Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am thankful to be a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This week was a busy one, visited a young man that had open heart surgery on Monday. I had the opportunity to lead him to Christ last week in the hospital. He came through the surgery just fine. Then I made a visit to Greenville to see a young man that had been admitted there and found that he was going home. He had made a wonderful recovery. I also got a chance to visit with a family whose loved one has been in ICU for the last couple of weeks. Later in the week my wife and I visited with a friend at Duke that also had open heart surgery. She is recovering fine as well. Being a pastor can be very busy at times, but it is very rewarding as well. It is a wonder to see the Lord answer prayer after prayer. One thing that is needed when visiting people in physical need is compassion. Your heart goes out to those who are suffering and hurting. The Lord laid on my heart the subject of compassion throughout the week. I was reminded of a message I heard many years ago by Dr. David Wood on " Compassion makes a difference. The following is the outline of the message that I preached Sunday morning.
Compassion makes a difference
" And of some have compassion, making a difference. " Jude 22
Without a doubt, the greatest need among God's people today is compassion. When reading the Book of Jude, you find that the theme of the book is judgment. Over and over, the Lord gives us the examples the fallen angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, and those that went into apostasy. But the theme changes to compassion. That should not surprise us, because we know that God is a God of Judgment and a God of love. The same God that teaches us that there is a hell, teaches us that there is a heaven. The God of the Bible is a God of wrath as well as the God who so loved the world. Compassion is something that is necessary. The Bible gives us some illustrations of compassion. We need to ask God to give us compassion for people.
I. The example of Moses. ( Ex. 32:30-33 )
God led Israel out of Egypt and God gave the 10 commandments to them. As Moses came down the from the mountain, the people were given over to idolatry, adultery and sin. God told Moses that He would destroy the nation of Israel and make a greater nation from him. ( vs. 32 ) Notice the hyphen and semi-colon, this is the only place in the Bible you will find this. As he began to pray and cry, he lost his composure, like someone giving a testimony who lose their speech. Moses loved the people, and wept and asked God if He would not forgive them, then blot his name out of the Book of Life. When was the last time we cared about our city or nation to pray something like that? When was the last time we cared for a family member or friend that we would be willing to forfeit our right to Heaven? Sunday school teachers, when was the last time you prayed for your Sunday school class by names? When need a compassion for the lost, for our families, for those who will never hear the good news if we don't tell them? The example of Moses shows us that compassion makes a difference.
II. The example of Jeremiah. ( Jer. 8:22-9:1 )
Jeremiah got discouraged because of the people of Israel. He had preached to them in Jeremiah 6 to return to the Old paths. They said they would not walk therein. Reading here in vs. 22, his heart broke because the people rejected the cure for their problems. In verse 1, he prayed that his head would be a river of waters. Why? so he could weep day and night for the people of Israel. When was the last time we wept day and night? We have such a pitiful desire of service to God. I have to admit that I don't pray as I ought. The average Christian prays less than 15 minutes a day. May God help us to be like Jeremiah and have compassion for people. I have prayed for those in my family, my mother, back in 1979 rededicated her life to the Lord, my sister got saved in 1984, my brother got saved in 1985, and my dad got saved in 1992. I have another brother who has not rededicated his life to the Lord yet, but I am still praying for him. Don't give up, just ask God to give you compassion.
III. The example of David. ( Ps. 126:5-6 )
What the Bible is saying here, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. God's people need to have a broken heart, we need to go with a broken heart. You know when soul winning becomes a burden, when visitation becomes hard to do? its when we lose that tear in the corner of our eye. When we lose the brokenness in our hearts. When we are no longer burdened for those behind the door that we knock on. Dr. Hyles use to tell about the preacher that went our soul winning and went up to the door, and said, " Hello, glory to God, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Are you saved? " And they shut the door in his face. He came back to the car with tears and he asked Dr. Hyles, " What did I do wrong? " Dr. Hyles said, " You got Ps. 126:5-6 backwards. You went rejoicing and came back weeping. " When we go visiting, we need to go out with a broken heart, why? Compassion makes a difference.
IV. The example of Paul. ( Romans 9:1-3 )
Paul opens his heart to us and shows us the difference in His ministry. Paul is saying, I love the nation of Israel so much, and I want my people to be saved, that if it were possible, I would be willing to go to hell if the whole nation of Israel could be saved. Compassion made a difference in Paul's ministry.
V. Our supreme example, Jesus. ( Matthew 9:35-36 )
Do you know what Jesus saw? Jesus saw people by the scores without any direction. he saw people who were lost without a Saviour. He saw them on the way to a burning hell to be separated from God forever. He saw people much like our generation living today. Jesus had compassion on people. His compassion moved Him to preach to people, to heal the people, to take time to listen to people. He saw them with burdens and problems and He went to them to meet their needs. We must see people, and see the needs of people, and we must have compassion on them and bring them to Jesus so He can meet their needs today. Compassion will make the difference in people's lives.
May we ask God for a genuine love for people. Compassion, because compassion makes a difference.
Pastor Taylor
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