Guest Pastor Phil Edwards

will be blessed as well as i am so if you will give him a round and then he will go ahead and preach god's word 32 years and we have two adult daughters two son-in-laws and two granddaughters so we are we're living a dream right now it's good to be back here at district um have fun memories about just how you guys started and and it's been awesome to see how god is growing you and how he's moved you around about our city with an intentional with a purpose i should say to reach the the save to reach those who were lost to be saved

and so today i want to share with you from isaiah 61 and and the the worship was really man fitting to what we're going to be sharing about here and it's all about how we are to impact the world or the city that god has called us to and love the fact that god is our our living hope jesus is our living hope he is our victory he has broken the chain he has set us free uh and death has lost its grip on me on us amen now that i love a church that responds in that regard when truth is spoken you ought to

say amen especially when the word of god is preached now i know for some of you and i'm i'm setting you up a little bit that's why i have to do this on the front end i don't have to explain it to you again now well i just want you to just feel free in worship as we receive the word of god it helps me as one who is sharing with uh many strangers to feel more comfortable when you are agreeing with the word of god so i have no problem with you talking back to me a little bit amen brother you can say that

okay so praise god we have freedom in the spirit so i want to look at isaiah 61 four verses and and i have really i'll share this with you and we'll jump right into the text uh because i don't want to take too much time talking about me it's all about god right but just note that it's also going to be about you as well as the body of believers and there's a call that god is calling us to do there's a word there's a mission he's calling us to and i want to make sure that we're reminded of that we meaning christians right and

so i have been so uh overwhelmed by the state of the world and and i want and i pray that god ministers to us challenges us and even definitely encourage us to hear what he wants us to hear and to do what he would have us to and and so i think this passage helps us to understand just what is wrong with the world what is wrong with uh the nation what is wrong with our city what is wrong with people is sin would you agree with me on that and so we want to talk about that too but let me just pray and then

we'll read the text and then get right to it lord jesus thank you for this day thank you for allowing us to come into this place to worship you thank you for an opportunity to fellowship and lord thank you that we're able to come in to receive your word and lord as your messenger today i pray that i do you justice i pray that i do your word justice that i speak the truth that your holy spirit would move in me that i would take myself outside of this this space and allow your spirit to lead in god so lord god we ask your blessed

upon the hearers of your word that we will also be doers as well in jesus name we pray amen isaiah 61 verses 1-4 the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who were bound to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all who mourn to grant to those who mourn in zion to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes

the oil of gladness instead of mourning the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit that they may be called oaks of righteousness the planting of the lord that he may be glorified they shall build up the ancient ruins they shall rise up the form raise up the rise of the former devastations they shall repair the ruling cities the devastations of many generations the world seems to be turned upside down can i get a witness on that one there's so much hurt so much pain and brokenness going on whether it's matters across the globe or matters that we experience and we hear about in the

nation even in our city the world is in a terrible place in states amen i don't expect to say man 40 times but just note that you know you can as many as you want so we are devastated by the uncertainties of life things that we can't understand things that we can't control and we are bothered by the issues that we experience on a daily basis i was walking in the grocery store yesterday and i couldn't help but to think in the back of my mind i sure hope no one opens up a piece and starts shooting that that is the reality that that we're

in at least that's for me and i was at a graduation on friday and i thought the same thing tragedy because of all the tragedies we are devastated by what could happen to us even before it happens that we know we are called uh to trust god and not to worry but there's a part of us in the flesh that we are concerned about the things going on around us and we should be not only for our own safety but for the safety and the good of others as well amen so it's not just about me or us i'll try not to take i'll try

not to bring too much of me in this but you have to know that god is stirring up something in me that i'm speaking from hurt but i'm also speaking with an attitude of hope and so today's message in isaiah will focus us on the need uh that the need for the power of the gospel we need the gospel and so i want to talk about how that the gospel reminds us of god's provision all that he does for us and of his great love especially amen and and so his faithfulness and his amazing grace and it helps remind us that we have been saved

and delivered and we are loved by a god who loves us unconditionally yes and so if i could put a title on this sermon it would be people need to hear good news that have been given to us we hear a lot about the bad stuff that's going on in the world but people today we need to be reminded that there is good news that people need to hear and we know exactly what it is it is the gospel the gospel is the good news and so when we talk about this text want to make sure you understand hysterical the historical perspective of what was

going on here in the day of isaiah prophet isaiah declared the good news that god would glorify himself and transform his people and they would be used to restore the ruling nations isaiah spoke of people who were oppressed and hopeless he uses the language of rebuilding because the jewish people literally rebuild the ruins of jerusalem after the exile israel's sins of rebellion and disobedience led them to captivity they were held captive by the nations the egyptians the assyrians and then the babylonians they experienced devastations and ruins in their lives and in their land for many generations they were broken people in need of the savior

some of the jews returned to jerusalem overwhelmed by the years of oppression and they were left without an identity they were broken hopeless and devastated three points i want to make the first one is the mission the second one is the condition and the third point is the impact the mission the condition and the impact verse 1 as we read here it says the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to bring good news to the poor the poor and spirit and the marginally poor the physical poor isaiah explains the goal of the messiah's

anointing to restore creation and advance his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven that was the intended purpose and isaiah was given a a prophecy about the savior who would come that he would restore all creation and he would establish his church and he would call people like us unto the saving knowledge of jesus christ so that we can be disciples of his so that we can advance his kingdom the church is established not only to worship what we're experiencing here not only to hear the word and worship on a sunday on a regular basis on a sunday morning but also the fellowship and

you do that well in small groups and in community and thirdly he calls the church he's established your church to evangelize say or thank you for that prayer to reach your neighbors to reach the nations that is the mission that he's given all of us here's an illustration of that you remember in acts 10 real quick here i just want you to feel this a bit remember in acts 10 when god revealed to peter while he was on the roof in a trance he was to go to joppa and during that time there was a centurion a roman cornelius who had was it was seen

a vision and god was calling him to ask for peter to come visit his house and you remember that story i'll just kind of give us an overview just to see what does it mean to be on a mission here and and i say this too that as peter heard was in the trance he got the the information the men met him at his door and they journeyed with him to joppa so when peter gets there he's on a mission i know we're talking about isaiah but this is just an illustration about peter i'm not preaching this text but i want to give you illustration

so peter hears and he goes out of obedience to joppa he goes into a house to a people group that he didn't have affiliation with jews did not affiliate themselves with gentiles you hear me now as it is in the world today some people groups on affiliate with other people groups can i get a witness on that one all right then and so he goes there and here's some things that he saw the lord had to teach him that what he's made is clean nothing that god makes is unclean and that god doesn't show any favoritism that god loves all of his creation and i

want you to think about this when we talk about all and we talk about his creation when we talk about the people that are hurting they're all of us we're all a part of humanity we're all a part of god's creation he loves us equally i want us to see that i want us to see that because sometimes we say that's not my problem it's a their problem i want us to empathize with humanity sympathize with people the struggles the pain that they're going through we all share a commonality we're all created in god's image well the psalm or christ followers others aren't at at

this time and that we're all broken people that we're all sinful people the difference with between those who are christians and those who aren't is that we have the holy spirit live within us and help us do what god has called us to do to live according to his his word and to be to live out our character according to his character to image him in the way he lived here on earth to model christ that's what we're called to without the help of the holy spirit we can't do that oh you know we still struggle at it now oh you know we struggle at

it in relationships even at home you might have some issues this morning on your way to church come on somebody peter so peter gets to the house and he says this real quick he said in verse 35 but in everyone he says verse 34 he says so peter opened the mouth and said truly i understand that god shows no partiality but in every nation everyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him as for the world that he sent i'm sorry as for the world that he sent to israel preaching good news to preach through to preach jesus christ that he

is all in in all verse 37 so you yourself know what happened throughout judea beginning from galilee and after the baptism that john proclaimed verse 38 how god appointed jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and with power he went out doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for god was with him and then lastly he says this he says that we are witnesses of all he did both in the country of the jews and in jerusalem they that they put him to death by hanging him on the tree we saw why jesus died we saw why he died we saw

him die because he died for us he died for the unsaved and he was saying to canelo's household everyone that cannelli is invited he said that god jesus died for your sins not just my sin the jew not just for jerusalem but for all nations we get that in matthew 28 we are called we've been anointed we've been appointed and we have been commissioned out to share the good news to all the nations go ye therefore and preach the good news to all nations baptizing in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit teach them what i've taught you and know

that i will be with you always even until the end of the world that's the mission and we're part of that mission because the world needs good news the world needs to hear the good news about jesus the world needs to hear that they can have victory in jesus the world needs to hear that death has lost its grip the world needs to hear that the lord is our living hope the world needs to hear that jesus is able to save the world needs for us to testify about how we were lost and doing our own thing how we were astray from him how we

were strange to him to god had no relationship at all and he touched us he drew us he loved us he loves us and we are grateful for the grace that he extends to us amen how does that make you feel so we the church have been anointed and commissioned to make disciples the gospel is for everyone who fears and believes him the gospel transcends grace or rather culture race social economics and it is the good news that people need to hear people need to hear the good news that we have because they need to know jesus that was the first point we could close

out our time on that but we got to talk about the condition the text says preach the gospel here in verse one he says because the lord wanted me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who were bound think about these people think about the way we were bound by the enemy hoodwinked by the enemy some of us perhaps are still hoodwinked by the adversary but brokenhearted so the good news is that your heart can be bound together bind or rather broken could

be bound could be brought back to be restored is what i'm trying to say but not only will your heart be restored but also the reality that you can be set free from captivity from bondage the bondage that was caused by our own sins true the bondage is caused by the enemy the adversary he keeps us in bondage if we believe that we know that when jesus came and died on the cross that we were set free and that the devil he is defeated he's a defeated foe and we don't have to believe the lies because the enemy comes to kill to steal and to

destroy but jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly that's a that's an amen moment there y'all but i ain't trying to force you to say that so this is the state of the world the condition of the world people are broken people are held captive people are bound all the shootings all the shootings across the nation the mass shootings in oklahoma uwaldi texas buffalo new york chattanooga tennessee all the shootings the devastation of disease cancer violence even in our city so we live on the near east side where shepherd is located and not that this is the only place where it

happened but we have a high number of violent homicides that are committed especially on the near east side please hear me out we have issues throughout our city but there is a high percentage on the near east side one reason why we exist as a ministry there one reason why my wife and i live in that community one of the reasons um and so the reality is according to impd that fifth th that the the percentage of folks who were committing these violent homicides are between the age range of 15 and 22. 15 and 22 pulling out pistols killing people for whatever reason taking life

that's a problem our babies 15 years old i had an experience the past four months working in a local school and and working with at-risk teams and i approached them and they were approaching me as well meaning that i was interested in them they were interested in me coming to share with those students and so we have this class we call real talk whereas a safe place for teenagers to talk about their problems so we're saying let's be intentional instead of being afraid of the world instead of being afraid of these people or people who are committing crimes or what have you let's figure out

and let's find out why because we've been called as a church to share the good news we don't hide behind or rather we don't sit on the good news but we go forward we proactively move with the good news because the world needs to hear it the world needs to hear the good news and see the good news lived out in us so going into that classroom and i'm og og is old games to someone who's been around a while if you didn't know you just had a cultural cross-cultural experience so in this classroom we're talking about whatever they want to talk about and the

stuff that they're talking about we're talking 14 to 17 year olds wow it's hard for them they are afraid why are they killing people because they're afraid that they're going to be killed they don't feel comfortable in their own community their heads are on swivels looking around watching their backs because the contacts our babies the people need to hear and see the good that there's good news the good news of the gospel here's a quote and i'll be done with this point we live out our call most fully when we are community of faith and we are a community of faith with arms wrapped around

about a community of pain let me repeat we live out our call most fully when we are a community of faith with arms wrapped about a community of pain it's a quote from john perkins brothers has been around in community development work over 50 years we have the good news for hurting people in our community in our neighborhoods across the city and beyond god is calling us to engage the community of pain people who are broken people who are heart ate people who are in captivity who are bound by the enemy and bound by them themselves we hold ourselves back because of our mind right

third point the impact the latter part of verse two and three to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all who mourn to grant to those who mourn in zion to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes the oil of gladness instead of mourning the garment of praise instead of faint spirit that they may be called oaks of righteousness the planning of the lord that he may be glorified we are oaks of righteousness we are disciples of christ and he has called us to act righteously within the world that is lost that is dying

that is hurt that is devastated we are the oaks of righteousness and we are called to comfort those who mourn now i know we get it when we mourn within the community within the body when we hear the things that happen to our pastor dwayne in three years those three episodes and his wife i forget her kelsey and and so when we hear about these things it affects us right and there are other issues with issue situation that you have within the family i don't know your business like that but i'm sure that there are other things that you're going through and as a community

you are with each other that you are suffering or you're hurting for each other can i get a witness on that so you want to bring comfort to those who mourn it's easy to do for people that we know but what about those we don't know what about those across the street what about those around the corner you were here as a church to multiply yourselves so you can reach more people and make more disciples if you didn't know that you need to check with the leadership maybe you can check the website if you're embarrassed but that's that's what it says that you're about as

district church so this is what you're called to be oaks of righteousness you know oak trees if i can give this quick little illustration about what you represent as and what we represent as oaks of righteousness oak trees have roots that are deep down in the earth and they keep and they keep them strong the roots and so does our faith as oaks of righteousness we are on display so that we can bear witness of god's promises and share his love with all of those around us and also those that we don't even know that's what he's called us to be for them to offer

shade protection and you know oaks yield acorns to offer fruit as well so we are called here as a purpose as a people with a purpose to advance god's kingdom in order to glorify him oaks of righteousness the planting of the lord we're god's work his workmanship created to carry out his mission now i didn't tell you this i talk loud because i'm passionate i'm not upset when when you share something that is so can maybe hard to hear and someone comes across really loud like i am you may feel offended please don't be offended i'm just sharing because i'm a passionate brother okay let

me say that what does it mean for us to impact those who need to be comforted we need to engage them we need to go to where they are we can't expect them to come to us the great commission is about going we have to go and we have to make ourselves uncomfortable we have to take risks we have to be willing to in faith to trust god that he's going to give the increase trust god that when the word goes out it will not return void do we trust him hopes of righteousness a planning of the lord do we trust our savior how about

a few verses that we can encourage people by that i just want to share with you then we're going to wrap our time up with some strategies second corinthians 1 3 and 4 says this blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and god of all comfort who comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by god that's truth that the comfort that we receive from god and we appreciate the comfort amen that the lord will never leave us

no forsake us that we've been may endure for a night but joy coming in the morning and we've had some of those experiences and we say hallelujah and praise god because he delivered me or he was with me he got us through that situation so we in turn share take that same approach and we go to those who are mourning and we comfort them with the truth i know what it means to be struggling today but it's gonna be better if you trust jesus and he he may not come when you want him but he will be on time you've heard that right do we

believe that do we communicate that do we share that do we live that out even when we're struggling even when we're going through heartache do we say what second corinthians says here 4 17-18 this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison this thing that i'm going through is only for a moment it can't be compared to what god's gonna do in my situation that if i just show up god's gonna show out because he's faithful at his word and if we believe that for ourselves then let's share that with others let's model that with others yeah i'm

struggling today i'm having some hearty issues in my life but i believe that god is going to deliver me because he is my deliverer i believe that god is going to restore me because he is my redeemer i believe that god is going to give me hope because i am hopeful in the power of the resurrection of christ what do we do with this to what in so yeah people are encouraged and we take the ashes off the heads and we put all them huh we're talking about when we talk about these verses here and putting the headdress on them affirming people affirming people valuing

them validating them that your life matters that while you may have given up on yourself we are here for you because god is for you and if god is for you who can be against you yes that's what we share with those that we encounter within the body and outside the four walls that's what we share that's what we model yeah the people who are hurting who've given up who don't have a faith for themselves but you say let me help you believe let me walk with you as you were trusting god to believe let me stay in this thing with you let me go

deep like the oak tree roots with you listen don't just be satisfied with the appetizer go all the way in with the main entree we can do a little bit of ministry we can do a little drive-by we can check the box off the list but god is calling us to go all the way in with people as jesus went all the way in for us all the way up to the cross and only in the tomb and on the third day he arose again and then sits on the side of the right side of the father today interceding on our behalf and he's called

us to model his life to model what he did for us now we are not going to necessarily die for anyone necessarily i don't know that personal conviction but what i am saying is that we are willing to tell the people the truth share the good news with them because they need to hear some good news and you we need to share and live out the good news application what does it mean district what does it mean for you to be oaks of righteousness to share the good news about jesus christ in your community what does it mean nehemiah's giving us a great model we're

not going to go there i won't take one more time nehemiah hurt for this people he wrote the book to me in my beautiful narrative the first thing he does he's praying he weeps he wept for the people god is calling us to weep for those who are lost he is calling us to weep about the state of the world this stuff that's going on has to affect us my wife and i watched the world news and we're seeing the things that are going on around the world and a couple of times we were crying on on the couch because it hurts it touches us

we don't know the people we don't know those special 14 kids in your vault in texas at rob elementary and the two teachers we didn't know them we hurt for their family your little kids you have little kids little nieces and nephews grandbabies that age group they're gone they're not going to be here anymore they're lost that needs to affect us it affects god if we have a heart of god i'm not trying to guilt you we have the heart of god then we too ought to weep when we see horrific things going on in the world in our city in our neighborhood whether we

know people are not it should affect us so he wept he prayed he went he went to the people he surveyed the land this is a strategy yo he went there he saw the devastation they were in and then he came to them and he said come see the mess that we're in he identified with him that we are him he's a king's cup bear he didn't live there he could have stayed back home at the at the palace serving king artix xerxes but no he said come see the mess that we are in the walls are torn down the city is in ruins then

he says now come let us rebuild is verse 4 come let us be rebuilders let us come together you don't do ministry to people but you do it with people because people have to want it too there's got to be buy-in and if they're not buying and you still stay with them hoping they do buy in at some point and then you build god does the building through his people he took broken people in his in in nehemiah's day he took broken people who were coming out of captivity 70 years captured by the babylonians and he used them to rebuild the city of jerusalem what

might god do through you district church the people need to hear some good news the gospel and we are called to share and live out the good news now go let's pray lord jesus thank you for your word thank you for the hope that we have in you and lord we pray for this world we pray for all of humanity we pray father for those who are broken who are brokenhearted for those who are hopeless for those who are devastated for those who are mourning we pray that you would help us to to meet them where they are the lord we want to start with

admitting that we're broken and that we are mourning at times and we need to be comforted we pray that you would restore us restore our hope if we've lost it or that you would give us the passion as anointed people of god to move outside of our spaces and go into other spaces where you are able to be glorified where your word is shared and lived out before this loss in dying world use us to advance your kingdom for your glory in jesus name we pray amen