Isaiah wrote these words, many years before a Man with humble clothes, long hair and a beard stepped into a Synagogue and said, "today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing".

As Jesus read out the passage to the congregation, He must have remembered speaking the words to Isaiah, telling him what to write, knowing the direct role that He would play in its fulfilment.

We can read these words that Jesus spoke and know that He wasn’t uttering a soundbite, but rather, he was bringing into actuality something that had been conceptual up until then.

Before then, this prophecy carried a hope for the Jewish people, that they would be again brought together, the twelve tribes, under Jewish rule. What Jesus did was bring to reality something that needed to be brought to reality, but He brought it in a way that was totally unexpected by His listeners.

This promise that God spoke to Isaiah so long ago was fulfilled.

God isn’t someone who puts off prophecies and promises indefinitely, in the hope of leading people on in a blind faith that is always looking for an excuse for inactivity. God delivers and His promises are sure. The ‘one day this will happen’ prophecies do come to pass, and we read here in Luke of one of those ‘one day’ instances when Jesus said, "today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing".

I’m humbled when I see the faith of young Christians, I sometimes feel that I am so far away from the truth for tying too hard to get to it. How often do you read a promise in the Bible and not take it because it seems too unlikely, odd or radical? Are we scared that if we proclaim the promises of God, someone might say "prove it"?

Jesus chose an odd place to make this announcement, He chose the place with the people who would least likely accept what He had to say. But He said it, and we need to sit up and listen because He is saying it to us. He is saying this to us as the body of Christ who must do, but also as the individuals who must receive.

Have we received the gospel? Is the good news alight in our hearts that we know we are saved and are citizens of the Kingdom of God.

This message has been fulfilled, Jesus came to proclaim that this is the case. There is good news, there is hope, there is purpose….. now! Jesus is not making vague promises about some future date that is forever on the horizon, He is talking about now. You can receive this gospel now for it is a promise for now, it is appointed for now.

This promise is more than a vapourware idea. This gospel brings change, for part of this is that He will heal the broken hearted.

That’s very general. Jesus doesn’t seem to be making a specific statement here about the kind of broken hearts He will heal. He isn’t being specific about the measure of damage there must be before He will minister.

Why? Because He will heal the broken hearted. No matter what that broken heart may be about. Jesus wants to deal with the things that are hurting and killing you right now.

You may think that the reason your heart is broken is just the results of your circumstances and parts of your ‘rites of passage’ as a human being. Jesus said that he will heal the broken heart.

There are people who are still dealing with bereavement many years after the loss of a loved one, who believe that since losing a loved one is all a part of life, then it’s not the sort of thing that Jesus would deal with.

Teens experience broken hearts with broken relationships, or relationships that don’t even begin. Unrequited love hurts like nothing else (Will Smith said in a song that there’s no pain like the pain caused by someone of the opposite sex). But we dismiss it as just what kids go through and so when Jesus talks about healing the broken heart, He clearly wasn’t talking about puberty and the trouble that it causes. Was He?

A broken heart is a broken heart. Sure, people go through life’s troubles and come out the other side, but remember that Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor, to the people who don’t have, the vulnerable.

If that is the case, that the two examples mentioned above are silly things with which we shouldn’t bother God, where do we draw the line?

Who said that people have to go through these things alone?

Your heart may be broken because of circumstances that you caused, thus leading to you believing that you deserve all that you are now experiencing (and woe betide anybody who says that about anybody else – that they brought this upon themselves and should face the consequences).

Maybe you don’t want to have old wounds re-opened? If someone has a broken leg, the process of putting it in a plaster is painful as you lift the leg, straighten it and seal it. The process of heart healing can hurt, especially if it (as it often does) involve deep and hidden areas of your life coming to the fore of your consciousness. But do you trust Jesus any less than you would a surgeon who can open you up on the operating table and pull your guts out and then put them back in?

Jesus came to heal the broken heart, and to proclaim liberty to the captives! You can be free of the things that hold you and bind you, and shame you, and disgust you, and hurt you and sadden you!

He can heal your broken heart and release you from the thing that was keeping your heart broken. Liberty means moving from one place to another, from prison to freedom, from a cell to the open world. Your heart may be broken due to loneliness, Jesus can heal your heart and bring you into liberty, so that you leave that loneliness.

Sin keeps you captive, holds you in place. Just like the society in Nazareth may have wanted to do to Jesus because He was ‘just a carpenter’s son’, Jesus brings liberty. You can move away from captivity.

Are you willing to do that today? If Jesus opens up the door to the cell, will you walk out?

Jesus does a complete work for us, but we need to take our responsibility in realising the work that He has done for us. The Bible says that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1John 1:9). He’ll deal with the problem and then deal with the cause of the problem. He forgave sin, and then dealt with the cause, saying "sin no more".

This person, this real person called Jesus, has said these things for today. You can realise and know these things in your life today. Nobody is asking you to put your faith in a preacher, a church or a religious order, but in the Man who made the statement, in the God Who made you, Jesus.

Jesus is able to do this because He is God! He speaks the words of truth, but He does the words of truth also. When He says "Peace, be still", there is peace.

The world, in all its turmoil is full of hatred with Arabs against Jews, Indians against Pakistanis, Loyalists against Republicans. There is hatred there and all the politicians can do is ‘condemn’ actions taken by the various sides. They cannot speak peace into situations, they cannot cut through the spin and get to the bone of truth, but Jesus can.

When He returns, there will be no Peace Process in Northern Ireland or the Middle East because discussion will stop as He brings justice and truth to bear. That very same Jesus can speak peace into your heart. He can take the heart that is torn in pieces by the ravages of time and abuse, and make it whole again!

You see, these ministries that Jesus is talking about, these things that He is to do, is not only to make you feel nice about yourself (though it helps). But rather, to empower you for a purpose.

Jesus cares about you and wants to make a change in your life today, and you can make a change in other people’s lives also!

Imagine Clark Kent, who has those super powers in Superman, using them only to lift the fridge when he cleans the kitchen, or Spiderman using his powers to fetch the TV remote control from across the room! There’d be nothing to say about them! They’d be pointless mutations.

Jesus wants you for a purpose, to do something. You can be a player in this field. Liberated! Free! Whole! Full of purpose!

Life is more important than that, yet why play a smaller role!?

Call me sad if you like, but when I see these movies where someone takes someone else’s car because they need it to save the world from a Big Bomb (or something), I always think about the person who’s left watching his car go off into a big gun battle. How does that person feel? How does that person get home? We don’t get to know because that person isn’t important, the important person is now in the car, chasing an international criminal.

Have you ever felt like that? That you’re just a watcher, someone who sees these things happen, who’s life and property is of no significance, to serve only at the behest of others while they do all the work, and if that means walking over you, so-be-it?

Your life is important and you are so highly valued by God. Just by being here tonight, you can make the decision to submit to Christ and let Him bring the healing and liberty that you need. The focus of Jesus’ camera is on you. You can receive His Holy Spirit, you can make a difference because you are valued by Jesus. It may be your car being taken by the action hero, but you won’t go unnoticed.

I think that one of the most sincere questions that you can ask yourself is this; When you are in bed with your head on your pillow, in the dark…. What have you got? When the world is asleep and you are lying there in silence…. Who are you? When all that you are aware of is what is in your head…. What are you? Are you hurting then? Without the garnish of life to hide the pain, without the friends and family to tell you how wonderful you are, do you feel that wonderful?

Know Jesus! Know the beauty of falling asleep on a prayer, that the last thing on your mind is Jesus, for his tenderness has been proclaimed. His healing has been made available. His love has been made widespread.

You can get healing for that broken heart!