Lesson 22: Be Filled by Hope (1)
Read Luke 4:16-30 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/luk.4

Why doesn't God just take us home? Why do we need to stay here where there are so many tears and bad things happening?

These are common questions from Christians, especially as we grow older. My mother, for example, has been living with congestive heart failure for more than 10 years and she longs to go home to Jesus. My father, as another example, is living in the latter stages of Alzheimer's and wants very badly to go to Heaven. Others might be living lonely lives, might be in pain from disease or failing bodies, or might simply be despairing of life. So what is the purpose of our life?

In this section we will cover four of the most important reasons God leaves us here on earth. The first of these we will call PURPOSE. God has a plan for us to fulfill something for Him. It is the same purpose for which Jesus came to earth. "Now wait a minute," you might exclaim, "we are not here to die for the world!" Let us look at Luke 4:18-19 for a moment. Jesus was in a synagogue and was the reader for this particular day. From the book of Isaiah He read these words, "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, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Go to the book of Isaiah to read these words, Isaiah 61:1-2 from which Jesus was reading. Jesus says he was sent to earth to bring good news, or the gospel. Yes, He came to die as well, but He also had another purpose. An interesting side note here is that Jesus stopped reading in the middle of a sentence in Isaiah 61:2. This was because He did not come to fulfill the second part of the verse at that time.


In John 20:21 Jesus continues this thought when He says that just as the Father had sent Him, He was now sending His disciples. Therefore, the same reasons for sending Jesus, as outlined in Isaiah 61, were to hold true for the disciples also, including us. The purpose for this sending is further explained in Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus told His disciples specifically what their instructions were: they were to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.

Those are our instructions as well. We are to witness to those around us in every way that our current location and our current circumstances allow. If we are in the hospital, we witness by being joyful in the face of pain. If we are in an office, we witness by being honest and honorable. If we are in the church, we witness by being faithful. If we are on the street or in a store, we witness by being gentle and patient. When God places someone in our path, we witness by speaking what God places in our heart to speak.

*What is God’s purpose for your life?