Reset - Jubilee

Yep. All good. Thanks.

Alrighty. So today we start a series called Reset, Reset, Reset. And some of the scriptures

we read right off the bat. Levitegas 25, your favorite book in the Bible. 8 to 13. 20 to

22. And 23 to 28. So let's start with that, eh? So the new series we are doing is Reset.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I won't be here next week. My mom had another mini stroke,

so she, her left side is really weak now, so I'll be going on Tuesday to spend some time with her,

so I might not be here next Sunday. She was doing well and then suddenly had a mini stroke,

so just pray that she has the will to move forward. That's what she needs most so that

she doesn't regress and decide, eh, it's not worth it. So just pray for that.

Alrighty. Let's read Levitegas 25 verse 8 to 13 and 20 to 22. Here goes. Count of seven sabbaths

of years, seven times seven years, so that the seventh sabbath of years amounts to a period of

49 years. Then have the trumpets sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month,

on the day of atonement. Sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth

year and proclaim liberty through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.

Each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth

year shall also be a, the fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you. Do not sow and do not reap

what grows of itself or harvest the untended vine, for it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you.

Eat only what is directly taken from the fields. In this year of jubilee, everyone is to return to

his own property. Now go to verse 20. You may ask, what will we eat in the seventh year if we do not

plant or harvest our crops? I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will

yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop

and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. Go to 23, verse 23.

It says there,

the land must not be sold permanently because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.

Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for redemption

of the land. If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property to his nearest

relative and his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold, if however

a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means

to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to

the man whom he sold it to. He can then go back to his own property but if he does not acquire the

means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the year of jubilee.

It will be returned in the jubilee and then he can go back to his own property. As we talk about

this, you'll see why we read it. Guys, this idea of jubilee was critical for Jesus. One of the first

things he does is in Luke chapter 4, just before he begins his ministry, he reads out his mission

Luke 4 · chapter mention

statement and his mission statement is from Isaiah 61, verse 1 to 3. And in the mission statement,

Isaiah 61:1–3

he makes this proclamation. He says, I have come to bring you into the year of favor or into the

year of release or into the year of jubilee. He actually makes that statement. But before we go

into the mission statement that Jesus had before he started his ministry, let's look at why it was

such a big deal for the Israelites to have land back because without understanding the concept of

land in the Old Testament, it's impossible to understand jubilee. So let's just look at that.

So guys, the thing is in the Old Testament, land was a measure of God's relationship

with his people. In the Old Testament, land was a measure of God's relationship with his people.

So what does he say to Israel before Israel was even a nation? I will bring you to the

promised land. What kind of land was it? It was the land of milk and honey or in other words,

abundance. What would happen if they disobeyed God? They would say, I will bring you to the

abundance. What would happen if they disobeyed God? They would be exiled from the land.

What would happen when they would obey God? They would be blessed in the land.

When you read the book of Deuteronomy and go to Deuteronomy 29, where it talks about blessings

and curses, what were the blessings? Most of them had to do with land and produce,

land and produce. And the curses had to do with being expelled from the land.

So land was often a measure in the Old Testament of how God's relationship was with his people.

In fact, as soon as they entered the promised land, what was one of the first things God does?

Through Joshua, he begins to allocate land to every tribe, to every clan, to every family.

That is the first thing he does, because these were a landless people who were slaves in Egypt,

killing the fields of others. And then along comes God, who brings them into a new place.

And the first thing he does is, hey, can I give everybody here land? That's the first thing he

does. So land was a measure of God's relationship with his people. And so without understanding

that, we can't really grasp the idea of Jubilee. Each family was assigned land, and it was supposed

to be a perpetual inheritance. It wasn't land that could be bought and sold. It would always return

to the family that it belonged to, because it was ancestral and it was a gift from God.

For them, it was precious. This is why Naboth in First Kings,

21, Naboth is a regular guy who owns land and a vineyard. And along comes Ahab, King Ahab,

the king of Israel, and he comes to Naboth and says, hey, can I have your land? Can I have your

vineyard? I'll pay you top dollar. I'll give you top dollar. And what does Naboth say? No, this is

ancestral property. I will not give it to you. Why? Because for an Israelite, the name was as

important as the land. To mess with ancestral land was like losing the name of your family.

That's how important it was. Because to give it away, and that's why God would make these

strong statements in Numbers and Deuteronomy, do not remove the landmarks. When I have divided

and given people land, don't shift it. Don't take someone else's, because it's a perpetual inheritance.

Don't mess with that. And so Naboth says no, and Ahab gets really upset, and Ahab goes and steals

that land with the help of Jezebel, who tricks people into stoning Naboth so that the land can

be taken away from his family. What Ahab was doing is taking away someone's ancestral property,

and with it, the very dignity that they had with regard to what was given to them by God.

Dignity that they had with regard to what was given to them by God.

And so given that it was ancestral, and given that it was assigned by God,

land was treasured almost as one's own name. But every so often, like in every part of the world,

hard times would force people to sell land. Hard times would force people to sell land.

And this would happen so often in Israel, and once they sold land, they had nothing,

because remember, they are an agrarian society that survives using just two methods, either

agriculture or shepherding. That's all they had. And so once you sold your land, you immediately

went into bond labor in someone else's fields. That was the only option, if you sold your land.

If you sold your land. Now you see why God comes up with this brilliant plan,

where he resets things. This is his nature. It's his nature to reset things. Embedded into every

life here, embedded into kingdom life for all of us, is God's ability to reset. To reset things.

And once he resets it, you come as close as possible to mint condition as it was originally

supposed to be. One has to begin to desire it, trust that this God can do it, even when you

don't see him working, even when you don't feel him working. Never. He never stops.

Reset is such a part of God. It's not a new concept. But when Jesus comes, he's saying,

listen, I'm not going to bring this reset once every 50 years. I am the reset and I'm here

every day. That's his intent. And so how does that then apply to us? That's what we're trying to

figure out. But for the Israelites, once every 50 years, meaning once every generation, he would

press the reset button. And as soon as he presses the reset button, everything goes back to original

owners. Any questions? It's important to grasp this fact that God loves resetting. And usually

the reset is sometimes better than the original. In Jeremiah 17 or Jeremiah 15, I'm not too sure,

there's a passage where it says the potter was making a pot, was making a beautiful vase

or vase. And so he takes his beautiful vase and he realizes that it's misshapen.

And what does he do? He doesn't throw it away. He takes it, kneads the clay again, puts it back on

the potter's wheel and reshapes it into a new vessel. Reset. He takes out the little stones

that perhaps misshaped the first vase. There's always reset. It is us who think that reset is

not a good deal for that person, that person, that person. But for me, I'm always open to reset. But

my God, not Derek, he's done this, this and this. He doesn't deserve a reset. I do. God thinks

everyone deserves a reset, which is why the words he uses from Luke chapter 4 is, I have come to

Luke 4 · chapter mention

announce to you the year of favor, the year of release, the year of jubilee, the year of reset.

It's like that staples button. What does that button do? Easy. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's not like

the staples button. Any questions before we? Yeah, so the seventh year, the land would lie

fallow. It would not be cultivated. But on the 50th year, land was returned to original owners.

So every seventh year, and that was called the Shemitah, land would be left. The odd thing is,

in the Old Testament, land is almost personified. God will speak of land as the land is tired.

We say that about people. The land is tired and needs a break. And so let's give it a year's break.

But in the 50th year, it would lie fallow, but it would also be returned to original owners.

I love what he says. If you heard the reading, it says, all the land is mine. You are the tenants.

I wish that was true for property in Vancouver. That would be nice.

Any questions?

Nope? Okay. So Jubilee was, here are a few things Jubilee was. If you can get, if you can somehow

let it settle deep in, it'll really help. I'm hoping it'll settle deep in my heart. Jubilee,

some of the things Jubilee was. Jubilee was reset. Jubilee was reset. Jubilee was reset. What kind of

reset? Spiritual reset. Because it would start on which day? Crazy. It would start on the day of

atonement. And we are very close to when it actually happened this year. This year, Israel doesn't

hold Jubilees anymore, but Israel does have the seventh Sabbath year and all this stuff. So the

tenth day of the seventh month was October 11th and 12th. So let's imagine we were in the Old

Testament times. It would be around this time. And it was a spiritual reset too, because you would

start with having your sins and debts wiped out. The day of atonement. Mike would come play the

sax because he doesn't have a trumpet. And as soon as he finishes playing the trumpet, the day of

atonement would begin. The people would begin to realize that their sins are paid for, the debts

are paid for. So it was spiritual reset. It was

economic reset. Economic reset. It was cultural reset.

It was environmental reset, where the land would be given a break.

And it was communal or community reset.

And what was God doing? The damage that sin had caused,

the damage that sin and hard-heartedness had caused was now being

systematically reworked.

So that was one of the things that Jubilee would do. What do we need to keep repeating to ourselves as we

hear this? That God is into resets. God is into resets not once in seven years. God is not into

resets once every 50 years. God is into resets today. And then next thing you have to shift to is God

is into resets for the next five years. So that's what we need to keep repeating to ourselves.

God is into resets for others through me. God is into resets for others through me.

We can't take everything that we learn for ourselves because then all we'll focus on is

ourselves. Because there'll always be need for reset. There'll always be need for help. There'll

always be need for healing. There'll always be need for some kind of assistance in our lives.

But if that is my only focus, what about the rest? You are here as a result of someone not

focusing on themselves. That's how you got saved. Someone had the guts to face your obnoxious past

self and come and tell you about Christ and took the risk of doing that. They didn't think about

themselves. And so when we talk about reset, we got to remember that God is really into this

and that he's still into this more so now than before. There he was dealing with one nation.

Now he has to deal with a whole lot of people that he paid his life for. And so this is real.

And it's not instant. This is not winning the lottery tomorrow where economic reset happens.

Not the way it works. It is systematic and he loves doing it as any parent would, as any good

accountant would, as any counselor would with someone who comes to them. Over a period of time,

it is reworked. He is into this and he's into this for others through me, through you.

What else does he reset? So one of the things Jubilee is reset. It's also released. Jubilee was

release. Jubilee was release. What do you mean? Those in slavery,

those in slavery were set free to return to their communities or homes. Crazy, eh? People would be

in slavery for 30 years, 40 years. Remember when this woman who comes to Elisha and says,

alas, alas, my master, my husband died and he left a huge debt. The guys are coming to take away my

sons and take them into bondage. It was slavery. The sons would be in slavery for the next 50 years.

And along comes this amazing window through which people could be set free. You could not keep a

slave after that. On the 50th year, during the 50th year, there was not a single slave in Israel.

There were only free men in Israel. It didn't matter what you had done.

There were no slaves in Israel. Come on, man. That was in the Old Testament. What about now?

And it is every day for you, yes, but through you, absolutely.

This is God. He is no man that he should lie. Start there.

The third thing that Jubilee is,

Jubilee was rest. Jubilee was rest. Jubilee was rest. The land would rest.

People would rest. And we'll talk about this separately, what rest looks like and rest does

not look like Sundays. Sunday is perhaps the busiest day in your life. So rest it isn't.

So we're not talking about rest as in taking a day off. And no, rest is completely different.

Just to give you a taste, if you haven't heard this before, rest is when someone is taking a day off.

It's when someone decides that I will no longer or I will desist from self-effort, striving,

sweat, machinations, control. I will desist from it. Sabbath means to desist or seize from,

to seize from exertion or to desist from self-effort. That's the meaning of Sabbath.

And so what does that look like when a people decide that just like the land would be

given rest, what when we enter into rest? Hebrews chapter 4, labor to enter into rest.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

What does that look like? And we'll talk about that. It's a marvelous place to live, eh?

Where God does all the work and you go into rest and you only do what he tells you to do.

Do you, I always ask this question when I'm talking about this. Do you, do you, when you jump up,

are you working hard to jump down back? No. Why? Because there's a principle called gravity.

What goes up must come down. You're not praying, you're not claiming promises from God.

You just know that if you jump up, you will come down. That's how rest works. Principles of God,

it works so that you can go into rest. Where does rest create a whole lot of havoc?

In here. This is where rest is destroyed. Thinking, thinking, thinking, can't go to sleep.

Paranoia about what if this happens, what if that happens, I better protect this. That's a loophole.

God may not be able to do it. What if he's late? He's a lawyer. He might have a reason not to do

this. He may be good yesterday, but he might not be good today.

What else was Jubilee? Jubilee was recovery. This is so beautiful. I hope some of you will take this

up for the sake of others. Jubilee was recovery. What was being recovered? People's identity

and people's history was being recovered. It is one of the greatest gifts that we have ever

received. It is the greatest gift that we have ever received. It is the 몸, the body, the spirit.

People's identity and people's history was being recovered. It is one of the greatest gifts you can

give somebody. Greatest gifts. A person who's broken, who's wasted their life, who's squandered

everything. A prodigal. And then you have the amazing opportunity now to give them back their

history, to give them back their identity. Isn't that what Jesus did? He gave me back my history.

Who am I? I'm a child of God. He gave me back an identity. Who am I? I'm the Father's much-loved son.

It is the greatest gift you can give someone. When Isaiah 49, 8 says that I will send you

as a person that can restore desolate heritages, what it really means is yes, I'll help you give

back people the land they live in. But more than that it is I'll give people back their history

and I'll give people back their identity.

I'm not getting political at all for even a second right now so don't mistake what I'm saying. The

reason Israel fights hard for its land, present-day Israel fights hard for its land, is because this

is ingrained in their psyche. I'm not here to qualify what they're doing right and what they're

doing wrong. You can talk to me separately about that. But the reason they fight the way they fight

is because land has been important to them since the beginning of time.

Unfortunately the flip side of it is Christian television stations will still ask for your

donations for a one square foot of land on Mount Olive because Jesus is going to come back for land.

Jesus ain't coming back for land, he's coming back for people.

He's not into real estate, he's into real people. In fact he abandoned the temple when the curtain

tore, what did he do? He moved out of the temple and moved into a people.

This is a beautiful thing, eh? I pray God that as we go through these series some of you will be

grabbed in your heart that, oh God could you make me not a history maker but a history restorer.

It's one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen.

I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen anything like it.

Not a history maker but a history restorer.

It's one of the most beautiful gifts you can give people.

Remove the stain.

Jubilee was restoration, Jubilee was restoration.

Jubilee was restoration.

Restoration of what? Restoration of wasted, squandered, broken, ruined inheritances.

Today how do we look at inheritances? We look at it as a destiny that is appointed to people,

the destiny that is appointed to people. So what is Joe about? What is his inheritance?

Is it to come and study at Trinity Western and get a degree and put on a cap and those funny black

gowns and walk? That's not an inheritance, that's a funny black gown. What is his inheritance? What

if he squandered it? What if he broke it? What if it's ruined? What if it's wasted?

Restoration is when God says, but this is what I called you for even before time began. This is

what he does with Isaiah. Even before you were born, while you were still being formed in your

womb, I set you apart as a prophet to the nations. The prophetic is basically the restoration of

inheritances given before the earth existed to people undiscovered, wasted, squandered, broken, restored.

Man, we've got such a privileged responsibility. Everyone can do this. Jubilee is ours to give away.

We shouldn't think of Jubilee as our birthright. We should think of it as something that can be

given away.

What else was Jubilee? I love this one. Jubilee was radical. Jubilee was radical. How was it radical?

It was disruptive, man. It was God's way of interrupting status quo. It was God's way of

It was God's way of interrupting status quo. It was countercultural. It was challenging.

It was disruptive. Also, imagine this. You're running a great business and now for one year

you've got to shut down. Is that disruptive or what? You've been employed for the last 20 years.

It is an amazing company. For one year, you don't work. You have employees that you have gotten

benefits for. You've given them bonuses. It's the 50th year and they walk away.

You have land that you sowed, you irrigated, you've had harvested. You're giving everything back and

you're getting nothing for it. You get your harvest but you give the land back because it belongs

to someone's inheritance. This was disruptive. It was challenging. We'll talk about that in the

future. Do you know something that when you read Jeremiah 25, verse 11 and 12, Israel was exiled

Jeremiah 25:11

from their land for 70 years. People ask the question, why 70 years? Why was Israel exiled

from their land for 70 years? The conclusion is that for 490 years from when they came out of

Egypt to when they returned to Israel, for 490 years Israel refused to live by the Jubilee.

70 years was God saying the land should have had freedom to lie fallow once every 49 years

and therefore since you have not done it, 70 years you'll be exiled and the words used in

Jeremiah 25, verse 11 and 12 is the land will then lie fallow. That's how serious this was to God in

Jeremiah 25:11

the Old Testament. That I want to announce favor, please don't hold back from receiving it and then

distributing it. What are you distributing? You're distributing restoration. What else are we meant for?

All of us can do this in small little ways because the one person that needs restoration is the one

person that God will send you away if you get this and you can take any of these things I've mentioned.

Is it recovery? Is it restoration? Is it radical? Is it release? Is it rest? Take reset. Take any of

these. That one person who's being sent you away has nowhere else to go to for Jubilee except you.

And when 50 people or 100 people, that is 100 people more that get free.

God has embedded reset into our lives for our own sakes and he's embedded reset into our lives for

others. God has sent you away. He has sent you away. He has sent you away. He has sent you away.

For our own sakes and he's embedded reset into our lives for others. Come on man, we can do this.

When we were doing the last worship night here on September 30th,

I was standing there and Zia was next to me and two or three times I clearly hear God saying,

because my question to God was, Father, this is amazing. I'm really enjoying it.

Where do you want to go with this? And he kept, I kept hearing the word Jubilee, Jubilee, Jubilee,

and I left it. It was much later, a week later that God said, why don't you begin to explore this

with the church? You know, what's her name sent me a word today from 2 Corinthians 6, 2. 2 Corinthians

6, 2. And in 2 Corinthians, not what's her name, may send a word today.

2 Corinthians 6, 2. 2 Corinthians 6, 2 talks about it and I want to read it out almost like a,

like a statement to the church of God's intent. 2 Corinthians 6, 2.

2. In the time of favor, I heard you. And in the day of salvation, I helped you. And this is the

part I want us to just receive with our ears, our hearts, our spirits and our minds. I tell you,

now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. Let him who has ears,

hear what the spirit is saying.

Any questions before we go on?

Yeah, we will be. Today is just what is it? And then we'll have to flesh out. So what does

this look like when an entire group of people believe this in practical today's world? Yeah,

besides you giving us your house and land, what else does it look like? Yeah.

You can give your dog to Derek again.

Any other questions? No, we must, we must work this out practically. It can't be

just a theory. It's very nice theory, but it's useless.

But today we are talking about what is it? What lies at the heart of it? Any other questions?

Okay, guys, Jubilee required, Jubilee required the relinquishing of control.

Jubilee required the relinquishing of control. You couldn't control and be part of the Jubilee. I

mean, think of this, eh? So imagine a family, imagine a family that lost their land 12 years

ago. Imagine a family that lost their land 12 years ago. And then on the 10th day of the 7th month,

they hear this trumpet being blown and the Jubilee year is announced. And as soon as it's announced,

the family that for 12 years was forced to work in someone else's field, the family that was

working in someone else's household suddenly knows that they are going to regain the possession of

their land and they are going to be restored to a position of social and economic strength.

Let me repeat that again. So let's take a family. Let's take Sheldon and Jane.

So Sheldon and Jane, 12 years ago, had to sell their land and they've been working for Derek

and Iris for the last 12 years. And they know that the day is coming. It's just two days away.

They're waiting. They get up early enough because they can hear the priest blowing the trumpet. And

to blow the trumpet, and Sheldon and Jane are ecstatic. They know that Phoebe, Sheldon and Jane

no longer have to work in Derek and Iris' fields. And as soon as the trumpet is blown,

they get back their fields that have been owned by Derek and Iris. And they're ecstatic. Their social

dignity, their economic strength has been restored. They have their family land back.

And finally, they are in control of their own destiny. And while they are thinking of this,

they suddenly realize that the 50th year, you cannot cultivate anything in your land.

And they're scratching their head now. They just got back their land, but they cannot do anything

with their land. They cannot sell it. They cannot sow. They cannot reap. They cannot harvest. For

one year now, these slaves that have been set free have gotten back their land, but they are

completely dependent on God for sustenance because they cannot do anything with their land.

Five days later, when they are thinking, ah shucks, how do we eat? How do we survive?

They sometimes forget the promise that God will supply. Five days later, it's time for the biggest

feast in the Israeli calendar, which is the Feast of Tabernacles. And what do they have to do in the

Feast of Tabernacles? They have to reenact what it is to be a landless people living in the wilderness,

depending on God. It's ironic what God is doing here. On the 50th year, He's releasing to them

their inheritance. And after releasing them their inheritance, He's saying, do not cultivate it.

You'll have to live off me. And then five days later, He's saying to them, now come out, build

booths made of leaves and live in them for the next 14 days or 10 days. What are you trying to

reenact? That even though you have your inheritance, you will be landless and will depend on me for

everything from water to birds to meat to cold to sun, everything you will depend on me. What Jubilee

does is it gives you freedom and then asks you to take your ear and nail it to the doorpost saying,

oh God, you can give me my freedom, but I will still serve you. I will be dependent on you.

That is how you enter into Jubilee.

It's ironic how this works. In the Old Testament, there would be slaves that would be freed on

Jubilee. And when they were freed, they would go to their masters because their master was benevolent,

was benign, and they would say, you have freed us and we can walk away. But guess what? We want to

serve you for the rest of our lives. And when they say that, they're saying our wives will be

But guess what? We want to serve you for the rest of our lives. And when they say that, they're

saying our wives will serve you, our children will serve you, we will serve you. And the master would

take them to the door and he would take the earlobe and they would put a nail and pierce it

at the door. And that piercing would then mean that for the rest of their lives,

they had chosen to serve over freedom.

So even though, and this is why I keep saying, the Jubilee is meant for our freedom, but it is meant

more for us now, resetting the lives of others, saying, yes, I've gotten what I want. I just don't

want this for myself. I am so not into being free, into being healed, into being this and into being

that for the rest of my life. Thank you. You'll take care of that. Now that I know you're going

to take care of that, can we please go like you did and deal with the rest of the world?

And even though it promises that in the sixth year, I'll have enough for the seventh, eighth and ninth

year, oh God, I will still live like I am dependent on you for everything. That's the meaning of rest

day. Why did they celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles? The Feast of Tabernacles was a very simple

feast. They would go set up tents in the open, in the wilderness, and they would dwell under that

to remind themselves that when they went through the wilderness, did they need shoes?

For 40 years, their shoes did not wear. Did they need food? For 40 years, they did not bake bread.

Did they need hot, warm clothes? For 40 years, in the dead of winter, they would not need warm

clothes. Did they need fans? For 40 years, there was a cloud. Did they have to be afraid of scorpions,

snakes, creepy crawlies in the desert? For 40 years, none of them had to worry about that.

Was there anybody who was sick? For 40 years, it says in Exodus that none of them were feeble.

Did they run out of water? For 40 years, rocks gave them water. Did their clothes wear out? For 40

years, their clothes did not wear out. How? Because the God of Israel, the God of Israel,

how? Because the God of Israel camped in the middle of their encampment and his presence sustained them.

And so this process of Jubilee is to say to Chava, Chava, now that you have gotten all that you've

gotten, you're a Sada graduate, you are amazingly brilliant, you've got an amazing job, and you've

got everything you need, now that you have, will you still walk like you're helplessly dependent

on me like a child does? Because I will sustain you. Any questions?

Jesus lived like this, eh? And if he lived like this, then it's our reality. But that was Jesus,

yep, and he's in you. Okay, now let's go to Jesus and we'll end with that.

Jesus started his mission or his ministry with a mission statement,

and his mission statement was from Isaiah 60

1, 2, 3, and you read it in Luke chapter 4, verse 17 to 21. Let's have a look at it.

Luke 4:17–21

Luke chapter 4, this is when he goes into the synagogue, he takes a scroll and he begins to

Luke 4 · chapter mention

read from it. This is his mission statement.

Verse 16, he went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into

the synagogue as was his custom, and he stood up to read. It's nice there, eh, that I think they

either liked the way he read or they always thought that he was the best one to read,

because it says as was his custom. So it looks like this Jesus of Nazareth who they knew well

would go into the synagogue often, and that every time he went, the rabbis there or the leaders

there would hand him the scroll because he seemed to be, he seemed to love reading, or maybe the way

he read it was amazing, but they would always give it to him. It was customary for Jesus to read,

and so as was his custom, he stood up to read. 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 preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to

the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and then to proclaim

the year of release, or proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, or proclaim jubilee. This becomes

Jesus Christ's mission statement for ministry, and I would suggest that that's a good mission

statement to copy and paste. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat

down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue was fastened on him, and then he makes this ridiculous

statement, and he began by saying to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. What

is he saying? He's saying, today jubilee is fulfilled in your midst. The one who was slain

and will rise again was their present alive. I would die, but he would rise again, and he would

fill thousands upon thousands of people as the jubilee. Christ is the jubilee.

Christ is the reset, the release, the recovery.

He is, and he's saying, today this scripture is fulfilled, and people got pretty upset, eh?

That's what's happening there.

Not every 50 years, not every 70 years, but every today, every today, every today, through

everyone who knows him and in whom he lives. So today can be the day, today can be the day

the day, today can be the day of release or favor for you and through you.

I would strongly suggest that if you think through me for others, you will also enjoy the benefits.

The kingdom is built on that principle. Freely you have received, freely give, and in the process of

giving, you keep receiving. But if the focus on, I haven't received yet, I haven't received yet,

why should I give it? It's not true. I don't think this God is real. I haven't received yet.

Man, you can like be like a dog chasing its tail, eh? It's never ending. At some point snap out of

that vicious circle. There's nothing practical about Jubilee. It's disruptive, it's challenging,

it's radical. Nothing practical about it.

So, here's what Jesus is saying and here's what, just, just, let's try and see if we can work with

this. He's saying, I am good news for the poor

because I can meet their needs, because I can meet their needs.

That's the first statement he's making. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor. To the poor, the initial good news is needs, eh?

This is why James, who's highly practical, says, do not go to a man who's hungry and say the Lord

bless you and keep you warm. I am good news for the poor because I can meet their needs.

But better still, I am good news to the poor in spirit. I am good news to the poor in spirit

for I can break into their lives like I broke into yours.

I can break into their lives as king.

That's what he did, eh? That's why it says in Beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit for

theirs is the kingdom of God. Why are we writing this down? How does this help? I have to understand

what Jesus's mission statement was. And so, can I think like this, that I am good news for the poor?

Not Jesus, Jesus in you and you with Jesus. We got to think two ways, eh? That one, I am good news

for the poor. We got to think two ways, eh? That one, I have Jesus in me and I am walking with him.

Therefore now, can you make the statement, I am good news for the poor? Can Mark make the statement?

Can Dillan make the statement, I am good news for the poor because I can meet their needs. How?

Sometimes from your pocket, sometimes through Christ, and sometimes through Christ and your pocket.

So, what if he doesn't multiply bread and loaves? What if you only have five dollars in your pocket?

I love telling the story that Dillan told me. Some of you remember Dillan, some of you don't.

Dillan is sitting outside someone's house to pick up a person for Bible study. He is sitting in his

car and the Lord says to him, Dillan, when the guy comes down, give him the best you have.

So Dillan pulls out his wallet and he has got some dollars in it. So he says, sure Lord, I will give it.

And then the Lord says to Dillan again, Dillan, give him the best you have. And so he realizes,

oh shucks, he has got an iPhone. And he says, okay Father, I will give the iPhone away.

A few minutes later, and thank God the guy was late, or maybe not, but he was getting late.

And so Dillan says, shoot. The Lord says again to him, Dillan, give him the best you have.

And Dillan realizes he is sitting in a car. And so he calls up his mother.

That is what all grown up boys do. When they don't want to do something, they call up their mothers.

And he calls up his mother and says, God told me that I have to give the best I have.

It's his car. And his mother says, don't think of it too much. Commit to it immediately.

Do not think of it again. Just go ahead and do it. Because the longer you think of it,

the more hesitant you will become. Really bad advice, but that's a good mother.

And so this guy comes down and he apologizes to Dillan, saying, Dillan, I am really sorry I am late.

I had to catch a couple of buses and this is winter. Never give your car away in winter.

Try and postpone it to summer. And so he says, don't worry, you'll never have to be late again.

And he hands him the keys to his car. And he takes the bus to work after that.

A few days later, he's at someone's home. And he talks to them, finishes. And they throw him a

set of keys. And it's a key to another car, which was seven years newer than the car he gave away.

But regardless of, let's assume he didn't get that car, the point of the story that really

affected me was, how would I have responded? How would I have responded?

I would have probably given your car away. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

But, yeah.

Good news for the poor in spirit. We'll go over each of this. Say, I'm good news for the captives

in chains. But better still, I'm good news for those that need spiritual deliverance. And we'll go

over these different statements that Jesus makes. But each of them, we'll have two things that we'll

do. One, we'll see the simple practical side. And then we'll see the simple spiritual side.

And we'll work our way through what Jubilee looks like today.

You cannot, and this is a problem in this church, you cannot enter, you cannot have

people enter into the year of favor if you don't announce or proclaim it.

Why were the trumpets played on the tenth day of the seventh month so that people would know

that the day has arrived? You cannot do this without announcing it or proclaiming it.

If you read Isaiah 61, verse 1 and 2, three times the word proclaim is used.

Isaiah 61:1

To announce, prison doors do not open. The year of favor does not descend unless you announce it.

Because how can they know if you do not tell? Because only when you proclaim

will someone know. Only when they know can they believe.

Only when they believe can they walk towards freedom.

And only then can they count on the power of Christ

to set them free. All to say, this is critical.

Let me end with that thought. So what do we mean proclaim? Can you really believe,

even if you haven't seen results yet, and even if you won't see the result a minute

after proclaiming it, that Jesus will favor someone with the different things he talks

about in Isaiah 61? Can you really believe that?

I can only proclaim what I believe. When I proclaim what I don't believe, it's hypocritical.

It's not real. It's like trying to sell a product you don't believe in.

That's a catch, eh? It goes back to 2 Corinthians 6, 2.

Do you really believe that we can take advantage of the fact that we can take advantage of the fact

that we can take advantage of this time of favor that God is saying,

I want to use you in? Across the earth, across the city, across

different suburbs of Vancouver, do you really believe that? Can you take even one of these

statements? One of these statements and say, Jesus, I fully believe that you can do

this one thing in Isaiah 61. And if you fully believe it, can you foolishly begin to proclaim

it? Foolish proclamation is a result of serious belief. Foolish proclamation is a result of serious

belief. The difference between a belief and a conviction is very simple. People change

their beliefs often. Convictions take you to prison. Even legally, a belief is something

that you can change. A conviction is something that you're so firm on that you will go to prison

for it. That's why you'll have different religious sects and sometimes different cultural groups

willing to pay the price of going to prison than removing a certain attire or changing

something they carry or shaving their heads. Different things, but they will rather go to prison

than give up what they absolutely have a conviction for. Foolish proclamation is the result of serious

conviction. So out of all these things said in Isaiah 61, and we'll talk about it tomorrow,

when we meet next, simply because it's heavy and it'll be too heavy on our heads,

but this is an example. This is an example.

So,

what if two people in the church get convicted that I am good news for the poor

because I can meet their needs?

So,

in the Bible or right now? Yeah, yeah. So for instance, the very idea of talking about

Jubilee right now, defining it, taking what she sent me in terms of the scripture,

what am I doing? I'm announcing God's intent for this church and therefore I very deliberately said,

let he who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying. So that's an announcement, a proclamation.

Or when you prophesy on someone, what are you doing? I met with Joe a couple of weeks ago and

I was telling him some of the things about his life and as I'm doing, what am I doing? I'm

announcing God's intent of proclamation, restoring to him identity that he may or may not know about.

So, we're constantly supposed to do this. This is something God loves doing. God doesn't do anything

on earth without first proclaiming it. He actually says that, do I do anything on the earth without

first speaking it out and letting you know what my mind is thinking? And then he goes on to say,

in Isaiah 45, I don't whisper sweet nothings. I'm not nebulous about it. I speak very clearly.

I don't speak in riddles.

And so, announcing things is always God's way of initiating action. And you cannot

be foolishly, you cannot be foolish in proclamation until you're serious in conviction.

What can you be convicted about? And then, even if you fall on your face, even if there's mud on

your face, even though you look like a fool, even though people are saying, I'm not a fool,

even though people will laugh at you, you will still stand and say,

the rain is coming and I have to build an ark.

And in a time and a culture where reputation matters,

the reason it is hard to embrace kingdom culture is because there are many other cultures that are

waiting to scoff, scorn, laugh at what you will do. And so you don't do it. But Jubilee awaits us,

eh? And then awaits the world. Let's pray.

Father, next time perhaps you can show us how joyful we can be about this.

Because right now it seems a little heavy, seems like impossible, seems like,

oh my God, how are we going to do this? But Jubilee was a time of joy. People were ridiculously happy.

At least the ones that were finding relief, ones that were finding economic strength,

ones that were recovering their identity and history, they were super joyful.

So perhaps you can show us how to go about this joyfully, not as if it's

like an albatross around our neck or a huge burden on our back.

That's one request, Abba. Then the other request is, can you be a little bit more

kinder? Then the other request is, can you help our hard heartedness?

This requires abandoning independence and our addictive hyper-individualized way of living.

So I ask Abba, can you begin to melt our hearts and shape it towards the year of favor that you

want to bring into people's lives through us? Melt our hearts, melt mine.

Lastly, Abba, for the last six weeks we've been talking about how

your love is very tangible, that our relationship with you is that of a father with a child

or between two lovers or between two really good friends. That's how our relationship is

with you. We've been talking about that for the last six weeks. That's part of this.

You want to show people what it is to be in relationship with the father, with each other,

and with the environment. That's your intent. So I ask for all these three things for us.

You must have your way with us, oh God. We want to be history makers in this land.

We want to be history makers in this land.

We want to be history makers in this land. Granted, oh God, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hey guys, if you need prayer, there'll be people here to pray with you. And trust that it's the

year of favor for you and through you, yeah? So come up for prayer and receive what only God

can give you because nobody else can give you that. You know that. He's your father.

And I'll see you perhaps not next Sunday, but the Sunday after.