The Beginning of Ministry — Jim Cymbala

The Synagogue and the Reading of Scripture

Let's just talk about what a synagogue was. In Jerusalem was the temple and that's where you could make animal sacrifices and you could shed blood. In a synagogue, anytime there were ten Jewish families in any place, you had to form a synagogue for teaching, for fellowship, and the synagogue service like it is among certain Lubavitchers today and the Hasidim, it had three parts to it.

The first part was worship, including a prayer for the people. The second part was the reading of the holy law of God, the reading of Scripture. It was read in Hebrew, which most of the people didn't know classical Hebrew any longer, and then translators put it into Aramaic, which was the common everyday language that Jesus spoke, and sometimes into Greek so that the people would understand the Scripture.

Jesus Announces His Messianic Mission

And then the third part was somebody would step up and give an exhortation. And now Jesus, right at the beginning of his ministry, he stands up, we'll look back at it, he found the place where it is written.

Notice it was a scroll, it wasn't a book. 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, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. Isn't this Joseph's son, they asked. So let's go back to where it says the Spirit of the Lord is on me. Now this is the first revelation of the Messiah.

The Messiah Brings Good News to the Poor

The Messiah now is going to broadcast who he is, he's about to begin his ministry, and nothing could be further from the Jewish mind of that day than what Jesus did. They thought he would come in grandeur, he would come like a Roman conqueror, and now he's standing up in a synagogue in Nazareth, which was not a village, it was a town, had about 20 ,000 people in it, where he had grown up and he begins to share his calling, his mission.

So let's just notice the mission. The Spirit of the Lord is on me. Now this was written in Isaiah hundreds of years before, more than 400 years. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me, why?

To proclaim good news, not bad news. Jesus came with good news. How many are happy for that? Good news to the poor, not to the rich, not to the wealthy, not to the high and mighty. That's what the world likes and what the world looks up to, and Jesus bypassed it all and said, no, I've come to give good news to the poor, the people that are insignificant in society.

And then he goes on to say, he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. That's not just in a prison, but that's spiritual prisoners. And recovery of sight for the blind, that's not just physical eyes, that's having the eyes of your heart open so you know how God wants you to live and what his plan is.

And to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. So I want you to notice this because this is our mission. Nothing has ever changed. We belong to Jesus, amen? We're a Christian church.

The Church's Mission to Share the Gospel

The mission that the Father gave him back then has never changed. We are representing him. Our goal should be, how many people can we tell about the good news of Jesus Christ? What new ways can we do it as a church?

What new ways can we do it individually? How can we see poor people lifted up? How can we see the oppressed released from that oppression? The captives set free. The eyes of their heart opened up and now they know there's another way to live than the way I've been living.

Don't you want to see that happen through us as a church? And whatever ministry you're involved in, whatever the calling is on your life, nothing has ever changed. We are to go into the whole world, here, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Bangladesh, wherever God sends us, we are to go and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

And we're to see converts made and baptized. And then we're to see chains broken in their life. How many want to be used by God to see chains broken in somebody's life? Lift up your hand high. If we're gonna follow in his footsteps, this is what it's about.

Empowered by the Spirit for Ministry

The Spirit of the Lord is on me to do those things. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, couldn't accomplish what the Father sent him to do unless the Spirit of the Lord was on him, for he has anointed me. He's given me his Spirit because, remember, Jesus operated as a man.

He had a trust God. He had a walk like a man walks. He could get hurt. And even though he was the Son of God, he was not some Superman. So this tells us something amazing. Jesus couldn't do his mission without the Spirit of God being upon him.

Don't you want that in your life? I'd rather have the Spirit of the Lord on me, whatever that might mean, fill me, guiding me, leading me, whatever it means. I'd rather have that than riches untold. Because when the Spirit of the Lord is on you, now you're following in the footsteps of Jesus and Peter and Paul, who we find in the book of Acts.

The Spirit Equips Ordinary Believers

And then Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, said this dramatic word. In other words, God has given us a calling, but he's also saying to us, I will equip you. I will equip you. You don't have to do this on your own.

And it won't be done by brain power. It's going to be done by spirit power. So whatever ministry you're involved in in the church, whether you're like me, the pastor or associate pastor, you counsel, you're a deacon, you work with children, whatever it is, we can't do what God wants us to do unless the Spirit of the Lord is resting upon us.

Let's put our hands together and say amen to that. And we don't have to, as I close, we don't have to beg God and say, oh God, I got to change your mind. Just, you know, pour out your Spirit on me. God wants to do that.

The Outpouring of the Spirit in the Last Days

In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. My sons, my daughters will prophesy. Young men, older men, everyone's going to be used by God. Now, we have to have the faith to believe that.

Otherwise, throw money at it, organize it, and for what? Only the anointing breaks the yoke. Only Spirit of God takes ordinary people like us, and then the next thing you know, we can do extraordinary things.

I want to do extraordinary things through God's Spirit working in me and in us, and I want Him to get all the glory. How many are with me on that? I want God to do extraordinary things. I want it to be done by His Spirit on us, and I want Him to get all the glory, all the glory.

But right now, we got to start this first Tuesday of 2017. God, let your Spirit rest on me. I am a Christian. I know the Spirit lives inside of me, but yo quiero mas. I want more. I want more of His power.

I want more. If Jesus couldn't do it without the Spirit's help, what hope would we have without the Spirit's help? Everybody stand. I'd like every woman in the building to find a sister and begin to pray for each other just along these lines.

God, let your Spirit be upon us like never before this year. Every brother face a brother and pray for one another. God, let your Spirit be upon us as never before. Everybody find somebody and begin to pray.