John K. Jenkins Sr - God's Exchange Program

Father, thank You for the privilege and opportunity of being in a house of prayer . Thank You for the New Psalmist Church and the ministry of Bishop Walter Thomas and his son. I pray that You take these next few moments and allow us to be Your mouthpiece, Your conduit. Let us be a channel, a river of Your love and truth . Let Your name be proclaimed, and may You receive all of the glory and honor. In the precious name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Let me invite you to open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 61; there is a familiar passage there. If you don't mind , please stand for the reading of just a few verses. I'm not a long-winded preacher, so jump right on board as quickly as you can. I'm a helicopter, not a 747; I'm going straight up . Verse one says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified." Amen.

Before you sit down, look at your neighbor and say, "God's exchange program." Now tell the person on the other side, "God's got a great exchange program." You may be seated.

This is a significant passage; it is, in fact, the passage that Jesus read when He walked into the temple, as recorded in Luke chapter 4. This passage , Isaiah 61, is a prophetic verse. As a matter of fact, I believe it somehow applies to you, Dr. Walter Thomas Jr. Can I call you Junior so I don't get confused ? The Spirit of the Lord God is upon you ; the Lord has anointed you to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent you to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to open the prison to those who are bound. That 's an assignment, a destiny that God has placed on you . He's called you, gifted you, anointed you, and is using you to make an impact on the lives of people who are struggling. You 've been doing it-in fact , you did it in Pennsylvania, and you're going to do it here at the New Psalmist Church.

God has anointed you to bring a good message, to proclaim good tidings to the poor , and to bring healing to people who have been through brokenness and the tragedy of broken relationships . God wants to use you and will use you to help heal people who have been crushed, whose hearts have been bruised . It is you that God plans to use to bring liberty to those who are in captivity. It is the anointing that God has placed on you to open the prison doors for those who are bound and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. That is the assignment that God has for you; you cannot escape it, and you cannot run from it-don't try. God has anointed you for such a time as this. This is your season; it's your time, your destiny . Your mama gave birth to you , but God already had in mind what He had in store for your future.

I am fascinated by this particular passage of Scripture. It has encouraged me and strengthened me, and I speak it to you for a few moments . However, there is something in this passage that troubles me, and I want to talk about it for just a few moments. It is the latter part of verse two and the start of verse three, which says: " to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion." That is a troubling section of Scripture, for it indicates that some people are crying in Zion , mourning in Zion.

That troubles me. Why would you be crying in Zion ? Zion represents the place where God abides ; it's God's hangout place. Zion is the place of hope and glory; it is where God wants His saints to be. Zion represents God's perfect will. I don't know how you live , but I want to live my life in God's perfect will. I don't want to be on the sidelines; I don't want to be in a side street or just in the vicinity . I want to be right down Main Street, right in the middle of God's perfect will for my life. Do I have any witnesses today? That 's what Zion represents: being in God's perfect will . However, this is what has troubled me-it says there are some people who are in Zion, but they need consolation . They are mourning; they're crying.

That still troubles me , but I guess it must have some level of truth to it because the truth of the matter is you can be in Zion and still be crying. I know we don't like to talk about that; we like to act like everything's fine all the time . We want to act like we're perfect, that we've arrived, and when people ask us how we're doing, even though we ...