This Sunday Pastor Carl continued the Empowered message series by talking about Jesus commissioning the disciples in Matthew 9 & 10. Jesus saw how the people of His day were neglected and discarded and he was moved with compassion because of it. Jesus spent years discipling his followers to see the world the way God sees the world.
The framework of God is not the framework of this present age. God desires justice and mercy which flows from his lovingkindness. When he saw how people were being abused by the religious, political, and economic systems of his day he waged spiritual warfare against those powers.
In his message, Pastor Carl spoke about how the enslaved people in the United States were freed by the 13th amendment, yet some were kept in enslavement far beyond that. Once the Army showed up in Texas, they declared that a new government was running the show and they notified freedom to those who are still illegally enslaved.
Likewise, enslavement continues today both spiritually and naturally. We saw a news article from this past Friday of a man who had enslaved women and sex trafficking right here in Boca Raton. We need to be aware of the injustice of both our past and our present to remind us of what sin we are capable of without the work of the Gospel.
The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. In response to the compassion of Jesus towards those who were oppressed, he told the disciples to go and preach that the kingdom of God is now in charge. He told his disciples to both free those who were oppressed and to cast the devil out of their oppressors.
In the conclusion of his message, Pastor Carl gave us three things we can do to join Jesus in this fight against the forces of evil in this present age. The first is to make a commitment to tell our testimony to someone who needs freedom. The second was to invite them to church where they can learn about their freedom. Third, we are to meditate upon the word of God and declare it over our lives. We have to revisit the Gospel and keep it alive in our lives.