Opening: Are you someone who experiences many moments of déjà vu? If you, are
they typically of people or places?
Scripture: Read
Isaiah 61:1-11.
Connect
the Text with Your Life:
- Does this passage sound familiar? It should. Jesus uses it to announce the beginning of his ministry in his home town of Nazareth (see Luke 4:14-21). List the five things the Messiah will do in verses 1-2:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
- Do we have any responsibility to accomplish these actions? Which one might you do?
- Read verse 6 again. Is it easy or difficult to imagine yourself as a priest or minister of the Lord? Why or why not? What do you think is your best “pastoral” gift or talent?
- How do others know that you are “blessed by the Lord” (see verse 9)? Think beyond the symbols of success that the world values.
Prayer
Focus: That we will join Isaiah in saying, “I will sing
for joy in GOD, explode in praise from deep in my soul!”[1]
