Text: Isaiah 61

Tonight I want to preach a very familiar chapter out of the Old Testament. A chapter that Jesus quoted and one designed to encourage you with your walk with Christ.

We need his spirit to once again be in control of our services and of our lives. We need his anointing to preach good news to the poor and we need his anointing to comfort the broken hearted. As we build a church through outreach we need God’s spirit to set the captive spirits free. We need to be busy in the anointing to ministering to others!

But if you are broken and if you are being held captive, Jesus has been anointed to set you free.

Verse 2: Those who mourn….look up… it is time for God’s favor. We can walk in God’s comfort; we can live in God’s peace. God’s spirit has the ability to lift your heavy burden and to help with your broken pieces. He will comfort those who mourn. He will bless those that are at a point of despair. You can not give up because the Spirit of the Lord is here.

He is here to trade out your burdens!

I know that right now your plate is full of negative things. You have grief and you have depression. You have grief and you have depression. You face problem after problem, but tonight God wants to make a swap. He will take your pain and give you peace. Swap it out tonight!

Verse 4: You will rebuild the old places. The enemy has destroyed, but God will rebuild. God will bless you and you will be called priest and God will take care of you.

Verse 6-7: God will feed you. He will prepare for you the meals that are needed for you. It may be dark where you are right now, but be encouraged and lift up your heads. God is at work. The good news is that you are being blessed. Instead of having shame and dishonor you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.

Some of you tonight need to lift up your voice and shout that its time for your double portion. Lift up your voice and call upon the name of the Lord and then hold out your hands. Its time for your double portion! God is going to bless your finances and your spirit. You are about to over-flow!

Verse 8-9: God is a God of Justice and he will make things right. He will comfort and encourage. He sees all of your burdens and he sees all of your suffering and he is going to make a covenant with you. He is going to make a promise to you that he will be your God and you will be his children and that people will see you and will call you blessed.

Verse 10-11: I am overwhelmed. I am amazed at how God is working in my life. I was once in total despair, but now I am overwhelmed in Joy. I was lost and in bondage, but the spirit of the Lord has come upon me and has set me free. I use to live in darkness, but now I live in the spirit of his light.

God is showing me his love and his peace. His justice is right. He has dressed me as a bride adorned with jewelry. God has taken a person of impurity and made us pure. He has taken a person unloved and loved me. He has taken a prisoner and set me free. Jesus has taken a peasant and made him a prince. He has taken a no body and made me a somebody.

I am not oppressed, I am free. There has been good news for the oppressed, God has set us free. You are going to make it. You are going to overcome. Don’t give up. Don’t let the devil win. You are a child of God and you are going to be blessed! The devil wants you to think that there is no hope. But the devil is a liar. The wants you to believe that God doesn’t love you,