Proclaim The Year Of The Lord's Favor

Pastor Eva L. Clarke - Sunday December 11, 2005

© 2005 Life Church Ministries, Inc.

V Key Scripture References
* Luke 4:18-21 (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2) The Spirt of the Lord is on me because he has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and the recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 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 and be began by saying to them. Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
* Proverbs 29:7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern
* Psalm 68:5 God is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows
* Psalm 65; Psalm 65:9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly
* Psalm 8:4 What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
* 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all you anxiety on him because he cares for you.
* Luke 10: 25 - 37 Parable of the good samaritan; Luke 10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
* John 21:6 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John do you truly love me?" He answered "Yes, Lord you know that I love you." Jesus said "Take care of my sheep."
V Message
V The Lord cares and He wants us to care
* about ourselves
* about our neighbors
* about our neighborhoods
* about our nation
* about the world
V Our neighborhoods are in trouble
* Our neighborhood are in trouble. It’s been reported that 85% of the city’s violent crime takes place in the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan where many of us here at Life Church live and work and all of us worship Boston has had 67 homicides so far this year, the most since the terrible days in the 1990s when annual homicides were nearing 100. Shootings in the city have topped 300, a 31% increase over last year. Our neighborhoods are in trouble.
* Personal Story of shootings I've witnessed. Kids shooting at house on School street; bullets through back door; Bullets through the van.
V Proclaim the year of the Lord's Favor
* Luke 4:18-19
* The year of the Lord's favor is not a calendar year but the ushering in of the Messianic age in which salvation would be proclaimed.
* We need to have the expectation that salvation in every sense of the word, restoration to God, healing, deliverance, provision, fruitfulness, prosperity, right relationships will occur for ourselves, our neighbors, our neighborhoods, our nation, our world as we the people of God are in our place doing what God has called us to do, intervening.
V Intervene personally - one on one
* Imitate the Lord as fathers
* Imitate the Lord as mothers
* We're about developing relationships
V We are created to be like God
* Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
* What is God like? He acts like a parent to us. A father and a mother. Good parents provide provide our first loving relationships Good parents provide instruction. Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Good parents are the original disciplers. Many of us find ourselves doing things and saying things our parents did and said without even realizing it. Sometimes you don't realize it until you hear your young children imitating you and saying the things your parents said. "Oh for heaven's sake" example. Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
V A father to the fatherless Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
* We can be a father to the fatherless children in our neighborhoods
* We can be strategic and target the children most at risk, those that attend the school where we meet, those in our neighborhood identified as court or gang involved. that parents and teachers and law enforcement officials are concerned about. BMA anti-violence initiative Operation Homefront
* We are not substituting for their parents if they are living. We're not replacing. We want to strengthen existing families. In some cases where their is no parent we may be the only father or mother the child has known but primarily. We act like the "second mom" or dad.
V A father brings discipline
* Hebrews 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating us as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father
* Hebrews 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live.
* A father shares his relationship with God. Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise Him; my father's God and I will exalt Him.
* A mother brings comfort Isaiah 66:12-14 As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem
* John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Mutual blessing to one another
* Personal story about children wanting approval from father; enjoying unconditional love from mother.
V We intervene by impacting people one on one and by impacting our society
* Policy makers. Impact laws and policies. Esther changed an edict that would have annihilated her people
* Educators
* Artists
* Business people impact the economy
V Educators Daniel 1:3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace.
* Personal story about guidance counselor not placing me in a math class that reflected my ability. I had to seek out and get myself placed in advanced math class
* Personal story about science class and the hair underneath the microscope
V Arts are a key indicator of where the society is. One example in the scriptures involving music.
* 1 Samuel 18: 6-8 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang:
       "Saul has slain his thousands,
       and David his tens of thousands."

 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?"
V Prayer is Key
* We have the hookup .Personal story of kids coming to me for something they want their father to do or agree to.
* 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
* This is the year of the Lord's favor. Rise up fathers, rise up mothers, rise up policy makers, rise up educators, rise up business people, rise up artists. Proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
V Discussion Questions
V Luke 4:18-21 (Jesus quoting Isaiah 61:1-2) The Spirt of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and the recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 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 and be began by saying to them. Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
*1 Have you struggled with being indifferent to the needs of your neighbors or community?
*2 Do you have a strategy or system for prayer that includes praying for people outside of your immediate family?
*3 Are you willing to provide instruction, discipline or comfort to someone as a "second mother" or "father to the fatherless"?
*4 What opportunities do you have to influence your broader community or world as a policy maker, artist, educator, entrepreneur or through some other means?
*5 What does proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor mean to you?