STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

By Rick Mathes

Luke 4:18-19 (NASB77) ¹⁸ ” The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden, ¹⁹ To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

The Bible teaches us that Jesus grew in stature and wisdom. That means he went from less to more in both. His childhood textbook was Isaiah and the following verses must have sent a thrill up His spine as He realized that they were talking about Him!

Isaiah 42:1 (NASB77) ¹ ” Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 61:1-2 (NASB77) ¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; ² To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

When I put my hand on the scriptures in Isaiah I sense a kinship with a brother in Christ that I will be very happy to meet when I go home. His prophesy is electrifying and the Lord must have been wide-eyed and excited when He realized that He was the Servant God spoke to. I was very skeptical of church, religion and the Bible. But since I had given my heart to Jesus I thought the least I could do was to learn all I could about Him so I read just the “red parts.” It only takes 3 hours to do so.

Then I outlined that all I needed to know was:

• Was He really born God of a virgin?
• What did He do while He was here on earth?
• What did He teach His apostles to do?
• Did He really die for my sins?
• Did He really rise from the grave alive?
• Did He really ascend into heaven?
• And is He really coming back for me?

If all those answers were in the affirmative column then the only question left was, “What does He expect me to be doing when He gets here? His “Statement of Purpose” is quite clear as to what you and I should, as believers be engaged in if “the Spirit of God is upon us.”

• We are to bring good news to the poor.
• We are to set the captives free.
• We are to provide recovery of sight to the blind.
• We are to set free the downtrodden.
• We are to proclaim that today is the day of your salvation!

Well, is the Spirit of God upon you? Then get with it; the Lord is nearer than you think!