Jesus brings in the year of the Lord's Favor

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “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. Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ” “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭4:14-30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Good news to the poor
- Do we see ourselves as poor? (Spiritual bankruptcy, do you see? How much you see it determines how much you need God?)
- “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬
- Only faith in Jesus can credit us righteousness (Ro 4:5)
- Distracted/disillusioned by worldly distractions and needs --> make us lost focus on our real need. <Satan's plot>
- When we most need to be full in the spirit.
Liberty to prisoner (lost self-will)
- We were once in spiritual bondage
- After becoming COG, when you hear the word, do you realize that you are still bound by the schemes and temptations of satan? (R/s, $, success, worldly culture, peer pressure when we seek for acceptance, problems in life..) --> to sieve our faith out
- We are bound to our fallen nature/ will
- Before we accept Christ, All our conducts are sin (we see our sinful traces that truly deserve judgement?) - Ep 2:1-2
- We all are prisoners for God's judgment if we continue to follow Satan's leading by following our sinful inclinations
- Prisoner is set free when he is forgiven, and the penalty paid (that's what Jesus did to us - so that we can be freed from fear of accusations, judgment)
  - We cannot repay, but God looks for your realization of how bonded we are and in dire need of His forgiveness, and REPENT!
  - Repent, turn to Him, find His mercy - only then you will have the Right relationship restored
  - True repentance = true spirit restored
- How you know you have repented?
  - Willing to go on sanctification path >> ie a life led by Holy Spirit (from slave to sin --> servant of God) - not only break free from satan's clutches but surrender (willing) to the authority of God
Sight to the blind
- Spiritual blindness = cannot see the real problem of thing until we hear the truth of God (showing us the real root problem)
- Eyes = faith
- Problem = disbelief ( only when HS comes can we see the presence of God)
- “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” ‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬
- Restore spiritual perspective through faith given by HS (helps to connect your situation to the word)
Oppressed

Mt 9:35 many are helpless and harassed (no friend, no spouse etc)
Do we have solution to our harassment? --> mt 11:28 - come to me, weary and burdened people -> He values us beyond what we have, his yoke is light

Initial amazement that is turned into rejection
- Reject because: put out Spirit's fire; look at physical condition(? Isn't he Joseph's son); causing us to discount the spiritual reality of Jesus (treat Him with contempt)( live by sight not fear
- Walk by faith not by sight! 2 Co 5:7
Inability to be humbled --> enraged -->!kill JC
- Don't want to be called blind, poor, oppressed etc
- Didn't realize how desperate this need is (pride standing in the way)
- Before we realize our desperation (for the solution, way out), we will continue to be proud
- Consequences of rejecting Jesus = you become outsider of God's grace and work
- Pray until we are humble enough to hear hard truths from God
- May we recognize that we need God's intervention in our life