Everyday Hope Series - September 6, 2026 - Compassionate Ministry - John Aureli

Good morning.

>> Think about a time the last time you

felt like you were called to do

something. You ever felt called to do

something? You felt passionate. You saw

something on the news or you saw your

neighbor going through something or uh

God spoke to you. You said, "I must do

this." Uh there's a movie called Blues

Brothers and to be honest with you, I

haven't seen it fully. It's an old

movie. And if you've seen it, raise your

hand. And if you know if you know the

movie, you know the main tagline, which

is we're on a mission from God.

We're on a mission from God. And if you

can imagine these guys that are blues

players and they've got dark sunglasses

on. They're riding around in an old car.

We're on a mission from God. When was

the last time you felt called? Maybe as

strong as somebody saying, "Hey, do you

do you feel like you're on a mission

from God?

We're all on a mission. Welcome to

Mission Vineyard. Our mission is to

welcome Jesus into all of life. You're

on a mission to welcome Jesus into all

of life. By being here this morning,

you're part of that mission. But when

was the last time you felt called?

You felt called. That sense of calling

has the opportunity to help us break

through every place of insecurity that

we have. So I had uh an opportunity not

this past week, the week before to be

invited into a room where I was the only

pastor. Uh, but there was lots of people

from um there were CEOs of companies and

the leaders of nonprofits and the former

mayor and I felt weird. You know, you

have this mingle time beforehand.

There's wine and there's cheese and

you're supposed to, you know, exchange

cards and stuff and I feel weirded out.

That's just not my Have you been in

those rooms before, anybody? And you

just Yeah, you have to meet one another

and it's supposed to be fun, I guess.

But I'm just feeling intimidated and

introduce myself and they're like,

"Yeah, I lead this company or I lead

this organization." Oh, I'm a pastor of

a local church. And for some reason, I

shouldn't. You know, the church is the

most important organization in the

world. It the Rotary thinks it's the

largest volunteer organization in the

world, but actually it's the church. The

church is the largest uh volunteer

organization in the world. And so I'm

there and I should be able to say I'm a

pastor of a local church, the most

important and largest volunteer

organization in the world.

And I didn't I just kind of introduced

myself. Yeah, I'm a pastor of a local

church. And you know, had my cheese, had

my wine, and sat down and really didn't

know why I was there.

And afterwards, I I I noticed an older

man that was leaving and waiting for his

Uber. And I said, 'Hey, you know, I saw

you in there. I just want to introduce

myself. I'm John. He said, 'Oh, yeah,

the mayor and I want to talk with you.

Oh, cuz you've you've done this stuff in

the elementary school, right? Yeah.

Yeah, we need to sit down with you.

Oh, okay. And he got in his Uber and

left. And I don't know what'll come from

that, but I knew that my own insecurity

had nothing to do with what God was

doing that day.

My own sense of littleness had nothing

to do with God's desire to use me in his

kingdom. And that disconnect is what

we're going to be talking about today.

Before we get started, we've been

reading a scripture verse every week.

And I'd love for us to learn it by

standing up if you would. I'm doing I'm

asking you to do things that we would

ask of little children because that's

what our attention span is like these

days because of social media. So we

stand together and we can read the

scripture together. This is Lamentations

Lamentations 3:22

3 verses 22 and 23. Because of the

Lord's great love, we are not consumed

for his compassions never fail. They are

new every morning. Great is your

faithfulness. Let's read it one more

time. It's the last time we'll read it.

So, if you ever read it again, and

you're have going to have to be on your

own. So, use this time. Because of the

Lord's great love, we are not consumed.

For his compassions never fail. They are

new every morning. Great is your

faithfulness. Amen. You may be seated.

If you don't remember anything else from

today, I'd love for you to remember

this. Everyday hope. And that's what our

serious title is. Everyday hope is that

God uses unfinished people to change the

world.

God uses people that have not been

finished yet, that don't feel finished,

that don't feel complete, that don't

feel like they're enough. Everyday hope

is that God uses unfinished people to

change the world. We're going to be

digging into one of my favorite

scriptures of all time this morning out

of Luke chapter 4 where Jesus reads from

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Isaiah 61 and articulates that today

God's kingdom is being fulfilled.

And I've never read this scripture

before like I've read it this past week.

And so I hope you see what I have seen

this past week. I'll start at verse 14.

Jesus returns

in the power of the spirit to Galilee.

So Jesus returns. Returns from where?

Jesus has just been tempted into the

desert. Have you heard that before? That

Jesus was tempted. If you ever feel

tempted, don't worry. You're not alone.

Jesus was tempted as well. The

difference is Jesus didn't succumb to

the temptation. He fought the temptation

with scripture, but he fought. He

fasted. Angels helped him. And he came

out of that temptation

being pretty well known around. He's

known as a pretty famous,

popular guy. Everybody seems to love

him. He's healing people. People get to

know him. And yet he comes home.

He returned in the power of the Holy

Spirit to Galilee and a report about him

went out through all the surrounding

country and he taught in their

synagogues being glorified by all. So

Jesus is known. He's popular. He they're

using the word glorified here. They're

saying he's awesome. He's becoming

famous. He's like a rock star. And then

he came to Nazareth where he had been

brought up. Now,

uh I I'm from Boston. And so when I go

home to Boston, uh people see me

differently. I was on the phone with um

uh one of my best friends moms

yesterday.

And when I talked to one of my best

friends mom, she knows me when I was a

high school student, not breaking into

their home, but she finding me in their

basement playing their video game system

even when my best friend best friend

wasn't there. And so when I say, "Yeah,

I'm pastoring a church and we've done

some things." She's not picturing me

today. She's picturing the teenage kid

that needed a lot of help.

And so you can imagine Jesus has become

very famous. He's very well known. But

he comes home to Nazareth where he was

in the basement playing video games all

day

where he was brought up. And as was his

custom, he went to the synagogue on the

Sabbath day and he stood up to read. And

the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was

given to him. Now this is very common in

the synagogue. Everybody is invited. men

uh especially well-known men are invited

to read. And so he's given a scroll and

he's up and he's given this scroll that

happens to be a very powerful scroll

about what's going to happen when the

kingdom comes fully when God gets his

way. And so he comes home to to

Nazareth, gets handed the scroll. He's

an honored guest. He's definitely not a

stranger. People knew him when he had

pimples. you know this is this is a very

very intimate space.

They couldn't imagine

they couldn't imagine that anything

really great could happen from this guy

although he was famous from other

people. And so he unrolls the scroll.

This is as the verse continues in 17. He

unrolled the scroll and found a place

where it was written, "The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me because he has anointed

me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to

the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind, to

set at liberty those who are oppressed,

and to proclaim the year of the Lord's

favor." He's articulating

what the prophets are saying, what's

going to happen when God rules, when his

kingdom comes on earth as it is in

heaven.

And he reads it. And usually whoever's

reading it is to expound on it to be

really cool in the way they talk about

the scripture and and give them

something fresh and new. And since Jesus

was famous, they expected, "Oh, we're

going to get the good stuff just like

Jesus is giving out in the crowds, and

we're going to see what makes this guy

so popular."

But instead of expounding on it, he

rolled up the scroll, gave it back to

the attendant, and he sat down.

And all the eyes on the synagogue were

fixed on him, and he began to say to

them, if you can imagine Jesus just

sitting down. He's not trying to sound

good. He's not trying to make himself

look good at all. He sits down. And from

his seat, you can imagine me just

sitting down right here.

Jesus just sitting down.

All the eyes of the synagogue were fixed

on him. And he began to say to them,

"Today, this scripture has been

fulfilled in your hearing."

They know that this is the prophetic

literature about what happens when God's

kingdom comes on earth. That's when the

Messiah comes, the one that's supposed

to break the back of the Roman

oppression on them. when when all of the

the crying goes away and all the

suffering goes away and he says today

the scripture has been fulfilled

in your hearing

now because they knew him like they knew

a kid and they're hearing that God's

kingdom is finally coming all the

oppression that they've known for years

all the ways that they battled and

honestly as outsiders they never in

being from Nazareth You're not really

known like someone who's from Jerusalem.

It's like, you know, being someone from

San Antonio, which is awesome, right?

>> Spurs country. We're amazing.

Or I'm not going to pick a city to be

negative with. Just

take your imagination and just

a city, you know, that doesn't have the

Spurs.

They felt like that.

They're not from Jerusalem, they're from

Nazareth. They're not insiders, they're

outsiders. And so there's already in

this synagogue this sense of insecurity.

They're hoping that there would be

something that Jesus would be able to

say that would maybe include them. But

instead, he says something beyond their

expectations.

He says,

"The kingdom has come. The scripture

that I've read is fulfilled right now in

your hearing. There's nothing more

profound that Jesus could say except for

that.

In silence, he rolls up the scroll.

And he didn't say someday, he said

today.

So, there's a lot of assumptions that

could be made at this moment of Jesus.

Either that he's crazy,

that he's about to do a miracle or

something

that

I don't know there today in your hearing

Jesus, what what could you even mean?

And so

they marveled

at his words because they were powerful

words, but then they said, they caused

them to to stumble a little bit. Is this

not Joseph's son?

Is this not Joseph's son? And Joseph was

not a powerful man. He was not a rich

man. He was not known for his knowledge

or understanding.

And so what could they be saying if this

is saying, "Isn't this Joseph's son?

Don't we know this kid?

How could this be real? Isn't that This

kid isn't from a very significant

family. He's definitely not rich. How

could he be the Messiah that's supposed

to fulfill the coming of God's kingdom?

How is it How is it possible that this

Jesus could be a part of that? It's fine

that he gets famous on sounding good and

he didn't prove that today. But what

does it mean

that it could be fulfilled in hearing

today? Isn't this Joseph's son?

And Jesus knowing exactly what's going

on, he says, "Doubtless you'll quote

this proverb to me. Physician, heal

yourself.

What we have heard you did at Capernaum,

do here in your hometown as well." He

said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is

acceptable in his hometown. But in

truth, I tell you, there were many

widows in Israel the days of Elijah. And

when the heavens were shut three years

and six months, and a great famine came

all over the land, and Elijah was sent

to none of them except for Zar in the

land of Zidon to a woman who was a

widow. And there were many lepers in

Israel at the time of the prophet

Elijah. None of them was cleansed, only

non the Syrian.

What is Jesus saying here,

guys? I know you think that I'm just

Joseph's son. There's no way that I

could be the guy.

And certainly, I've not done any

healings in your midst or proven to you

in any very uh worldly ways that I'm a

very powerful or rich or popular man

that you could lean upon. I'm not the

kid that's going to make Nazareth

famous. I don't look good. I don't smell

good. Jesus didn't he didn't look

Instagram friendly to them. and they

were really hoping they'd have someone

finally that could put them on the map.

And so, doesn't this guy look like

Joseph? And Jesus said, "That's right.

Not only do I look like Joseph,

but I'm also not here to make you

popular.

I'm here to go save those who are lost,"

which has to be a little hard for them

to hear. For those of you who ever felt

like you were on the outs or didn't feel

very important, you were really hoping

that God was going to make you popular,

I'm so sorry. If you ever thought that

God was going to make you rich, I'm so

sorry. If you ever thought that God was

going to say, "You know what? Now that

you're following me, everybody's going

to like you and your Instagram feed is

going to be so popular, you're just

going to be winning all the time.

Jesus says, "I'm sorry,

the elders of my town.

I'm actually not here to do those things

for you. I'm actually called to those

who are on the outside that you've never

invited in."

There's something that's going on in the

synagogue that we don't know about for

sure.

But what I can imagine is the synagogue

in Nazareth was pretty afraid, pretty

unwelcoming,

was not looking for the Syrians

as Jesus mentioned, was not looking for

the lepers that Jesus mentioned,

was not looking for widows,

was not looking for those who were on

the outside of society,

but Jesus was.

And so instead of saying to the

synagogue, "Guess what guys,

you're going to be okay. I'm going to

make you look good and be popular

again." He says, "What you've actually

been made for is for those who are

outside of the synagogue. So get ready.

No matter how insignificant you feel,

get ready because the kingdom is coming,

but you're not going to see it first

unless you're with them where I'm coming

to deliver my kingdom to you.

If you want to experience my kingdom,

come and see my kingdom, but it's going

to be outside the synagogue.

And they didn't like hearing that very

much when they heard these things. And

all the synagogue were filled with

wrath.

And they rose up and drove him out of

town

like a a Spurs fan in Nick's country, I

imagine.

They drove him out of town, brought him

to the brow of a hill on which their

town was built so that they could throw

him off the cliff.

When Jesus says, "My kingdom is coming.

God's kingdom is coming through me and

it's coming today, but it's not coming

to you."

They go to throw him off of a cliff.

And just like that, I love Luke. He just

says in one sentence, "But passing

through their midst, he went away."

Like he turned invisible. Like what?

What is happening, Luke? No. Just

passing through their midst, he went

away.

Over and over again. One way that we

understand and we experience the grace

of God is when God skips his grace,

mercy, favor. He skips the ones we think

are due or are owed his favor. Grace is

defined when we see that the ones that

we think should be popular or rich or

whatever gets skipped and God's favor

lands on those that we don't think

deserve it.

They haven't worked as hard. They

haven't saved as much. Why is God

blessing them?

I'm so excited. A friend of mine is

started a disciplehip program this last

week. And if you know him, you wouldn't

think that he's he's he's gonna be a

pastor one day or something like that.

But I I just know he is. I just know he

is. A miracle brought him to this place.

And I just know that God's going to

shine in his life and he's going to lead

in the future. But there's no tangible

reason why you would think that in his

life.

That's how we know God's grace. And so

what would it look like? Because the

reason why Nazareth is not experiencing

God's kingdom is because they've already

thought of themselves as insignificant

really. And so they've projected that

insignificance on the rest of the world

as well. While we often think of

ourselves, we often begin to think of

other people. So what would it look like

this morning for us to wait one moment

and to think of all the things that

would keep us from being part of the

kingdom of God? And if you think about

being a part of the kingdom of God,

let's think.

Let's think for just a moment.

Good news to the poor. Think of like

some amazing things. Dream for just a

moment in your heart.

What would good news to the poor mean

through you

in your life? The impossible. Dream the

impossible.

Sight to the blind. Jesus reads,

"How would you love to make people who

are blind able to see?

Besides

the blind, freedom for captives. We've

got one of the biggest prison

populations in all the world in

perspective in percentage to our

country's population. What would it look

like for all of that to be reconciled

and everybody in prison completely

healed and free? Just dream. Freedom for

captives, those who are caught in uh all

kinds of oppression or addiction. Dream,

just dream with me. Good news to the

poor, sight to the blind, freedom for

captives, the last one that Jesus says

is a year of the Lord's favor, which if

you didn't know it, our country is in

the largest amount of debt it's ever

been in before. And the people in our

country are in the largest amount of

debt it's ever been in before.

the year of the Lord's favor. It's

actually quoting the year of Jubilee

where the Israelites used to forgive

debt every seven years.

This is actually in in the George Bush

administration. They began doing this in

African countries. They were carrying

debt loads from the United States. They

declared jubilee on all of them and

their debts were completely forgiven.

Dream with me for just a minute that the

kingdom of God could come through you.

Not through professional Christians, not

through the healthiest or the most

famous on Instagram. Not the richest.

You.

Good news to the poor. Dream with me.

Sight to the blind. Freedom for

captives. And the year of the Lord's

favor.

Dream with me those who are indebted

today. If you are in a ton of debt,

dream with me that even though you're in

a ton of debt, you could help somebody

else get out of debt.

Church, we have never been the

strongest, most popular, most rich

church in San Antonio. For 15 years, we

have been the little engine that could

of San Antonio,

feeding over a hundred children every

weekend.

paying off $1.5 million of medical debt

in Bayer County,

giving away thousands of manabs.

What would it look like?

What God is inviting us into is this

beautiful good news that we can be a

part of his compassionate ministry. No

matter how strong we feel, no matter how

good we look.

There's a beautiful quote by John

Whimber. John Wimber helped start the

vineyard churches long long ago and he

says, "Ministry is meeting the needs of

others with the resources of God."

Ministry is meeting the needs of others

with the resources of God. God has

prepared good works for all of us, not

just professional Christians.

And so if you can imagine the synagogue

in Nazareth relying on their own

resources and so closing the door to the

leper and the widow

to the Syrian.

Jesus is saying actually if you want it

I'll give you the resources of God and

you can open the door to everyone and my

power will serve them.

God's kingdom breaks in to the poor

through the poor

with God's resources. You hear me? God's

God's kingdom breaks into the poor

through the poor, but with God's

resources.

One of the the most intimidating ways I

think that we think of being a kingdom

resource is in evangelism. It's it's

sort of a a a stinky word, I think, in

this world. Evangelists

or evangelical. It just means good news.

It's all it means. And I showed you this

diagram last week. I want to show you

this diagram again

if you can put it up there, Jose.

You see, we were designed for good, but

we were damaged by evil. And most of us

think that that's our current condition.

No ha no matter how saved we are.

That when we show up in places in front

of people that the first thing that they

see about us is that we're damaged by

evil. And I want to shut that down today

in Jesus name. When did God give anybody

else the right to determine your impact

on the world?

What God says about you is the impact

that you get to have on the world.

because it's not about you and any

brokenness you have. It's about the

resources of God if you're willing to

have them for the world.

And so we're welcomed damaged by evil to

be restored for better, but it has to

mean that we believe that God has the

power to actually restore us.

Do you believe you can actually be

restored? Do you think that God is that

big? Do you think that God's grace could

be big enough for you? Because if you

do, then we can be sent together to

heal.

This is the good news.

And there's no greater news.

God has come to us in Jesus to die for

our sins so we could be healed and

restored and sent not just with the

limitations of our own resources but

sent with the very resources of God

through the power of the Holy Spirit

today. This scripture has been fulfilled

in your hearing.

So would you stand with me please?

on your sheets, there's an assignment

that I've given you for your own

disciplehip. And we're going to continue

what it means to be a disciple here

through these kinds of private and

public disciplehip

um engagements. But one that I'm giving

you today is to read Ephesians 1, but

everywhere it says you put your name in

it because God has called you. Ephesians

1 and two is all about calling. But God

has called you.

Chris, do you mind joining me?

Uh, I wanted Chris to talk about, and

because they're standing, you don't have

too much time.

But

>> limiting me, not good.

>> This week, we're starting the alpha

course. And the alpha course is that

place where we love to invite everyone

to who's questioning faith to be able to

ask questions about say something about

faith. So, Chris, actually, have a seat.

I don't want to limit Chris too much.

Chris, would you tell us about your

experience with Alpha? I I because

somebody invited you to Alpha and they

weren't the most awesome person in the

world. And neither were you.

>> He's one of them. He's pretty cool.

>> But today,

>> I know it's not you,

>> but today God is doing something amazing

in your life. So, so what happened? How

did you get to Alpha? And what happened

in Alpha? Uh so 26 years ago a friend of

mine went through alpha and um he called

me afterwards and he said hey man I just

went through this course and the last

thing they asked us to do is think about

somebody that you'd invite to the next

one. He said you're the only person that

came to mind. He said would you be

willing to go and he told me he

basically just said it's a practical

introduction to the Christian faith. And

I said absolutely I'd love to. And so I

went um he talked about evangelism and

it being scary word right? It couldn't

be any easier. Do y'all do dinner?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

>> And child care.

>> Wow. Nice. So, all you got to do is

invite somebody to dinner, right? And

let them know. It's just a practical

introduction to the Christian faith.

Come meet some cool people and have

dinner with us. And um it was pretty

interesting. I was raised Catholic. Um

and we didn't go every Sunday. Um a

little more we were a little more than

Christians. It wasn't just Christmas and

Easter, but we didn't go every week. Um

and so I had a basis on the Christian

faith. Um, I didn't I didn't doubt that

there was a God or that Jesus was real,

but Alpha made the connections for me. I

mean, it it all made sense through the

Alpha course. Um, and that first time

through the course, I I didn't get saved

during the course, but a couple months

later, I left a job. They threw me a

going away party, and I woke up the next

day, and I'm like, that is not life. And

I know where life is. And I gave myself

my life to Jesus in my one-bedroom

apartment by myself on August 1st of

2000.

>> Wow. And it was all because of the alpha

course. And then they they always invite

you back to help. And don't get scared

about this, but because they make they

prepare you for it, but they ask you to

help out on the next one. And it's so

simple. Um, you just basically go and

you assist a table leader the first time

and hopefully eventually become a table

leader. So, I went through alpha many,

many times. Uh, my first experience with

the Holy Spirit was at a a Holy Spirit

weekend. Uh, it's a long time ago, one

or two alphas later. Um, and it's just

an incredible and simple way to

evangelize. Um, to invite people to get

to know Jesus.

>> And now Chris, your life is completely

different.

>> Big time. Yeah. God is so good.

[clears throat]

>> From job to job, you continue to rely on

Jesus for his guidance for what's next

for you.

>> Oh, yeah. I mean, that's just one

example. I mean, my wife, I [snorts] was

actually I was in I was engaged to my

high school sweetheart. That didn't work

out. Thank God. Um, and then I found the

one that he made for me and he made her

six years after me, which is awesome.

Um, but to think about the fact that he

prepared this in advance and this is

what he wanted. Um, I mean, just so many

stories, it it just I mean, like I said,

I it's all him, it's not me.

>> So, God has something for all of us now.

The kingdom of God is upon us and he's

giving us the resources to do ministry

to share his kingdom with others. It's

available. It's here.

We could either be the church of

Nazareth that had the doors closed to

the Syrian, the widow, and the leper. Or

we could be the church that's willing to

go out with the resources of God and

invite people into the kingdom here. So

now, would you stand with me? Steve,

could you help? Let's leave. Let's go

into ministry time. I think that God

God's doing something and calling us to

something new.

And worship team, we thanks for coming

up and leading us in worship.

Yes, God is always calling us into

something new.

As we prayed this morning uh and

listened for what God had has today,

the first thing that came was healing

for the arch in the foot.

And the second thing was just an

encouragement to young people is that

the time for prayer is for you too.

Don't be afraid.

And the next one was um having concerns

for the grandchildren that uh you want

to pray for the grandchildren

and struggling to deal with temptation.

Um that that struggle is something

that's very real and it can happen with

young people as well.

And the last one was uh comfort for a

heavy or mourning heart.

If there's someone who has has a heavy

heart today, if one of these items uh

speaks to you, uh there's a group uh of

people gathering over here in the corner

who would love to pray with you about

those. Or if you have any other type of

a need for for healing, for finances,

for relationship issue, for uh for

whatever that you would like some prayer

for, they would love to join with you.

And uh also I'll throw this in is is if

uh uh is if God is stirring your heart

and it's time for you to welcome him

into your heart as Chris was talking

about earlier.

Uh

it's a great time. Today is the day

>> Yeah. of salvation and and uh our people

over in the corner, they would love to

pray with you about that and uh just

lead you through receiving him.

[clears throat]

So, thank you and join us.