to all the promises of God, he’s coming to rescue the nation of Israel. So, they were waiting for this messiah and they had all these expectations. What he would be like, what he would look like, what he would do. He’s going to come in just like a warrior, just like a soldier, He’s gonna kill Rome. He’s going to knock Rome out. Oh, he’s going to take over all this land. We’re going to be the kings of the world. He’s going to set us up, it’s going to be awesome. The Messiah’s coming. They believed that, they were expecting it. It’s, it would be like today in modern Christianity, the prophecy that Jesus is coming back.
JESUS REMOVES DOUBT
How many believe that Jesus is coming back again? Believe he’s coming back? Well, it’s similar. This was a prophecy that he was going to come the first time, and so Jesus gets up in church and he opens up Isaiah 61 and he begins to read this scripture and then he’s sits down, closes the book and says, you know, after he reads it, everybody’s like, okay, that’s a prophecy about the messiah. Wow. Why is he, why is he reading that? All eyes are on him there. Focus on him. They’re wondering what is he doing? He’s surely not saying that’s him. He surely, surely not saying that’s him? So, all eyes are on him, and he realizes all eyes are on him, and he begins to remove all doubt.
In case you were unclear about why I read that scripture; Jesus had a Flair to be confrontational at times. So, he began to remove all doubt and he says, Oh, you guys are looking at me. Yeah, well today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, the Messiah has come. I know it don’t mean much to us. I get it, I get it. We can’t relate; We don’t understand. We have to understand how crazy it was for Jesus to say that.
How edgy that was, for Jesus to say that, how blasphemous it was for Jesus to say. So, he makes that statement and then everybody’s looking around, cause he’s in Nazareth, He’s in his hometown, and it’s like everybody looked at Jesus and they’re like, you’re the Messiah? Yeah, Isn’t this Joseph’s boy? In other words, they didn’t acknowledge the greatness of Jesus because they were familiar.
DANGER IN BECOMING FAMILIAR
Here’s the danger in our lives of getting too familiar when it comes to receiving from God. We get too casual; we get too common; it just becomes Mount Carmel Church services. It just become songs and sermons and we come in and we, we sing, we, uh, we’re going to sing three songs. You know, we’re going to be great, and then we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that, and then I’m going to this, then we’re going to preach. Chad Everett is going to get up, he’s going to talk for a while. I’ll try and stay awake the best I can,
And then after that, this is going to happen. This is going to happen. And it becomes just a ritual. It becomes form or passion, and we forget about Jesus. We become so familiar with things about him, that we are not familiar with him. We get so used to interacting with things that describe him, that we never enter into a relationship with him, that says, you have my heart. Oh, I don’t want to sing about you,
I want to sing to you. I don’t want to talk about you, I want to experience you. I don’t want to listen to stories about you, God, I want you to touch my life. I don’t want to hear stories about the coming Messiah, I want today, it is fulfilled in my heart. I could tell you all about Jesus, I can tell you who he is.
I can tell you how great he is. I can tell you what he’s done for other people, but until you and I say, today, this was fulfilled in my life, then I’ll never be changed. It’ll be Mount Carmel Church, we’ll come, you’ll be familiar, you know me. I’ve been here 13 years, as pastor now, so you get used to it and you get common. we forget that Jesus isn’t one familiar relationship, he wants encounter.
He doesn’t want Mount Carmel Church in the form of the structure. He wants a personal living interaction with people that touches their heart. It changes their life, and this is what I felt like God wanted to do. And, and I want to read to you a little bit about Isaiah 61 and I believe there’s people here today that are, I know, I know, I know there are that are in this situation.
ISAIAH 61
I believe the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Chad Everett, are trying to say you’re Jesus? No, I’m not saying I’m Jesus. I’m saying the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within me, according to the book of Romans, according to acts, the same spirit. He said, you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and I believe that same spirit is in you. That same spirit is available to all of us.
So, I’m not here to tickle anybody’s ears with a great sermon. If you came and you said, man, I came just to hear a great sermon. Well, I’m sorry, it’s probably not going to be a great one. I don’t know what a great one is, It’s all subjective. I didn’t come with the idea of the heart that hopefully you’d be impressed with Chad Everett today. I’d never come with that anyway, but today it’s just today was something that he said. I just want you to come up, open up your heart and let me do something you could never do.
So I said, here we go. Isaiah 61 the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. I believe the spirit of the Lord God is upon this Mount Carmel Church because the Lord has anointed this place to preach good tidings to the poor. Now we read the word poor and we automatically think about financial, but that word poor means afflicted, depressed, victim of some pain, injury or harm. Is there anybody in the sound of my voice today that you’ve been afflicted? Maybe you’re facing depression.
Maybe you’ve been a victim of some type of pain, injury or harm. I’ve got good news for you today, His name is Jesus. If you’re in pain today, if you’re hurting in any way, mentally, emotionally, physically, I’ve got good news for you. His name is Jesus. Our vision is to connect people with Jesus from all roads of life, and I believe the only thing we have to offer people is Jesus.
JESUS IS THE GOOD NEWS
The good news we have for you, is Jesus. We’re not trying to fix all your problems or tell you that you won’t have any problems. I’m just telling you the good news is Jesus wants to be there in your problems and help you walk it through. The good news is Jesus. So, we got good news for the poor and those that are in pain. Preach good tidings. The good tidings, good news just means to announce a message of positive information. Look what he says, He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, that word heal there, just means to wrap firmly, to bind up broken hearts means to shatter, to smash, to break in pieces.
I believe there’s people that their heart has been broken. Situations have been shattered, that they’re in pieces. I don’t know what’s happening. You’re in a crowd this size. There are people that are facing all kinds of issues in their life, but I’m telling you, the healer is here.
The healer is here to wrap you up tight again, where you feel like your life is falling apart in pieces. He has a way of healing that, of wrapping you up so tight and holding you together and allowing you time to heal from the inside out. The healer is here. His name is Jesus. If you’re broken, if you’re damaged, if you’re hurting, I’m giving you Jesus today. He’s coming to heal you, to heal the broken hearted.
FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVES
It says he came to proclaim liberty to the captives. That word liberty just means freedom, release, free flowing to those that are captives. Those that are prison of war, carried or driven away into captivity. Listen to this, either of their own doing or that of someone else. How many know sometimes we can carry ourselves into captivity. Sometimes I don’t need anybody else’s help to carry myself into captivity.
Captivity of a wrong thought, captivity of a wrong attitude, captivity of unforgiveness. Sometimes I can do it all by myself, I can believe a lie. And here’s what he’s saying, I came to bring freedom to everybody that’s captive this morning to the one who would say under the sound of my voice, but Chad, I deserve it. I did this. I did that. I did that. I deserve what I’m experiencing. I don’t care if you think you deserve it or not.
God says, I’ve come to set you free. I’ve come to set you free because there’s something about that bondage situation when we realize there’s nothing, we can do to help ourselves. When we realized Jesus comes in to give us something we did not deserve. I don’t deserve freedom. I don’t deserve salvation. I don’t deserve a new life. I don’t deserve any of that. So just because I deserve punishment, His grace and his mercy are released in this place to bring freedom to anybody who would receive it. He has freedom for you.
So, if you feel bound up in any way, you feel like things are going on in your life, that you’re trapped by habits, by addictions, by thoughts, by whatever it may be. I’m telling you that Jesus is here to set the captive free. Here’s the next thing He says. the opening of the prison to those who are bound, he’s going to open up prison doors today to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
COMFORT IN MOURNING
Listen to this, to comfort all who mourn, all those that are mourning, the comforter is here. The comforter is here to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty in exchange for ashes. whatever you’re facing in your life, ashes represented mourning and shame. Whenever they would go through a struggle or they would go through a sad moment, they would put ashes on them and they walk around in mourning and weeping and repenting and God says, listen, I want to make an exchange for you. I want to take your ashes and I want to give you beauty instead, but it’s not about us deserving it, it’s about us being willing to receive it. Beauty for ashes. He goes on to say the oil of joy, for mourning.
I declare this, the oil of joy is going to be poured out for those who need it, today. If you’re ready to receive, all of joy is going to be poured into your hearts. I’m just declaring what I believe, God is holding all of joy. He says the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Anybody feeling heavy, heavy in your life?
He said, I’m going to give you a garment of praise. Here’s the kicker. Hear me, somebody can give me a garment, but they can’t make me put it on. I can give you a garment of praise. You can look at it, but if you put it on, that means I’m going to start praising God in the middle of my situation, not I’ll put it on when things get better. I’m more put on the garment of praise right now. I’m going to praise him in the middle.
In the midst of my situation I’m going to worship him, I want to thank him. He said, I want to hand you the garment of praise, and he says to you, put it on. Put it on. Watch what happens when you put on what I tell you to put on. when you put on the garment of praise, the spirit of heaviness, will leave, because it cannot stay with the garment of praise. Here’s the problem, I want to feel it before we do it, it’s how we’re wired. We want to, no, I got nothing to praise God about. Oh, you, oh, you want me to praise? Okay. Okay.
You want me to praise? So that’s, that’s cute. Preacher. You don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know what’s happening in my life. You want me to get on the garment of praise? How about a garment or depression? That’s what I’m wearing. How about a garment of anxiety and worry and fear? That’s what I’ve got on this morning and you want me to put on your little precious garment of praise? I’m not asking you to put it on. God is asking us to put it on because I don’t have anything to give you in exchange, but I promise you he does. See the problem is that we got a picture in our mind what the praise is supposed to look like. It doesn’t always look like that.
GARMENT OF PRAISE
Sometimes the garment of praise looks like, I don’t understand, but I trust you. I’m hurting, but I trust you. I’m confused, but I trust you. I love you, Jesus. I don’t know what’s happening; I don’t know when it’s gonna end, but I trust you and I love you. That’s a garment of praise. That’s the garment of praise.
My emotions, my emotions may not get involved in the positive and all in the beginning, but God’s not asking for my emotions. He’s asking for my voice. He’s asking for my heart garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called, trees of righteousness, that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Here’s what I believe God’s telling me to do.
I believe God’s wanting to do at work in people’s lives today, and I’m out on a limb. this week as I was at this conference, I was preaching in one of the sessions and, uh, I was, I was preaching a message I haven’t even ever preached here. I’m sharing this word and, and it’s one part I’m talking about, you know, uh, not giving up and not quitting. It was the context of the point. And, and I’d given them four A’s, of course.
So, I’m talking about this part and I was talking about not quitting and I’m over here and I had this story come to my mind, about the sons of Skiva and how they tried to cast out the demons and the demons said, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know, but who are you? Maybe you’ve heard that story. So, I walk over to this side, I’m not up on a platform, I’m down on the floor and I walk over to this side and I’m just getting ready to talk about this point about the sons of Skiva.
I’ve been connecting the point about not giving up, and I tell how the sons of Skiva commanded the demon come out. I’m trying to give you how it actually went down. I started to say, and the devil looked back to him, And I looked at this guy on the front row and I said, don’t quit. So, the context was, it’s I’m saying, and the devil said to them, or those demons said to him, and I’ll just said, don’t quit. It wasn’t the demons saying, don’t quit, But I just looked at this guy and I said, don’t quit. God’s telling you today don’t quit. He begins to weep uncontrollably.
I put my hand on his head and I said, God is saying to you today, that his calling on your life is affirmed by his presence. that every bit of adversity experienced God is saying to you, let this be affirmation to you. Adversity has become your affirmation. So, I thought, you know, it’s really cool. God’s touching this guy. I don’t know much about it until afterwards I hear his story. He comes up to me, says, Hey, because I didn’t know him at all.
I had to flip his name tag around to get his name. He said, you, you, you, you don’t understand what happened today. I said, what was that about? Because it was totally random. He said, well, he said, I pastor and we’ve been going through hell. Me and my wife, people been backstabbing me. People been leaving, people been talking bad about me. He said, it’s been awful. He said, but I told God I would come to this conference on one condition. I said, God, if you do not give me a specific personal word, when I get done from this conference, I quit.
He said, it’s gotta be specific, and to me, if not when I get home, I’ve already told my wife I’m going to resign. I’m going to quit the ministry. When God spoke to him and said, don’t quit. Don’t quit. I believe God’s speaking to this Mount Carmel Church that he’s wanting to do something through you. So, I’m going to ask God to begin to activate gifts in your life and we’ll begin to pray for those who maybe you’re experiencing this. Maybe. Maybe you’re feeling like, you’re one of the poor. Maybe you’re one of the broken hearted. Maybe you’re one of the captives. Maybe you feel like you’re in prison. Maybe your mourning, maybe you’re covered with ashes this morning. I don’t know what it is, but God wants to do something in your life, today.