I wanted to leave you with these words fresh in your mind.
To help activate your faith for something exciting to happen Today.
To help you cross over into a real expectation for a change in your life to take place!
And for that change to happen Today!

What if I told you the wait was over.
Would you believe me?

The village of Nazareth had been waiting for the Messiah for hundreds of years.
Like all the other towns in Israel.
The difference between this town and all the other towns.
Was that the Messiah had been living in their town for nearly thirty years.
Who would have guessed?

Let us look at what happened when Jesus fully revealed himself to his hometown.

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures.
The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.
[Luke 4:16,17]

He opened the Scriptures to Isaiah chapter 61.
He read a few verses.
Then he closed the book and handed it back to the attendant.
Then he sat down.
So far everything had gone well.
His visit was a success.
The verses he had read from the book of Isaiah were everyone’s favourite passage.
These verses had been read by lots of different people for hundreds of years.
No problem!
But then Jesus decides to say one more sentence.

Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!”
[Luke 4:21]

Why did he have to say that?
Couldn’t he have left them wondering who he really was?
Now they were in no doubt about who… he was claiming to be.

“How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
[Luke 4:22]

Jesus didn’t leave it there.
Oh no, he was going to speak his mind.

Then he said, “Probably you will quote me that proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Why don’t you do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum?
[Luke 4:23]

Jesus kept talking until these people couldn’t stand it any longer!
He got them so angry…they tried to kill him.

These remarks stung them to fury; and jumping up, they mobbed him and took him to the edge of the hill on which the city was built, to push him over the cliff.
[Luke 4:28,29]

Then Jesus just walked away.
What a cool character.

Did you notice what happens when you say?

“These Scriptures came true today!”

It caused a whole heap of trouble.
Sometimes people get so used to waiting.
They wait and wait and wait.
Other people see them waiting and decide to make them comfortable in their waiting.
We design “waiting prayers”.
We design “waiting explanations”.
We tell them a testimony about a close friend or relative who had to wait for years for the answer to their prayers.
It’s nice to know that you are not the only one waiting.

If you see two bus stops and only one of them has people waiting, you would line up behind everyone else at the busy bus stop.
You wouldn’t line up at the empty bus stop.
You would presume that the bus isn’t going to stop there.
You would presume that the bus will stop where the people are.

But what if the other bus stop is empty because the buses are coming and going?
What if the people are all lined up at this bus stop because their bus hasn’t turned up?
It’s the same when you turn up at the airport.
You don’t want to join the longest queue.
You look around for the shortest queue.
Because it indicates that this airline’s planes are flying on time.

Jesus left Nazareth and went back to Capernaum.

Then he returned to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and preached there in the synagogue every Saturday.
[Luke 4:31]

Jesus made a choice.
He chose to minister at Capernaum instead of his hometown.
He told his hometown that the promises in the scriptures he read were for now and not for later.
It can be a shock to find out that the thing or person you were waiting for had been in town for thirty years.
Hiding right under your nose.

The people of Nazareth were offended.

A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city.
[Proverbs 18:19]

They felt insulted.
They believed Jesus had spoken to them with disrespect.
He was a young man who had a big opinion of himself.
Surely the town leaders knew more about the scriptures than this young man did.
These people could not get their heads around the fact that God had hidden the Messiah among them.

The sad thing is…that God had actually treated them with respect by choosing their village over all the other towns and villages in Israel.
Nazareth had been given an honour and privilege beyond its economic or historical importance.

We have to choose which town we want to belong to.
Are we like Capernaum or are we like Nazareth?
Do we believe for God to answer our prayer today [present]?
Or tomorrow [future]?

Maybe we have been in the waiting room long enough!

Here are the verses Jesus read from Luke 4:18,19

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
 because he has anointed me
 to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Maybe God is saying to someone….“These Scriptures came true today!”

This story is about Jesus.
About his visit to the people he loved.
When Jesus first came to visit us, we welcomed him with open arms.
We asked him to come into our lives.
We asked him to live in us by the Holy Spirit.
Think about this.
Is it possible that Jesus gave you all that you needed for then and for now… on the day of your salvation?
Is it possible that the needs you have in this present time were provided way back at the time of your salvation?
The people of Nazareth had no idea that their Messiah was already living among them.
So they didn’t like being told that this was correct.
They didn’t like being told that they were a bit slow to catch on!
I am going to use just one scripture to illustrate my point.
Here is the scripture.

Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won’t he also surely give us everything else?
[Romans 8:32]

This verse tells us that when you get Jesus you get everything.
And dear folks…if we have already received Jesus doesn’t that indicate that we may have already been given everything?
The problem could be that it is hidden right under our nose.
If we dig around a little bit we may find more than we expected!
Just because we can’t see something does not prove it isn’t there.
It may be in a form that is invisible to our natural senses.
Like fishing…the fish are there whether you can see them or not.
Germs are there whether you can see them or not.
Our healing or financial miracle may be invisible at the moment.
But that does not mean it doesn’t exist.
The Messiah was hidden from the people of Nazareth, because he was in a form that they weren’t expecting.
He didn’t look like a Messiah when he was growing up.
Only when he was fully grown did he fully manifest.
Believe your miracle is planted within you.
Believe for your miracle to manifest from the invisible realm to the visible realm.
Expect to see it!

Tony Egar

Chapter 22 from our book called:
Top Twenty Chapters.