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Jubilee People: Living the Jubilee Life (North OC)

In this sermon, Marcel Hall reflects on the recent experiences of the International Campus Ministry Conference (ICMC) and LA Jubilee, emphasizing the unity and inspiration drawn from these events. He challenges the congregation to ponder the question 'Now what?' after these events, encouraging them to share insights on how to move forward individually and collectively. Marcel urges the church to remember their identity as 'Jubilee People' who live a 'Jubilee Life'—resetting, releasing, and restoring according to God's will. He cites biblical passages to underline that the Jubilee is ongoing, calling believers to embody Jesus' message of freedom, reconciliation, and restoration daily. Marcel concludes by providing practical action steps for the week to help the congregation remain true to their mission as Jubilee People.

00:00 Introduction and Gratitude

01:06 Reflecting on Recent Events

03:14 The Call to Proclaim

04:00 Group Discussion: Now What?

04:51 Sharing Reflections

07:51 Living the Jubilee Life

10:15 Scriptural Foundations

13:27 The Early Church as Jubilee People

16:51 Our Call to Be Jubilee People

27:16 Practical Steps and Conclusion

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Marcel:

Alright, well my name is Marcel Hall and uh, uh, with my

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wife Karina, we have the honor and

privilege of being able to serve full

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time in the ministry here and just

so grateful for our church family.

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So grateful for the church family that

we have all across the globe, but so

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grateful for the church family we have

right here in North Orange County.

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As I look around, I can see certain

things, uh, that I connect with certain

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people on, whether it's sports, even if

we like different teams, like, you know,

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my good friend Brian over there with this

LA Dodgers hat, and, and, uh, even though

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I'm an Angels fan, I, I, I still love him.

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Still love him to death there.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Uh, we got, we have so many things and

points of connection and, and whether it's

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been through hard times where we've cried

together, where we've laughed together,

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uh, or whether we've served together.

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So grateful for this spiritual family.

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So grateful for the, uh,

chance that my kids have.

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To be a part of this spiritual family and

to have you guys as uncles and aunties and

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older brothers and cousins to look up to.

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So thank you for, uh, being

that for our family here.

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Um, we had a great time as

was mentioned, that there was.

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Uh, last weekend, the, uh, international

Campus Ministry Conference, which

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was called Proclaim, and then

we had the, uh, LA Jubilee take

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place for the rest of us there.

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And wasn't that a fantastic time?

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And so whether you were there from

Wednesday, like I was, or you only made

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it on Sunday, how incredible was it

again to be in there with a, a worship

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service at the Anaheim Convention Center?

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Over 5,000 people there, right.

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I mean, that was so, it was so cool

driving up and seeing, you know, the

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name on the Anaheim Convention Center.

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It's like, that's my church right there.

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I even fired up about stuff like that.

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I'm like, disciples are in the building.

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You know what I'm saying?

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And so it was so

encouraging, so uplifting.

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Uh, I know personally for me, minister

to my soul, being able to see friends

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for many years and being able to connect

friends I haven't seen in years and

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being able to connect right on the spot.

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And just being able to, uh, remember

and think about the connection that

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we have and how we've helped each

other to stay faithful in Christ.

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And so it was a fantastic time and it

was so cool to have, uh, uh, college

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students from all across the country.

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Uh, as well being able to, uh, be

inspired and all of us in LA Church and

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Pacific Southwest to be inspired by God.

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And I know God ministered to

many of us and he ministered

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to me through the messages.

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I know I'm inspired, uh, to

be a better, a better father.

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I'm always trying to be a better father,

but man, I heard a message and I was

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like, man, I still have a long way to go.

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Amen.

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And I was inspired to

be a better minister.

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I was like, man, I need

to be the minister again.

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Uh, that God wants me to be, to continue

to become more and more like Jesus.

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Amen.

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And so don't know about you, but I

know even talking on Wednesday for

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our midweek, many of you share how

God has been ministering to you and

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how he's calling you, uh, to draw

more and more to him in relationship

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and to become more and more like him.

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In character and in nature.

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And so, uh, now we've had this experience.

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We've had the ICMC, we've had the

Jubilee, and we are called to proclaim

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the Jubilee the year of the Lord's favor.

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But here's my question

for us today, the Jubilee.

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Now what?

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Now what we've had the

ICMC, we've had the Jubilee.

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We had a sermon series that led

us to these great, phenomenal

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conferences and where we looked

at the heart of the Jubilee and

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how God wants to reset his people.

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He wants to release his people from

what can hold his captive and how

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he wants to restore what's lost.

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And then we had this great

experience, this mountaintop

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experience this past weekend.

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So now what,

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so here's what I wanted you to do.

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I want you to answer

those questions, okay?

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I want you amongst each other

there in twos and threes.

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And if you weren't here, uh, obviously you

can't answer that question, but you can

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receive some answers from those around us.

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So let's go ahead and let's

share with one another.

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What do you believe now?

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For us as a church and maybe for

you individually coming from this

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kind of season, if you will, or

beginning of a season of a jubilee.

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So let's go ahead and give you a couple

minutes to share with each other.

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And if you're online with us, you can

go ahead and put on the chat there

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whether YouTube, Facebook, put on the

chat and we can share with one another.

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What do we believe God wants?

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After the Jubilee, we had

a sermon series Jubilee.

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Now what?

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Okay.

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Alright, so let's, uh, let's, let's,

let's run this risk right here.

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Let's go ahead and have

a couple people share.

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Uh, what do you believe

now the jubilees happen?

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We had a sermon series to prepare our

hearts to understand what the Jubilee was

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about and how Jesus fulfills the Jubilee.

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And we've had this great time

at the ICMC, the Jubilee.

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Now what?

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So let's go ahead and let's

have a couple people share.

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Now, here are some parameters.

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It has to be brief.

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So I know some of you, and I love every

one of you, but some of you we know.

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You wanna get up here for

30 more minutes and share?

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That's not what we're doing right now.

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That's not part of the answer.

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Okay.

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So, but we can have in one to two

sentences brief but yet descriptive

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and not two run on sentences, but

one or two sentences being able

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to share what do you believe as

a church or you at individually.

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We had the jubilee.

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Now what?

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You guys with me here?

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Alright, so let's go ahead.

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Let's have a couple

people go ahead and share.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Thank you.

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A need for trust and to pray that

God's will be done and not my own.

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Okay, great.

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Awesome.

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All right, uh, let, let,

let's go right here.

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Okay.

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Alright.

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Allen said he feels like it's a

call now to build relations and

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my man signed up for the man camp.

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Come on, let's go.

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I signed up last week.

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It's for the low, low price.

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Did y'all see that?

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$55.

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That's good.

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It's a low, low price right there.

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I mean, you go to

Chick-fil-A, you spending $55.

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You know what I'm saying?

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That's on one meal.

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Or at least that's my family.

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All right.

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I saw it $70 the other day.

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I said, we are never

ordering drinks again.

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You know what I'm saying?

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So I'm sorry.

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I'm just being vulnerable here.

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If you here for the first

time, this is my therapy.

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All right.

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There you go.

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Alright.

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Uh, Jane.

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Yes.

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Alright, thank you very much.

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She talked about really the, the

decision and the opportunity to

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experience joy and not just happiness.

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Okay.

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Let's get a college student over here.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Alright.

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Who is that right there?

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Go ahead.

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Yes.

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Okay.

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Awesome.

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Amen.

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It was Sam, correct.

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Yeah, so, so Sam, uh, said basically

he feels the, the call to proclaim,

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uh, the word, not just in Long Beach.

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He's coming from Long Beach,

but all across and other places.

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And it sounds like you're

moving to Orange County.

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Oh, I'm already here.

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Oh, you're already here.

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Oh, cool.

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Alright.

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Maybe next week we'll have you up

here for the new member spotlight.

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All right.

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There you go.

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He's like, what's that?

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Don't worry about it.

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We'll tell you.

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Okay.

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Alright, so as we can see there's

things individually, but remember

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that God is ministers to us

individually and he individual and

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he ministers to us collectively.

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And so he has a message

for us collectively, and he

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also has something for us.

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Individually, and so now we've gone

through a sea where we started something.

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We read, okay, what was the jubilee?

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What was God's heart behind the

jubilee when he established it after

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Moses led the people outta slavery and

they were entering the promised land

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and we saw how Jesus is the truth,

fulfillment of the jubilee, then we've

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had these great classes and conference.

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So now what is God calling

us to collectively?

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I believe that God is calling us to be

Jubilee People Living a Jubilee Life.

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To be a jubilee people

living the jubilee life.

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And in fact, I believe that this season

that really the, you know, the Jubilee

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wasn't an event, it was a season.

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It was a year in which God called for his

people for a whole year to trust in him.

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Yeah, for them to take a rest, for

them to hit a reset button spiritually,

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emotionally, and even physically, and

for the land to hit a reset button.

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And it was an opportunity that

God wanted for his people to

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release and also be released from

things that could hold us captive.

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And then God wanted this season where

his people can restore what was lost.

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And we see again that

Jesus fulfills all of that.

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And brings all of that to us.

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And so every single day of our lives

as a disciple of Jesus, we have the

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opportunity to live a jubilee life.

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Amen.

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But God is reminding us, I

believe, to be a Jubilee.

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People living the Jubilee life and as the

Orange County Church, and especially here

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us in North Orange County, we wanna take

the next several months and continue,

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not an event, but a season where we can

really dive more and more into this.

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Reality that we can enjoy and

experience of a reset of a release

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of a restoration in which we can

proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

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So that's our plans here

for the next several months.

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Here is for us to do this, but this

is the title of the lesson today,

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Jubilee, people Living the Jubilee Life.

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Can I go ahead and pray for us?

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Father, thank you so much for

allowing this to already be filled

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up to even to hear what others have

shared and how you administer to 'em.

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I'm excited about these, uh, uh, things

that you are doing in their lives

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and the things that will be produced.

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God, I pray right now as we look

at a few scriptures that we are

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reminded of truth and reality, that

we allow nothing to get in our way

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from hearing your voice this morning.

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And Father, we pray that, that we

can walk away with greater faith.

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Greater trust and a greater

faithfulness to you.

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In Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Let's go ahead.

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Let's go on over to Luke chapter four.

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Luke chapter four.

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Again, we're gonna have a couple

reminders here, and so we're gonna

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look at a couple of scriptures that

many of us are very familiar with.

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But what I want to ask of you as

we look through these is to look

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through the lens of a jubilee,

people living a jubilee life.

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You guys with me here?

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So it's a fresh take here on

some of these verses, but let's

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be reminded that Jesus fulfills.

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The Jubilee.

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And a couple weeks ago we, we studied

this out, but we'll read it again.

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Luke chapter four, Luke was a doctor,

he became a Christian, and he decided

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I'm gonna do some interviews about Jesus

and I'm gonna write this biography.

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And it's a letter that

he wrote to someone.

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And he writes this, really, this biography

capturing Jesus and his ministry.

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So we take it up in chapter four

in verse 16, talking about Jesus.

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He says he went to Nazareth

where he had been brought up.

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And on the Sabbath day he went into

the synagogue as was his custom.

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He stood up to read and the

scroll of the prophet Isaiah

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was handed to him, unrolling it.

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He found a place where it is written.

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The spirit of the Lord is on

me because he is anointed me to

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proclaim good news to the poor.

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He has sent me to proclaim freedom for

the prisoners and recovery of sight for

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the blind, to set the oppressed free to

proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

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And then he rolled up the scroll, gave

it back to the attendant, and sat down.

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The eyes of everyone in the

synagogue were fasting on him.

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He began by saying to

them, today this scripture.

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Has been fulfilled in your hearing.

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Jesus again, brought the

true jubilee because he's the

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embodiment of the jubilee.

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He brought a reset and he still

continues to bring a reset.

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He released and he still continues to

release and he restores as he did then.

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And so we saw in his ministry, as we study

out the gospels, we see his ministry.

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Fulfill these things prophesied

about here in Isaiah 61.

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So let's take a quick snapshot, look

at Jesus's ministry to see that not

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only did he preach this, but he, again,

he fulfilled this call in his life.

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And we take it up in Matthew

chapter nine, verse 35.

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Brother and sister, are

you still with me here?

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Amen.

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Well, Jesus went through all the towns

and villages teaching in their synagogues,

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proclaiming the good news of the kingdom,

and healing every disease and sickness.

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When he saw the crowds, he had compassion

on them because they were harassed and

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helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

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Then he said to his disciples, the harvest

is plentiful, but the workers are few.

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Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to

send out workers into his harvest field.

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We get a snapshot of Jesus in

his ministry and what's he doing?

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He's proclaiming the good news

again, that the Lord's favor is here.

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Why?

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Because the Messiah is here.

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And he's healing and he's preaching.

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Why?

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Because he has compassion upon the people.

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Things are being transformed.

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Things are changing because

lives are being changed.

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Communities are being transformed

by the word that Jesus brought, and

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by his healing and his teaching.

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That he brought to those who

would hear and you say, well,

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okay, well what happened after

Jesus's death and resurrection?

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Well, we take it up in Acts chapter two.

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Again, a passage many of us

are very familiar with, but

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look at this again through the

lens of Jubilee, people living.

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The Jubilee Life.

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Acts chapter two, again, is a really

documenting what the church was like

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after Jesus' resurrection and the Holy

Spirit filled up every follower of Christ

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and led the church to great things to

transform the the ancient near East in

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which will eventually transform all of.

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The earth.

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And so we take it up in Acts chapter

two, verse 42, talking about the day

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the church was, uh, right after the

day the, the church was initially

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inaugurated and, and started, and it

says, this is a snapshot of what the

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church was like in the first century.

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They devoted themselves to the apostles

teaching and to fellowship, to the

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breaking of bread and the prayer.

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Everyone was filled with all

of the many wonders and signs

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performed by the apostles.

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All the believers were together

and had everything in common.

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They so property and possession

to give to anyone who had need.

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Every day they continue to meet

together in the temple courts.

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They broke bread in their homes

and ate together with glad and

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sincere hearts, praising God and

enjoying the favor of all the people.

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And the Lord added to their number

daily, those who were being saved.

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What happened here?

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The church is established

and what happens?

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The church becomes a jubilee.

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People.

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Living the Jubilee life, they experienced

the heart of the Jubilee through their

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relationship with God, through Jesus.

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They had a reset in their lives.

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They had a release from their past

and from their sin, and then a

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restored view of who God really is

in a restored relationship with God.

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And so they have this, they experienced

this, and not only did they join,

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enjoy the Jubilee through Jesus,

but they joined Jesus and bring

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the Jubilee to their communities.

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Amen.

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They just didn't say, man, this is

awesome to experience, but they went

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out and brought the jubilee life

to their surrounding communities,

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and you see radical sharing.

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Radical love, radical relationships.

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What scholars believe is that as they

came in, remember they're coming from

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all across the known world at this time,

and that:

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So you have over now this new

fellowship of over:

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people stayed there, and so they

have, they need a place to stay.

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Now they're living with their

brothers and sisters who they

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just met after their baptism.

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That's some radical living

right there, isn't it?

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I like all of y'all, but I don't

know if I can house all of y'all.

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Some of y'all might eat my favorite

snacks and we just can't have that.

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You know what I'm saying?

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But there's radical relationships

to anyone who had need.

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They sold property for one

another, we gonna take care of you.

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They enjoyed each other.

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They didn't say they tolerated each other.

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Did you catch that?

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Yeah.

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They said they enjoyed

being around each other.

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Beautiful.

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They praise God.

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There was a joyful unity met needs, and

they help people get restored to God.

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They help people find their true

purpose and find their mission in life.

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You know, the early church, they were

Jubilee people, living the Jubilee life.

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What should the church today be?

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Should it be any different?

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No.

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So then let me ask you

this question then, are we.

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A Jubilee.

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People living the Jubilee Life

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question.

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I want you to think

about that for a second.

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US right here.

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Are we a Jubilee?

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People living the Jubilee life?

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Some of us would say no.

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Am I right?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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We, we heard a couple people like yes.

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Someone say, yeah,

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I ain't heard a couple

people we're trying.

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Here's what I would say.

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I would say we are, I would say without

a doubt that this group of people, those

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of us who are disciples of Jesus, we are

Jubilee people living a jubilee life.

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Amen.

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I believe that wholeheartedly

we are, and this room is full

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of people who have experienced a

spiritual reset in their lives.

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Amen.

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Am I wrong?

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No.

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No.

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'cause most of you wouldn't be here

if you hadn't had that experience.

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Correct.

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So many of us in here, we've

experienced the spiritual resets.

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Many of us have experienced being

released and releasing others

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from our past sin and past.

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Many of us have experienced being restored

in our relationship with God, restoring

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our view of God, our perspective of God.

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And so yes, we can lay claim to the

fact that we've had a reset, we've had a

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release and a restoration in our lives.

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Can I get an amen?

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Amen.

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So yes, we've had that and

we have so many stories.

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If we were to go around to get

people on the stage, could we not

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have hours of stories of radical

love and radical sacrifice?

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We could go around with stories.

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Some of you guys at the Jubilee, at the

ICMC, you were connected with people.

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What was it?

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You remember the radical nature

of your relationships and past.

394

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Remember that time?

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:

Remember so and so?

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Man, that was crazy.

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And remember all that we did.

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:

Remember the love,

remember the relationships?

399

:

There's radical stories right here in this

room, and it wasn't just back in the day.

400

:

It's still taking place.

401

:

You know, there's there, there,

there's radical relationships in this.

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:

Right.

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We have relationships for many years.

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:

There's love, there's, there's, there's

intergenerational relationships.

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:

We have radical, uh, changes of lives.

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:

We've seen so many people over the

years here in Orange County just over

407

:

the last five years, just a snapshot.

408

:

We had all those people

and that wasn't even half.

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:

All those people had their

lives change over the last five.

410

:

We've had, uh, uh, we, we, we actually

met our goal for our special missions.

411

:

We gave over $330,000.

412

:

Come on now, man, to

raise up in over 330,000.

413

:

That's some radical sacrifice right there.

414

:

We've also helped plant the TJ Center for

Hope, where they're giving free dental

415

:

care for those, uh, uh, uh, kids in

Tijuana who've never received dental care.

416

:

We've also have our Saturday Academy,

which we, we either have experienced or

417

:

we sponsor, in which we help those at

risk kids right here in our community.

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:

Right here in Santa Ana.

419

:

We are Jubilee people

living a jubilee life.

420

:

But why do we hesitate?

421

:

Well, there is a reason to hesitate

sometimes when we, if we were to

422

:

answer that question, because perhaps.

423

:

Maybe our problem is we know that we

aren't living the Jubilee Life daily,

424

:

or we know, you know what?

425

:

I know as a whole, we're not

living the Jubilee life daily.

426

:

But let me ask you this, do you really

think and ask, remember, it's just

427

:

capturing basically the essence of church.

428

:

Do you think.

429

:

That every single disciple at every

single moment at the exact same

430

:

time, we're living a Jubilee life.

431

:

No, because that's why we have the

letters written by Paul and the others.

432

:

Think about that.

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:

We read Acts two and

go, they were perfect.

434

:

No they weren't.

435

:

Just get to Acts four.

436

:

Just get to two more chapters later.

437

:

People are lying.

438

:

People are dying.

439

:

It gets crazy.

440

:

It gets real up in there.

441

:

But there was a culture.

442

:

It was, it was a snapshot of, that's

in essence, essence who they are.

443

:

And so perhaps for some of us,

the reason that we're maybe not

444

:

living the jubilee life is 'cause

we forget the opportunity we have

445

:

in Christ to live the Jubilee life.

446

:

The opportunity for a reset, a release,

and a restoration, A time of genuine,

447

:

emotional and spiritual rest to truly

trust in our father who is a provider.

448

:

Sometimes we maybe get distracted

by life and its worries, or we even

449

:

regress and we get trapped and deceived

by sin and, and the devil himself.

450

:

And so that leads us to go.

451

:

I, I don't know if we're living

a jubilee life or I don't know

452

:

if we still are a jubilee people.

453

:

What I would argue is we

don't need to become a jubilee

454

:

people living the jubilee life.

455

:

We need to remember that we live

every day in the year of the Lord's

456

:

favor in Christ because of Christ.

457

:

We live every single moment in

the year of the Lord's favor.

458

:

Yeah.

459

:

And we need to remember that we

live Jubilee lives because we are

460

:

Jubilee people because of Jesus who

is the embodiment of the jubilee.

461

:

And so our response, I believe again,

to remembering that God is calling us to

462

:

be Jubilee people live a jubilee life.

463

:

I believe our call isn't to become

something new, but it's to be who we are.

464

:

To be who we are, jubilee people

living the Jubilee life, not becoming

465

:

something extra or new, but just

being exactly who you are in Christ.

466

:

That's who God is calling us.

467

:

To be, to be who we are, and we need

some reminders of what that looks like.

468

:

Can I, can I get an amen to that?

469

:

Amen.

470

:

Second Corinthians five, verse 17.

471

:

I want to read this.

472

:

This is the Apostle Paul.

473

:

He writes a letter to the church

that met in the city of Corinth, and

474

:

it says, therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, the new creation has come.

475

:

The old is gone, the new is here.

476

:

He's talking to people and

that they didn't just get

477

:

baptized, they had been baptized.

478

:

All this is from God who reconciled us

to himself through Christ and gave us

479

:

the ministry of reconciliation that God

was reconciling the world to himself

480

:

in Christ, not counting people's sins

against them, and he has committed

481

:

to us the message of reconciliation.

482

:

We are therefore Christ's

ambassadors as though God we're

483

:

making his appeal through us.

484

:

We implore you on Christ's

behalf, be reconciled to God.

485

:

God made him where no sin to be

sin for us, so that in him we might

486

:

become the righteousness of God.

487

:

As God's coworkers, we urge you not to

receive God's grace in vain for he says,

488

:

in the time of my favor, I heard you.

489

:

In the day of salvation, I helped you.

490

:

I tell you, now is the

time of God's favor.

491

:

Now is the day of salvation.

492

:

Amen.

493

:

The church then in Corinth and the

church throughout the centuries in

494

:

the church now is called to live

out the heart of Jubilee, restoring

495

:

relationships, reconciling people to

God, and renewing hope in a broken world.

496

:

We are ambassadors of reconciliation

and agents of renewal.

497

:

That's who we are.

498

:

That's how we live.

499

:

No, the Jubilee wasn't an events,

and neither should our Jubilee or

500

:

ICMC experience be just an events.

501

:

It should be a call, a launching

pad to be who we are, Jubilee

502

:

people living the Jubilee life.

503

:

And the fruit of the Jubilee

is a lifestyle shaped by Jesus.

504

:

It is Jesus shaping us, forming us,

and how we live the choices we make,

505

:

our perspective, our worldview,

how we think, and how we talk.

506

:

And we live Jubilee lies by how we

forgive, how we give, how we restore

507

:

and lift others like Jesus did.

508

:

And through the spirit, we, the

church, become a people of freedom.

509

:

And a people of restoration.

510

:

I dunno about you, but that sounds good.

511

:

But that's who we are

and that's how we live.

512

:

And so yes, you are as

a disciple of Jesus.

513

:

You are a jubilee person.

514

:

You are freed, you are forgiven,

restored, and you are called

515

:

to live in God's freedom.

516

:

Now it's easy to forget.

517

:

We can slip, we can regress, but here's my

call for every single one of us this week.

518

:

Return to who you truly are in Christ

and live the Jubilee life today,

519

:

this hour tomorrow and the day after.

520

:

Amen.

521

:

I wanna get real practical here.

522

:

As we close on out, I wanna

give some action steps here.

523

:

First, we're gonna go ahead and

have, I just wanna give one more, uh,

524

:

uh, uh, reading plan for the week.

525

:

So there's some questions.

526

:

You can use it as a quiet time for

personal devotional for yourself or not.

527

:

But go ahead and, uh, uh, uh, uh,

pull out your phone to get the QR

528

:

code and you'll get that for the week.

529

:

There's some questions and some,

and some, uh, scriptures and some

530

:

thoughts for every day this week

that can help guide you there.

531

:

All right.

532

:

And then here's the other call for the

week is to follow through on what you

533

:

have decided from the Jubilee and ICMC,

whatever it is that God put on your

534

:

heart, whether it's joy, it's meeting

people, it's moving to oc, et cetera,

535

:

whatever it is that God put on your heart.

536

:

And we talked a little bit about

it at our midweek service, whatever

537

:

it is, follow through this week and

what you have decided, the Jubilee.

538

:

Now what?

539

:

You know God is calling us to

be who we are, Jubilee people

540

:

who live the jubilee life.

541

:

God wants us to respond to his

work in our hearts individually and

542

:

collectively, and we need to follow

through with the decisions we've made.

543

:

We'll close out here in second

Corinthians six as God's coworkers.

544

:

We urge you not to receive

God's grace in vain.

545

:

For, he says, in the time

of my favor, I heard you.

546

:

And in the day of salvation, I helped you.

547

:

I tell you, now is the

time of God's favor.

548

:

Now is the day of salvation.

549

:

May we live or proclaim the Lord's

favor today and may we be Jubilee

550

:

people living the jubilee life.

551

:

Amen.

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