Preaching to Your Own Family

We are Not Going to Win Everyone

Luke 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

In the days of Elijah, only one widow was miraculously ministered to by the prophet. In the days of Elisha, only one leper was healed. In the days of Jesus, not many mighty miracles were accomplished in His hometown because of their lack of faith.

The thing is, Jesus' homeboys just couldn't buy it that He was the Messiah. Not because of anything wrongdoing on His part, for He was perfect, but because they were so conversant with His life and we know that familiarity breeds contempt.

He played games on the streets with the other kids. He sneezed when He got a cold. He put up with acne and stomach aches. He was the son of Joseph, trained in the craft of carpentry. He attended synagogue with them for 30 years. How could this kid be the Messiah? They just couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Perhaps you have experienced this very anomaly among your own kin. You find that your family is the hardest to witness to because they know you the best.

Silly, but the home folks won't forgive you for being you, for being their neighbor. They hold you responsible for being related to them. Preaching to them is mostly futile because the whole time they are remembering changing your diaper or encouraging you through puberty. They recall your voice cracking in the school play.

Oh well, it happened to Elijah, Elisha and Jesus, so you are in pretty good company.

The 6-Fold, Spirit-Anointed Ministry of Jesus

Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 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.

Imagine the silence, the quizzical looks, the wonder of the audience as Jesus closed up the scroll, handed it to the minister and took His seat after reading this Isaiah passage. Wouldn't you love to have been there?

Early in His ministry, for which He had been preparing for the past 30 years, He gives this poignant head's up. These 6 things will be His focus. Nothing has changed in the resultant 1980 years. Our thrust should be what His was. The same Holy Spirit is available for the anointing of His servants in these latter days.

We must be all about:

1) Preaching the Gospel to the poor

2) Healing the brokenhearted

3) Preaching deliverance to the captives

4) Recovering sight to the spiritually blind

5) Liberating those who have been bruised

6) Preaching that now is the acceptable time for salvation

Nothing is said about golf courses, spas, fishing poles or 401k's. Nothing is wrong with any of these, but we must not de-emphasize our main thrust!

My Daily Habit:

Every Christian needs a devotional life. Too much is at stake in our lives to not first spend time with our Lord in His Word and in prayer.

Imagine an airline pilot jumping out of bed, downing a cup of coffee on the way to his plane, firing up the jumbo jet and taking off without ever consulting with the control tower, without going through his start up checklist. That would be crazy! He would be headed for sure and certain calamity.

A child of God without a devotional life is a defeated and frustrated Christian operating in the power of the flesh. This is tantamount to swimming in peanut butter, extra crunchy!

I don’t set myself up as any kind of great example to other believers. However, I do thank the Lord for the opportunity to face each day with the confidence that there is no place I will go today that He has not already been.

Following is my daily regimen:

Get Filled with the Word (reading) This is my daily Provision

Get Filled with a Thought (meditation) This is my daily Pondering

Get Filled with the Spirit (power) This is my daily Power

Get Filled with a Need (ministry) This is my daily Portion

Get Filled with God’s Fellowship (prayer) This is my daily Passion

The Need to be Filled with the Spirit

Luke 4:1-19

In Luke 3:21, 22, the Holy Ghost came down upon Jesus from heaven in bodily shape as a dove. Subsequently, Jesus, being filled with the Spirit, was led of the Spirit, wielded the sword of the Spirit against the devil, returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee where He entered the synagogue and read the passage, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel...."

If the Spirit of God was so active and prevalent in the ministry of Christ, if He depended on the Spirit to this extent, how can we hope to minister any other way than under the anointing of the Spirit of the Lord?

The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own. In the flesh we accomplish nothing of eternal value. But the Spirit gives us power and produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Get filled with the Spirit and live a supernatural life today.

Making the Rough Ways Smooth

Luke 3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Life is hard. The Christian life can be brutal. Those who get saved enter in at the straight gate and tread a narrow rough, rocky and upward trail.

But getting saved, trusting Christ, entering into a personal relationship with Jesus, is as easy as looking to the Lamb of God in faith to receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Those who are without Christ and salvation are blinded by sin and the god of this world. They are little children set adrift on perilous seas without hope.

It is incumbent upon each of those who have entered into the straight gate to prepare the way of the Lord for the lost, to make the pathway to salvation straight, to fill the valleys, remove the mountains and make the rough ways smooth.

For blind people, the obstacles need to be removed so they can come to the light of the glorious gospel of Christ where the scales may fall from their eyes and they can see the salvation of God.

What are you going to do today to prepare the way of the Lord for somebody?

1) Get filled with the Spirit of God for powerful witnessing. Acts 1:8

2) Go outside of your comfort zone and engage people in conversation, leading up to the question: "If you were to die today, do you know where you would spend eternity?" Jesus went through Samaria and sat on the lip of a well to bring the Samaritan woman to salvation.

3) Draw the net. Once you have engaged someone in conversation that has turned to spiritual matters, as the Spirit is convicting them of their need for Christ, compel them to come to Christ. Today is the day of salvation!

Get out there and win somebody to Jesus today!!!