Java Project // Compasssion

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Hey, I'm the

same guy that was here before from Compassion.

How are you going? How is everyone? Now I'm Filipino,

so I gotta say I like a little bit of response

as well as how we work in the Philippines We

kind of let me kind of teach you some Filipino.

Oh There's three people that want to learn I'll

go over here No, no in the Philippines. We do

these things where we You know, one of the things

that we're known for is our smiles goes. Can

everyone smile? That's it. That's it Filipinos

love to smile. The only thing we love to do is

When we point we point with our lips So if you

want to point to this side My mom would say,

we'll get to my slippers over there, right? So

can everyone point this way? Everyone's like,

we're not our style. It's okay, just go with

me. I'm just a visitor for the day. And the last

one is we speak with our eyebrows. So when you

go into a room in the Philippines, you say, hey,

go on. And you don't nod your head like an Australian,

you just lift your eyebrows. So how you doing?

So maybe as I'm preaching, I might say to you,

are you listening? Or are you with me? Would

you do some Filipino eyebrows for me? Is that

cool? Awesome. Hey, I've got a word. Usually,

like I said, I always do something thematic.

It's all around the work of compassion. But every

time I went to load it up onto the drive that

I gave to Tim, I kept getting this picture of

God wanting to bring the curtain open. And I

was like, what's that? And God works in repetition

for me. I kept seeing it. So anyway, this is

the scripture that he gave me. And I'm in the

book of Luke at the moment. I don't want to just

sort of give you one observation to start us

off with what I found. Today's a Bible study.

So if you've got your Bibles, get them out. If

you've got your phones, get them out. It's going

to be a note taking one. I don't have any slides.

It's just going to be old school. But one of

the things I found in the book of Luke, every

time the chapter changed, it starts with the

crowds. And every chapter that goes along, guess

what happens by the end of the by the end of

the book, no one's there no more. Jesus' teaching

starts in Luke and finishes at the end of Luke

and the whole way it gets deeper and deeper and

deeper and deeper and the crowds get smaller

and smaller and smaller and smaller and Jesus

wants to know who really wants it. Because the

teachings get hard, are you with me? I did the

teaching on the, you know, love your neighbor.

Yeah, that sounds easy. It's not, it's hard.

You don't know my neighbors where I live. They're

crazy. It's hard to love your neighbors. So what

we're gonna be doing right now, we're gonna start

in Luke 440. So go there in your Bibles. And

if you're feeling challenged today, I take joy

in that. I hope that God is gonna have you to

wrestle with this scripture. It's a very simple

word, but I wanna start with one scripture and

then I'm gonna grab a whole heap to unpack 360

degrees how that first one began, okay? So here's

the scripture, you ready to go? Give me some

Filipino eyebrows. All right, everyone is going.

Here we go. Luke 4, 40 to 42. When the sun was

setting, what time of the day is it? Afternoon.

Thank you. When the sun was setting, the people

brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of

sickness and laying his hands on each one of

them, he healed them. Wouldn't this be cool?

Moreover, Demons came out of people shouting,

you are the son of God. They know exactly who

is in the room. But he rebuked them and he would

not allow them to speak because they knew he

was the Christ. In some translations it says

that he was the Messiah, the chosen one. At daybreak,

what time of the day is it? Right, so how long

has that been going on for? all night, right?

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place

and the people were looking for him and when

they came to where he was, they tried to keep

him from leaving them. But he said, I must preach

the good news of the kingdom of God to the other

towns also because that is why I was sent. And

that's the verse that we're gonna concentrate

on the most. I don't know if you caught what's

going on in this, but let me just paint you a

picture. Jesus is doing a 12 hour ministry session.

And people are sick and he's going around, ears

come, open, blindness gone, head cold, conjunctivitis,

outta here in Jesus' name, right? He's doing

all this sort of healing and he's doing it for

a long time, 12 hours. Now friends, if you were

in this time during the word that just happened

in Luke, guess what happened? It's a highly communal

society. You know what they did? If something

like this was happening, you would get on your

phone, right? You'd probably start posting it,

instaring it, Facebooking it, calling friends.

Anyone sick? Come on in. In those days, children

were sent. Children run to the next village.

They were like the messengers. Hey, Aunty Mavis,

something's going on in the other village. Come

check it out. And people would have been running

like anything to come and see what was happening.

Are you with me? Right, so he's hit 12 hours

of it. Do you think people saw these amazing

things and went, ah, no worries? Or were they,

wow, this could be the Messiah. And all of a

sudden, you know, what happens is 12 hours passes

and he's tired and then at daybreak, What does

it say? At daybreak, Jesus went to a solitary

place. He's tired. He's exhausted. And what does

he do? Goes to a solitary place. What do you

think he did there? Probably sat with the father.

Right? Had a minute. Had a minute. And all of

a sudden, all the people that had found out about

what had been going on for the last 12 hours

came to him and it says this. And when they came

to where He was, they tried to keep Him from

leaving them. Can you imagine the space? And

Jesus, listening to all these real needs, listening

to all these people with their issues, somehow

gets to the point where He goes, I'm sorry, but

I gotta go. I gotta go and preach the good news

of the kingdom of God to the other towns also.

And somewhere, unless you walk backwards the

whole way, he turned his back and left them.

How do you think you would have felt if you were

there? Can you catch what I'm saying? What about

if you were ill? What about if you were sick?

What about if you had lame? You were lame in

some kind of way. You had a disability. And he

just goes, sorry, I gotta go. I gotta preach

the good news of the kingdom of God to the other

places also. My question is this, how did he

do that? How did he look people in the face and

say, no, sorry guys, gotta go? How did he do

it? This is my first observation. And take this

in, some of you are gonna love this first point.

You don't have to do it all. You don't have to

do it all. Jesus didn't heal everyone in that

instance. Does that make sense? Now we're gonna

start unpacking this really really quickly you're

ready to go to Luke chapter 9 verse 51 We're

Luke 9:51

gonna explore that verse and work out how did

Jesus do that moment in ministry? I don't know

about you But if I could do that, I probably

would I'll be wasting my time there But here

to catch this there's something I want to explore

in the way that Jesus lives Let's see if you

can pick up what's going on the book of Luke

Luke 9 51 says this as the time approached for

him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely

set out for, who's got a translation? What's

the word? Jerusalem. Luke 13 22, a few books

to the right. Then Jesus went through the towns

and villages teaching as he made his way up to

Jerusalem. There it is again. Throughout the

book of Luke, there's this thing going on. Jesus

is going somewhere. Luke 17, 11. Now, on his

way to, everyone say it together, Jerusalem.

You're picking it up, right? Jesus traveled along

the border between Samaria and Galilee. Let's

go another book over, Luke 18, 31, for those

who are really quick with the phones. Yes. My

man, right there, right there. Jesus took the

12 aside and he told them, we are going up to

Jerusalem. Right? Luke 19, 28. There's only a

few of them. After Jesus had said this, he went

on ahead going up to Jerusalem. You're good.

There's this thing in the book of Luke. There's

like this beat. There's like this thing that's

driving Jesus. and every good decision, every

good thing that he has to do, he weighs up and

says to himself, does this get me to Jerusalem

or not? Making sense? Now I don't know if you

know the geography, Jerusalem's on a hill. So

they're always going up to Jerusalem. It doesn't

stop him from ministering to people, having 12

hour sessions of miracles. Doesn't stop him from

talking to someone who's in a tree and saying,

hey, come to have dinner at my house. But everything

that Jesus does is around this idea and around

this intentionality of going to Jerusalem. Okay,

just pause that now. We'll go to the next part.

We're just gonna keep unpacking this. Now I wanna

do it in a way that talks about his relationships.

Everyone say relationships. We wanna talk about

how Jesus did relationships. Okay, here's the

picture, Matthew 17, if you wanna look in. The

transfiguration. Amazing. Another amazing story.

After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John

and the brother of James and led the brother

of James and led them up a mountain by themselves.

There he was transfigured. Now that's kind of

like the unveiling of God, right? Do you know

what transfigured means? It means, the next line

it says, his face shone like the sun. You know

what I mean? It's like all of a sudden the three

disciples will be like, wow, he really is God.

Are you picking it up? It's an amazing moment.

Then, this gets even cooler, then appeared before

them Moses and Elijah, two dead guys rock up,

two generals from the Old Testament. I love Peter's

response to Jesus. He goes, Lord. I sense excitement

in him. It is good for us to be here, right?

If you wish, I will put up three shelters, one

for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, right?

He's trying to honor them. Do you think he's

excited? Oh man, he's excited. And let's continue.

Let's jump to verse nine. As they were coming

down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, hey,

hey, hey, don't tell anyone. about this amazing

thing we just did, right? Can you imagine it?

God, you're just like shining like the sun. Yeah,

don't tell no one. It was just for you. And then

the disciples ask him, well, why then do the

teachers of the law say that Elijah must come

first? Catch this, they're walking down the mountain.

They just had this supernatural, mystical experience,

been blown away by God and his glory and his

majesty. And as they're walking down, they're

doing some like discipling. He goes, so, you

know, the Pharisees and they're just debriefing

the whole moment. But this is my question to

you. Where were the other nine? They're sinking.

Where were the other nine? Why didn't he take

the 12? Does Jesus have favorites? Are Peter,

James, and John more special than the other nine?

Can you imagine getting back and they say, hey,

what happened? And you go, he told me not to

say nothing. He told me to say, I can't tell

you. What do you mean you can't tell me? What

happened up the mountain? And up the mountain

was something amazing always happened on the

mountain, right? So they know stories from the

past. But my question is, why were there 12?

Let's dig a little deeper Let's discover what

what's going on here in Matthew 11 1 if you're

still going there well done After Jesus had finished

instructing his 12 disciples He went on from

there to teach and preach in the towns of gallus

Galilee How many disciples were they saying?

12 right Luke 10 says after this the Lord appointed

72 how many 72. After that, in Acts it says there

was a core group of 120 in the upper room. Anyone

know that? 120. So this is what I've picked up.

Jesus had a group of 120, an inner circle. And

then he had a group of 72, an inner, inner circle.

And then he had a group of 12, a inner, inner.

inner circle, and then he had a group of three,

Peter, James, and John, an inner, inner, inner,

inner circle. What does this mean? What can we

learn from Jesus' life? And this is my observation,

friends. Jesus goes deeper with fewer and fewer.

I know profound, huh? He goes, deeper with fewer

and fewer. Can I ask you, how many friends do

you, how many friends can you really have? You

probably can't have 72 best friends. You probably

can't come down the mountain after this amazing,

mystical, supernatural experience and talk to

the 120. All right guys, let's debrief. You know

what I mean? Jesus went deeper with fewer and

fewer. I love that you guys have started these

new groups. Resilient Disciple groups, yeah?

If you're not in one, get in one. You know why?

Jesus went deeper and deeper with fewer and fewer.

And do you know when you know when you need friends?

When stuff goes wrong. Someone gets sick. Someone

gets hurt. Someone's emotional baggage comes

up. Someone's stressed out. You don't run to

72, do you? You don't even run to 120. You don't

even run to 12. You know who you run to? Just

a few. The people who you go vulnerable with,

you're vulnerable with, the people you go deeper

with, the people you know like really get you

and love you. Am I preaching to anyone today?

Is this on? You know what I mean? We're to go

deeper and deeper with fewer and fewer. And can

I give you the observation of what's going on

in the culture around us? We go shallower and

shallower with more and more. Just think about

that. Just think about how many friends you have

on every platform you got. Just think about all

the friendships we're trying to uphold all the

time. Sometimes I get guilty around the friendships

that I'm not calling. That people don't catch

up with. And I'm carrying around anxiety and

guilt all the time. And I'm like, you know what?

I don't find Jesus guilty. I don't find Jesus

stressed. I found Jesus just going deeper with

Peter. James and John, are you with me? Friends,

I blame most of this on technology. I'm old enough

to be in a time, I remember getting my first

mobile phone, Ericsson flip top, you know the

one? Are you anywhere near my, I'm 47, right?

And I still remember I bought this phone, I got

a massive bill when I first got it too, because

it just rang everyone, right? But I remember

when you could go for a walk, and guess what,

you were. Uncontactable. Everyone's like, what

is that? How do you spell that? Exactly. I could

go for a walk on the beach and I wasn't getting

notifications. I didn't have WhatsApp speaking

to me, messenger speaking to me, team speaking

to me, my email speaking to me, my phone SMSing

me, my phone ringing. I didn't have any of that.

I just went for walks. You know what? We've gotten

so busy. We've gotten so caught up in culture

that we're no longer living counterculture and

what these D D What are they called? D the D

R D G's are The D the R D G's are a place to

go deeper Yeah, let's keep going Let me go the

next one John 4, here's another element that

helps us to understand that first scripture.

John 4, let me read it to you. So, he came to

a town in Samaria called Saqqa, near the plot

of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, this is the story of

the woman at the well, right? And Jesus, catch

this, tired from the journey, everyone say tired.

tired. It was a good point. Tired from the journey.

I love it. Sat down by the well. It was about

the sixth hour. Now where it's midday, the hottest

part of the day. That's what the sixth hour means.

And his disciples had to go into town to buy

some food. So let me break it down real quick.

What's going on here? The son of God is tired.

The son of God. He's exhausted. The Son of God

gets to lunchtime and he's like, I'm done. I'm

sitting down. And everyone's going, but we're

going to get our lunch at the deli at the next

town. And Jesus goes, I can't do it. I'm going

to give you my observation here. When I found

this, I was like, that's brilliant, but simple.

The servant King. The God who came to serve has

no problems being served. I don't know if you

have a problem with that, but he understands

his limitations. He's got really good boundaries.

He can say, I can't do what Tim's doing. So Tim,

can you get me a foot long, please? Because I

can't go to the town, right? Can you imagine

the disciples? He can walk on water, but he can't

go to the deli. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah,

he can cast out a demon, but he can't walk to

the shop. And the Messiah honestly didn't have

a Messiah complex. And he just goes, I can't

do what you guys are doing. So can you please

go and get it for me? I don't know about you.

I remember when I first got married, my wife

cooked me breakfast every single morning. And

I mean, every single morning for probably about

three months, honeymoon period for anyone. Right.

And I remember maybe the fifth time I was in

bed and she brought it to me. You know, I was

just like, wow, she really loves me. Right. It's

an amazing feeling. And I just remember thinking,

I've got to help. So the next day I got up and

I started doing the toast and I was like, we'll

do it together. And she was like, no, no, no,

no, go sit in bed. I'll do it for you. Every

day, I couldn't handle it. Because maybe I'm

a control freak, okay, a little bit, all right?

But my point is, I just couldn't be served. I

had a problem with it. And God, the servant king,

doesn't have a problem being served by those

around him. Don't worry, we'll get to the application

soon. I hope things will start to drop in to

everyone. It's... It's exacerbating. Let me tell

you, let's do a recap. So everything that Jesus

does is about him getting to Jerusalem. First

recap point, second point. Relationally, he goes

deeper and deeper with fewer and fewer. And when

he's tired, when he's exhausted, when he's had

a big week, he knows how to take a break. And

he does. Let's do another element of this and

then we'll bring it to the application point

Theologically God gives us something to look

at in John chapter 5 verse 19 if you want to

John 5:19

go there you can but I'll read it to you He pulls

back the curtain on how he says yes to things

and how he says no to things So if you're here

like will I need some I need help with my boundaries

This is gonna help you. This is what he tells

you disciples. He says to them Jesus gave this

answer to them I tell you the truth The son can

only do what the father can only do, can do nothing

by himself. He can only, he can do only what

he sees his father doing. I love that. Because

whatever the father does, the son does also.

For the father loves the son, and catch this

last line, and shows him all he does. So how

does Jesus, Work out his yes and his no and his

priorities here. You know what he does? It says

in the first scripture he went to a solitary

place. What does he do on that place? He prays.

He tunes in. He dials into God and says, God,

would you lead me? I'm a bit lost. And he's like,

you're going to Jerusalem. Right? And he's reminded

of that, of what he's called to do. And of course,

I love this book. There's a guy called, I don't

know his name, he talks about a dove on the shoulder.

You have to walk with a dove on the shoulder.

It's kind of like walking in the spirit. You

have to walk in such a way that you're walking

in tune, in step with the spirit, and you imagine

there's a dove on, Artie Kendall, that's his

name, and you imagine there's a dove on your

shoulder. We need to walk in such a way that

we have times with the Father where we tune in.

I remember as a kid, My dad would go turn on

the wireless will I'll go the wireless. She's

dad. You're old. My dad was born in 1911. Oh

It's clicking in now and 19 what yeah, he was

old right we had this wireless in the house and

And every time you'd want me to around after

dinner He would say turn on the wireless and

I would start to try and find the station You

know the old stations anyone a little bit older

understands all the younger ones are it's digital

now okay thank you but in the old days you would

you would like tune it in and be like and then

the music will come through right that was me

doing a station and and all of a sudden it would

be clear the wireless is one of the best moments

that you can have in your solitary time in your

prayer times we're all scratchy we don't hear

the music we can't hear god speaking and then

when we slow down just like jesus did in this

solitary place We tune back into the Father's

voice again and He goes, I love you. Chill out.

You don't have to do everything. Relax. My yoke

is easy. I'm not going to hold you accountable

to the things that I haven't called you to do.

I'm just going to hold you accountable to the

things that I have called you to do. Am I preaching

to anybody? Let's explore this practically and

then we'll bring it to a close. A quote from

Kierkegaard, old school. A saint is a person

who can will the one thing. You know what that

is? It's priorities. A person is a saint who

can will the one thing. A saint and a sinner,

that's what you are. That's what we are. You

can will the one thing. Mother Teresa, she loved

the poor and she loved God. She just willed the

one thing. Billy Graham preached the gospel to

stadiums, love God, and diswilled the one thing.

If you're here on maternity leave, you're willing

the one thing. You're just loving that kid and

walking with Jesus. Do you know what I mean?

Willing the one thing. Jesus puts energy in us

and we have to get that energy moving in the

same direction. And the problem is we're getting.

We don't know our one thing sometimes, and we're

getting pulled left and right, and we're like,

yeah, I'll join that team, and yeah, I'll join

that team, and I will do that thing, and I will

do that thing. And at the end of the day, we're

like, I've got no time for myself no more. We

need to will the one thing. We need to know where

he's calling us. I remember as a runner, I remember

that my coach used to say to me when I was a

kid, when I was a sprinter, she was like, everything's

moving the wrong way, Will. You need to get everything.

Hand to hip to chin, you need to get everything

moving in the same direction. That's how you

run fast. Let me do it relationally. If you're

a guy here who's married, you need to will the

one thing in your marriage. You don't look to

the right or look to the left at the other ladies.

You look at your wife, you look at your bride,

and you will the one thing. Am I preaching to

people, yeah? That's what he wants us to do.

He wants us to have direction. He wants us to

have clarity. He wants to have intentionality

for us. But we have to know what he's called

us to do, and then we'll know what he hasn't

called you to do. I love this other quote. It's

so simple. I can't find it. Here it is. Medieval

quote. Every choice is a renunciation. Every

choice, every time you say yes to something,

you're saying no to something. Yeah? I said yes

to Nicole, who's my bride, and I said no to every

other girl around. Amen? Otherwise, relationships

break up. Because we're not channeling all that

energy into the same direction. You have to wield

the one thing. You have to, and we live in a

society who's just, man, we're going crazy for

choice. We don't RSVP for weddings anymore, do

you know why? Because we might get a better option.

Sorry if you're planning a wedding because it's

really hard because no one RSVs no more, RSVPs

no more, yeah? Friends, we have to be able to

say no to really, really good things because

we've said yes to something really, really great.

Can I give you some observations around Jesus'

life as we try and unpack? How did he say no

to entire villages who were saying, heal me,

help us? You don't find Jesus guilty. You don't

find Jesus rushed. He's not thinking, oh man,

the timing's all off here. He just doesn't have

it. You don't find him late. You don't find him

distracted. He's not on the phone scrolling for

two hours a day. He doesn't have, you know, 28

hours on the phone this week as your phone sends

you how much time. That was one that I had a

little while ago. I was working. I was working.

Can I ask you some questions? Are we, do we know

what our Jerusalem is? Do we know who we're going

deeper with? What are their names? Jesus had

Peter, James and John. Are we allowing people

to serve us? And when we're tired, do we just

take a rest and say, hey guys, can you do this

without me? I need to take a night off. The risen

Christ is asking you to do something, guys, and

you're planting a church. You know what the season

you're in? It's heavy, it's awesome. It's life,

it's people coming to faith, but it can get tiring.

And you need to have simple, dialed in lives

with God. that you're walking with him and you're

missionally engaged and you're hanging out with

not yet Christians. We need to like prioritise

our lives in such a way that we can live light

and live counter culturally. I'll speak to you

as a church because you have a shared Jerusalem.

What are you guys doing as a church? You're trying

to bless a neighbourhood. You're trying to see,

you're trying to engage with people that don't

go to church ever. You're trying to change, you're

trying to love the neighbour. You're trying to

love the lonely. You're trying to work out where

are the addictions around here that I can like

come alongside people. You're walking around

the streets and hey, you want to come to church?

There's a church down the road, it's Henley,

it's awesome. But if you don't know what your

Jerusalem is, if you don't know what you're saying

yes to and what you're saying no to, you won't

have time for that. You won't have time for your

spouse. You won't have time for your kids. You

won't have time for your wife. You won't have

time for your dogs. You won't have time. And

God's saying, I want you to live light. I came

that you would have life and life to the full.

You know what I'm saying? I feel like everyone's

like, yeah, Jesus, sorry. Yeah, and it's like

that. Sometimes we get out of tune and he's just

tuning us back in. I'll leave it there. Let me

finish with this. You know why Jesus went to

Jerusalem? It's the gospel. You know how he said

no to that whole village saying, hey, would you

heal us? He said, no, I gotta go preach the gospel

of the kingdom of God to the other towns also.

Do you know why? Because it was in Jerusalem

that he went to the cross. He had this big, audacious

goal. I'm gonna save all of humankind. And I'm

gonna love them so much. and I'm gonna rock their

world so much and they're gonna hurt me and they're

gonna stab me in the side they're gonna put a

crown on my head and they're gonna see sacrificial,

sacrificial love like they have never seen before

and the crowds were with me at the beginning

but by the end I'll be by myself but I still

love you and he dies on a cross for us and that's

what his Jerusalem was but didn't stay there

did he he's the resurrected king He rose from

the dead 40 days later. Yes sends to heaven now

He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty

From whence he will come to judge the living

and the dead He came that we would live this

life and now we're joining him on this amazing

adventure of planting a church Friends some of

you need to put your hand up and say I need a

rest Others need to put your hand up and say

I need to step up. I want to step in where they're

stepping out Other people, you know what they

need to do? I just need to find some balance.

I wanna work it out with my RDG groups. Getting

it. You know what I mean? I'm gonna find some

balance. I'm gonna come back and I'll let them

know, hey, I just need a little bit more time

here. And friends, as a church, collectively,

you need to huddle up and go, are we spending

time with the people that need his love? That's

your Jerusalem. That's the game we're playing,

to go make disciples of all nations that they

would see His love and respond to it. Thanks

so much for tuning into this week's message.

If you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love

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Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.