Sermon Tone Analysis

The Time Is Now

Are any of you Star Wars fans?

Have you seen all the movies?

Most of the movies?

Some of the movies?

Didn’t know there were movies?

I have a confession.

I’ve never watched Episode III.

I think because it’s seems dark.

And because I know where the movie starts, and where it ends up at.

So I’m not as interested in seeing it get there.

That’s fine for a movie, until I miss a reference to that move and someone accuses me of not being a REAL fan.

OK, guilty!

But I think that’s what we do in our Christian life all too often.

“I know how I was saved, and I know were I’m going.

I’d rather not deal with the messy bits in between.”

When we live our lives like that, we miss out on such blessing God intends for us.

And the world misses out on so much God would do through us!

May we not be guilty of this!

Today we will look at Jesus path to engaging with His ministry and what we can translate to what He has called us to.

Pray

The Appointed Time

Our passage today picks up at the end of Jesus temptation in the wilderness.

Jesus declared a thing complete.

That what was prophesied about Him was fulfilled.

As we examine what Isaiah actually said, and what Jesus was fulfilling at this moment, we can see that what was complete was His preparation and presentation.

It’s as if we had a prophecy that there would come an engineer who would have such equaled skill and foresight of planning that he could deliver one set of plans that would actually fix the Spaghetti Bowl - without needing to redo it is 5 years!

And after this one person is born and makes their way through school and apprenticeship, gains insight and skill.

Then finally, at the peak of their career they finally make it to that one position all civil engineers desire to attain - road design in Reno, NV!

And the first day on the job we all knew the solution was coming.

The prophecy, we could say, WAS fulfilled.

The answer to our road worries was here!

BUT, the design would not be in hand yet.

And the concrete and asphalt not poured yet.

The prophecy fulfilled, but the work still needs to be done.

This is Where Jesus was at.

The Solver was here.

But the solution was on it’s way.

And the ones to implement that solution would need to follow the plan.

I spoke yesterday morning about two warnings Paul gave Timothy about those who would follow Jesus.

Some would be all talk, no action, and only cause trouble.

The others would claim to follow Jesus but never leave the sin of their former lives.

But those who would make a difference were those who were workmen and who’s work was tested and approved.

We need to be about the work that Jesus was about.

And we need to be diligent in preparation.

When Jesus arrived in Nazareth to read from Isaiah, His moment in time had come.

But it was those things that led up to that moment that made Him ready.

So much more for us - that we are prepared for our moment.

Let’s trace Jesus’ preparation.

Jesus Path of Preparation.

1. Submitted - To His parents growing up.

To the Law of God which he would fulfill perfectly.

To the priests who he learned from and interacted.

To the Spirit of God and the Father.

And he was submitted to John the Baptist.

When John said it is I who should be baptized by you...

Though He had ALL authority, He submitted to human authority so that He could truly be that representative for us to cover our sin.

2. Anointed - When Jesus had submitted to John’s baptism, He was then anointed.

Sometimes we feel a call or direction or an anointing from God on our lives and we think “Here it comes!”

But realize that after Jesus’ anointing, things went down hill for Him for a while.

That wasn’t the time yet.

3. Directed - Immediately after His anointing, He was directed not to the palace, not to the people, not to victory.

He was directed to the desert.

To the wilderness.

For spiritual battle.

Without dinner!

I’m fairly sure most of us would have a problem if God directed us to skip dinner.

(He does.

We are directed to fast from time to time…) But when God says go/stop/stay/pray/love/speak truth in love, do we obey?

For Jesus direction WAS action!

For those two groups Paul warned about, direction is debate.

4. Challenged - God directed.

Jesus followed.

So all’s good?

NO!

The devil showed up!

Then

THEN

The devils quoting scripture!

That’s why we need to know it too.

Out of context, misapplied scripture it a truth that tells a lie.

This is the exact same tactic the devil used in the garden.

It’s the same as was voiced through Job’s friends as they were used to test him.

And it can be used against us.

That sound hard, So I want to see what Jesus did.

5. Committed -

The devil offering bread from stones?

The devil offing power and authority that’s beyond your domain?

The devil trying to convince you that prideful, dangerous, destructive actions wont hurt you because you have been anointed and redeemed?

Don’t listen to deceivers!

And don’t answer in your own wisdom.

Jesus could have told the Devil to go count sand at the bottom of the sea and he would have had to!

But if finding truth, strength and redemption in the scriptures was the right answer for Jesus, I’m certain it’s the right answer for me!

6. Physically Depleted - In the desert.

Fighting the Devil.

Without dinner!

I don’t know if you’ve had an intense spiritual struggle, but that will wipe you out.

It takes physical energy for us to fight a spiritual battle.

When you are physically depleted, emotionally depleted, spiritually depleted take caution!

Those are the most dangerous times.