Welcome to The Atheist Church

Today’s sermon is from Luke chapter 4:

And 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 of all. 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. And there was delivered to him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say to them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

Jesus was empowered with the same Spirit that brought creation into being "in the beginning." He would now begin his three years of miracles. The same Spirit that created the waves and the wind would calm the waves and the wind. The same Spirit that gave life to man in the beginning would bring life to the dead, through the voice of the Son of God. However, on this particular day he went into the synagogue and opened up the book of Isaiah to read a passage about the Messiah. The prophecy spoke of the Spirit of the Lord being upon the Messiah and God’s purpose in His manifestation.

He would preach the gospel to the poor, heal the broken-hearted, deliver the captives, give sight to the blind, and release those who were bruised. These are "spiritual" statements. It is only those who are "poor in spirit" that respond to the Gospel. Those who think that they are rich "and in need of nothing" have a closed ear. Jesus came to heal those who were broken-hearted by their own sinful heart, to deliver those who were captive to the devil, blinded by sin, and those who were “bruised” by the Law of God.

After Jesus had read from the Scriptures, He sat down and every eye was on Him. Then He said that this day this prophecy was fulfilled. He was saying that He was the Messiah. Yet, there was no offense at this point. It was what He said after this that made them try and kill Him. Instead, they were amazed at His gracious words, and asked, "Isn’t this the son of Joseph?" He wasn’t. He was the Son of God.

Thanks for being here.