Homecoming Day 2023

Temple Baptist Church - 3-19-2023 

Luke 4:16-19

 

Introduction: 

A.  Homecoming Day, 2023.  It has been the best 36 years of my life at Temple Baptist!  This is the best church that I have ever been affiliated with.  Barbara and I are completely satisfied with God’s calling and direction over these past years.

 

We have laughed and we have cried.

We have married and we have buried.

We have gained some and we have lost some.

We have won some here and many on the field to the Lord.

We have not dipped our colors nor compromised our standards.

We have stayed in the old paths with the old black Book.

We are getting a little older and a lot closer to Heaven.

We are continuing in those things that are right and holy.

We are excited about serving the Lord and the prospect of His coming.

We are, by God’s grace, expecting to serve the Lord until He calls us home.

We will continue to love one another and keep unity in the church.

We are committed to the fight for right and the souls of men.

 

B.  Our Lord preached many sermons in His short ministry, but—in His hometown—He chose to read from Isaiah 61.  If it was good and necessary enough for the Lord’s homecoming, it is good for ours too.

 

Luke 4:16-17  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  (17)  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

 

C.  We Live In A Hard Time.  The last days of peril, apostasy, and apathy.

 

1.  A Time Of Great Adversity – Satan

 

2.  A Time Of Great Temptation – Sin

 

D.  We Live In A Hard Place.  The unbuckled Bible Belt where religion has replaced salvation.

 

1.  Everyone Is Religious

 

2.  Everyone Is Satisfied

 

3.  Few Are Saved

 

E.  We Have A Great Responsibility.  Carrying the gospel to a people who seemingly no longer want it.

 

1.  We Are Responsible For The Upholding The Truth

 

2.  We Are Responsible For Dispensing The Truth

 

What we need, Jesus preached!

 

1.  A Spirit Filling – Verse 18  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”

 

a.  Spiritual Worship - Ephesians 5:18-20  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

 

b.  Spiritual Walk - Galatians 5:22-25  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

2.  An Anointed Preaching – Verse 18  “he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor”

 

a.  Straight Preaching - Acts 20:26-28  Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

 

b.  Bold Preaching - Acts 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

 

c.  Compassionate Preaching - 2 Timothy 4:1-2 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

3.  A Compassionate Heart – Verse 18  “to heal the broken hearted”

 

a.  Compassionate Towards Sinners - Jude 1:22-23  And of some have compassion, making a difference:  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

 

b.  Compassionate Towards Saints - 1 John 3:17-19  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

 

4.  A Powerful Deliverance – Verse 18  “to preach deliverance to the captives”

 

a.  There Is Power In The Blood - Revelation 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

b.  There Is Power In The Bible - Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

5.  An Illuminating Message – Verse 18  “recovering of sight to the blind”

 

a.  An Illuminated Walk –.1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

 

b.  An Illuminated Witness – Matthew 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

6.  A Glorious Hope – Verse 18  “to set at liberty them that are bruised”

 

a.  We Need To Comfort The Sorrowful - 2 Corinthians 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

 

b.  We Need To Encourage The Discouraged - Hebrews 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

 

c.  We Need to Glorify The Lord - Isaiah 42:12  Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

 

7.  An Urgent Message – Isaiah 61:2 “to proclaim the acceptable year or the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God”

 

a.  The Reality Of A Harvest Perishing - John 4:35  Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

 

b.  The Reality Of A Harvest Past - Jeremiah 8:20  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.