Essentials - Compassion 3/28

Pretty cool song I actually remember learning that song with my mom actually run around the house like that of your parents your mom and she wouldn't play that song. I was a kid. I thought the song is pretty dull and boring. So I'm glad we actually did something with it actually makes it fun in case for some of you grab the tritian away when I hear traditional songs played, it feels like a funeral dirge and I'm like, oh my goodness just jab me in the arm in the van. Now you live with what I like it when we make it kind of cool. So we started at the end of essential oils and what we've been doing if you're just joining two things of the faith. We've been told all over what's essential with not Ascension when it's kind of irritating when you keep hearing that cram down your throat, right? So be kind of nice to know what is God think is essential to the first we talked about the essential nature of the gospel and we talked about the gas will talk about this good news, and it wasn't every person's life every single person. If you listen carefully, you can hear an area of admission of sin believe hoellein. In a commitment to him and where you find one of those pieces missing it's where God wants you to love the people closest to you cuz that's how they come to know the full good news the Full Gospel the second we we talked about prayer that should have still came back to us with the inner Patrick's Church near Amaya's that prayer is pretty important for the church. He reminded us as a church not to be prayer wimps, but be Prayer Warriors and that was a pretty good word. We got from pastor and we talked about relationships and as much as it's up to you to live in harmony and at peace with everyone both those and the family out of the family wants your attention with week for we talk about forgiveness and what it really means to forgive is to look at the heart and the life of Jesus which is to be reconciled to God and really when you're talking about being reconciled of forgiving others you want that and their life week by we talked about take up your cross and they take up our cross we made that all about ourselves and really when you look at thinking up a cross. It's more about understand what Jesus has done when he took Just crossed and that called us to die to self in the Pastor Dan spoke about worship and talk about genuine authentic heartfelt worship and the worship is not music. It's a lifestyle. It's really something deep inside of you. And I remember when he was just coming, tea made challenge me about is someone in your face challenging about your faith. Is that help when you do for that's what happening maybe something's broken and we had growing with grace that we can a lot of people took the next step in our see how to read the Bible and then last we talked about Unity of the church and the church needs Unity are call Trini Judy right now, and we talked about that week how to unify that's through submission as we submit Natalie to Godly leadership, but also to God's appointed leadership which comes through man and the leadership is both Divine its human. That was a great warrior this week. We can talk about compassion and we're connecting compassion to Palm Sunday. So if you haven't grown up in the church, you're not familiar with some of the church holidays this begins. Holiest week in the entire Christian counter. It starts today and Pastor Dan read a passage out of Mark and that's an all of the synoptic gospels means the similar gospels Matthew Mark and Luke and then that's similar. We'll talk about this entry of Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem, which was the city that he was promised to come into and they shouted Hosanna, which means he say Yves answer this crowd is excited. They're pumped up. He's coming into the city and you're going to see over the course of this week as we begin to dive into the holiest week of the Christian calendar the same crowd that yells who's Anna is going to yell crucify him. That week and the reason is their understanding of what compassion is and what Jesus is understand of compassionate and how that you were very very different is I was meditating on this account is hooked up some definitions and compassion from famous leaders in different people. We just some of us celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. Some of us can remember the most can't that's a different issue. We have a program for that Patrick had to say regarding compassion. He said before I was humiliated. I was like a stone that lies in deep mud record picture and he who is mighty came and his compassion Raised Me Up exhausted me very high and place me on the top of the wall. That's a great picture from him from a different religion is the Dalai Lama who said if you want others to be happy practice compassion And he said if you want to be happy practice compassion, so there's something about compassion to bridge the gap not only in the Christian world, but in other religious world use as well as the people rally people understand compassion when the best definitions, I found not the Webster definition Webster's definition of Castile and got this was one of the internet the meaning of compassion is to recognize the suffering of others and then take action to help compassion embodies the tangible expression of love for those who are suffering know that we're just not enough is James says to say to your brother sister. Hey go well be fed. It's all good and I'll pray for you. You have to actually do something about your compassion. And that's what you see is Jesus rules into Jerusalem. He's about to do something about his compassion. And if we want to see how I sent your compassion workstar Lies We have to look to him and his compassion which is fuel. His passion. What do you think is the thing that fights against I love this quote about compassion because it's Hawks about suffering. And so if you're going to talk about suffering you have to start back in. What's the source of suffering? What is suffering come from which is the root of suffering and different people have different things to share my packages going to have a fun afternoon just Google what caused the suffering and you won't believe how many definitions you'll get how many different opinions you get about that. But if you want the Christian worldview of what actually causes suffering here's what it is. It's very simple. It's sin. Dennis Rebellion against God it's the only look to God we say I know that you say to do it this way gone. This is the way you design something, but I'm just going to do it my way this way and when that happens suffering begins to creep into the lives of not only our life, but the people close to us and you're going to see as we go further into this Palm Sunday. That's exactly what happened in Jesus's life. But his response shows compassion to have a Bible Luke 19. It's really good for Marks losing see that the different one of the gospels and really good 19 - 37 through 41 and look at what happens when he came near the place was just after with Pastor Dan read about his family came here the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives the whole call the disciples begin. Joyfully to praise and loud voices for the Miracles they had seen Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest some of the Pharisees and the crowds in the Jesus teacher rebuke your disciples over stomach. Shut up. I tell you he replied if they keep quiet the stones will cry out as he approached Jerusalem install the city he wept over it. This is a picture of Jesus has compassion and to share in this kind of compassion. That's when I give you a few things. I can really help you and fuel it. The first one. Is this You & I we must look to the scriptures and having for compassion. You can't look too movement. You can't looks what organization you can't look to the humanities, right? You can look through those things because it's only a partial compassion. There's two things in here there to help you dig it out. If you want to Circle M in your Bible your notes Circle these Miracles is when the things you got to focus in on if you really want understand this and the other one is peace in heaven. Peace in heaven. They were focused on the Miracles that he had done. They saw those as a sign but they also saw there's a something for them if your to understand Miracles appropriately you have to understand that they're actually not for you. They're actually not for me when we ask God for a miracle. We ask God for intervention. It's actually for him and that's counterintuitive. And that's what they said that they were actually praising and yelling and excited cuz they seen all these Miracles and they thought wow, this is who is going to do some of those Among Us. This was about to happen and they're excited and the reality is is they didn't see the Miracles were meant to point every single person that was there. To the father and what she was about to accomplish. They were missing the whole lens the whole vantage point of what it was about because they were looking to heaven and they were looking at the scriptures. They were looking to their own needs. This happens all kinds of different ways in our world today when the ways I've seen this is so subtle. And if I find you on this one, I'm not apologizing for just got you to think about what I'm about to say. There's a whole group of people horse Slant with in theology right now. It would look to the Book of Jonah and safe. We think it's fixed. It's fiction. We we think we look at this just doesn't make sense to look for the story of Noah, and I'll say this looks like fiction to us and what they do is instead of first starting with looking to heaven and then to the scriptures and then placing those two things as a 14 of over them. They flip that whole Paradigm on the end and safe. I'm going to take my intellect. I'm going to take my education. I'm going to look to others who have the higher education and will look to their opinion about what this means and how it applies to my life. And when they do that they draw a conclusion the maid X Rob's god of the miracle you see a miracle by its very definition can't be explained away. It's something that challenges you're thinking. It challenges your education its challenges. You're very reality and it causes you to come over tomorrow pause and go in and maybe God's doing something. I don't understand that maybe requires faith. And that's what's happening here. They're looking to their own needs and they're missing it when my favorite, tears live, you know, somebody started like this commentator with his auntie William Barclay what you may not know is that William Barclay struggled a little bit in this area because he was education and he'll go out of his way. If you read his commentaries to explain away every Miracle he goes out of his way to explain away because it's just hard for him to make that leap of faith. Nothing fun thing is as he tries to explain away because it's really interesting details about the passage. The worst part is is he never had think fell in love in all of What miracles really care about and that's what's happening here at this only place in the gospels. The only place in the synoptics is this word right here that comes out peace in heaven. General even lupient this gospel of peace on Earth. Yeah, but right here unique is peace in heaven and glory in the highest and it's like why is that there? We don't understand why that's there because I think it's there because God wants to Hershey and you have to begin with Heaven Heavenly View to truly see the Miracles and what God is doing and how it will shape you and I you see they were looking is Pastor Dan alluded to berners-lee King. They want somebody to come in kick out the occupying Authority the Romans and to make everything good and to be the Messiah that they had always wanted. It would put everything in Peace by just doing it through War which is why I didn't come out of horse, which is why the king doesn't come as a conquering kidding but on the folded donkey. With humility is that crisis will get that and because of that. They turned on him and you're going to see that this week is we jump into the whole Evie. It just happens for people when they look too man instead of Heaven. There's a famous atheist by Christopher Hitchens. He's a funny guy. You can Google him. He's British which anytime you smoke with a British accent kind of funny already, right? And then he has that sarcasm that creepy stuff that you hear enough and I love listen to him because he's got a keen intellect the guys sharp, but when the things you find us, he's always looking to humanity for answers of course and not to God because he's an atheist right and what you find in his writings as he even go so far as to criticize Mother Teresa Criticizes her believe it or not on the area of compassion. Is she was a nun in compassionate woman? How does he get there? Right you're going. What the heck is anybody that's compassionate. We looked at Mother Teresa write a list of things out and I can't wait to how does someone in use in his frame of mind get to that place. You know how you got there. He said her goals were wrongly motivated. She want to draw attention to God. When what you really should be doing is just alleviating the suffering of people for no other reason than her Humanity. You see it. It's so subtle, but it's something you and I have to see if we're really going to see what God wants to do an errand compassion. Do you also believe that when she was doing these things? She made a statement that really messed him up. She said that suffering believe or not is part of God's plan. Too perfect Christ within us and the people that suffer know him usually better and more intimately than people that never experienced some level of suffering any thought that's just backwards. That's just wrong and it's not to criticize him cuz he's a keen intellect. What is the Chris and he is dead. He's now mad Jesus and then squared away. So the here's the reality is that what's important is the lens who used the Lindsay used was the lens of I'm looking only to humanity for my understanding of compassion. Here's the way it should work. I should look first to the kingdom of heaven and I should ask God to First change me my heart my perspective My Lens when he changes me, which is what happened to the apostles, but not to be specific disciples at this point. I begin to understand his compassion. And his compassion always points heavenward and then I begin to have an understanding that that needs to be shared with other people so they can understand true compassion from the father is evidence in the son, you know, the truth compassion that they weren't seeing. They thought Jesus was bringing a new Heaven and a new Earth right then didn't he? But then you have a new Earth don't come until the Book of Revelation which were going to cover by the way with summer. So so we're like I like that works out about that. I'm glad you're excited the rest of us through teaching it or terrified. Okay, we're going to go through that book and then that you're going to see the real plan of compassion for a new Heaven and new earth. But the first thing is you have to be in the look of the scriptures and you muscle Kevin work. The second thing is this you have to understand that there will always be opposition to God, but he gets the last word. There's always opposition to what God's doing them on Earth, but he always gets the last word some of the Pharisees. It says in the crowds of the Jesus rebuke your disciples and he told him if they stop what happened. The very stones will cry out to think you should Circle the Pharisees and the stones will cry out because when you look at these two things you begin to understand that was happening sources Messianic prophecy not familiar with that term Messianic means that the Jewish nation was waiting for their Messiah their promised King and that it's actually prophesied that he will ride in literally on a donkey exact right Nine-Nine on a pole its precise. If I get everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus and the heat for filled it and so that some of those Pharisees would have known that I love it. It doesn't say all the Pharisees. Did you catch that? Cuz we give the Pharisees a bad rap, but there was some Pharisees that proposing Jesus but there were some Pharisees that it got in the message because they begin to look heavenward. He really did and so when you look at this one, I think we teach when you do grow with Grace as we talked about this passage out of the Gospel Mark, and it's some of the religious leaders were again pushing back on Jesus even to the point I said, hey man, you're just you're possessed by Satan you're possessed by the prince of demons. There's going to be a Jesus got that opposition from religious leaders in the elite you and I should expect to get that opposition when we began to adopt his form of compassion and a lot of the world if you figure this out yet. Does not like the Christian worldview, they don't like the compassion that's within a Christian versus The Compassion that they see as more noble. You see true spiritual warfare in a lava slide to talk about spiritual warfare, but true spiritual warfare is not what bad stuff happens to you true spiritual warfare the deepest kind of spiritual warfare is when there's opposition to what's about to happen with the good news. Is it about this about to go out to people I was watching a video on preparing for this message and I was watching a guy who was in Israel in the holy city that were talking about. He's right there. Not far from The Wailing Wall, which is where the Temple Mount is. And he's reading a passage. This is a guy who's a Messianic Jew Suites jewishness throwing up when he believes that Jesus is the Messiah and he's reading a passage out of the book of Isaiah. And he says don't you think it's an usual talkative like 20 30 different people that have grown up Jewish in that City. He says if you ever heard this passage from Isaiah and they all said, no, not really it's because it's a passage. It's now been banned by most rabbinic grab eyes to be red in synagogues. Cuz if you read Isaiah 53 challenge, you read it. You cannot come out of Isaiah 53 without going. Oh my gosh, it's Jesus. He was pierced for your transgressions. The iniquity of us always lie upon his shoulders. They looked on the one that they had pierced like you start reading this passage and you're like, oh my gosh, this is 700 years before Jesus is born and in perfect detail. What he's about to do in that Holy Week is being laid out and there's a group of people who should most want to embrace that they just say no in opposition and that's because what Satan does is he always wants to ask you our perception to look earthward instead of having to get our Revelation from the right place and our own growth group. We've been studying different religions different Cults and other things as interesting as we do that look at different dimensions and different pieces is be understanding and growing our understanding that would Satan does. He just likes to take things that are true and just tweaked a little Just shift a little bit and that's how we get false religions and Falls Cults that leave people strafe and he doesn't stop there. He loves to do this within our culture as well. Doesn't he where the areas? It's under attack within our culture right now is the Aries sexuality, right? What's male what's female in the that even idea of gender identity is being skewed. It's being messed with no. Let me tell you if you want to stay Jesus compassion on this issue. You got to look exactly what happened in this passage, cuz he wept over these people. He loved them. He saw them as harassed and helpless the group of leaders and failed to lead them in the right direction and is giving them false claims, you know, we start messing with the identity of our gender. We begin to mess with the literally the image of God. Did he made them male and female he made them in His image. I never get angry with someone that's having a gender identity issue. Never you know, why? Because they are under a deception in my heart weeps for them. Cuz I know that there's freedom to be found, but it's only to be found within the compassion of Christ and let me tell you. You can try to be silenced. But even if you are the stones will cry on the truth of who got is when Jesus says it's what he's actually pointing to his he is Sovereign and he will make it happen. And when the books are books allowed to read I just finished it was a book on the movement of Christ in Muslim nations right now in the Middle East and of course, there's quite a few people that are radical in that area of the world. They're trying to suppress the name of Christ to suppress the actual proclamation of the good news of who he is and what amazes me is the more that they try to suppress and that spiritual warfare Titans the mortgage crisis in In fact, Jesus is actually literally revealing himself in physical form to Aman's in the Middle East people are coming to Christ by the thousands because they're trying to silence and when you try to silence him, even the stones will cry out. I love it like Dan mentioned this was one of our pastors recently and we don't have to fight for God. He's a lot more powerful than you and I he doesn't need our defense. She will work it out. All we got to do is be faithful to the story that he has planted down inside of us. So you have to look the scriptures in heaven. When was you the compassion you have to understand that there will be opposition but God's going to get that last word no matter what happens. He's going to be Sovereign. He's been let the stones cry the necessary number three. You have to allow yourself to be moved for those who need God's. Peace. You and I have to allow ourselves to be moved for those that need God's peace as he approached Jerusalem and he saw the city. He wept over in he wept over it. So I asked you a question on that this kind of tough question. Do You Weep over your city The place in which you live the place where you are. If you come to a place in your own compassion where you would weep over the people that live where you live? To do that you got to see the city from Jesus's view from his vantage point, you know, Jerusalem was harassed. The religious leaders have their own agenda. The political leaders have their own agenda. This city was not well read. They didn't know who the Messiah would be in Jesus all of this as he approaches the city and instead of getting angry with the people. He wept, you know, Jesus only weep three times the scriptures, you know that three times one is at the tomb of Lazarus. The other one is here and the other ones reference in the book of Hebrews when it says in the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who is able to see them from Death. He wept in regard to his own crucifixion was about to happen. So what you think of this was for you John? It's a trick question. Don't answer it. But I've been told all my life for the shortest verse in the Bible is Jesus wept, you know, it's wrong. It's kind of fun to figure out later is a pastor is the shortest English. It's not the shortest in Greek in the original language, which of the test was written in the shortest is actually at a kind of profound. It's Rejoice always Rejoice always is actually the shortest verse is I think God wanted to give us a perception that even in our weeping we could Rejoice that our perspective could be changed. A few months ago. We asked you to pray about your one the one person. Maybe you're praying for thinking about. It doesn't know Christ yet, but needs to know him. He's been doing that consistently thankfully with all of your heart and all your bean cuz usually I know when I start praying for someone for real. There's a point mon Fairlife that I began to weep for them. But I really begin to immerse myself in my Christ's love for them is I wait for them my heart aches for them to know the fullness of the faith that I wrestle with all the time. I want that if you're not weeping, this is the week. I think that you can get there. Let me give you some tangible ways. You can get there and then we're going to think about this from another perspective. So we're started devotion today you special devotion yesterday is a church-wide emotions on Facebook and puts it on my person on the church Facebook as well that I can post it on our feed life in town about the black and posted on the Church website, but it's a devotions only one week long and what will happen at devotion. We just started today. Is it a walk you through every single day of this Holy Week and what's happening? So help you to immerse yourself into a Palm Sunday begins all the way to Easter and that's online and again easy to get access to everything that we're going to do with other than emotion is a we begin to offer gathering with Grace online for many of you. So you don't know what it means to immerse yourself in God's movement within this church. You can take that class online now and it's completely at your pace when you want it. All you got to do is would give you the form push that there it's also on her Facebook page and you click on that and it's a way for you to go deeper with your own faith this week with your church family. On Thursday will have something called Maundy Thursday. So Maundy Thursday is a traditional view. But from the hour of 6 to 8 p.m. The sanctuary will be open it'll be quiet and still and it different stations all the way around Sanctuary therapy places, you can stop and pray and meditate and think about what God is going to do this week. And when that happens most people that come to the Maundy Thursday service say they're blown away. That's for both people here and those online because what we do as you'll come in we'll be able to keep you socially distant and you come in the stations are far enough apart. You'll be able to partake in each one guy. That's something you'll be able to do and that will prepare you again for what's happening in a good Friday at 11 a.m. In partnership with many different churches here in the Seaford area. We're going to meet rate at Town Hall in 11 a.m. We're going to go through a prayer March and that's it. Junction with multiple churches in Seaford and we'll do the seven cries of the cross the seven things that Jesus cry from the cross will do together and be able to pray together each one of those places and hear that again in preparation for what we'll do this week in an Easter Sunday will come back together and you'll be confused. At first I guarantee that we were playing the service and try to help you understand what it was like for those first disciples and apostles they went to that tomb but then you also going to move to Celebration of what Christ has done and then we're going to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids. So make sure you bring your kids at day. They'll be plenty bags. Do you need me were at the haunt of those plastic eggs and we'll have stuffed and ready and pray for good weather because we really love to go to the Easter egg hunt following the service and that's will be doing the get ready for this. Holy of holy weeks. So this week but I'm asking you to do is what you immerse yourself in Christ. Invite others to follow him to immerse yourself everything that we're doing this weekend to help you the church family and those attending to immerse yourself and who he is because if you immerse yourself when we is you will have compassion when you immerse yourself in Christ you discover. He's there with you in the fire you discover. He's there with you in the ways of life and he's there with you so you can truly understand that really in suffering with in suffering. You will more than a Phi with what he wants to do in this rule regarding compassion. We pray for you and then that when I finish praying we're going to sing a song that's new and I want you to just carefully just stay seated and meditate and listen for God might be sharing about the song in the area of compassion and in your own struggles to spray Father in Heaven. Thank you for this day. thank you for each and every person whether here or online, they're not here by accident but by Design Where's your compassion is something we need more of Natalie in our lives and our families, but also in the world in which we live. Or we can look all around us for different reasons and sources of compassion. But today we look heavenward. We look to your word and we submit our lives beneath it asking that you would give us a new and fresh Revelation into Who You Are. And what you want to do in the lives of the people that we most love would you begin to move in our lives for compassion? break our hearts for those that don't know you people close to us family and friends whose lives are a mess like our own. But lack the joy of Christ's presence. Burden us for Woodburn you and may we weep over the city and the friends and the family which even trusted to us. We thank you for that in Jesus name.