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Viewpoint from Rio Espulgar 19/02/2016
 Pastor Rio Espulgar
Seventh-day Adventist Church
as published in the Yarmouth Mercury
Have you ever thought how you will be remembered by your friends or neighbours when for example you move from this town to another place somewhere or perhaps after you are gone. How will you be remembered? It’s a simple question that defines a simple answer. What will you leave behind as the legacy of your life? When they talk about you, if they talk about you at all, what will they say? Let me sharpen the question just a bit. What will the people who knew you best say about you when you are gone? How will you be remembered?
For sure many of us have loved ones or friends who had left a legacy in us. People that we admired, showed us a good example, molded or shaped us somehow that we could never forget them. Their influence has made an impact in lives
 This reminds me of the legacy that Jesus left for us. In the Bible, we are told that Jesus spent a lot of time in healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, providing food to the hungry. Jerry Thomas, in his book Messiah: A Contemporary Adaptation Of the Classic Work On Jesus Life, The Desire of Ages, says, “Jesus spent more time in healing than he did preaching. His voice was the first sound that many people ever heard. His face, the first one that many ever saw. As He traveled through the towns and cities, He was like a live wire, sending jolts of life and joy of life in every direction…We should work as Jesus did-feeding the hungry, comforting those who suffer, and holding up hope to those who have given up. This will be much more effective in changing lives than will preaching and stern treatment”
Jesus is the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Messiah (The anointed One). Luke 4 tells us that when Jesus was in a synagogue on Sabbath day, He read Isaiah 61:1-2 that says,
“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”
And in verse 21, Jesus said to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. Yes, Jesus came not only to preach to the poor but also to bring hope to the hopeless and healing to the broken hearted. As Christ followers, we are admonished to do the same, to bring hope to the hopeless and healing to the broken hearted
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done…” John 14:12
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