This falls under the heading “You can’t make this stuff up!” The Denver Post published: A Colorado pastor thought he could make flat-Earthers see the light in Antarctica. It didn’t work. – Noelle Phillips, January 17, 2025. The story opens this way:

Colorado pastor Will Duffy’s obsession with the flat-Earth conspiracy theory began with a longtime friend’s post on Facebook.

A quick direct message led to a months-long debate between Duffy and his friend, who held the archaic and false belief that our planet is a flat disc.

Three years later, after immersing himself in the conspiracy online, Duffy thought he could end the debate for everyone by traveling to Antarctica to livestream 24 straight hours of sunlight. The phenomenon occurs because the Earth’s Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun as the planet rotates around it, and Antarctica is at its closest point to the sun on the rotation. Flat-Earth believers do not believe this happens.

Duffy launched a YouTube channel called “The Final Experiment” to promote the trip, then invited flat-Earthers and well-known “globers” — people who understand the Earth is round — to accompany him this past December on a four-day stay on the continent.

“I decided that is it. That will solve this once and for all,” Duffy said in an interview this month. “We need to go to Antarctica. I need to take a flat-Earther or two with me and see the 24-hour sun and then this whole thing is over. So that began the journey of ‘The Final Experiment.’

Duffy went to Antarctica with four “globers” and four “flat-Earthers,” and, sure enough, it was light for 24 hours straight, captured on camera and broadcast live. The result was the Flat-Earth Society no longer exists, and all the Flat-Earthers have renounced their folly. Oops. No such luck.

The article continues:

Duffy was correct about the 24-hour sun. But he was wrong in believing he could bring an end to the flat-Earth conspiracy.

Now, the 41-year-old pastor of a Wheat Ridge church is at center of a global firestorm among flat-Earthers, who are flooding social media with ideas on how to debunk “The Final Experiment” by picking apart camera angles, shadows and footprints…

“The flat Earth community is imploding,” Duffy said. “They cannot decide what to believe. They’ve all come up with their own conspiracies.”

You can read the article in its entirety, including the part about an Alabama pastor “…preaching that Satan was involved in the deception.”

The flat-earthers are attacking Duffy’s credibility or coming up with odd theories like “they filmed the trip in a studio, a dome or a sphere similar to the live-music venue in Las Vegas…”

Duffy had at least one convert:

But one person who is changing his mind is Jaren Campanella, a well-known flat-Earth believer who has produced YouTube videos under the name Jarenism for almost 10 years and who traveled with Duffy to Antarctica.

Campanella told The Post he is going to “step away” from the flat-Earth community.

He said the flat-Earth map that he used, called the azimuthal equidistant map, would not be legitimate if a 24-hour sun existed. Once he saw it with his own eyes, he realized his theory no longer worked.

“Even if I don’t feel like I’m on a sphere, even if I don’t feel like I’m upside down, even if I don’t feel like I’m flying through space, the flat Earth doesn’t work for me,” Campanella said. “I couldn’t go on once I knew it was not the case…”

I sent the article to Seth Godin, a marketer who writes a daily blog on a variety of common-sense subjects, telling him the story looked like something he would write about. He replied simply:

no cure for intentional blindness, I’m afraid – Seth Godin

An atheist friend told me once, “If Jesus Christ stood in front of this car right now and told me he was God, I wouldn’t believe him.”

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 2 Corinthians 4.1 – 4, NKJV)

It’s not often that Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and the Presidential Inauguration occur on the same day! MLK Day is the third Monday in January since President Reagan signed the bill making it a federal holiday in 1983. The Presidential Inauguration occurs on January 20 and is a Monday in an election year, once every 28 years. Until now, only President Clinton was inaugurated on MLK Day (1997), and the next confluence will be 2053.

Is there a so what? I don’t know…

But let’s focus on MLK Day for a minute. Four years ago I quoted Rodney Stevens, a black writer and life coach born and raised in South Carolina. His comments offer hope and perspective and remind us that Martin Luther King, Jr., and others made a difference. Here’s some of what he wrote:

Many of the authors, commentators and journalists who spend all their energy thinking and talking about race today fail to acknowledge how much has improved with regard to race in this country. There are countless successful black Americans today—doctors and lawyers, entrepreneurs and academics, journalists and artists, compassionate politicians and famous Hollywood actors. Their numbers will keep growing as long as we remember six things:

• First, every life mat­ters. Mine is not one cell more or less valu­able than any­one else’s. That this idea has to be de­bated or de­fended is lu­nacy.
• Sec­ond, racism still ex­ists but it is no longer sys­temic. Those who claim that racism is every­where to­day are delu­sional.
• Third, we tend to think too highly of our in­di­vid­u­al­ity. My color, weight, sex and sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion are four of the least in­ter­est­ing things about me. I am a South­erner and love South­ern food. Now that is in­ter­est­ing.
• Fourth, po­lice­men have to be held ac­count­able for their ac­tions, as is be­ing done more and more.
• Fifth, do what law en­force­ment of­fi­cers ask you to do. Ob­vi­ously that won’t solve every prob­lem be­cause po­lice­men are hu­mans, not an­gels. But that’s part of life. Sim­ply do­ing what the peo­ple in blue ask you to do would dras­ti­cally re­duce need­less con­fronta­tions, in­juries and deaths.
• Sixth, if you must talk about race, be gra­cious and re­spect­ful. Dis­cus­sions about it shouldn’t be an­tag­o­nis­tic—one’s race isn’t a choice, af­ter all—but for some rea­son many pop­u­lar fig­ures in­sist on mak­ing the sub­ject as un­pleas­ant as pos­si­ble. – Rodney Stevens, Wall Street Journal, December 28, 2020

Now into this environment on this day we inaugurate a new President. Some Americans are ecstatic; others, despondent. I hope President Trump will, by words and actions, promote unity – Americans of all kinds working together to make their lives and others’ lives better.

But more importantly, no matter what the President does, I pray that we will do our part. I can’t improve on what Seth Godin wrote on MLK Day in 2020:

Along the way, we’ve been sold on the idea that difficult tasks ought to be left to heroes, often from somewhere far away or from long ago. That it’s up to them, whoever ‘them’ is.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted Theodore Parker: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

But it’s not bending itself. And it’s not waiting for someone from away to bend it either.

It’s on us. Even when it doesn’t work (yet). Even when it’s difficult. Even when it’s inconvenient.

Our culture is the result of a trillion tiny acts, taken by billions of people, every day. Each of them can seem insignificant, but all of them add up, one way or the other, to the change we each live through.

Sometimes it takes a hero like Dr. King to wake us up and remind us of how much power we actually have.

And now it’s our turn. It always has been. – Seth Godin

As I reminded us yesterday,

And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, NKJV)

If you’re from some traditions, today’s title, “Works Righteousness” gives you pause. After all, isn’t the Apostle Paul clear?

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2.8, 9, NKJV)

But I’m not using “works” as a noun but as a verb. I’m quoting Psalm 15:

LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

• He who walks uprightly, And
• works righteousness, And
• speaks the truth in his heart;
• He who does not backbite with his tongue,
• Nor does evil to his neighbor,
• Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
• In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD;
• He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
• He who does not put out his money at usury,
• Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved. (Psalm 15, NKJV, bulleted for clarity, emphasis mine)

A good list! Ten items, of which “works righteousness” is the second. ESV translates it “does what is right,” but let’s stick with NKJV. God’s people ought to be “working righteousness” – doing righteous things.

A friend of mine comes from a tradition that’s so afraid of not living by the spirit of Ephesians 2.8, 9, that people won’t do anything. “I couldn’t shovel snow off of my neighbor’s driveway, that would be works righteousness!” No, as my friend Pastor Aaron Dorman would say, “It’s not works righteousness, it’s righteous works!”

There are things God expects us to do and not to do, not to earn salvation (“works righteousness”) but to be God’s people in the world, full of righteous works:

And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, NKJV)

This verse pops up again tomorrow…stay tuned!

My wife and I are leading a discipleship group with one additional participant. I wrote about this before. What is she learning? Well, 2:7 Series, Book 1, Growing Strong in God’s Family, asks that question in session 8: What is the most important thing you’ve learned so far? She said something like:

I’ve always spent a lot of time talking to God in prayer. In this course, I’ve learned how to listen to God so that it’s not a one-way conversation! I can now sit with my Bible and hear what God has to say to me.

Ding, ding, ding! That’s exactly what she was supposed to get! I’m excited. She went on to say:

This is something I thought I should be able to do, but no one showed me how.

Here’s what’s interesting: training in how to have daily time with God has been offered in her church. I taught two four-week sessions a couple of years apart, but she didn’t participate. I taught it once in a 45-minute session after a Sunday morning service, but she didn’t participate in that one either. I’ve preached in that church a number of times and referred to daily time with God more than once. The pastor made my time with God handout available in the narthex every week and referred to it from time to time. All of those things were there, in her church, and they didn’t make a difference for this lady.

What did make a difference? For whatever reason, she decided to sign up for the discipleship class this fall. No one encouraged her specifically to do that, except maybe the Holy Spirit. And in that class, in a relationship with June and me, using material that “requires” daily time with God as part of the training. Personal attention, engagement, relationship, accountability: that’s what makes a difference.

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2.7 – 12, NKJV)

I have a friend who has been actively working with Muslims for many years now. He recently sent this picture:

It’s a map showing all the countries of the world and what percent of them are Muslim.

He writes:

I got to visit a mosque with [another American Christian working with Muslims]. I was speaking Arabic, while he was speaking Urdu, and we were invited back into their prayer room. Inside the prayer room I took a photo of their “prayer map”- this is what they see – this is what they are praying for. What are we praying for?  Where are we going? What risks are we taking?

He then cited Psalm 2.8:

Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession.

We believe as heirs with Jesus, we can ask and receive!

Amen. Bless you, my brother.

When I decided I would write one blog on my biggest takeaway from the late Coach Bill McCartney’s Promise Keepers event, I didn’t know I’d be forecasting it in yesterday’s blog. Note what Chad Brown said about unity:

Obviously he is a great football coach. But the ability to unite people may have been his greatest gift. The football, the X’s and O’s, were great. It was the way he was a uniting force. Mac was able to get us all going in the same direction, kids who had come from different parts of the country with different backgrounds…Teammates became brothers. And he built that. – former CU All-American linebacker Chad Brown, as reported in the Denver Post, emphasis mine

My big takeaway from Promise Keepers was unity in diversity. I’ll never forget being in that stadium with 50,000 other men, men of all kinds: different skin colors, all ages, some charismatic, some not, different socio-economic levels. It was a Revelation 7 experience:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7.9, 10, NKJV)

We Christian men tend to segregate ourselves by our theology and our church identification. I’ll never forget at an early Promise Keeper’s event talking with a fellow in the lunch line. He physically increased his distance when he learned what church I attended. We were both from Colorado Springs, and he perceived that his church was more conservative than mine. Coach Mac would NOT have approved!

One Promise Keeper’s event featured two well-known preachers in the Saturday morning session: one was Chuck Swindoll, conservative Bible teacher, who later became president of Dallas Theological Seminary – a seminary known for being anti-charismatic. (I wrote a blog about this issue almost three years ago.) The other speaker was Jack Hayford, well-known charismatic preacher, author of more than 600 hymns and choruses including “Majesty, Worship His Majesty.”

Get it? Mac brought these two men together, one charismatic, the other anti-charismatic. They both lived in Southern California at the time, and they spoke one after the other. In each sermon, each referred to the other several times as “my friend Jack”…”my friend Chuck.” And the one who spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit was Chuck!

Unity in diversity. That’s what a football is about, and it’s what the Christian community should be about. Mac lived it, Promise Keepers demonstrated it, and I remember it vividly 30+ years later.

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17.20 – 23, NKJV)

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4.1 – 6, NKJV)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!…For there the LORD commanded the blessing— Life forevermore. (Psalm 133.1, 3, NKJV)

We lost another brother…Bill McCartney, “Coach Mac” of the University of Colorado, 1982 – 1994, passed away Friday night, January 10, 2025, at the age of 84.

Here’s a succinct summary of his coaching prowess for which he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013:

In 1982, McCartney took over a Colorado program that was coming off three straight losing seasons with a combined record of 7-26. After three more struggling seasons, McCartney turned things around to go to bowl games in nine out of 10 seasons starting in 1985, when he switched over to a wishbone offense…

After getting off to an uninspiring 1-1-1 start in 1990, Colorado won its next nine games to earn a No. 1 ranking and a rematch with the Fighting Irish. This time the Buffaloes prevailed 10-9 and grabbed a share of the national title atop the AP poll.  – ESPN, January 11, 2025

ESPN managed to write a long article without mentioning his founding Promise Keepers, the national men’s movement, which began in the early 1990s. While I’m not a big event guy, as I’ve written before, I was with my sons for several Promise Keepers events, beginning with the first large conference at Folsom Field in Boulder, about 25,000 men (half-capacity). It was followed by two others, I think, where Folsom Field was filled with about 50,000 men, then at Mile High Stadium in Denver with 70,000+ men. Tomorrow I’ll share my primary takeaway from these events.

Back to Coach Mac, he was known not only for winning games but also for building men.

Alfred “Big Al” Williams, who went to the NFL after playing for Coach Mac wrote:

A hall of fame coach but somehow a better man and human being…Love you Coach!…His legacy is firmly built on love, character, integrity, hope, and faith. I will always thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to have him in my life. Thank you Coach for loving on all of us.

As a young player, you didn’t always understand his methods or his philosophy in life as a coach. As an adult, you quickly realize he was on to something. He was the only coach I ever played for that would sacrifice winning to make you a better person…It was always so much bigger than football with Coach. His impact was so profound. It is not uncommon for guys who dealt with him after negative situations to come back later and admit that he saved their life. – Vance Joseph, former CU quarterback and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator

Obviously he is a great football coach. But the ability to unite people may have been his greatest gift. The football, the X’s and O’s, were great. It was the way he was a uniting force. Mac was able to get us all going in the same direction, kids who had come from different parts of the country with different backgrounds…Teammates became brothers. And he built that. Everything he told me on my recruiting trip came true. He said we would win a national championship, win conference championships, and that I would fall in love with the state of Colorado and marry a girl I met on campus. A lot of recruiters say things on your visit. He batted 1,000. – former CU All-American linebacker Chad Brown, as reported in the Denver Post

And his Christian influence was there:

I did not necessarily agree with his view of the world. I wasn’t attending church in Boulder. Like a lot of students, I was losing my religion. But McCartney was interesting. There was something about Coach Mac that made you want to be near him, to hear him. – Troy Renck, student reporter 1989 – 2003, now with the Denver Post.

God has people everywhere, and I am thankful.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, NKJV)

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.24, NKJV)

Like Psalms 9 and 10 with a common theme of God’s care of the poor, Psalms 11 and 12 seem to have a common theme: evil. “The world’s going to hell in a handbasket!”

For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? (Psalm 11.2, 3, NKJV)

Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. (Psalm 12.1, 2, NKJV)

What can the righteous do? Psalm 12 offers one solution:

The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. (Psalm 12.6, NKJV)

In contrast to the idle, flattering, and “double-hearted” speech of most people, God’s words are pure. “Like silver tried in a furnace of earth…” Reading the Bible is not all we should be doing, but it’s certainly foundational. Ignoring God’s Word is like trying to take a long hike up a mountain without eating first!

That’s the metaphor that came to mind because as I draft this blog, I’m in a mountain cabin in Estes Park, Colorado. June needed a change of scenery after being cooped up for a month after her injury. This is my view out the window:

And this is the sunrise glow on Mt Ypsilon when I was walking the dog.

Back to the metaphor: I wouldn’t want to tackle either the small mountain or the big one without fuel. If we think life is tough in a world that’s against what Christians stand for, best we keep our hearts and minds centered on God’s Word.

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

Some guys are bigger than the rest of us…

The same day that John Ed Mathison wrote a blog about Auburn basketball player Dylan Cardwell (left photo, detail to follow), my friend Jamie Heath (with the beard) posted his own picture of Dylan. To clarify, Jamie isn’t “short” – probably my size or a little taller.

Here’s some of what John Ed wrote on January 8:

Dylan Cardwell is a 6’11” basketball player at Auburn. He has developed into a valuable asset on that team which at the start of 2025 holds the number 2 spot as the best college teams in America.

Dylan played two years of high school basketball in Evans, Georgia and then went to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. When he returned to Georgia his senior year, he was ineligible to play because of his transfer. When asked about his disappointment, he said, “My faith is being tested and I’ve grown a lot while weathering this storm…I must remember that this is God’s plan for me, and His plans are far greater than mine.”

Cardwell recognized more than ever that God was directing his life. He truly trusted in God in leading his decision of where to go to college. He connected with a Christian man who told him about Auburn. A former defensive football coach at Auburn is his uncle, Rodney Garner. He visited and felt that Auburn had a sense of family and a Christian community. He came to Auburn.

…The thing I like about him most is that he knows that he has a role to play, and he plays his role. He is not there to be the leading scorer, etc. He knows that he is going to be a rim protector, block shoots, play excellent defense, and get to the basket and rebound and dunk the ball. He is also the glue that makes Auburn a team.

…His social media following has grown to more than 26,000 followers. He started posting Bible verses and stories of faith. His platform grew bigger for making a positive witness. He went with the basketball team to Israel during the summer. Several players professed their faith in Christ and wanted to be baptized. Cardwell was first baptized himself and then assisted in baptizing some of the other players.

He is very active in several campus ministries. He teaches a Bible study. He is a leader in academics, athletics, and collegiate activities. He is like a magnet to college students. He is referred to as “Mr. Auburn.”

He is a strong Christian whose witness goes far beyond the basketball court. I love his attitude. He says, “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but God is clearly moving.”

John Ed closes with:

What is your role on God’s team?

The Apostle Paul lists some sample roles:

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

• for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,
• to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
• to another faith by the same Spirit,
• to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
• to another the working of miracles,
• to another prophecy,
• to another discerning of spirits,
• to another different kinds of tongues,
• to another the interpretation of tongues.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 11, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:

• if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
• or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;
• he who teaches, in teaching;
• he who exhorts, in exhortation;
• he who gives, with liberality;
• he who leads, with diligence;
• he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12.3 – 8, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

As we move through the Psalms we come to 9 and 10, which have something in common. Psalm 9 starts out talking about the wicked. For example,

You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. (Psalm 9.5, NKJV)

What did these nations do to be called “wicked.” I was surprised:

The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. (Psalm 9.17, 18, NKJV)

The wicked forget God, AND they oppress the poor. This theme is carried into Psalm 10:

The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised…He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent; His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; He lies in wait to catch the poor; He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. (Psalm 10.2, 8, 9, NKJV)

Most of the psalm is a prayer, and the psalm ends with this promise:

The LORD is King forever and ever; The nations have perished out of His land. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more. (Psalm 10.16 – 18, NKJV)

God has a heart for the poor. Do I?

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19.9, 10, NKJV)

For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.” (Deuteronomy 15.11, NKJV)

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.17 – 21, NKJV)