Care, Pray, Go

Them.

He loved them with only the type of love that God could have

for them.

He was moved.

He recognized their spiritual and their physical needs, and he

responded accordingly.

Whether it was through teaching, whether Jesus was preaching,

whether it was in synagogues or in the fields, whether it was

in the highways or the hedges, he was healing.

And he was also sending others to serve after discipling them closely.

And so if we, God's people here at Heritage Baptist Church,

if we are going to follow in his footsteps and reach a dying world

for Christ, then we have to embrace the example that has been

set before us.

Jesus ministry was marked by three steps here, according to this,

at least, I see.

And again, that is care, Pray and go.

So let's look at these things here.

The first thing is care.

Jesus wanted others to care.

He wanted his disciples to care.

In verse number 36, I'll read it again, it says, when he saw the

multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them.

He was moved.

Jesus saw their condition.

He didn't see just what everyone else saw.

Not everyone that saw.

The people that Jesus saw was moved with compassion.

What was different about the way Jesus looked at them as opposed

to everyone else?

In fact, many times Jesus would look at those that really,

in most other people's eyes, would have seemed like they were

doing just fine.

People that didn't need a physician, people that didn't need

any more religion, people that seemed like things were going well

for them.

When Jesus saw them, he peered into their hearts like no other set

of eyes could do.

And he saw a lost soul that needed a Savior.

It's really simple.

Tonight we need to remember that as we go about our day, we are

surrounded by people that are, quite frankly, just lost.

They don't know Jesus.

They don't know who we know.

And he has chosen you and me to help them find the way.

Brother King mentioned and preached on the way.

The truth and the life.

This morning, it is our responsibility as the church of Jesus

Christ to point people in the right direction, because otherwise

they will remain lost and they will die in their sins.

And so caring, praying and going goes a long way.

Jesus cared for them.

He saw that the people were as sheep, having no shepherd.

That's a pretty pathetic sight to think about that.

People that thought that they were doing right and thought that

they were in the right place and thought that everything was okay

and had everyone else fooled.

But in their hearts they would have understood that there was something

lacking.

Think about you before you were saved and remember how you knew

something was not right between you and God.

You knew that something was not right for you and eternity, and

you knew that there was an action that needed to take place,

but you didn't understand what.

And so maybe you tried all the things, but then someone cared enough

at some point to share with you a true and accurate representation

of the very simple doctrine of the Gospel of Christ.

And you responded and you were saved.

That is what God would have us to do.

And that always starts with caring.

When he saw them with sheep having no shepherd, he recognized

that everyone was going to do what they thought was right in their

own eyes.

These were people that were harassed.

These were people that needed help.

And so they were helpless.

They were wandering without direction.

And when he saw these type of people, his heart was affected.

When he looked on those people in the busyness of his day, maybe

discipling those that were close to him, he never got so introspective

with those that were directly around him, where he was not able

to look up and see the needs of lost souls.

And his eye affected his heart and he was moved with compassion.

And his heart broke for their spiritual and their physical suffering.

So he saw their condition.

But also he we see when we look at his compassion.

His compassion was followed with action.

Jesus compassion was not just a feeling.

It went beyond a feeling.

It moved him to action.

He healed the sick.

If you'll turn with me just a couple pages in Matthew 14, look

at Matthew 14 and we'll look at verse 14.

And I want you just to see what takes place here.

Here you'll see that it caused him to heal sick in verse 14.

Well, let's look at verse 13.

And when Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert

place apart.

And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot

of the cities.

And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude.

You see, he.

He sees them and was moved with compassion toward them.

And he healed their sick.

His compassion was more than just, wow, I see someone that's in

great need.

But it stirred his heart and then it stirred him to action.

It says, and he healed their sick.

If you would now look at chapter 15.

And let's see verse number 32.

Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have

compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now

three days and have nothing to eat.

And I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way

moved with compassion.

Do you see Christ as He looks at others and as he looks at other

people, as he looks at his creation that have physical needs

and emotional needs and spiritual needs and relational needs.

He is moved.

Are we still moved or are we just busy?

I'm always complaining about all the traffic, and I truly am,

to my core, greatly moved with indignation that nothing seemingly

is being done.

And I know that I'm not saying anything that everyone in here experiences.

And yet many times I'll drive through and I think about the neighborhood

just that I live in, with well over 8,000 homes minutes from here.

And I think that's a lot of people.

That's a big harvest field.

Who's reaching them with the gospel?

I have to check myself occasionally, frequently, all the

time.

When I find myself complaining about all the people around me, think

of how Christless that thought process is.

And then when the Lord, by his Spirit redirects you and lets you

see people, how much they need Christ.

And it moves me and it stirs something up within me.

And then God helps me to begin to care about people instead of be

annoyed by people.

Think about how.

And I've thought about this a lot recently, too.

If it moves me with so much indignation to be living in this

area and it's so packed and there's too many people and the traffic's

too crazy, can you imagine how people that don't know Christ are

handling that, are dealing with that when they get home, when

they go to work, when they're on their way to and from, how much

they are affected by that and how it drives them to anger.

And most likely they're frustrated all the time.

These are people that don't have great purpose.

They just want to get to work and get things done and get their

children to school and do this and do that.

And on the way there, and now for me, even on the way home, I'm

sitting in a line.

Jesus would see people like this.

He would see multitudes, and he'd be moved with compassion.

I would encourage you.

And I'm trying to preach to myself.

The next time I see a long line that I'm sitting in, may God

move me to compassion for the people that are there, instead of

indignation for the people that are there.

And so this is something the Lord can help us with.

When he saw the multitudes that moved him to Christ, to a godly

love.

So he fed the hungry, he healed the sick, he preached the

kingdom of God.

And true compassion meets both the spiritual and the physical needs

of others.

If we focus only on spiritual needs and we ignore people's physical

needs, we lack a Level of compassion.

We don't see them in the areas where they're suffering.

This is one man's opinion, but I feel and sense in some of the groups

that maybe have come before us in other churches, and maybe even

churches that 20, 30 years ago would have been in circles like our

churches are, I believe that maybe because of multiple reasons

and reactions to other bad doctrine, lifestyle, evangelism,

and other different types of things, that we started to lose a

heart for meeting physical needs that people have.

And we focused so much on what other churches were neglecting, the

preaching of the gospel in their, if you will, missions work,

that we turned hard right because of that.

And we stopped helping people with the physical needs that they

have and said, well, bless God, all they need is Jesus.

Well, I would say this to you, friend, if all they need is Jesus,

and you are right, Jesus met physical needs.

Jesus helped them.

He wasn't careless about the plight that they lived in.

When he saw that they were in hunger, it moved him to action.

When he saw people that needed help, physical help, he would help

them.

He didn't always help all their needs, but as he followed the

will of the Father, the Father brought him to those that he needed

to meet physical needs for.

And God used those opportunities to bring about great

spiritual victory for the glory of God the Father.

If we meet physical needs, but we neglect the gospel, we fail also

to show true compassion.

If our heart is always moved with compassion.

When we see people and the videos and the music and the presentation

of people that are suffering physically and all we want to do

is just help them fix that, I would ask you, does it go beyond

that?

Are we also willing to do the hard work of the gospel and maybe

even the simple work of the gospel, and share the story of the

death, the burial, the resurrection, the life, and the ascension

of Jesus Christ?

Are we willing to do it again?

We fail to show true compassion when we neglect either.

A person that's drowning doesn't just need directions, they

need help.

And sometimes I feel as though we can very easily fall into a trap

of being very confident that we know truth and we're on and we're

standing on firm doctrine.

But what good is that firm foundation if we're not using it

to bring other people out of sin, out of the dregs of society,

out of the dregs of the water, they're drowning in the sin and pull

them up on that same foundation.

We can preach and preach and preach the gospel, but if we are

not willing to reach them where they're living.

Then we fail, and we do not act the way that Christ acted towards

others.

It reminds me of Justin one day when we were swimming when we

were in Virginia.

And it still, like, moves me when I think about the story, even

it was so sad and so pathetic, you know, of course, all of our children

learned to swim at some point.

But I'll never forget when Justin hopped into the pool and he

forgot his arm floaties.

He wasn't thinking, he just jumped in.

In fact, Ellie did this too, I believe.

I think it was Ellie, but no, it was Brianna.

But Justin did it at one point.

And I'll never forget the sound of desperation in Justin's

voice.

He was in the shallow end.

He was still drowning, essentially.

He immediately realized he didn't have his floaties on.

And so I just remember this pitiful cry for Ellie that was in

the pool to come and help him.

And he cried for Ellie's voice, and she came and she rescued

him.

And it just reminds me that there are people that even maybe

don't realize their need for salvation.

If they did, we would hear a very pitiful cry.

They need Christ, and so do we care.

The next thought is this.

Jesus told them to pray.

Jesus told them to pray.

I'm going to turn back to Matthew 19 or Matthew 9.

I encourage you to do the same.

Matthew 9 and verse number 37.

Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,

but the laborers are few.

So what is the answer here?

What does Jesus tell them to do?

Does he immediately send them out unto the harvest?

That makes sense to me.

But that wasn't the first step.

He said stop.

He didn't say stop, but he said this.

Pray, pray.

So we care.

But what good is care if we just care and then it dies there.

Care, but allow that to move us to action.

And the action according to Christ ought to be this.

Not to run, to help, but to drop to our knees and to pray that

God would send laborers.

Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send

forth laborers into his harvest.

Jesus describes the multitudes as a ripe harvest field.

And the need for laborers is great, but the workers are few.

This truth remains as relevant today as it really ever has been.

And there are more people living today than have ever lived

at one time on earth.

God help us to be moved with compassion and then to pray the Lord

the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

The problem is not the size of the harvest.

That's what the flesh sees.

The Flesh sees an insurmountable goal, an impossible

thing.

World evangelism can't happen.

It's too hard.

The fields are too white, the fields are too large.

There's too many people.

We can't do this.

That's the flesh.

But the Spirit drops to its knees and prays and recognizes the

almighty power of God and the Lord of the harvest.

Having the ability to reach the hearts of the tender hearted

people that are within his congregations and his churches to

put a burden on them.

So they would see the need that souls have to know Christ and

call them to a very special work, the work of the Gospel.

And by the way, every Christ honoring disciple of Jesus Christ

has a special call to reach the people within their influence.

Everyone is called into the gospel work.

And so when you hear a person say I am surrendering to ministry

or I am surrendering to preach, may I remind you you are

also as called.

We are all called to preach the gospel.

We are all called to minister to those that need help.

We are all called to work in the harvest field.

Are we praying for those that haven't considered the call?

It's interesting.

Even brother King reading the BBTI missionary report, he read this

phrase and I wrote it down, right?

And they were, you could tell, maybe frustrated and struggling and

he made the phrase as something like this.

God still calls, but few are praying and few are going.

How timely, right?

Few are praying and few are going.

When is the last time that you genuinely with a heart of compassion

or moved to heartfelt spirit led prayer for the soul of someone

you know is most likely lost in sin?

Where are the tears?

Where are the tear stains?

On the altar where a church desires to see more people come to

him.

People that they know and see on a regular basis.

There is power in prayer.

Jesus didn't first tell his disciples to go.

He told them to pray well.

Why?

Because the work of the harvest begins again on our knees.

Would you please turn to John chapter four.

John chapter four.

I'd like us to see a passage here.

This is the story of Jesus when he must needs go through Samaria

and there he meets a woman at a well, a Samaritan woman.

And he has an exchange with her about worship.

And he sees her need and meets that need.

And then she runs back into the city to tell others about Christ.

But then when the disciples came back that were out grocery shopping,

they asked him some interesting questions.

In verse number 31 in the mean.

In the mean.

Well, let me go back to verse number 29, verse 28 Forgive me.

The woman then left her water pot and went her way into this city

and saith to the men, come see a man.

Which told me all things that ever I did.

Is not this the Christ?

I imagine on her way to the city, she may have passed a few rather

important people.

I imagine it's possible that maybe she met the disciples or at

least ran by them.

And maybe she delivered that news to them.

Maybe she skipped right past them and erased to meet all the people

that she knew so she could tell them that she had met the Messiah.

But it says in verse number 30.

Then they went out of the city and came unto him.

In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, master,

eat.

Aren't you hungry?

We just went grocery shopping.

Are you hungry?

Well, please eat.

But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

Therefore saith the disciples, one to another, hath any man brought

him aught to eat?

Did anybody else slip him some food?

They're not getting it.

They don't see it.

They're thinking on the physical realm like we all would.

And then verse 34, Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will

of him that sent me and to finish his work.

What was it that got Jesus up in the morning?

What was it that organized his thoughts and his prayers and his

actions and his devotion?

It was knowing what God the Father had him to do.

His meat was the will of the Father.

He was nourished and brought up and sustained by knowing he was

in the direct center of His Father's will.

And in verse 35, say not ye, there are yet four months, and then

cometh harvest.

Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields,

for they are white already.

To harvest.

What was Jesus meat?

What was his sustenance?

It was the Father's will.

What is the Father's will?

I believe that he gives us a window into the eyes and the heart

of the Father when he immediately speaks about the harvest

field.

In this parallel passage, he's telling us, this is the will of the

Father.

Look unto the fields.

They're white.

When's the last time we've looked with the eyes of Christ?

And it bring us to a place of true prayer for the souls of people.

And so I say to you, like Christ said, look upon the fields.

They are white.

Unto harvest.

Imagine trying to reap in a field that's huge all on your own.

You know, the idea here again is, well, you know, I guess I'm all

alone in this thing.

And you just go out into the field and you just start working.

I see the need, so I take the lead.

Well, that's a good mentality in some areas, but not in this gospel

work.

Apparently.

Before we go, we ought to be spiritual enough to do the harder

work of dropping to our knees and praying that the Father send

another and more laborers.

Prayer prepares our hearts for the mission and then also prayer

moves the hand of God to raise up laborers.

Are we praying for the lost?

Are we asking God to send workers into his harvest?

Or are we more man centric and mammon centric?

Sunday night crowd Would we be willing to give, to pray and to go,

parents?

Well, I give my money and that's good.

That's good enough.

That's going to have to be good enough.

But I would never encourage my young person to step out in faith

and to go serve Jesus Christ in some obscure place.

Seemed good enough for the Father.

Jesus wasn't born with a silver spoon.

Jesus had nowhere to lay his head.

And the Father was content with that.

Our children do not deserve more, have not earned more than the

Son of God.

And so I ask you, parents, do you pray for your children that he

would call them and that they would be obedient to a gospel call.

We need more laborers.

How are we going to reach these people?

God is raising up a generation.

And if we heed the call and we see with his eyes and we pray, he

will call people to his harvest.

The last thing is to go.

Jesus told them to go.

Matthew 10.

Let's turn back there to Matthew 10.

And we're closing up now.

Matthew 10.

That's the first touchdown warning.

We're getting close.

Matthew 10.

Look at verse number one.

Or.

Yes, verse number one.

And when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them

power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all

manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

And then he goes through in names his disciples.

In verse 5 again, these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them,

saying, and by the way, these are some of the same people that

he told earlier to pray.

Now he says to them, what?

Go, go.

And then he says, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into

any city of the Samaritans.

Enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And as ye go preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The Lord had a people for him, for these disciples to reach.

And he tells them very specifically where he wants them

to go.

Why would he do that because he has a specific will for each of

his children, and he wanted them to go to the particular places

that the Father put on his heart and told him to send them to

go.

And so when we go and when we obey the call, we obey a direct call,

a very specific and a special calling.

Young people, God has a special calling on your life to reach

a certain group of people, people that you have influence with,

and those of you that work a professional job somewhere, or maybe

you're in your home, in your neighborhood, and you have influence

with people maybe online, in other places in your family.

We have people that Jesus would have us to reach.

And Christ would tell you to care.

He would tell you to pray.

He would tell you to go.

Jesus equips his workers.

It says in verse number one.

And when he had called unto his 12 disciples, he gave them power.

He gave them power.

And then it talks about how he gave them ability to heal sick and

to do other miraculous things.

He equipped them.

And I would say this to you today.

He will equip you.

He will equip our children.

He will equip me.

And then also Jesus sent them to act.

It's important to understand that the disciples were sent to do

what?

Well, and as ye go, verse number seven, preach saying, the

kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And so as we go, we don't just help them see better with a pair

of eyeglasses.

We don't just take their BP and their blood sugars and all these

different things and bring medication and give them medication.

We go to do those things with a very specific purpose so that we

can meet a spiritual need.

And so you reach them initially with a physical ailment.

And by meeting that need, their heart is open to what you have

to say.

And they hear the gospel because they know the person cares.

They know the person has compassion.

I love what our church does with missions, and I hope that I'm

not coming across as I'm chiding our church.

I think that our church does wonderful things.

Many of our.

I'm only here right now because of the good things that our

church is doing.

Our pastor and his wife are on a Honduran missions trip right now,

and they're reaching people with the gospel, but they're meeting

physical needs, too.

I love the balance, the biblical balance that our medical

missions team has, and I appreciate that.

And I'm so grateful to God that our church sees that need and

we do take a lead.

But I want to know what is all of our involvement?

Those that do not go.

Does he send everyone to Honduras?

No, he does not.

Nor does he call everyone specifically to Honduras.

To Honduras.

But I do know this.

He would have us to pray.

He would have us to give.

He would have us to care, to have a heart for those people.

You know, a fireman, when called, is expected to enter a burning

building and to save lives.

And we expect them not to hesitate.

And we've seen videos of police officers and we've looked

at surveillance cameras at schools in different places and thought,

well, that guy should have done this or he should have done

that.

And we get to armchair quarterback those situations we expect

out of people when someone else is hurting for the person that

has the answer or a way to keep them safe, to go and to reach

them and to meet that need to save them.

What about their souls?

Do we do less for their soul than we would their body?

We must go likewise.

Go where God sends us.

Go where God sends us, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God

to rescue the perishing.

Where is God calling you to go?

Where is he calling me to go?

Is it across the street?

Or maybe someone in your workplace?

Is he calling you to a foreign field and you fought with that?

Maybe you're well over your prime and you cannot shake a calling

of God on your life.

You will never shake that calling of God on your life.

And I would say to you today that you'll never draw closer to

God unless you go back to the last place where you told him no.

Where have we said no to him in our actions or in our hearts?

We must go back to that place, to that person, to that calling,

and obey and do the meat, the hard work.

So meeting physical needs, compassion without action is just

an observation.

I can't give credit to anyone for that.

It's not mine, but I think it's a good, good quote.

Couldn't find the author.

But compassion without action is just an observation.

And I would say this.

Beyond that compassion followed by action.

Is Christ like it makes me think of Romans 5, 8.

But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet

sinners, Christ died for us.

And so, in conclusion, there are three words.

Care, pray, and go.

The challenge is to care, to identify people that need help, and

then to pray and ask God to send workers and maybe to use you

and be willing, be ready, like Isaiah.

He may just call you and then also to go, to take action, to meet

a need or share the gospel.

Maybe tonight you just need to come and ask the Lord to light the

fire.

That was in you long ago about missions and about reaching lost

people and doing the will of the Father.

We can hide that and run from that while being very faithful in

all of the perfunctory duties of church.

But may we have hearts of compassion that leads us to prayer,

that leads us to go and to send others.

We're going to have our instrumentalists come up here and

we're going to have a short time of invitation.

I would encourage you to think about this.

Try to think of a person or a group of people that are within your

realm of influence even today.

Or maybe if God's put a burden for a specific person or people group

on your heart, a place for you to go, a people for you to reach.

Come and pray.

Come and pray that the Lord would send you that way.

Let's all stand together, please.

We'll bow our heads and close our eyes and we'll have the instrumentalists

sing and play.