In Nazareth, v22, the people were intrigued by Jesus, but they knew Him, he grew up in there, with them. Isn’t this Joseph’s son? And they became so indignant, they tried to throw Him off the cliff on which the town was built! But of course, He passed through the midst of them and carried on His way down to Capernaum, v32, where again, they were intrigued and astonished at His doctrine – BECAUSE HIS WORD WAS WITH POWER!

There was an evidence of Power in His ministry! In Nazareth they rejected Him, yes, but He came into Galilee ‘in the Power of the Spirit’. He read from Isaiah, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me!” Thank God for the Anointing and thank God for the Power of the Holy Spirit! If you want to be effective in ministry – I want to encourage you – you NEED the Anointing and Power of the Spirit!

I started preaching as a boy aged 13, nothing happened, nobody repented – and my father said, “You NEED the Holy Spirit.” When I received the Holy Spirit, it transformed me! I became a preacher and an evangelist in the school where I was. I told the boys the truth, that without Christ you go to hell. That there’s only one way into Heaven – through Jesus. Jesus said you must be born again. There’s no other way! Saved by the Power of the Blood! That’s the truth. Good works don’t save you, being ‘good’ doesn’t save you. We’re not born ‘good’. The Bible says ALL have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus – that’s the Gospel I preach, that’s the way into the Kingdom. Two of the boys in my class went on to become preachers. I hadn’t been to Bible College – but I had received the Power of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel!

God chose an 80-year old man, born into a slave family, yet brought up in the king’s palace, who became a murderer, fled from the nation and spent his life as a shepherd looking after sheep in the desert! God told him, I have chosen YOU to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release all his slaves, empty the prison camps, set more than two million people free! Moses protested – I can’t do it, I’m not an ambassador, I’m not a statesman, I’m an outcast, I ran away from this nation because they were going to kill me for murder. All I have done for the past forty years is keep sheep!

Yet this man Moses had an experience with God – he had met God in the fire – and that fire came into HIM, transforming HIM, and now God takes the reluctant hero and commands HIM to do the impossible!

Challenge the greatest leader in the world, the most powerful nation on earth, demand that they release your persecuted, suffering people, command Pharaoh to let them go!’

Because Moses gave every possible reason why he could not do it, God had to use a lot of persuasion before Moses would agree – but then God said, ‘When you go, I will cause Pharaoh to rebel, he will not listen to you or do what you say, he will fight against you with all his strength! I am calling you to do something, which I Myself am going to make absolutely impossible! I will cause him to refuse you, and make him stronger than ever in his anger against you – why? So that I can then demonstrate that I am God by destroying the power of Pharaoh and delivering My people – and this will not be with human power. Instead I will demonstrate on the face of the earth the power of an Almighty God, such as has never been seen before – the greatest miracles ever seen!’