The Year of the Lord’s Favor - Freedom from Debt
Hillcrest Church, Sunday, December 31, 2006
Text
" 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”" (Luke 4:14-21, NIV)
" The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. 8 “ ‘Count off seven sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. … 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. 18 “ ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21 I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. 23 “ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenant. … 39 “ ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. 40 He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. … ” (Leviticus 25, NIV)
Introduction
21 Days of Prayer and Fasting (see fasting notes, also on blog.)
I believe 2007 is going to be a Year of Jubilee for Hillcrest Church…!
Three main components, beginning today, I will be preaching three messages based on each of these components. Then, on Sunday, January 21st, Evangelist Billy Gibson will be ministering in our service, and on Sunday morning, January 28th, I will devote the entire service to sharing with you again the vision the Lord has given for this house.
Key components to Jubilee:
· Occurred once every fifty years.
· Followed seven seven year cycle of Sabbath years.
· Only began once the children of Israel crossed Jordan under Joshua and began to enter into their destiny (take possession of their land.)
· Began with prayer and fasting on the Day of Atonement and was signaled by the sound of a trumpet (Jubilee means trumpet) and the proclamation of freedom…!
· Included three main dynamics that are important keys to God’s Kingdom economics:
o Debts were cancelled
o Slaves were set free
o Lost inheritances were restored
1. God wants to help me see Him as my source and remember that I am only a steward of His resources.
Fed them with manna until they entered Canaan in order to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
2. God wants to deliver me from the snare of both extreme poverty and extreme prosperity
."7 “Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." (Proverbs 30:7-9, NIV)
3. God wants to help me extend Jubilee so that I can experience Jubilee.
· If I want my debts toward others to be cancelled, I must be willing to cancel the debts that others owe me.
· Cf. story told by Jesus of person who was forgiven a great debt, then refused to forgive his debtor a very small debt, and of the severe judgment that came upon that servant…! Mt. 18:21–35
· Jesus makes it clear, we only have a right to pray, “Forgive us our debts” if we are also willing to pray, “…as we forgive our debtors…”, i.e., “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us…” And God’s Word says that “…in many things we all offend…” (We may not know it, we may not have meant it, but we have done it…)
· Debts were forgiven unconditionally…! (This is the only way to experience grace instead of law…!)
Jubilee meant that every debt was cancelled (even the imprudent ones or the ones that people had been trying to avoid paying, etc….!)
Invitation
Leviticus 26 spelled out many wonderful promises to the Israelites if they would obey and terrible consequences if they disobeyed.
God knew they would fail and He made provision for redemption based on their repentance and confession…
"40 “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”" (Leviticus 26:40-45, NIV)
1. Is their some debt you are owed that you need to cancel?
2. Is there some debt you owe that you need God to cancel?
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