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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hey, friends. Welcome back to the Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. My name is John Gunther. I'm the preaching minister here in our church. This week, we're talking about, the sermon on anointing, but this time we're talking about how how the holy spirit empowers us to to join the mission of God.
John Gunter:And so the the holy spirit doesn't just come on us to do nothing. We're not given the holy spirit by God to just have it. There's always a reason. And so this week we talk about what it looks like to join the mission of God and and really what is important to God. So hope this is helpful for you.
John Gunter:I have loved, going through this series and if we can help in any way, let us know. Have a great week. Well, good morning again. So glad to to be here with you and to bring another word from God's word. I hope you have enjoyed the series so far.
John Gunter:I have really enjoyed diving into God's word to see how the Holy Spirit has worked throughout the scriptures. I I think for the longest time, when I thought about the Holy Spirit, I only thought about the New Testament. But as we've seen over and over again, that God and his spirit has been working since day one. Right? The beginning, the very beginning as God began to create.
John Gunter:Last week, we began what was lesson one on the anointing. And we we studied about kings, we talked about David, we talked about Saul, and we talked about what leaders were supposed to be about. That leaders were supposed to be strong leaders. They were supposed to lead Israel, they were supposed to know the law. Because to be able to lead, you need to know the law, you need to know what God wants from you.
John Gunter:And also, that leaders, the kings, were supposed to protect the vulnerable, or as we read last week, do justice. But remember, they weren't just set in their positions and left alone and said, good luck. The anointing was that God anointed them with his holy spirit, understanding that none of us can do anything alone. Right? So God gifted his holy spirit to these kings to be able to fulfill his will as he as each of them were anointed with oil.
John Gunter:And remember, as we talked about what the anointing even meant, that anointing meant that they were set to do something for God, that they had an office, a position. They were set out to accomplish something for God. And again, as we saw with Saul, and as we saw with David, none of them were perfect. We even talked about how God used a non Israelite king. And maybe you don't think about king Cyrus, but I would imagine if you were in exile with the Israelites, you would certainly remember this man's name because God said, I have anointed him to carry out this purpose, and that purpose was to allow the Israelites to go back and to be in their home again.
John Gunter:David, as we mentioned last week, was called a man after God's own heart. Just talking about this anointing and getting things done, and I wanted to put this back up here again and don't need that. The heart in Hebrew idiom is where you do your thinking, weighing up, deciding, and planning. And again, as we mentioned last week, we still talk like this. What I just told you was from the heart.
John Gunter:Right? So we still kind of talk like this. Maybe we we know it comes from the brain, but we say it came from the heart, meaning that it was genuine, that I meant it. So a man after God's heart means one who will think and do as God chooses, one who will carry out the plans that God has in mind. And so that is how David could be called a man after God's heart.
John Gunter:The context of this again was comparing Saul to David. Saul began his reign well, but then walked away from God and didn't really come back. David messed up time and again, but the difference in David to have a a a to be a man after God's heart was that when he was faced with what he had done wrong, he had the desire for redemption. He had the will for repentance, and he wanted that relationship with God. And so, was able to, again, carry out what God wanted because even though he was not perfect, like we are not, God was able to use him because even when he went off track, when he was faced with that, he turned around and came back.
John Gunter:We talked last week about as we ended, to accomplish God's mission, we have to understand his mission. A lot of we can learn a lot from the way God began scripture. That God began his plan by putting Adam and Eve in this Garden of Eden. This Garden of Eden was was seen as kind of an ideal. Right?
John Gunter:How many of you would like to go live in a veritable Garden of Eden right now? Right? Amen. I mean, I I can imagine it was probably 72 degrees. Right?
John Gunter:This feels like it was perfect as God set Adam and Eve there, but he didn't set them there just to bask in nothingness. Right? He set them there with some things to do. From Genesis one twenty six through 28, then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. Hold on to that because it is important to know what is important to God.
John Gunter:Right? Let us make man in our image, our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, over the livestock, and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number.
John Gunter:Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Adam and Eve were supposed to rule over this creation that God had made. And I think we're okay with that part, aren't we? Like, this is a continuation of what God had done that there was this chaos that God kind of reigned in, and now that God has created, there is this portion of creation that man is now over and needs to tend to and take care of, and that's what that's actually what God tells Adam and Eve in Genesis two fifteen.
John Gunter:The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden Of Eden to what? To work it and take care of it. Y'all better love the garden. Right? But we we you may have heard or may be familiar to you, to dress it and keep it.
John Gunter:You remember that translation? To dress it and keep it. To work it and take care of it. That was a part of God's plan is that I'm going to give you this perfect place where you have everything you want to eat. He didn't say anything about paying for it, paying taxes on it.
John Gunter:Listen, I'm from Arkansas, we have to pay sales tax on our food there too, so just know how well we've got it here. But to work it and to keep it and I wanted to explain this just a little more because the words there to work and take care of need a little bit of explanation. I don't usually put Hebrew or Greek up here. But to work means the the original word is abad. Say abad.
John Gunter:Not too hard. Right? You're good. Dress, work, till. But the normal Hebrew word abad means what?
John Gunter:Serve. Isn't that interesting? That when God says you work and you keep, that you serve. There's an idea of I am serving, not I am ruling over and I'm in charge and I'm gonna tell everyone I'm in charge, but there's this idea when we talked about leadership in the bible, always talking about how do I serve. Even in the Garden of Eden, that we dress, we work, we till, but you are serving creation in that way.
John Gunter:And so abad is work. Now, the word for take care is shamar. Say shamar. Not too hard either. Right?
John Gunter:Keep or tend, and that means to exercise great care over. That I'm supposed to serve Abad, and I'm supposed to exercise great care over. That God has created this. You remember when God created, he looked around and he said, it is what? Good.
John Gunter:And so, looks at Adam and Eve and he says, you serve this, you take care of it, you work for it, and this exercise great care over creation. God cares about his creation whether he's talking about you and I or he's talking about creation as a whole. But we messed that up, didn't we? We're not sitting here in the Garden Of Eden. I'm sure as Robert mentioned at communion this morning, as he sat out on his patio and thought about the heat, he was not thinking, I am in Eden right now.
John Gunter:I love this place. As I walked in this morning, it felt like someone someone was shining a spotlight on my face as I looked into the West. It has been so or into the East. Sunrise in the East, right? Don't show up at 8AM on the thirtieth.
John Gunter:Sunrise in the East. So, I look to the East. But God created this and we messed it up and we had a fall, and God didn't leave us alone, he did care for us. God chose to redeem us. And he chose to redeem us through a man named Abraham.
John Gunter:And we've talked about this on and off each time, and I wanted to put up the promise that that God has given to Abraham in Genesis twelve one through three. The Lord had said to Abraham, go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. Let's pause right there because it's not us, we just kind of skip over that. If God looked at you in your face this morning, he said, you go from your country, your people, and your father's household, how do you feel? Friend of mine from Malaysia just this week sent me a picture.
John Gunter:She is now gonna be a US citizen and she's been here forever. She's been here since the early two thousands, but part of getting her citizenship here is Malaysia does not allow you to have dual citizenship. So she had to give up her citizenship from her hometown, from her home country. And I tried to congratulate her and I said, are you happy? Because I know if I had to give up my country, my land, go away from my people, it would be very difficult.
John Gunter:But God chose a man who would do exactly that, did he not? In verse two, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. And you remember the thoughts that are going through Abraham's head with this, right? Not a chance. I'm too old.
John Gunter:I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abraham has promised descendants and become a great people. He was promised a special covenant, this blessing and cursing with God. He was gonna be with God, and he was promised this land that was given, to him.
John Gunter:And of course, we know that was fulfilled, was it not? Abraham was given that through his offspring. Abraham kind of served as this fresh start for the people. That God could again start to work through a people that we that had previously run from him. But what I think is interesting is the way that Paul, the apostle Paul, looks at this.
John Gunter:From Galatians chapter three verses six through nine. Look at this. So also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then that those who have faith are children of Abraham. And of course, was talking about, hey, all of us.
John Gunter:Because you have faith, you're children of Abraham. But look at this, scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the what? The gospel. Ain't that interesting? They announced the gospel in advance to Abraham, and he says the gospel is this, all nations will be blessed through you.
John Gunter:Well, how what was that blessing? What was his name? Jesus. And Paul sees this as the gospel preached to Abraham that all nations, not just Israel, it's not just gonna be you, but all nations will be blessed through you, and we see that with Jesus. And God reiterates about Abraham let me finish verse nine here.
John Gunter:So, those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Again, you don't have to be born in this, you don't have to be Israelite to come directly from Abraham's seed, all you have to do is have faith in Jesus. But Genesis 18, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. And again, we've got to hear this with God looking right directly at us saying, all of you. Because of God's faithfulness, we sit here in this room this morning, do we not?
John Gunter:You know, God's faithfulness carrying this out and saying, this will happen. We sit here this morning. Many of us would know each other if it weren't for this? I wouldn't know any of you. I'm from Arkansas, you know, I would have probably stayed there.
John Gunter:It's not a bad place, let me just tell you. We are not all related, I don't think. Side note, when Katie and I got married, did not know my biological family. And once I started searching, she asked me one night, she said, What if you find out we're related? I'll just let you chew on that for a little bit because I don't know that I had a good answer.
John Gunter:Do you divorce him? I don't know. Somebody somebody tell me what you do at that point. But Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, God says, I have chosen him so that you see that?
John Gunter:So that there's a reason I have chosen him. So that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. So that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. God didn't just look down on Abram and say, you're pretty cool. God looked on Abram and said, through you I will bless all nations because this is what I'm gonna ask of you, so that you will direct your children and your household to keep God's ways.
John Gunter:And so that's what God wants. And you see in this, by doing what is right and just. That's actually a better translation would be practicing righteousness and justice. Those are actually nouns there. But you are to practice righteousness and justice.
John Gunter:You're supposed to know what God wants and you're supposed to do it correctly. We don't leave people out, we don't oppress people, we do anything like that, but we practice doing things right and looking around and making sure things are just for everyone. What we see in this is also not only the way God wants to work through Abraham, but work through Israel in more in general. From Exodus 19, you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, God talking to the Israelites here, and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
John Gunter:Although, how much of the earth? The whole earth. I've got it all. He's got the whole world. Y'all sing that in a while?
John Gunter:I'll stop right there. Don't worry. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. Again, as as God talks there, but there was a reason that you are supposed to be priests, you're supposed to be a holy nation.
John Gunter:Remember, holy means separate. You're supposed to be different. You're supposed to show how to live. Remember what a priest was? A priest was like a middleman between the people and God.
John Gunter:That is God spoke, the priest said, this is what you're supposed to do, and then God says, you're supposed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. You're supposed to go between me and the rest of the world. And that's how God had planned to use Israel is to be, again, priest in a holy nation. And spoiler alert, Peter looks around in the New Testament and he says, you are a royal priesthood. All of us to stand between the rest of the world and God.
John Gunter:But again, just like the kings, it wasn't that God set them out just to go about business with no help of their own. Here in Isaiah 41 we read, but you Israel my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners, I called you. I said, you are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear for I am with you.
John Gunter:Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That God, again, in his anointing and the accomplishing of his will is not going to leave his people alone. I think sometimes we can kind of back ourselves to into a corner or maybe so much is going on in our lives, we feel like we are alone.
John Gunter:God has never left his people alone. As we talked about anointing kings with the holy spirit of God, looking out at Israel saying, you're supposed to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and guess what? I will strengthen and help you. I will be there with you. But just like the rest of the kings, Israel was not perfect, were they?
John Gunter:No one has kept God's mission, God's will perfectly, so God said, I've got to send Messiah who we'll call God's servant today. From Isaiah 42, the next chapter over, here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him. You get that? The way that Jesus accomplished everything he accomplished was the spirit of God was on him.
John Gunter:I will put my spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. Have you caught on to that repetition yet? Justice. Justice. Righteousness.
John Gunter:Righteousness. In verse two, he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring what? Justice.
John Gunter:He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. You think justice is important to God? I think so. In his teaching, the islands will put their hope. This is what the this is what God the Lord says, the creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it.
John Gunter:I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. And again, if you didn't catch it, as I pointed it out, justice is mentioned in three separate verses. Let's talk about justice for just a I pulled a quote here from doctor Wright.
John Gunter:In Old Testament terms, to do justice means putting things right. To do justice means putting things right. It includes putting an end to situations that are unfair, situations of exploitation and violence, and restoring those who are victims of such behavior. It includes what we mean when we speak of human rights. That's what it means to do justice.
John Gunter:And again, God mentions this, and he will bring justice to the nations. In faithfulness, he will bring justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on the earth. In these scriptures, you also probably caught some more of what God is trying to do. In verses two and three there, he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice.
John Gunter:Maybe sometimes when we think of leaders, we think of commanding people who are loud and get things done, yell yell and scream. Ever worked for somebody like that? That's a pleasure, isn't it? But God says of his servant, he said, he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. He will do what he's doing with compassion.
John Gunter:He doesn't have to raise his voice and shout and cry in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. He's gentle. That this servant from God is gentle and compassionate. One of the other things that it says that a servant will do is bring about enlightenment, to open the eyes that are blind.
John Gunter:Does that mean to give blind people their sight? Yes, in a sense. But also to come and to talk to people who have closed off their eyes, covered their ears, and have chosen to not hear the word of God. Or to hear the word of God and say, that is not for me, that's not what I want. But when the servant comes, he is to open the eyes that are blind.
John Gunter:And finally, what we see here is this liberation in the back half of this verse to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Again, it could be metaphorical or very literal in this instance. And what we see here again, justice, compassion, enlightenment, and liberation. We're not left only with what God says about the servant. In Isaiah verse in chapter 49, we actually get the servant of God speaking.
John Gunter:Verses five and six of chapter 49 of Isaiah, and now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob back to him and to gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God and my God has been my strength. He says, catch this, it is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. And you wanna say only right after that. It is too small a thing for you to just restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
John Gunter:That's what the servant says that God says. That God is not just concerned about Israel, but he is concerned about the entire world, that I have the entire world in my hands. Isaiah 61, the servant says, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me. You got that? The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
John Gunter:See, for a reason. God has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. When Jesus was baptized, it said the holy spirit descended like a dove on him. Both Matthew and Luke say immediately after that, Jesus was taken off into the wilderness, into the desert area to be tempted by Satan.
John Gunter:And we know what happened there. Jesus is empowered by the holy spirit, though he's hungry. Oh, I'm sure when they said, turn those rocks to bread, he was thinking, oh, that'd be nice. A buddy of mine made some buttermilk biscuits last night and he said, I'm making those for tomorrow. I said, If those last till tomorrow, you're a bigger man than me.
John Gunter:And I said, Well, maybe bigger is not the word, maybe skinnier is better word. But that was real temptation. But Luke records as Jesus comes back from these temptations that he walks into the synagogue and it says, as was his custom in Nazareth. And this is what Luke records that happens. See if this sounds familiar to you.
John Gunter:Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the what? Not in his own power, not in I am who I am. Jesus returned in the power of the spirit, And news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues and everyone praised him. That must be nice.
John Gunter:Wish that would have kept going. Right? Everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
John Gunter:Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written. I just imagine Jesus unrolling and saying, I know where that is, I'm gonna find it. Look what he reads, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
John Gunter:It says, the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, everyone staring at him going, what just happened? He began by saying to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus says, you know that that servant that God talks about? You know that that servant that God says is gonna do all of these things to enlighten people, to to set free the captives, to open the eyes of the blind, he said, that is happening right now in front of you. And guess what it got him?
John Gunter:Killed. That the servant that they had read about in their bible, in their scripture, was standing right in front of them saying, you get to witness what God is doing right here on earth right now. That the mission of God is going right down Main Street Nazareth, stick town as they call it. And they looked at Jesus and though they had really appreciated him and and and waited for it to hear from him because his kind of reputation was growing. When he said this, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing, it started to change some minds.
John Gunter:But now, I've got to set out and decide and and try to prove that Jesus is not who he said he was. Do you believe that Jesus is who he said he is? Because that changes everything, doesn't If you come to scripture and you say, I don't think this is who he said he is, then there's no sense of being him. No sense in faking him, no sense in trying to do anything else. But if I believe that Jesus is who he said he is, there's a choice I've gotta make.
John Gunter:But if I sit here this morning and I claim, again, Acts two thirty eight, repent, be baptized, and I am going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit, well, the same Holy Spirit was on Jesus. The same holy spirit over and over again was given to people so that they could be on mission. God is not gonna send you on a mission different than what you see in scripture. That God has a plan for us all. He set it up in Eden and we messed it up.
John Gunter:And God's been working ever since. That's my bad. I'll I'll wrap it up. Luckily, wasn't mine. I'm surprised mine didn't go off.
John Gunter:But God ever since has been setting it up to where I'm gonna make all of this right and so he sends this servant, our Messiah, Lord and Savior, Jesus, show us the way. So if you haven't accepted Jesus, you haven't been baptized into his name this morning, I wanna encourage you to do that right now. There's no sense in in living in this part of the country and being in the bible belt and just associating loosely with the name of Jesus Christ. We have a decision to make. Am I going to follow him?
John Gunter:Am I going to be his disciple? Are the things that God finds important, am I gonna find those things important? Am I gonna put the same emphasis in the things that God and we just read about that God wants for his people, am I gonna find those important and live those out in my life? We'd love to see you baptized and start that walk with him. If you have any need at all, we'd love to pray with you.
John Gunter:Would you come as we stand and sing?