Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”

With these words Jesus announces the beginning of His ministry. He does not define the meaning of “good news”. He does however identify His audience, the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.

Matthew 4:23

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

This passage indicates where Jesus went to declare the good news, but in this passage the word gospel is used, the gospel of a kingdom. Along with those words came the healing of every affliction.

Vine’s defines it this way. Gospel (Noun and Verb: to Preach):

originally denoted a reward for good tidings; later, the idea of reward dropped, and the word stood for “the good news” itself. The Eng. word “gospel,” i.e. “good message,” is the equivalent of euangelion (Eng., “evangel”). In the NT it denotes the “good tidings” of the Kingdom of God and of salvation through Christ, to be received by faith, on the basis of His expiatory death, His burial, resurrection, and ascension,

When we look at the words “good news” as just a proclamation apart from the acts that accompany His Word, then we ignore the larger part of the power of His Gospel to change lives for the better, a removal of afflictions. He changes lives.

At this point we have jumped forward from just delivering a proclamation to the acts of an evangelical message that takes in all the words and works of Jesus. It can be a wondrous thing to know it all and believe it all but in doing that we might overwhelm those who are hearing it for the first time.

In consideration of order, for God is a God of order, let us address first whose words we preach and why those words should be considered life changing.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” He is the one the prophets promised.

Romans 12:3 

Gifts of Grace

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

How long does an assignment last?

Some last for a lifetime, some last for a season, some of us have been asked to handle more than one assignment at a time.

I often return to reread Romans 12:3 as a reminder of how easy it is for the flesh to glory in God’s work. Success breeds confidence, confidence can fuel pride if we are not careful. This is one reason I return to this passage so often.

God has blessed me mightily and with decades of blessings there is danger in thinking the abundance of blessings is because we are special. As I shared these thoughts with a wise counselor once he said; “Nor does God want you to think less of yourself than you ought.”

Perhaps that is where sober judgment comes into play, not to get high on success.

In an effort to honor the gift given by grace it is once again time to reflect on my assignments and take note of the progress made. Two assignments have been made clear and they both are long term with no indication at this time that they will end soon or that any additional assignment has been added.

1 Thessalonians 2:9

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

It is not my responsibility to place a burden on anyone, to ask anything of you that is not within the boundaries of my assignment. What I do and how I do it is my burden to bear. While some might be in the same situation as I am, God is the author of your faith and the answer to what is expected of you.

My first assignment to present the gospel.