We know the Lord Jesus came to earth to seek and save the lost.  That was His first and foremost purpose.  But do you know what else He did while He was on earth?  It is written in Luke 4:18-19, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
   Now, in preaching the Gospel to the poor He was doing more than giving them an encouraging word.  He was telling them how not to be poor anymore.  He healed the brokenhearted; those who for one reason or another who were discouraged, downtrodden, disappointed, and without hope.  Many of you are like that, people have made you promises and haven’t kept them, or have forsaken you and left you high and dry. There are single parents out there raising children alone, brokenhearted because their mate left them.  And no, time does not always heal a broken heart.  But there is HOPE, for the Lord Jesus came to heal your broken heart.
   He preached deliverance to the captives, and that’s what I’d like to touch on right now.  There are many people held captive by sins they would like to quit, but just can’t seem to get free from.  Maybe it’s gambling, or drugs, pornography, lying, adultery, or stealing.  It doesn’t matter what.  Some of you became captive because you played around with the devil and knew it, and thought you would walk away anytime you wanted to, and later found out you were captive and couldn’t just walk away. Good news!  Jesus came to set you free if you really want to be free!
   And there are some whom I would sum up this way: imagine a child walking home from school one day, and someone drove up in a van and just grabbed them and forced them into the van.  The child was innocent and did nothing to become a captive, other than just being there.  There are those held captive by the devil and they didn’t do a thing to cause it to happen.  I’m teaching on this today because the LORD told me to.  Perhaps you were raped as a child and all your life you have been carrying around all this hurt and guilt.  Maybe you’ve been told it’s your fault, or that you only got what you deserved.  Your life has been upside down ever since that day, and you’ve never recovered from the pain it caused.  Time after time, relationships have failed you, maybe several failed marriages, and no matter how you try, you’re still captive and don’t understand why.  Well, it’s my job to help you understand by giving you scripture to show why you’re captive. You may be surprised to learn the devil just decided one day that you were handy, so he captured you.  It is written in 2 Timothy 25-26:
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,   In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
    It’s time for you to stop calling yourself worthless and degrading yourself.  No, everything is NOT your fault.  Notice it says above that God’s will is for you to recover yourself out of the devil’s snare who are taken captive by him at his will.  God didn’t put you in the devil’s snare, the devil simply decided to take you captive because he could.  And he did.  But you don’t have to STAY captive anymore, because the Lord Jesus came to set the captives free.  That’s YOU.
    Jesus came to recover sight to the blind.  There is none so blind as he who will not see, and the devil will do everything he can to blind your mind to the truth, so that even when you hear the truth, you will not believe. 
One mark of being blinded by the devil is being hard-hearted.  Many are hard-hearted because they have been hurt so badly they just want to shut everyone out so they won’t be hurt again.  Jesus came and ministered with compassion and mercy, and both the physically blind and the emotionally blind were given sight. 
    Jesus set at liberty those who were bruised.  Have you ever been bruised?  Sure you have.  It comes from a hard blow, not usually hard enough to break a bone, but it really hurts.  And nine times out of ten, before that bruise heals, you’ll end up hitting it time and time again, adding pain to pain.  Or someone said something really bad about you, and though you try to tell yourself words cannot hurt you, they do.  They have bruised your spirit.  And to make matters worse, they just keep it up and keep it up.  Some of you ladies understand being bruised by the words of an abusive husband.  Yes, it happens to men, too.  Bruises hurt.  But Jesus came to set you at liberty!
   He came to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.  When is YOUR acceptable year?  RIGHT NOW!!  So….will you be free from poverty?  Jesus can help you learn to manage your finances, if you’re teachable.  The LORD delights in the prosperity of His servants.  How about that broken heart?  Like to have it healed?  The Healer is in the house, His name is Christ Jesus.  Just ask Him.  He has never been known to refuse a plea for healing.  Those of you in captivity, will you let Jesus deliver you?  YES!!!  Whether you caused your captivity or not is irrelevant to the Lord Jesus.  He came to set you free, RIGHT NOW, and not nit-pick with you whose fault it is!  Will you be free?  It’s your decision, because the LORD already made His, and said YES.  You can put all that pain behind you and move on, leaving it with Jesus, and He will find a place for it as far as the East is from the West if you’ll just ask Him.  He gives sight to the blind.  That includes those who cannot see how they will make it through today, let alone tomorrow.  He will enlighten you and guide your footsteps, so that you never need stumble again.  How about it?  Need some sight?  How about those bruises?  Will you let Jesus apply His mercy and grace and heal you?  I remember some years ago many were wearing bracelets with WWJD on them.  What Would Jesus Do?  I’ll tell you what He would do, He would set you free right now, so LET Him!
    You don’t have to come up with some religious sounding prayer.  Just talk to the Lord Jesus like you’d talk to a friend.  Know what?  He doesn’t speak “King James”.  He understands your normal speech, whether you’re Cajun, Ozark like me, or even from New Joisey.  Just call upon the Lord Jesus, and He will set you free.  Or give me a call at 573-690-4367 if you need someone to pray with.  It’s time for you to start enjoying life in Christ Jesus.