Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. We're going to be in Luke chapter 4. If you'd like to turn in your Bibles today, Luke chapter 4.
And my message title is God's purpose for you. God's purpose for you. That's a good thing to think about, isn't it? This time of year, especially the new year. What is your purpose?
Think about that for a second. You know, why don't we do a little exercise together, actually? Why don't you insert your name in that spot? Jonathan's purpose is to. You obviously don't put Jonathan there, put your name in there.
So. Your purpose is to what? Think about that for a second. Don't shout it out. What is your purpose?
What is your purpose? Why you exist, why you were created. I think a lot of us Probably thought, well, I exist for God.
Well, that's a noble answer. That's a noble answer, but I think if some of us were honest today, we might say, yeah, but maybe my life decisions don't line up with that. Like, if we were able to follow you around, like, let's just say this last Friday night, okay, this last Friday night, and somebody followed you around with the camera Friday night, or just the whole day on Friday, right? Would your decisions line up with that answer that you exist for God? Or would they say, oh no, he exists for X.
She exists for this reason, right? I think if we were honest, we might say that we exist for pleasure. Oh, I exist for pleasure. That's my number one pursuit, right? Pleasure and success.
I like to feel good. I like to look good. I like to have nice things. Or you might say, I exist for comfort. Oh, I love to just take it easy.
I love to go on vacation, right? I work hard so that I can bed rot, right? I like to lay in bed and do that all day. Or maybe you would say, I exist for the approval of others. I want to make sure I win people over, that they see how hard I work and how good I am at my job.
Some might say that you exist for survival and for security. You want to have stability. You want to be able to have a good life, provide for your family.
Okay, that's all right.
Some of you might say, I exist for revenge. I want to prove those people wrong. Those people that doubted me, that second-grade teacher who said I would never amount to anything, I think a teacher would be fired for that today. I don't know, maybe they wouldn't be. Can teachers get fired anymore?
But maybe you exist for revenge, proving people wrong, right? You want to prove to them that you do amount to something, that you have accomplished something with your life. None of these are necessarily evil, right? None of them are evil, but I would just ask you: are these purposes really worth living for? Are they worth living for?
Are they worth dying for? Of course, the answer to that would be no. All of these things are going to let you down. Living for anything outside of what God created for is going to let you down, even good things. There's a quote by a guy I heard a while back.
He said, The loneliest moment in a person's life is when he has discovered that which he thought would deliver the ultimate has just let him down. Does that resonate with you? You had something built up in your mind that you were gonna get to. Maybe it was that new position at work, maybe it was that new car, maybe it was that new house, that new relationship, whatever it might be. And you realize once you have it that it isn't delivering what you thought it was going to.
And you're let down. Man, that could be a lonely place. The very thing that you were living in your life for, your purpose in life has just let you down. I want to tell you today, there is only one purpose under heaven that will never let you down, and that is the purpose for which God created you, which is to have a relationship with Him and to bring Him glory and ultimately to worship His Son, Jesus Christ. It is completely counterintuitive.
It's completely against what the culture would tell you to do today, which is to worship yourself, do good things for yourself. It's all about you, right? You are the master of your own destiny. You are the captain of your own ship. No, you are not.
And if you do, you're going to find a life of regret. And unfortunately, you're going to see that you have a lot of mistakes, a lot of things that you are not happy that you did. Following Jesus Christ is the purpose for which you were created. That's why you were put here on this church. On this church, on this earth.
And that's why you're here in this church. Why'd you laugh so hard when I mess up and not at any of the other stuff? Like, I'm saying things that I think are landing and are pretty good, but you're like, okay, right? Oh, he messed up. Perfect.
But again, none of those things are necessarily evil, but none of them are enough. They can motivate you towards success. They can motivate you towards doing good things. But when suffering happens, when difficulty in life happens, they all collapse. They're not enough.
They're not enough to sustain you. What can happen is you build your life around the wrong purpose. You will eventually grow tired of and resent the very thing that you were trying to accomplish, right? If you want success, if you want comfort, all of the things, and you finally get to it and that's all you have, and just have a steady diet of pursuing yourself and what you desire, you get sick of those things. It's like the last thing you want to do, right?
Listen, the Bible says that you were not only created on purpose. But you were created for a purpose. Yes, you were created on purpose. I know that the schools and the secular. Institutions today want to tell you that you were an accident, you were the result of some kind of cosmic algae and bacteria, and trillions of years of time and evolution, and here you are today, right?
That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that you are created by a God who loves you, and He made you in His image, and He made you for a purpose. If you look around this room today, You're going to see that there's all kinds of things that were made by people, humans. You're going to see chairs. You're going to see the stage, the microphone that I'm holding, the screens over there, the lights.
Everything in this room, everything in our world has a purpose. It was all created with the intention of filling some sort of need.
Well, listen, in the same way that there is a purpose for everything that has been created, we too have a purpose for which we were created. And again, it is to worship God, it is to know our Father in heaven. Recently, I was down at the beach and I took my camera down with me. I was going to take some photos down. There was some good-sized surf, and so that's my excuse to go to the beach but not actually get in the water when the waves are too big.
So I'll take my camera. And so I had my telephoto lens, but unfortunately, I had this attachment that goes from my tripod and connects my lens to my tripod, was on a different lens. And I was trying to get the attachment off, and you need a flathead screwdriver. I didn't have my screwdriver with me, I didn't have my pocket knife with me or anything like that that I could break it loose. And so I'm looking around, and all I see is like sand and sticks and shells, and I couldn't get it off.
And so I actually saw the guy next to me and I said, Hey, do you have a screwdriver? And believe it or not, this is actually a normal question for a guy to ask another guy, at least if you're worth your assault. Do you have something that I could use? And he's like, Oh, shoot, no, I don't have anything. And he was looking around, he's trying to help me out.
And he said, oh, I do have this, and he pulls out his car key. Perfect, that's all I need. Just something with a little edge where I can break that little screw loose from this attachment. And so he gives me his car key, and I'm putting it in there. And sure enough, I break it loose and I get it loose, but I also broke the tooth off of his car key along with it.
Oh, sorry, buddy. Here you go. Hey, thanks.
Okay, I'll see you later, right?
Well, that's not what it was designed for. That car key was not designed to be a flathead screwdriver. That car key was designed to turn the ignition on his car. Hopefully, he was able to get home that day. I didn't stick around to find out.
Sorry. I'm sure he was fine. Stop. But that car key was not designed to be a flathead screwdriver. And the reality is, a car key makes a terrible screwdriver.
And a human makes a terrible god. A human makes a terrible god. Together, yeah, amen. This new year. I don't think there's any better question that we can ask ourselves than: what is my purpose?
What am I living for? Why am I here?
Now, again, that answer: if you're like me and you've been raised in the church, you've got it kind of ingrained in your mind, which is, well, I exist for God. Great answer: does your life measure up to that answer? Does the way that you're making your decisions and the way that you treat your family and the way that you operate at work and the way that you drive on the freeway line up with what you're saying? You exist for God? I hope so.
I hope so. Because purpose ultimately It gives you direction, it gives you a destination, and it really comes down to a good strategy to achieve that purpose. It's been said, you know, a strategy is the way you get from point A to point B. It doesn't set the goal, but it just accomplishes the way that you get there. And we all have goals.
We all have things we want to accomplish. A lot of us this new year set out to lose weight, right? To start a diet, and you've already broken that diet, if you're honest. You want to make better financial decisions, right? Those are good goals.
Make sure you have a good strategy. It's been said that if you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail. You've heard that before, right? If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
So clearly, if purpose matters this much, If living for the wrong purpose eventually breaks you, then the most important question is not what do I want my purpose to be this year. The most important question we can ask ourselves is, what is God's purpose for my life? What is God's purpose for my life? And that is what Luke wants us to see as we look at Luke chapter 4, and he begins now his public ministry. Jesus is starting off his public ministry.
Now Jesus we see here so clearly. He was not introducing a pathway to self-discovery, right? A pathway to spiritual enlightenment. No, Jesus, if anything, was teaching us a pathway to self-denial. But Luke introduces Jesus as someone who knows exactly why he's here.
Jesus knew his purpose, and he states it emphatically and multiple times in our passage today. And he was completely committed to living out that purpose, no matter the cost. And so, again, our message title today is God's Purpose for You. And you could even subtitle this message, A Day in the Life of Jesus. A day in the life of Jesus.
Let's read together in Luke chapter 4. Starting in verse 14, and we're going to read a good little Section here, so if you want to follow along in your Bibles, I'm reading from the New King James Version. If you want to change your translation on your phone, you can do that. Yeah. But we're going to read Luke chapter 4 starting in verse 14.
It says this. And then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. and news of him went throughout all the surrounding region. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And so he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.
And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim the captives, excuse me, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
And then he closed the book. He gave it back to the attendant and he sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And so all bore witness to him and marveled at his gracious words, which proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, Wait, isn't this Joseph's son? Verse 23. And Jesus said to them, Honestly, sensing what they were thinking and saying, he said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your own country. And then Jesus said, Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you, truly, many widows were in Jerusalem in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent, except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. And they rose up and thrust Jesus out of the city, led him to the brow of a hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down over the cliff. and then passing through the midst of them, he went his way. Let's pause there.
Well, that's just a wild story right there, isn't it? There's a lot going on. And so let's take a closer look at what we can take away here. Our first point for those of you taking notes is: number one, purpose brings opposition. Purpose brings opposition.
These verses here, again, mark the very beginning of Jesus' ministry. He was getting his start. He was doing these things immediately coming out of the. Temptation in the wilderness, which we learned about last week, right? My dad talked about how Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights being tempted by the devil himself.
Well, it tells us in verse 14: Coming out of the wilderness now. Coming out of that time, he is returning in the power of the Spirit, verse 14. He's returning in the power of the Spirit. And this tells us, whatever we seek to accomplish for God, whatever we seek to go and do for Him, any good work, really anything we do, we should be doing in the power of the Holy Spirit. We should be doing it in the Spirit of God.
Before you accomplish the purpose of God, you need to have the Spirit of God. It's not enough to know what the Bible says, actually. It's not enough to have those scriptures memorized. You need to have the right motivation. You need to make sure you are accomplishing these things for God's glory and not your own.
People do all kinds of good things, but with the wrong motivation. God cares about the heart, doesn't he? He tells us throughout scripture, he cares about the heart. If you do it for any other reason, Than to glorify God, listen, you are building and standing on shaky ground.
Now Jesus, he was tempted. He was tested. Again, he was harassed by the devil, but he was obedient and he resisted it all. I've heard it said. that the most vulnerable time For us as humans to fall into sin and to give into temptation can be broken down into this acronym: HALT.
H-A-L-T. The most likely time that you were to fall into temptation is if you fit into one of these categories: HALT, H, hungry. If you were hungry, you were more likely to fall into temptation. Angry. Uh lonely and tired.
Hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. You're more likely to fall into temptation. You're more susceptible to those things.
Well, listen, Jesus, he certainly endured every single one of those, especially during those 40 days in the wilderness. He was hungry, he was angry, he was lonely, he was tired, but he resisted temptation, all of those things, he resisted them successfully. Hebrews 4:15 says, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points was tempted as we are, and yet he did not sin. That's amazing. Jesus was able to resist all the temptations that we experience on a daily and weekly and monthly and yearly basis, but he did not sin.
Now you're probably thinking, well, that's nice, Jonathan, but isn't Jesus God?
So, like, I don't know, he kind of was able to do that, not that big of a deal for God to do that?
Well, That's true, but ultimately that should give us further confidence. No, we can resist temptation because the scripture also tells us that the same power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us. That means that if we have the Spirit of God, we have the same power, the same authority, and the same strength to resist temptation. You can do it with the Spirit of God. You can resist temptation.
So. It's good for us to know. looking at Jesus' beginning of his ministry. His public ministry didn't begin with an advertising agency as he was getting a start, right? He didn't surround himself with a bunch of influencers and talk about how they could help him go viral and accomplish some things that would really get a buzz going on around him.
No, it began with being filled with the Spirit of God. It began with fasting, it began with denying temptation, obedience, and rebuking evil. And the same is true for us. Again, we should never seek to accomplish God's will on our own strength. We should always ask the Spirit of God to be with us and to lead us and guide us.
So that means before you start talking about branding for your new business, you consult the Lord. Before you start Instagram stalking that guy or that girl and sliding into their DMs for hopefully to get yourself on a date with them, that means before you even do that, you invite the Holy Spirit to be a part. Before he starts spending money that you haven't made because of that business deal. Ask the Lord to help you glorify Him through it. Ask the Lord to be a part of your plans.
Looking back at our text.
Next, we see Jesus reading the scroll of Isaiah in his boyhood synagogue in Nazareth there. And he's reading it, and he begins to read the prophetic words. And it is here that we see Jesus first declare his purpose for coming. This was Jesus' purpose. He says in verse 18, he quotes Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Because he has 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, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And then Jesus said, this prophecy is fulfilled in your midst today. Uh that is a powerful Powerful purpose for which Jesus came. I'm so thankful for each one of those items that Jesus listed.
Think about it. We should take comfort in those words. 2,000 years later, Jesus is still in the business of bringing hope to the brokenhearted. He's still in the business of liberating the spiritually oppressed and to those who are enslaved to sin. Jesus is still giving sight to the spiritual and the physically blind.
Jesus is a miracle worker. Amen? He is a miracle worker. In fact, If you're here today and you have been liberated from some sin, Some addiction, drugs, or alcohol or pornography or some type of lifestyle. If God has delivered you, if He has freed you, if He has made you into a new creation, listen, raise your hand up today.
Let me see you. Look around. This is evidence that Jesus is still working over 2,000 years later. He is still doing miracles. He's transformed my life, and he's continuing to as well.
But then we see things take A radical turn, a surprising turn. They go from hearing Jesus' words with gladness. Wow, he's so wise. This is amazing. He's speaking right to me where I'm at right now.
They hear his words with gladness and amazement. But then they begin to challenge his authority, and they form an angry mob, and they basically try to murder Jesus. They try and take him to a cliff and throw him off the edge. It's crazy. People go from, isn't this amazing, to who does he think he is, to, let's kill him, right?
Why? Because Jesus didn't just come to bring comfort. He claims authority. He says, I am the Messiah. I am here to accomplish this.
I am here for a purpose. And because of that, they sought to kill him for that claim by throwing him off the edge. of a cliff. The New King James Version tells us the way he was able to avoid this. In verse 30, he says: Then, passing through the midst of them, he went his way.
That leaves a lot to the imagination, doesn't it? Passing through the midst of them, he went his way. The message translation renders it this way, but he gave them the slip and he went on his way. I like that. I like that.
He just walks through their midst without issue.
Now People have speculated, maybe Jesus, like. Veiled himself and he like cloaked himself so he like became invisible and just passed right through the middle of him. It's possible. That's one of these things that I'm looking forward to, like hitting the rewind button in heaven and seeing exactly how it went down. I'm so curious.
Because if there's two things I know about Jesus, it's that number one, he was strong. Physically, he was strong spiritually too, but he was physically strong. He was a carpenter, he did real work, he was a man's man. And Jesus, he was not intimidated by anybody. That was the other thing.
He was not intimidated by anybody. He was strong, and he was not able to be intimidated because he knew his purpose, he knew what he was there to accomplish. And so we see there was no panic. There was no retreat. Jesus was not threatened by human outrage.
He was in the center of God's will, and he had confidence that he was in the right place. And for us today, same is true. There's no better place for us to be than in the center of God's will. But be ready. Because living for God's purpose brings opposition.
You know, I was reminded of How many of you have seen the movie Tombstone? Have you seen Tombstone? Excellent film, top 10 films for me for sure. You remember the scene when Wyatt Earp? And his brothers got in the shooting at the OK Corral.
And apparently, this didn't happen in the way that it happened in the movie Tombstone. If you watch the documentary, so it's kind of disheartening to know that it didn't go down this way. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
So in the movie, In the movie, Wyatt Earp and his brothers and Doc Holiday just got in a shootout with the Cowboys, the bad guys, right? And the Cowboys drew on them first, and so they defended themselves and shot them and took a number of them out. And the sheriff, who was a corrupt guy, Sheriff Behan, walks up and just at the right time, after the fight is over and there's peace because of Wyatt Earp and his brothers, he walks up and goes, I'm placing you all under arrest, right? I'm placing you all under arrest. And Wyatt Earp walks up to him and he looks at him and he says, I don't think I'll let you arrest us today, Behan.
I think that's what Jesus did when he was walking through the midst of everyone. Like, we're going to throw you off the edge of the cliff. And he's like, I'd like to see you try. That's not going to happen today. I think he just walked right through the midst.
I don't think he veiled himself. I don't think he cloaked himself. He was not intimidated and he was strong.
So I think that's probably what happened. But ultimately, Yeah. Yeah. Ultimately This just tells us that when you have purpose, when you're living for God's purposes, there will be opposition. There will be opposition.
To quote St. James, Hetfield. of Metallica. In his song Damage Incorporated. He said Living on your knees is conformity, or dying on your feet for honesty, bloody but never Christ submission, go against the grain until the end.
And I think that kind of gives us marching orders as Christians. We are to go against the grain. When you live for God's purpose, you are going against the grain. You are going against the tide of culture, and you are working against it. I would argue that the most countercultural thing you can do, the most against the grain thing you can do, is not to dye your hair blue and get a bunch of tattoos and face piercings and wear a leather jacket.
No, I think the most countercultural thing you can do today is to live for God's purposes rather than your own and obey what the Bible teaches rather than what the world tells you to do. That's the most countercultural thing you can do. And the most against the grain thing you can do. It's also one of the most challenging. But again, if you have the Spirit of God, you can accomplish amazing things.
The devil will oppose you, the world will oppose you, your friends and family may oppose you. Shoot, you will oppose you, right? when you pursue God's plan for your life. But I know that we have found this to be true, whatever stage of faith that you are in. There's no greater blessing than being in the center of God's will.
There's no greater blessing, no greater sense of joy than living out the purpose for which God created you. And that brings us to verse 31. Verse 31. And so Jesus, he Finishes up there at Nazareth. He passes through their midst.
And then he went on to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.
And then they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the report about Jesus went out in every place in the surrounding region. That brings us to point number two, purpose carries authority. Purpose carries authority.
It's interesting that in Nazareth, the same message that Jesus was sharing and teaching, surely. Caused them to reject him, right, because of their familiarity with him. In Nazareth, Jesus was rejected because of their familiarity with him. But in Capernaum, they receive him because of his authority. It's interesting, there's a dynamic there.
Just because Jesus was rejected didn't mean he needed to change his message. didn't mean he needed to change his approach. All he needed to do was change locations. He needed a different audience. He needed a different group of people.
The audience changed. That's the only thing that changes, and that tells us. Opposition and rejection didn't derail Jesus' mission, it redirected it. Just because they tried to kill him in Nazareth doesn't mean that he gave up. No, he kept on with his mission.
How often we think because we encounter opposition that it's some kind of dead end. Oh, well, this is God telling me that I need to stop on my tracks. You know, I had failure. That person didn't come to Christ when I invited him to church, right? They didn't get down on their knees and pray the sinner's prayer when I said, God bless you, man.
I guess I'm a failure. No, you need to keep going, keep trying. How often we think, because we encounter opposition, that it's some kind of dead end and we walk away defeated. If anything, opposition is confirmation that we are on the right track. Opposition is confirmation that we are on the right track.
It could be that maybe you started a small group. And you're so excited, and you really felt led by the Lord to go into it, and you sought the Lord to help you do this, and you got the strength to do it.
Okay, finally, Lord, I'm going to be obedient. I'm going to join a small group, I'm going to start this small group, and then nobody shows up. That can be discouraging. I've been there, it's happened to me. It could be that you tried to bring your family to church, right?
And as you're getting ready for church, everybody got in a big fight. And then nobody ended up coming to church with you. And you're just like, oh man, this is like the opposite of what I wanted to have happen. Or maybe you feel a heightened sense of temptation. Like suddenly, you're really drawn back to those old patterns.
Now that you're stepping out in obedience to your Father in heaven, you're experiencing real temptation and a real sense that you just want to go back to how you used to live. Listen, the opposition is confirmation that you are on the right track. That opposition is confirmation you are on the right track. You will experience difficulty. You will experience dead ends.
Now, maybe some of this is because of your own doing, right? Not all opposition is spiritual warfare.
Sometimes it's correction.
Sometimes it's immaturity.
Sometimes it's consequences. Like maybe, you know, you wanted to get your family to go to church for the first time, taking them to the 6 a.m. sunrise service on Easter Sunday, maybe that wasn't the best one to go to. And maybe nobody showed up to your small group because you got a bunch of new believers, and you're like, we're going to go verse by verse through the book of Leviticus. Like, maybe not the right approach, maybe not the right book to take everybody through.
But listen, believe this, every believer has gone through that. Every believer has gone through opposition, has hit dead ends, has experienced failure and rejection. But listen, you need to continue through it. The more obedient you remain, the more dedicated to God you become, the more you lean in. You will see for yourself there will be sensational blessing.
God will bless you. There will be victory. There will be new ground taken, and there will be that confirmation in your life. It may not be in the moment, but you will experience it. It may not even be that week or that month, but you will experience it.
And even the pattern here with Jesus speaks to that. He was tempted and he resisted. That's victory, right? He was filled with the Holy Spirit and moved to proclaim it. That's victory, right?
But then the first thing that happens when he goes and proclaims in the synagogue in Nazareth is what? They try to kill him for it. They try and murder him, but what does he do? He keeps going. And what do we see?
Authority, miracles, faith in God, repentance.
Now, this isn't to say that Jesus failed or he had the wrong approach. It's the exact opposite. Actually, the reality is that we can see if Jesus experienced. Pushback. If Jesus experienced opposition in spiritual tech, we should too.
Resistance is not a sign to quit, it's a sign to lean in. Because if you only obey God when it's easy, that's not obedience. That's convenience. If you only do it when it's easy, that's convenience. If you only step out when there's applause, that's not courage, that's comfort.
DL Moody said, The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him. And ultimately, that is exactly what Jesus demonstrates for us, isn't it? A man fully consecrated, fully devoted to God, yielded to the Spirit, unmoved by opposition, and speaking and working with authority. But Jesus, He's not just authoritative, He's compassionate. He's not just powerful, He's merciful also.
And we see that now in our next section of Scripture. Let's look at verse 38.
Now He arose from the synagogue and he entered Simon's house. This is Simon, who would become Peter. He entered Simon's house, but Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made requests of him concerning her.
So he stood over her and he rebuked the fever, and immediately she arose and served them. Verse 40. And when the sun was setting, All those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. And Jesus laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And the demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God.
And he rebuking them did not allow them to speak, for they knew that he was the Christ.
Now when it was day, he departed and went to a deserted place. And the crowd sought him, and came to him, and tried to keep him from leaving them. But Jesus said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. and he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. That brings us to our third and final point.
Purpose sends you forward. Purpose sends you forward. If you were living in God's purpose for your life, You will face opposition. You will. Walk in authority, and you will grow in compassion, and you will be moved outward toward people and toward God's purpose.
Luke shows us something very intentional here. He goes from the wide-angle lens, right, where he's in the synagogue and he's with the people. And now he goes to a tighter lens. He brings it in. He zooms in and he goes and talks about how he was now in Simon's house.
He was in Simon's house and he sees that Simon's mother, or rather his mother-in-law, was sick with a high fever. Jesus rebukes it and she is healed. He goes from public proclamation to individual compassion without skipping a beat. And I love verse 39. It says that she immediately arose and served them.
Mother-in-laws, you should take note. But I do love that. As soon as she was healed, she began to serve. She began to give back. She began to help and participate.
And I love seeing when new believers come out of that newborn baby, new believer room, and they immediately want to start serving. They immediately want to start giving back. They're on fire for the Lord. They share what God has done for them. And they want everybody to know it because they want others to experience the same deliverance and healing that they have.
I love that. Listen, sometimes God's purpose isn't to preach a theological sermon. We see this with Simon's mother-in-law. No, sometimes it's just an act of service.
Sometimes it's preparing a meal for your family.
Sometimes it's cleaning up after your siblings.
Sometimes it's going the extra mile at work and accomplishing something for your coworker that maybe they forgot about. Going the extra mile for them, taking your nephew and nieces to the park so their parents can have a break, right? It's less about performance and how grand of a spectacle we create in our obedience to God, and more about our heart behind it. What is your purpose behind it? Why are you accomplishing these things?
Your heart matters to God. Are you doing these things because you feel obligated to? Are you reading your Bible because you feel like you have to, and this is your debt you have to pay to God? Or because you love Him and you want to hear His Word and you want to spend time with Him? The contrary to that is, well, I just don't do anything for God because then I know for sure that I'm not in the way doing anything and my pride's not going to get in the way and I don't do anything.
Well, then I would argue you probably don't have much of a relationship with God because you're not wanting to do anything for Him. That's not good either. That's not good either. You need to make sure that you are doing his purposes with the right motivation. And so again, Luke now goes from Simon's house and he widens the lens again, and we see that now the sun has set.
The Sabbath weekend is coming to a close. People are now able to travel more freely. During the Sabbath time, I think people could only travel like one mile in radius to where they were at. They couldn't go any further than that.
So now that the sun was set, people were beginning to leave and move around again. And we see Jesus out on the street ministering to people once again. People began to bring Jesus their sick. And I love this point. It says that Jesus laid his hands on every single one of them.
every one of them he laid his hands on them. Could you imagine? If you had been sick with something, or your loved one was sick with something, and you're like 16th in line, right? And the first 15 people took forever, and Jesus, you know, it's your turn. They say, oh, sorry, Jesus is really tired right now.
Come back next year, and hopefully, we'll be able to schedule you, you know?
Sorry it didn't work out. No. Jesus, he touched every one of them. He laid his hands on every one of them. He healed every single one of them.
And that just reminds us: God has time for you. He cares about you. Your requests matter to God. And so we see. Jesus had authority in the synagogue, he had compassion in the home, and he had mercy in the streets.
And this is what it looks like when God's purpose is lived out. This is a day in the life of Jesus. But then the next morning, what does Jesus do? He withdraws to a deserted place because he needed a nap, no, because he wanted to spend time with his father. This is what Jesus would do.
After intense times of ministry, he would withdraw to a secluded place and he would go spend time in prayer intimately with his father in heaven, in solitude. But what does the crowd do? They find out where he is. They go and they track him down and they try and keep him from leaving. No, stay with us, Jesus.
This is great. You're like our personal genie in a bottle, like we bring the sick people to you. You know, hopefully, you'll be able to multiply food someday. You know, unlock that later. Can you imagine what he can do with the stock market, right?
No. Jesus said. I'm not staying here with you. You can't keep me in one place. And he tells us again his purpose in verse 43.
I will not stay. I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose. I have been sent. For what purpose? to preach the kingdom of God.
to preach the kingdom of heaven. Jesus knew his purpose. He knew what he was there to do, and it was to preach the kingdom of God, to live it out, its values, its language, its economy. It's really completely foreign to what the world teaches. And when you live for that purpose, your life finally makes sense.
You see, it's hard because we live in a very naturalistic society. We live in a world that's very tangible and it's very materialistic, especially here in Southern California on the island of Maui. We live in very beautiful places, surrounded really by affluence and nice things. And if we're not careful, we can live our lives for those possessions. And the dangerous thing is when those possessions possess you.
This is what your life becomes all about: is getting the next thing. Listen, you were not created for that. Yes, you can live in this world, but as the Bible says, be not of this world. We are citizens of heaven, and it's completely foreign to what this world teaches. Again, when you live for that purpose, your life makes sense.
It makes sense. And you ultimately realize this is the reason why you were created. This is your purpose, is to follow your Father in heaven. And so in closing, I want to ask you the question that I started off with. What is your purpose?
What is your purpose? Why are you here? Any answer except for, I live for God, is incorrect. Like that. Key trying to be used as a flathead screwdriver.
Yeah, just because you can do this doesn't mean that's what you were created for. You were created on purpose and you were created for a purpose. Just because you can take an iPhone and you can skip it across the lake doesn't mean that's what it was created for, though that may be a good idea. Just because You can take the engine of a car and turn it on real hot, and you can maybe put a piece of meat on there, and over the course of a few hours, like maybe it could cook it. It's not a barbecue, it's a car.
It was created for something completely different. Listen, you were created for a purpose. God has a plan for your life, He loves you. He sent His Son to die for you. And if you follow Him and you are obedient to His commands, You experience ultimately only what a relationship with God can provide, and that is peace with Him.
That is joy that is beyond understanding. This is only true for the believer. And so in closing, I want to extend to you an invitation. For those of you who might be here today who haven't put your faith in God, who haven't walked in God's purposes, and you're still trying to figure out what this world is all about, listen, have you realized yet that it's a big letdown? That really you just go from thing to thing to thing, and you're just left more empty than when you first started off.
I know that's my story. I know that's many of your stories here as well. And so, if you'd like to put your faith in God, If you'd like to know that when you die, you'll go to heaven. But more so, if you wanna know that in this life you can have life and life more abundantly, as Jesus said. Respond to this invitation.
Let's pray now. Father, we thank you. For your love for us. We thank you for your purpose for our life. Lord, help us to be obedient children.
Like a father, you tell us what we were created for, what we need to do to succeed in life. But we are like kids. We go astray, we mess up, we fall short, we're selfish, we think of ourselves only so often. Lord, help us to see that you have the best plan for our lives. No matter what our spiritual state, Lord, we know that you have a plan for us and that you love us.
And God, help us. To walk more in line with you, to be more like your Son Jesus. Thank you, Lord.
Well, our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying together. If you would like to put your faith in Jesus Christ today, If you would like to know that you're going to heaven when you die, If you would like to have that burden of guilt and shame removed today, listen, you can lay it down at the feet of Jesus. You've been carrying things around with you that you weren't designed to carry. Again, this is why Jesus came to deliver you from your sins and deliver you from really the world's expectation, which you were never made to carry.
So, if you want to put your faith in Christ today, if you want to have that hope, wherever you are, would you just raise your hand up right now? Raise your hand up, and I want to lead you in a prayer. You heard me right. Raise your hand up where I can see it, and I'll lead you in a prayer. God bless you.
God bless you in the back. Raise your hand up where I can see it. and we'll pray together. God bless you. God bless you.
You may be watching at one of our other campuses over on the island of Maui or Harvest Riverside or out in the amphitheater. You might be somewhere else. I don't know. You raise your hand up as well. I can't see you, but the Lord sees you.
Raise your hand. We'll pray together. God bless you. Awesome. For those of you that raised your hands, I'm just going to ask that you would stand up right where you are.
You heard me right? Stand up. Jesus said, If you acknowledge me before people, I'll acknowledge you before the Father and the angels in heaven. God bless you and you. Great.
See?
Okay, for those of you that are standing. I'm going to lead you in this prayer. Pray this out loud after me. Pray this. I know that I'm a sinner.
But I know that Jesus is the Savior. who died on the cross for my sin. And I turn from my sin now. And I turn to you. Help me to walk in your purpose for my life.
rather than my own. Thank you for loving me. and sending your son to die for me. And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. God bless you that prayed that just now. Congratulations. Many of you stood. God bless you.
Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.
Mm.
