Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

March 2, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO HELP ME SHARE CHRIST WITH

OTHERS (part 4)

 

ISAIAH 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound

In order to completely teach the principles from this passage, I must give you the mirror passage to these verses in the book of Luke. This is where Jesus was literally teaching in the synagogue and proclaimed this very passage from the book of Isaiah. I must give you the entire passage for us to understand:

* Luke 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Just like Isaiah said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, Jesus looks at these men in the synagogue and explains to them that the scripture was fulfilled that day. Literally, God was upon them. He was there in person. Wow!

Jesus here mentions “recovering of sight to the blind”.

*II Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Part of “sharing” our faith, is to “shine” the light. People are in darkness. It is useless to give them instructions on a number of things, until we shine light where they can see. I think we are guilty sometimes of “sharing” commands to people before we “shine” the light for them to see. How can we tell them what steps to take next, until we provide light for them to see to take the steps?

You and I should be Flashlights of the Gospel, instead of just referees of the rules.

Let that one sink in.