Marcel: So we are going to continue a series, uh, that we call our, or
we have called The Heart of Jubilee.
And so what we are doing as we have this season, and we are really looking at this
as a season to prepare ourselves for the Jubilee, but for this could be really,
again, the heart of the Jubilee is a time.
It's a season in which there is a reset, there is release
and there is re restoration.
And so we really want this time to prepare our hearts to get what is the
jubilee about biblically speaking, and let's start to enter into that mindset.
Let's enter into that season so that what we have, this somewhat of a kickoff, we
can then begin to experience in Christ the jubilee that's available for our lives.
Today.
And so we are going to, uh, conclude here.
Uh, this part of our sermon series.
And the first week we talked about reset.
The last week, Daniel Sogi talked about release.
And then today we're gonna be talking about being restored.
And so we're gonna go ahead and go to the father in prayer.
Let's pray right now.
Father, I thank you so much for, uh, the scriptures.
I'm so thankful for your direction and the heart that we see for your people,
the heart that we see for all of creation as we study out your direction that you
gave to the Israelites in Leviticus 25.
And God, we pray that we can see the application for our lives today.
We can begin to experience the jubilee spiritually in
our hearts and in our lives.
Through Christ, we pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters, I'm gonna need your help today, okay?
Okay.
Can you, can you be with me?
Yes.
Because I gotta be honest, your energy is not with me right now.
We're registering.
And so you're registering.
Is that what it is?
Okay.
If you're registering, then I give you a half.
Okay?
All right.
But I'm a need for you to be with me today.
I need for you to always be with me when I'm preaching, but especially today, some
of you may know that, uh, about a week and a half, two weeks ago, uh, I got shingles.
What?
Yeah.
That's the same thing I said when I saw it.
So those who know shingles is, is basically adult chickenpox.
So if you had chickenpox as a kid, then you can have shingles when you get older.
And so for some reason I, you know, I always grew up and
hung out with the older kids.
So I guess I'm a old soul, but I guess shingles in my thirties, you're not
supposed to get shingles in your thirties, like in your sixties and seventies.
You get what I'm saying?
But I was like, I wanna go early.
And I got shingles in my thirties and then I looked up and uh, I touched my side.
I said, Karina, there's something wrong.
And she looked and she said, you got that shingles again.
And so I went, got medication, but it was more painful.
And I think maybe, 'cause I'm now in my forties, it's been hard.
And so actually I was supposed to preach last week, but I called Daniel.
I didn't call him.
I texted him.
I was kind to you Daniel.
I texted Daniel at three o'clock in the morning and said, I need you to preach.
And Daniel preached last week, you know what I'm saying?
And did a phenomenal job.
Amen.
Now, I did tell him prior that there's a chance, okay?
I wasn't terrible, but he did wake up at 7:00 AM going, okay, I guess I'm up.
And so and so today I feeling a lot better, but I have, I might have a
moment where I stop and look like I get stiff because I am getting stiff
and there's a shooting pain in my side.
Okay?
So if you're like, what's wrong with Marcel?
That's what it is.
Yeah.
So I need for you to be with me.
So can you be with me, church?
So I need your energy to be up church.
The Jubilee and the rest has not started this morning.
Okay.
Alright, so we're gonna get into it.
So to remind all of us, and for those of us who are maybe joining us online
or you, you maybe joining us today for the first time, or you maybe
haven't been here with us in a couple weeks, maybe you've been on vacation.
I wanna remind us here the context of our study.
And so we take it back up to, uh, the Prince of Egypt, back to Moses.
In the book of Leviticus.
And so Levi of Leviticus is the fourth book in the Bible there.
And so in the book of Leviticus, God gives his people some direction.
They're leaving Egypt, they're leaving their slavery from Egypt, and
they're on their way to the Promised Land and in the promised land before
they reach their God has given.
Some direction to prepare them.
What the culture, what has this, this new kingdom, this society will be like.
And so God establishes laws, a judicial system, and he establishes
a culture for his people.
And so that's what's taking place when we get to Leviticus.
Chapter 25.
And so we also mentioned that Leviticus 25 concludes what many
scholars call the Holiness Code.
And so starting in chapter 17, God gives a lot of instruction and direction
on how his people are to be holy.
And God has always envisioned that his people would be holy.
That means to be set apart, to be different, to be of sacred use.
To be of God, to be divine.
And so we take it up in Genesis.
Genesis, not Genesis, in Leviticus chapter 25.
And so that's where we are going to begin our study today.
But I do wanna remind us here as we talk about the Jubilee so
we can all be on the same page.
What is the jubilee?
Well, God told his people every 50 years, I want you to stop working the land.
I want you to free the people who owe debts.
And everybody said Amen for that.
And can we get an American Jubilee with that?
And we wanna return the land to the original family.
So remember they're going to enter the Promised land.
And God had established where the, the tribes and the clans, where they would
have their land in the new promised land.
But as time went on.
People would hit hard times, and so people might make maybe poor
choices that led to hard times, or maybe just their agricultural land
where they went, maybe somebody got hurt, they hit some hard times.
You can't avoid poverty, and so he said, every 50 years we're gonna
return the land back to the original.
Families.
So if you're that family that had lost it, you're seeing hallelujah as well
and any, it's really a call for the people to regain their trust in God.
And so as we will see here, there, it's a time designed for a reset, a release.
Also a time to restore.
And this restoration includes and involves redemption.
Church, are you with me this morning?
Yes.
Alright, so now let's go on over to Leviticus chapter 25, verse 10.
We've read this before.
It says, consecrate the 50th year on proclaim liberty throughout
the land to all its inhabitants.
It shall be a jubilee for you.
Each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.
In this year of Jubilee, everyone is to return to their own property.
We jump ahead on over to verse 47, and it's talking about
this idea of being redeemed.
And so we'll read this real quickly.
It says Conse, it says, if a foreigner residing among you becomes rich, and any
of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner.
Or to a member of the foreigner's clan, they retain the right of redemption
after they have sold themselves.
So people had a hard time, man, I, I can't afford to, to repay the
debts that I owe or I can't afford to, to provide for my family.
So I'm gonna sell myself over to you as a servant or as a slave so that I
can work my way back up and be able to redeem myself, redeem my family, or be
able to provide once again for my family.
You guys get what's going on.
And so that's what's taking place.
And he says, Hey, there's the right of redemption and going on in verse 54, it
says, even as someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children
are to be released in the year of Jubilee.
For the Israelites belong to me as servants.
They are my servants whom I brought out of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God.
We'll stop right there again.
Jubilee was a time for God's people to be restored a redemption.
It is taking place a time to restore what was lost, to restore the land, but
also what was being restored was dignity.
Because imagine, again, if you are in this place and you are in a position
where you have to sell yourself in order to provide for your family,
what's happened to your dignity?
It's been lost.
Your family's dignity is affected and impacted by this, but now that you
get a chance on this year to return to the land, be full ownership, or
really it's a lease, but you're having full ownership and leasing of the
land now it's restored your dignity.
It's also reunited families and re restored relationships.
It was a chance during the Jubilee, during the 50th year
to restore their view of God,
a chance where they could see God for who he really is, A God who is a provider,
a God who is just a God who is the owner of all creation, A God who is the judge.
Of all creation.
A God who was sovereign over the universe, a God who was caring, a God who's
compassionate, and a God who was loving.
They got a chance to restore that view.
Have you ever had a need in your life where you needed
to restore your view of God?
You maybe had it get a little corrupted, maybe life or maybe some poor choices,
had your view a little skewed.
Of the God of redemption.
You know the feeling and reality of being restored.
There's nothing like it you ever felt restored or redeemed in life.
I remember seeing a family member, I went to pick up a relative of mine
who was freed from prison and they first, as soon as they got out of the
prison gates and they went out, the joy was incredible and you can see why
I'm being restored back to society.
Some of us, we can relate in the sense of maybe we've had something valuable
that we lost, but it was returned to us.
You ever had that happen?
Yeah.
Maybe it was your phone, right?
You're like, where's my phone?
And somebody says, I got your phone.
You're like, hallelujah.
It's been restored.
Or maybe a brokered relationship that's mended.
What is that feeling like?
See, when there's restoration, there's no feeling.
There's nothing like it.
It's second to none.
There's a joy, there's a gratitude, and there's a new beginning.
When something is restored.
It's a new beginning.
Now we go forward now having things whole.
And the heart of Jubilee again was a time to reset, to release, and
to restore, you know, over time.
The prophets began to use this jubilee language, this idea of
releasing, being reset, being redeemed, being restored, being free.
They, they, they used it to describe something deeper because
God had revealed that God's vision for his people was a spiritual
renewal and a national redemption.
And so.
In Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they use the themes in the future, hope for God's
ultimate day of redemption for his people, the ultimate day of redemption for all
of creation that would be redeemed and be restored to wholeness, and that all would
have a chance to be restored to a new and eternal relationship with their creator.
And so through the years going from Leviticus and after that, through the
exile where God's people were exiled, but then they returned, and you see
during that time, specifically when the prophets would use this Jubilee
language, this Jubilee themes in their call for God's people, what
they were really pointing toward was something greater, or shall I say,
they were pointing to someone greater.
And you know who I'm talking about, and that's Jesus.
You see, here's the truth here, is that Jesus fulfills the jubilee.
Jesus fulfills the true spiritual jubilee, a resetting, a releasing,
and a restoring spiritually.
Jesus fulfills it because Jesus truly is the embodiment of the jubilee.
Let's go ahead and look at Luke chapter four.
I said, brothers and sisters, are you with me this morning?
Yes.
Luke four, verse 14, no, excuse me, verse 16.
Jesus had already went on this, uh, time and this journey of 40 days of fasting.
There was some perseverance.
Derrick right there.
Jesus, uh, was persevering, preparing him to be able to embark upon his
ministry, and he goes to his hometown of Nazareth, and here's where we take it up.
It says he went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and on the seventh day.
He went into the synagogue.
That was their church.
So he went in to service every Sunday where it was Saturday for them, and he
goes into service, as was his custom.
He stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him on rolling it.
He found a place where it was written.
Jesus knew his Bible.
Did you catch that?
Yep.
It says he unenrolled.
He said, man, let me go to Isaiah.
Let me go to the right prophecy.
I got a scripture for them.
The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began by saying to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
Boy, oh boy, Jesus is a cold man.
Yes, sir.
That's a mic drop if you've ever thought of one.
He gets up and everybody's looking at him.
He says, man, let's go to the scripture.
Hey, let's go to Isaiah.
He reads this.
He rolls it back up, goes and sits down and says, that right
there is being fulfilled today.
You, everybody's like, whoa, who is this dude?
He says he began there and probably started teaching, or he
just left it and said, I'm gonna just let y'all marinate on that.
Come holler at me in a couple minutes.
But they were understanding, Hey, hold up.
This is some of that language.
Wait, we know from Isaiah, it's been mentioned before, and what did you see?
He captures the heart of the Jubilee.
Yeah, there's good news.
This isn't bad news.
This isn't yo k Cal nine news at 11.
This is good news that I bring.
To the poor, but we also know that that could be taken literally, but it was
also to those who are poor spiritually.
And who does that apply to you and me?
And he says, what I'm gonna give freedom for the prisoners.
I'm also gonna give recovery of sight for those who are blind,
and I'm gonna set those who are oppressed, they're gonna be set free.
Because guess what?
This is the year of the Lord's favor.
The year of the Lord's favor.
And so again, what he is ushering in is the true fulfillment of
the Jubilee and Jesus points to himself and says, I am this.
This jubilee is fulfilled in me, in my ministry, and he does it.
This is what his ministry was like literally and spiritually.
He did preach to the poor.
He did give recovery a sight for the blind.
He did all those things literally, but then also spiritually freedom from
those enslaved by sin in Satan's traps, spiritual eyesight would be restored,
now, able to see God again and maybe God clearly for the first time, and
being released from the debt of sin.
Jesus announces, it's the year of the Lord's favor again.
What is he telling us is that Jesus fulfills the jubilee.
All of this was a foreshadowing of Jesus who would come onto this scene and make
sure that this was enacted, not just for a locale, not just for the people of Israel
in the Middle East, but that this would be applied to all of his creation for all.
Who would come?
To faith in Christ.
There would be a reset that's available.
There would be a release that would take place and there would
be a restora, a restoration that would take place emotionally,
mentally, relationally, physically, but most of all spiritually.
This is what you and I have the opportunity to embrace and
to participate in in Christ.
Can I get an amen for that?
Amen.
You see, the Ultimate Jubilee isn't an event, it's a person.
The ultimate Jubilee isn't a year, it's the Messiah.
It's the king, it's the Lord.
It's the son of the living God.
And so you, we see here again as we talk about restoring
Jesus restores broken lives.
Jesus restores broken relationships.
He restores dignity, and he restores our purpose in life.
Amen.
Jesus restores today value You are sacred.
You're not just a running amuck person.
You are God's divine creation who has called you to eternity.
Jesus restores our view of God.
We can view God as something distant.
Jesus says, no, God is personal.
He's right up here, up close.
We can view God as a judge.
Yes, he's a judge, but guess what?
He's a healer and friend.
We can view God as fill in the blank.
Jesus reveals no.
Here's what God is truly like when you look at me, when you hear my words, you
are seeing the living God in action.
And so our view is restored.
Whoa God, you are incredible.
You are the God of mercy, but you are.
You are the God of righteousness.
You are the God of justice, but the God of grace.
The God of truth, but the God of compassion.
You are not either or you are all that, and then some.
Amen.
That's the view that's accurate of God.
Jesus restores our relationship to God.
We have the opportunity through Christ to go from God's creation to God's child.
To go from something he created to know, you are my son and
you are my beloved daughter.
You are an an, an heir to my throne.
You are a co-heir with Christ.
Wait, how is that even possible?
I don't know, but that's what the scripture reveals.
Jesus says, and what Jesus does is that he restores our relationship
not only with God but to God.
I'm not on the outside.
I'm not a foreigner that's nearby.
I'm on the inside and I'm your beloved child.
Hallelujah.
Thank God that Jesus brings the true jubilee.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters, you know, Jesus releases us.
From what holds us captive, as we talked about last week, Jesus releases
us from our shame and our guilt.
Sometimes I remember my sin.
I'm like, my goodness, I can't believe I did such things.
And then I'm reminded, boy, oh boy, I'm, I'm free from that.
I'm not bound by that.
That's not who I am.
That's not my legacy.
I'm released from all past shame and guilt.
Jesus releases us from the temptation of materialism.
Boy, oh boy.
It's so hard to not be trapped by materialism, isn't it?
But Jesus releases us from those chains.
When we follow him, it helps us to focus in on what's eternal.
Jesus releases us from the myth of control.
Again, it's a myth to think that we're in control of our lives.
You think I, I was in control when those shingles popped up on my body.
I couldn't do anything.
It doesn't matter.
And I've been, you know, telling folks, I feel like my body's breaking down.
I've been eating healthy.
I, I've been working out for years, but I'm not even in control
of what happens to my body.
Now, I can influence it, but I'm not in control.
So it's a myth that you and I can ever think that we have complete control.
And so Jesus releases that, releases us from that.
It says, no, God is in control.
You aren't made just for this life.
This life is preparing you for the next.
Amen.
I'm gonna release you from that stress and that nonsense and
that lie so that you can be what?
Free.
Jesus releases us from bitterness.
What entraps us?
You know, it's been said many times, bitterness is, is like
drinking poison, but expecting it to affect the other person.
Jesus takes that cup from us and says, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, you don't need to have that.
You don't need to kill yourself.
I'm gonna free you from that and allow you to be forgiven so that you can
have freedom of, of the bitterness that's enslaved you so that you can
have peace, even if it doesn't mean true peace that we, we we're able to
get reconciled the way I would love to.
He says, even if that's the worst case scenario, I'm still gonna
release you from that bondage.
Amen.
Only Jesus can do that.
Jesus releases us from the enslavement of addiction, whether it's, uh, some
type of sexual addiction, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, you know, chemical addiction
or, or just any other type of addiction.
The addiction of wanting approval, whatever it is, Jesus
releases us from those addictions
just gets the opportunity to be released from the sin that
weighs us down and deceives us.
De sin deceive you sometimes.
It sure deceives me sometimes, but in Christ, the Jubilee comes
and he says, you know what?
This is the year of the Lord's favor.
We're gonna release you from that.
Jesus resets our eyes and our faith.
He resets our view of God again.
He resets our faith and brings us back to what's true.
He brings us back to what's eternal.
He brings us back to what is good.
Yeah.
He brings us back to our true purpose in life.
He brings us back to our mission and he brings us back to God.
Jesus resets it all.
He says, we're gonna hit a refresh on your life,
wherever it's been going, maybe it's veered.
We're gonna hit a reset in your life, and I'm gonna bring you back
to what's real and what does that do.
That leads us to a rest for our souls.
When there's a reset, there's a rest for our souls for today, but he also
leads us to rest as for eternity.
Amen.
Jesus fulfills.
The Jubilee.
Can I get a witness up in here?
Is there anybody who has ever had a time, just at least once in your life?
Well, through and because of Jesus, you've either been re reset, you've
had a release, or you've been restored.
Again, we can testify to this truth that Jesus and only Jesus fulfills the jubilee,
and you and I have experienced that.
Yes, but here's the awesome thing.
It's not just for one time, it's for a lifetime.
Because we can veer and Jesus says, let's come on back.
Let's have a time of reset.
You know what?
You have some things that brought you back to being in captivity.
Let's release you from that.
You have some things that have been lost.
Let's restore what's been lost.
Amen.
So again, you and I can experience the jubilee today in Christ.
I don't know about you.
I'm in need of a time for Jesus to be my jubilee.
Again, God's been telling me, Marcel, you need to reset, Marcel, you need some rest.
Even this past week with shingles, I was like, I gotta work.
Reina was like, boy, lay down.
I was like, okay, but let me do some stuff.
And I just kept not getting better and I'm like, okay, God, I'm gonna rest.
But God's been telling me, Mar, so you need a reset.
You need some rest.
You got some things that they've been holding you captive.
Your pride's starting to get to you again.
Your insecurity is starting to get to you again.
You've been freed from that.
Let's release you again, Marcel.
Amen.
Gotta restore some things.
Marcel.
Your zeal is an evangelist.
Gotta restore that.
I'm like, amen.
Restore my soul to wholeness.
So I don't know about you, but I need Jesus in a time of jubilee in my life.
And I didn't, I didn't know this, and I've been part of planning the jubilee.
So all this time, all this stuff, I'm like, God, you were good.
'cause you setting me up at the right time for me to study this,
for me to get more in touch with this and for me to experience this.
Brothers and sisters, will you embrace or will you step in and lean in and
experience the Jubilee that's in Christ?
I'll just share this real briefly.
It's not in my notes, but I, I do wanna say, if you haven't signed
up for the Jubilee for a reason, like I just don't want to go.
I don't like being around people.
It's too much money.
Do you really wanna forfeit what God might be doing in your life for that reason?
If there's an issue, come holler at your boy.
Let's figure things out.
We can work this out because I believe that God wants every one of us to
experience the jubilee that Christ offers.
And so the heart of the Jubilee is about becoming the people God
always envisioned, rested, free and whole, and that's only found.
Jesus.
And so how should we respond?
I believe this.
We should join Jesus in the ongoing restoration.
Join Jesus in ongoing restoration.
If you're not a disciple of Jesus, then here's how you can apply this idea.
It's to seek now a saving relationship with God through.
And so the ongoing restoration can only take place if you have the
initial restoration in your life.
And that's having a faith in Christ that leads to a commitment to a relationship.
And so we wanna be there and available and helping you to study God's word to
know him and make decisions in response to the grace that has offered you.
For those of us who are disciples of Jesus, we are called to
join the restoration that Jesus began and that he is still.
Doing today.
And that can be seen in two ways.
One, uh, uh, allowing Jesus to lead in your ongoing restoration, allowing
Jesus to take the role lead role, and not you yourself deciding, but
allowing Jesus to take the will, if you will again in your life.
Let me ask you this.
What could life be like if you let Jesus lead your ongoing restoration?
What could your life be like if you let Jesus take the lead
in your ongoing restoration?
And not only can we join in this ongoing restoration by allowing Jesus to lead
it, but it's also when we join in his restoration work in other people's lives.
Joining Jesus in his good work of restoring what was lost.
You know, the greatest opportunity that you and I have as a child of the living
God is to join him in helping others go from being lost to being saved.
There's no greater opportunity.
What beats that?
For a soul to go from lost to being safe and you being used by God
just to play a small role in that,
why would we ever forfeit that unless we're off a little bit, right?
We're not thinking clearly.
We got some stinking thinking going on, and this is how we can
respond to Jesus being the jubilee in our lives, is to join Jesus.
And the ongoing restoration of our own souls, but also in the souls around
us and sharing the good news and being faithful to those who respond
to the good news and helping them to learn to obey the good, the gospel,
the way it commands us in Matthew 28.
We're gonna close out here with some action steps.
Brothers and sisters, are you still with me?
Here's some action steps this week here.
Real simple.
Number one, follow week three's reading plan and questions.
And so we do have hard copies.
Again, we don't make a a, a lot of hard copies 'cause we know as soon as
you fold, you'll never see it again.
Right, so you can, you can go ahead and pull out your phones.
We got that on there.
We'll also put it, uh, on the, uh, the newsletter and we'll also put it,
uh, on, on the church app as well.
And so there, uh, again, you can serve, it could serve as a devotional
time for you or an additional time.
The discussion questions have been rich if you do it with somebody.
I had me and Daniel Samoy this week.
I was with Chris Glossy last week, and man, I was just so filled up to hear
how God had been ministering to them.
And so it's been awesome.
But second.
Follow, I mean, reflect.
Reflect, and ask yourself this question, and please do this.
What area of my life needs to be restored?
Spend some time.
Allow yourself to not just answer it quickly, but allow the spirit to minister
to you as you answer that question.
Let the spirit reveal it to you.
Maybe it's one, maybe it's two, maybe it's three things.
And then lastly, to respond, take one step toward restoring it
this week, whatever's revealed.
Maybe it's a conversation, an apology, asking for help,
rebuilding, trust, prayer, et cetera.
But again, here's the action step this week that every single one of us we can
do in response to Jesus being the true.
Jubilee in our lives.
I'm excited about the Jubilee and the ICMC this week, and it's right here.
It's local.
We just drive a couple of minutes.
I'm excited about it.
I'm excited that as a church, but individually, we're in a season where
we can experience the heart of Jubilee.
The heart of Jubilee again is what?
A reset that includes rest, a release from what's holding us captive.
To restore and redeem what has been lost.
Jesus fulfills the jubilee and we can join in the ongoing restoration.
Jesus began.
Let's close out in this passage here in Luke four, verse 18 to 21.
Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61 and he says, the spirit of the Lord is
on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners in recovery of sight for
the blind, to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat
down in the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began by saying to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
God always wanted ju to believe Jesus brought.
It's fullness now.
We prepare to experience it together.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters.