“The Missing Year”
(Luke 4:14-15)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
October 4, 2009
I. Introduction
A. This past year in America
1. October 4 of last year
2. What a ride!
a. The economic crash
1. The stock market
2. Housing values
3. Banks and businesses
b. The world
1. Iran
c. Deaths
1. Michael Jackson
2. Ted Kennedy
3. What will this next year bring?
B. Today, one year in the life of Christ
1. Hidden between two verses in Luke
2. Six things you need to know
II. Review
A. After the temptation
1. Ends in Luke 4:13
(13) When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
2. Jesus is ready to go public….Luke 4:14
(14) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. (15) He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
3. But….what was the “news about him” that caused so much excitement?
B. The “gap” between verses 13 and 14
1. Twelve months not recorded by Luke
a. But the Gospel of John addresses it in detail
b. Luke merely affirms it when he says that Jesus returned to Galilee
2. The importance of those 12 months
a. Let me give a 30 minute overview
b. Without preaching through the Gospel of John
C. Six highlights from “the missing year”
1. Jesus started to build His team (John 1:35-51)
a. Shortly after the temptation
1. John the Baptist is walking with 2 of his disciples
2. He spots Jesus coming
b. John 1:35 “Look, the Lamb of God!”
1. One of the two was Andrew
a. Andrew spent the day talking with Jesus
b. Andrew ran and found his brother
(John 1:41-42) The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon (Peter) and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
c. The simple testimony
1. “I’ve found the Savior”
2. The next day Jesus asked Philip to follow him
a. Philip immediately found Nathanael
1. “Follow me to Jesus”
b. The Gospel went “viral”
1. Doubled
2. Jesus performed his first miracle (John 2:1-12)
a. A brief trip to his home area
b. Cana of Galilee
1. Suburb of Nazareth
2. Could walk there from Nazareth
c. Turned the water into wine
1. His first miracle
2. Left the town all a buzz
a. “What just happened here?”
3. Jesus drove the money changers from the Temple…..John 2:12-25
a. Spent most of that year in and around Jerusalem
b. Created quite the riot during the Passover
c. The crooked money changers in the Temple
1. Drove them out with a whip
2. Claimed the Temple was his Father’s house
3. That made him the Son of God
d. The talk of the whole country
1. As people returned home after the Passover
2. All talking about this guy from Nazareth
4. Jesus laid out the core of His teaching…..John 2 & 3
a. Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh….John 2
1. Not just a brilliant teacher
2 When he cleaned out the Temple, he declared…
(16) “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”
3. Thus…Jesus claimed to be the son of God
b Jesus claimed he would rise from the dead……John 2
(18) Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this
1. They wanted a sign
2. His answer as he spoke about his body
(19) “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
3. Jesus became the talk of the town
a. The religious center of Israel
b. Land of theologians
c. Jesus laid out the simple plan of salvation…..John 3
1. Nicodemus came to him secretly at night
a. The greatest of the teachers
b. His question….how to be “born again”
2. The simple plan of salvation…..John 3:16
(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him
5. Jesus launched a revival in Samaria…..John 4
a. The woman at the well in John 4
1. Samaritans were looked down on by the Jews
*but not by Jesus
b. She told everybody in town what Jesus had said
c. They rushed out to meet Jesus
(39) Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony
b. First revival was among non-Jews
(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.”
6. Jesus returned to Cana (John 4:43-54)
a. They wanted another miracle….and Jesus delivers
b. Healed the official’s son
c. The buzz intensified
1. Jesus has returned to the Galilee!
2. What will he do next?
d. He was a superstar
e. Great excitement as he returned to Galilee
D. That brings us back to Luke 4:14-15
(14) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. (15) He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
1. The Place of His Ministry (MacArthur’s outline)
(14) Jesus returned to Galilee
a. Galilee
1. The area which circles the Sea of Galilee
2. Bordered by....
a. east East bank of the Sea of Galilee
b. west Mediterranean coast
c. north Mountains of South Lebanon
d. south Judea
3. Size
a. 50 miles north and south
b. 25 miles east and west
4. Incredibly fertile
a. The oranges
b. The valley of Sharon
c. Josephus “Anybody can grow anything in Galilee”
d. Contrast with Judea
5. 240 towns or villages in Galilee
a. 3,000,000 people
6. Where the great roads of the world crossed
a. The trade routes to Rome from the East and Africa
b. Jesus would spend the next 1 ½ years there
2. The Power of His Ministry
in the power of the Spirit,
3. The Popularity of His Ministry
and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
a. Miraculous healings
b. The money changers
c. His message
d. Their search for the Messiah
4. The Priority of His Ministry
a. Took it to their synagogues
(15) He taught in their synagogues,
1. Next week
2. Like our churches today
a. Several in each town
b. More details in Luke 8:1
“After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
5. The Praise of His Ministry
and everyone praised him.
a. His reputation preceded him
b. Was a rock star after the 12 months in Judea
c. He was the talk of the country
1. Had the power to heal
2. Was he the “one?”