WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400 Before Jesus has done anything in a public ministry way, 2 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.760 he has to confront the devil. 3 00:00:06.760 --> 00:00:11.760 So when we talk about the gates of hell shall not prevail, 4 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:15.320 right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry 5 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.960 is here's the devil trying to derail Jesus. 6 00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:28.120 The gates of hell shall not prevail. 7 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.400 That's what I'm talking about in this series. 8 00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:34.000 And in the first episode, 9 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.080 I talked about Satan's job description. 10 00:00:37.080 --> 00:00:41.360 In the second episode, I talked about Jesus' job description. 11 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:45.160 And in this episode, I'm talking about Jesus' mission. 12 00:00:45.160 --> 00:00:49.880 How did his abundant life that he promised us, 13 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:52.520 how does that actually get worked out in the world? 14 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:54.320 How does that really happen? 15 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.800 And Jesus, going back to Nazareth, 16 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:58.720 he's just beginning his ministry. 17 00:00:58.720 --> 00:01:01.520 He has been baptized by John the Baptist. 18 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.160 He's been out in the wilderness 19 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:09.160 and been tempted by Jesus for 40 days and 49th fasting prayer 20 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:13.480 and he comes back and he comes back into 21 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:17.040 probably the synagogue that he grew up in. 22 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.800 He's handed the Bible, 23 00:01:19.800 --> 00:01:23.600 he's handed the Old Testament to read. 24 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:25.000 It was his time to read. 25 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:30.120 He read it, he reads from Isaiah and then he announces, 26 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:33.160 I mean, I'm sure that everybody there 27 00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:35.280 didn't know exactly what they were experiencing, 28 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.080 but he's actually announcing what his mission is, 29 00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:40.280 how he's gonna carry out his purpose 30 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:42.360 and his mission on the earth. 31 00:01:42.360 --> 00:01:46.160 So if you have your Bible, turn to Luke chapter four, 32 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:50.400 Luke chapter four on the mission of Jesus. 33 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.120 And you could go back all the way to verse one, 34 00:01:53.160 --> 00:01:54.840 Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit 35 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:56.280 returned from the Jordan 36 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:59.440 and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 37 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:02.400 being tempted 40 days by the devil. 38 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:07.080 So before Jesus has done anything in a public ministry way, 39 00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:09.479 he has to confront the devil. 40 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:14.480 So when we talk about the gates of hell shall not prevail, 41 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:18.040 right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry 42 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:21.600 is here's the devil trying to derail Jesus, 43 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:24.320 trying to prevail over him. 44 00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:28.920 And we notice here that the first temptation 45 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:33.040 from Satan in verse three is if you are the son of God, 46 00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:35.840 command this stone to become bread. 47 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:37.720 In other words, Jesus is hungry. 48 00:02:37.720 --> 00:02:40.400 He's been fasting for 40 days 49 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.880 and the devil comes and tempts him 50 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:47.320 to take a stone and turn it into bread. 51 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:50.440 In other words, meet his own needs first, 52 00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:52.960 take care of his own appetites, 53 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:57.360 use his supernatural power to take care of his appetites. 54 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:58.920 And in verse four, Jesus said, 55 00:02:58.920 --> 00:03:01.160 it is written man shall not live by bread alone, 56 00:03:01.160 --> 00:03:02.600 but by every word of God. 57 00:03:02.600 --> 00:03:06.640 In other words, Jesus is going to live by the word of God, 58 00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:09.680 the will of God, the kingdom of God. 59 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.440 And that's what feeds his soul, 60 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:14.720 not just food, but also spiritual food, 61 00:03:14.720 --> 00:03:17.320 which comes from the word of God. 62 00:03:17.320 --> 00:03:22.320 And the temptations move into authority and power 63 00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:24.560 in verses five through eight, 64 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:28.480 and then verses nine through 12, 65 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:32.880 Jesus comes back against the devil. 66 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:37.320 And that's his interaction with Satan one-on-one 67 00:03:37.320 --> 00:03:40.000 in the wilderness. 68 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.920 But now what I wanna camp on though 69 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:46.800 is when Jesus actually pronounces what he's come to do. 70 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:48.080 You see what a mission is? 71 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.760 A mission is how you carry out a vision. 72 00:03:50.760 --> 00:03:52.280 And the vision that Jesus had, 73 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.560 we talked about in the last episode, 74 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.360 was he said, I've come that you might have a life 75 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:59.640 and might have abundant life. 76 00:03:59.640 --> 00:04:01.920 And we talked about that word abundantly, 77 00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:06.760 perizo in the Greek has the idea of super abundance, 78 00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:11.320 overflowing, more than you can imagine. 79 00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:14.080 So Jesus is going way over the top. 80 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:18.360 He's saying anything you can imagine as far as life goes, 81 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:19.720 I wanna give that to you. 82 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:21.720 I want you to go after that. 83 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:23.680 It's part of the kingdom of God. 84 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.920 Well, now here in this passage, 85 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.160 Jesus is explaining how that happens. 86 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.520 And really it's a confrontation with the devil. 87 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:34.160 It's a confrontation with the flesh. 88 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.840 It's a confrontation with the kingdoms of this earth. 89 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:41.480 Let's pick it up in verse 16 of Luke four. 90 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.360 He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day 91 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:47.280 and stood up to read. 92 00:04:47.280 --> 00:04:51.280 And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 93 00:04:51.280 --> 00:04:54.120 And when he had opened it, opened the book, 94 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:56.680 he found the place where it was written. 95 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:59.080 The spirit of the Lord is upon me 96 00:04:59.080 --> 00:05:00.680 because he has anointed me. 97 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.720 me to preach the gospel of the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim 98 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:14.740 liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who 99 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:20.700 are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." So this is the mission 100 00:05:20.700 --> 00:05:27.220 of Jesus. If anybody ever asks you, does Jesus have a mission statement? This is it, Luke 101 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:31.540 4, 18 and 19. So let's look at it. He says, first of all, the Spirit of the Lord is upon 102 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:37.420 me. So the first thing we need to realize is the mission of Jesus is about being filled 103 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:44.940 with the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus said, the Spirit of the Lord has to be upon me to accomplish 104 00:05:44.940 --> 00:05:50.180 what God the Father has told me to do. You out there that are listening to this, the 105 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:54.620 challenge is, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you have the power of the Holy 106 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:58.780 Spirit flowing in your life? Because you're not going to be able to be a part of the mission 107 00:05:58.780 --> 00:06:04.660 of Jesus if you don't. You do not have the capacity to do it. But he says, first of all, 108 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:11.660 preach the gospel to the poor. What I've done in my Bible is I've underlined all these 109 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:18.980 direct objects about who Jesus was after. And the first one he says is, preach the gospel 110 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:25.620 to the poor. This means physically poor, financially poor, spiritually poor, emotionally 111 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:32.940 poor, psychologically poor. Jesus is going after those who do not have the abundant life. 112 00:06:32.940 --> 00:06:38.460 They do not have the riches of the kingdom of God in their life. And he's going to proclaim 113 00:06:38.460 --> 00:06:45.880 the freedom of the gospel to the poor. And so men and women, as we look at the gates 114 00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:52.200 of hell not prevailing in our lives, are you using your voice to proclaim the gospel 115 00:06:52.200 --> 00:06:58.560 to the poor? Jesus is saying, this is my mission, and I want it to be your mission. Then he 116 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:05.400 says, he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. So Jesus went after the brokenhearted, and 117 00:07:05.400 --> 00:07:10.120 he came not to keep them brokenhearted, but to heal them, heal their heart. Remember what 118 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:19.840 I said? That Satan's job description is to steal your heart, to kill your vision, and 119 00:07:19.840 --> 00:07:27.640 to destroy your future. Jesus is saying just the opposite. He's saying, I have come to 120 00:07:27.640 --> 00:07:36.440 take those on this earth who are brokenhearted and to heal them. Jesus primarily, the most, 121 00:07:36.440 --> 00:07:41.600 the biggest thing eternal life means is the healing of a broken heart. Eternal life's 122 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:47.320 not just about where we go when we die. Eternal life begins with the kingdom of God coming 123 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:53.440 into our lives when we give our heart to Christ here on the earth. And the first thing that 124 00:07:53.440 --> 00:07:58.400 the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives is heal our broken heart. And so if you know 125 00:07:58.400 --> 00:08:03.880 someone who's brokenhearted, tell them about Jesus. If you're listening to this and you 126 00:08:03.880 --> 00:08:11.200 have a broken heart, surrender your heart to Jesus. Let him come and soothe your heart 127 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:18.000 and to heal your broken heart. Secondly, he says, proclaim liberty to the captives. So 128 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:25.080 some people are in captivity, literally in captivity by being in prisons and jails. Others 129 00:08:25.080 --> 00:08:31.800 are in the captivity of their own emotional jail, their own emotional prison, their own 130 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:38.919 spiritual prison, their own physical prison in their life for various reasons. And Jesus 131 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:46.320 came to proclaim, look, you can, you can have liberty over your captivity. I came to set 132 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:54.880 you free. I can set you free. I came to set the captives free. Jesus is a freedom fighter. 133 00:08:54.880 --> 00:09:01.240 Jesus comes to set the captives free emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. That's 134 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:07.800 what he does. That's his mission is to set the captives free. And some of you here are 135 00:09:07.800 --> 00:09:11.840 struggling with addictions. You might be struggling with drug addiction. You might be struggling 136 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.560 with sex addiction. You might be struggling with alcohol. I don't know what it is, but 137 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:22.680 I do know this, that Christ comes to set you free. That's what he does. That's his mission 138 00:09:22.680 --> 00:09:28.920 is set captives free. If you'll surrender your life fully to Christ right now, wherever 139 00:09:28.920 --> 00:09:37.440 you are, that begins right then the process of the Holy Spirit coming into your life to 140 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:43.120 set you free. You will not get free any other way. You have to get free only through Jesus 141 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:48.400 Christ. Then he says recovery of sight to the blind. So a lot of us have blinders over 142 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:53.680 our eyes. We have emotional blinders. We have spiritual blinders. Some of you might even 143 00:09:53.680 --> 00:10:00.720 be literally physically blind, but Christ came to take blindness and to heal the blind. 144 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.080 heal the blindness and give us sight, give us sight. 145 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.840 I can tell you hundreds of people 146 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:09.200 that have had the privilege of being around 147 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:10.800 who have given their heart to Christ 148 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:15.140 who could not see the gospel, could not see truth, 149 00:10:15.140 --> 00:10:17.360 could not see righteousness. 150 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.200 And then they gave their heart to Christ 151 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:23.280 and suddenly their blindness was healing. 152 00:10:23.280 --> 00:10:27.240 It was like, I mean, it's literally like scales 153 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:29.320 came off their eyes and they could see. 154 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:32.280 Before, couldn't even understand the Bible. 155 00:10:32.280 --> 00:10:34.760 After, totally understood the Bible. 156 00:10:34.760 --> 00:10:36.080 It made sense to them. 157 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.920 It came alive in their life because the spirit of God 158 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:43.280 comes to bring recovery of sight to the blind. 159 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:48.280 Next, Jesus says, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. 160 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:53.160 So not just depressed, but oppressed. 161 00:10:53.160 --> 00:10:57.720 Oppression, I think, is something from the outside 162 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:02.600 that's impacting you on the inside and driving you down. 163 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:06.840 This oppression of culture, this oppression 164 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:10.960 of what and how we view ourselves 165 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:15.960 is something that Christ came to set at liberty. 166 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.400 So instead of being in bondage, 167 00:11:18.400 --> 00:11:21.040 the Lord wants you to be free and to walk in liberty 168 00:11:21.040 --> 00:11:23.440 and break the power of oppression. 169 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.280 And then lastly, he says to proclaim 170 00:11:25.280 --> 00:11:27.240 the acceptable year of the Lord. 171 00:11:27.920 --> 00:11:32.920 In other words, accept and proclaim the goodness of God, 172 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:38.760 the love of God, the abundance that is ours in God. 173 00:11:38.760 --> 00:11:43.760 So this mission of Jesus is about healing the brokenhearted, 174 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.680 preaching the gospel of the poor, 175 00:11:46.640 --> 00:11:49.040 proclaiming liberty to captives, 176 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:52.000 recovery of sight to the blind, 177 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.680 and to set at liberty those who are oppressed 178 00:11:54.680 --> 00:11:57.800 and proclaim the good and acceptable year of the Lord. 179 00:11:57.800 --> 00:11:59.000 Amazing. 180 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:00.480 That's the mission of Jesus. 181 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:03.000 And the more we walk that out, 182 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.680 the more we discover that in our personal lives, 183 00:12:05.680 --> 00:12:07.560 the more that kind of liberty, 184 00:12:07.560 --> 00:12:10.480 that kind of freedom is gonna take over our lives 185 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:12.280 in every area of our life. 186 00:12:12.280 --> 00:12:15.600 So as we talk about the gates of hell shall not prevail, 187 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:19.440 what we mean is to allow Christ come into our life, 188 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.240 give him the gates of hell in our life. 189 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.120 What are those gates of hell in our lives 190 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.680 that are holding us back, that are causing oppression, 191 00:12:28.680 --> 00:12:30.800 that are causing captivity, 192 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:34.120 that are causing blindness over our lives? 193 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:36.640 Christ came and he can begin to set us free 194 00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:38.640 in a mighty and powerful way. 195 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:40.480 So hopefully that's helpful to you. 196 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.920 And in our next episode, 197 00:12:41.920 --> 00:12:43.920 we're gonna be talking about the battle, 198 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:47.840 the battle between light and darkness and good and evil, 199 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:51.120 and how Christ came basically to take down evil 200 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:55.360 on this Earth through people like you and me. 201 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.840 God bless you.