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A friend of mine has said to me many times that your story of God changing your life or the life of another is the most powerful means by which we can introduce the gospel to someone who has yet to meet Jesus.

Telling other people’s story is effective for sure, but what about your story?  What would you share if your son or daughter got in your lap and said, “tell me a story of how Jesus has helped you?”  How about a friend asking you why your “religion” is so important to you?  Do you quote a scripture? Would you share your story? Sharing scripture and your story can be so powerful.

We feel confident in Scripture.  However, we often feel insecure about our story as if it lacks any inspiration or dramatic episodes that could change a person’s perspective about Jesus, let alone cause them to want Jesus. 

Could it be that you have failed to connect the story of Jesus to your own?  Could it be that you are putting yourself in a box, or maybe living out a box others have put upon you?

Perhaps we need a reminder of Jesus’ story to connect to our own?  We will begin there and the last half of this series, we will be including the stories of those within this church family who have had Jesus’ story transform their own.

Prayer for the series

Open your Bibles to Luke 4:14-30

If you sat down with Jesus and asked him “What’s your story?”  Where might he begin? 

Would he begin with what life was like for the Trinity in their continual pre-existence before Creation?

Day one in Genesis?

No, Jesus what’s your story here on earth as a human being? 

• Temple moment.
• Growing up with Joseph, Mary, and his brothers.

What was it like, you know, once you were revealed? 

• Baptism
• Going out into the desert and fasting.
• That first sermon.
• That first miracle.

Actually, what was it like going back to Nazareth? 

Read Luke 4:14-16

Jesus is back in town…Rumor has it.

• Rumor has it that Jesus has been teaching at various synagogues and creating quite a stir with his powerful and authoritative teaching.
  
  
• Rumor has it that he did some miracle at a wedding turning water into wine.
  
  
• Rumor has it that he has healed people from diseases.
  
  
• Rumor has it that he even healed someone from afar just by saying the word.

Read Luke 4:17-23

• There were scheduled readings of Moses and of the Prophets just like we do today at LEFC.
  
  
• It was customary that the minister or attendant at the Synagogue would hand the scroll to someone to read.
  
  
• The person reading would stand and then sit to explain or reflect on the text.
  
  
• Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1-2a. He does not read the last part of verse two that speaks of God’s vengeance which will happen at Christ’s second coming.  He reads to the point of the year of the Lord’s favor which is now!
  
  
• This is received well. ALL spoke well of him and his “gracious” words.  (22a)
  
  
• Yet, the questioning of his authority is creeping in— “We know you. You are Joseph’s son.” 
  • The caste system would suggest he is lesser and not in a position to speak with such authority.
  • The Gospels Mark and Matthew really draw that out in this scene.

• You do not have this authority to speak this way. You need to prove it.  Heal somebody right now.  Put on the show.  Strangers may accept you from other places, but they did not grow up with you.  We did.  The people in Capernaum can easily be misled because they do not know who you really are. (23)
  
  
• You don’t fit the “Messiah” profile! (Societally speaking, not to mention the conquering king expectation)

The hometown box—"We know who you are…who you really are.” 

Read Luke 4:24-30

• Jesus speaks the truth that his hometown was less likely to receive him than a gentile. (24)
  • Elijah was received by the Sidonian woman who believed. God honored her.
  • Elisha healed the Syrian leper who believed, and God chose to heal him over the many in Israel.
  • You might counter that if he had done those miracles in Nazareth they might believe. In Luke 16:30-31, Christ points out that miracles more often than not do not lead to belief for those who witness them.

• The mood shifts from praising him for gracious feel-good words to absolute offense and anger. (28)
  
  
• Anger rose to the level of rage, and in their fury, they took him to Mt Precipice to throw him off of its cliff. (29) [Image 1] [Image 2]
  • This cliff gives you the view of where those two stories happened centuries before.

Jesus spoke truth with grace, yet he was not accepted in his hometown. 

• Jesus did not come into Nazareth with swag about what he had been doing around the Galilean region. He came graciously and it was received that way.
  
  
• Sometimes, telling your story is most difficult in your hometown. [Image- Senior Pic]
  • They could not remove the box they had upon him.
  • He did not let the box hem him in for what God was doing through his life.

• Jesus pulled a divine crowd surfing moment and disappeared.
  • Was not his time.

What’s your hometown story?

1. What has God done in your life that others would not know about or accept?
   
   
2. Does your hometown remind you of who you use to be, not accepting who you have become?
   
   
3. Do you let the box of your past hem you in and keep from sharing the story of what God is doing in your life?

People want to have hope.  They see it best through a life that lives and speaks of it!

Benediction:

John 4:39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers. ⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”