I’m looking at the start of the ministry of Jesus. In Luke 4:14 it says, ‘Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about and He taught in their synagogues being glorified by all.’ He’s been baptised by John; and full of the Holy Spirit, He’s been led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He was tempted for 40 days by the devil! In v9, the devil takes Him to a pinnacle of the Temple, it’s the last of the temptations, saying, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down!” It was a challenge of course and Jesus resisted him, saying, “It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” There’s a big lesson here that we must be careful we don’t ‘tempt’ God in the wrong way by attempting to do something that is not in His Will for us. And the devil, having finished tempting Jesus, departs from Him – ‘for a time’!

That is very significant. The devil hasn’t left Him – only for a time.

So now Jesus returns from the wilderness, from being tempted, in the Power of the Spirit, and goes into Galilee. I want to emphasise: Jesus Himself NEEDED the Power of the Holy Spirit in order that He could fulfil His ministry. By v16, He arrives in Nazareth, His hometown where He grew up, and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and got up to read. They gave Him the book of Isaiah and He found the place where it is written, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He – the Spirit of the Lord – has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He’s sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those that are bruised, and to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord.” He closed the book and said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled!”

What He reads from Isaiah covers the whole of His ministry! For some of us, this is OUR ministry. It certainly is mine! I would say, as an evangelist, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and for 75 years this has been my ministry. 75 years ago, He anointed me to preach the Gospel. To the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance, to heal, to set at liberty those that are bruised – and to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord. In other words – JESUS IS COMING! This is the whole of the Gospel that we preach! And as I read the New Testament, I find that Jesus spends more time talking about His Kingdom than He does teaching about healing and salvation.

I want to share with you something that God has been saying strongly to ME since 1992 and which is powerfully motivating MY life. And I want to give YOU the same strong spiritual challenge which Moses gave to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:32 – ‘Ask now of the days that are past, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from the one side of Heaven to the other, WHETHER THERE HAS BEEN ANY SUCH THING AS THIS GREAT THING IS, OR HAS BEEN HEARD LIKE IT?’ I have not found any other man who could make a statement as strong as this, that Israel had witnessed the greatest miracle ever! Yes, this was 3000 years ago, but I believe that it also relates to today, and will be EXCEEDED.

The centurion KNEW Jesus had authority to heal his servant, just by the word He spoke! But Jesus was amazed at the centurion! Absolutely amazed. He said in 8:10, “I haven’t found such faith anywhere!” Not in Galilee, not in Syria, Decapolis nor Trans-Jordan, not in Judea nor Jerusalem, not in all the places where He was working with Jewish people. He said bluntly, “I’ve not found such great faith in all Israel!” You see, your religion without faith in God, in Jesus, without relationship, without obedience – is nothing. He says in v11, “Many will come from the East and the West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven…” Outsiders will enter the Kingdom! But the religious, those who think themselves to be ‘children of the Kingdom’ will be cast into outer darkness, where they will weep and gnash their teeth!

To the Roman centurion Jesus said, “Go your way, and it will be done as you have believed.” And his servant was healed at that very same moment. THAT’S the authority God has given us THROUGH Christ.

Jesus had authority because of His obedience to His Father. If we follow His example, we too can ask the Father – in the Name of Jesus – for whatever we want – and He will give us what we ask. It’s incredible! BUT we must ourselves be willing to be OBEDIENT, whatever the cost, and so follow Jesus.