Sunday Message - Pastor Marc Estes (December 02, 2007) | Life Bible Church

It's a great privilege today to introduce to

you a friend of Jenny and ours. Last year we

got to go up to Pastor Frank DiMazio. How many

know Pastor Frank DiMazio in the house? Wonderful.

He was the senior pastor of Eugene Christian

Fellowship that started and founded that. Came

from Portland Bible Temple and then Brother Dick

from Bible Temple asked him to come take the

church up there and he's done that. Fact is 1993

is when he... left to go up and take the reins

up there that Eugenie and I got married and it's

been a privilege to stay connected with him and

we've got the opportunity to meet some of the

great staff that he has brought, the Lord has

brought to that. work up there and Frank has

taken that church from about 3 ,000 to about

6 ,000. It's been awesome to see the blessing

of the Lord just breathe on the campuses and

they've just they've gone to three major campuses

now starting their fourth in downtown Portland.

Pastor Mark Estes is an evangelist in his own

right. He worked with Christian equipers for

years teaching the body of Christ how to assimilate

Christians brand new baby Christians into the

fabric of the body of Christ and Frank met him

and Their hearts connected and over the years

we've got to get to know Mark Estes. We prophesied

with him last year at their Presbytery at City

Bible and just our hearts knit and I asked him

to come down. It's taken a little bit to get

him here but we are thrilled to hear the word

of the Lord that he has for this church. Would

you stand and welcome the man of God as he comes

this morning to bring the word. Well, good morning.

Boy, there is a sweet presence of the Holy Spirit

here. You know, as we were worshiping, I felt

the Holy Spirit asking me a simple question.

Why are we here? When you're worshiping do you

ever stop and just ask that question God why

why am I even here this morning? You know the

Bible says that one day in his house is better

than a thousand elsewhere I'm a addicted to the

church. I'm addicted to the body of Christ. I'm

addicted to his presence. I love coming to church

But I know that there's something more than just

coming to church to be encouraged and built up.

And again, that's part of being a Christian that

we would be encouraged and built up and strengthened

and we would come together and we would worship

His name. But I wondered if you asked the Lord

this question. Lord, what's on your heart right

now? What would He say? Now again, I'm being

speculative here, but I wonder what He would

say. Now some of you here maybe with a little

bit of a worship bent might say well my bag is

worship and what the Lord really wants is us

to love the Lord your God with all your heart

soul mind and strength and so I think what the

Lord would say right now is that all of his people

should worship him and there's probably an element

of truth to that but I think that when you get

to heaven that's all that you will do is worship

him You might be saying, well, you know, what's

on the Lord's heart right now, what my bag is

this morning, is the Word, man. I love the Word,

the infallible Word of God. I gotta have the

Word. But when you get to heaven, you'll be with

the Word. I think if you were to ask the Lord

this morning, really, What moves his heart? I

think it would be reaching lost people. And this

is why I think that. It's because when you get

to heaven, it'll be too late. It's the one thing

that you won't be able to do when you get to

heaven. There's a reason why Jesus said to his

disciples that by the way missed an opportunity

to bring a city to Christ three times John 4

They missed the opportunity three times to bring

an entire city to Christ because their eyes were

focused elsewhere And in the context when these

three missed opportunities, as the disciples

were sitting around the well, and as that city

is running towards the well, the entire city

came out it says, it's in that context that Jesus

says to his disciples, do you not say that there

are four months into the harvest? He says, lift

up your eyes and look. He's saying, hey guys,

turn around and look at what you missed. And

as the city's running, he's saying, Lift up your

eyes, the harvest is white, for harvest. The

reason why Jesus said, don't say four months

into the harvest, because he knew you and I would

say that. He knew that we would take this thing

that would be a little bit uncomfortable, the

E word, evangelism, and we would... push it off

a little bit and maybe put it upon some other

person, upon Pastor Brad, upon Pastor Anthony,

upon the event. I'm not really gifted that way.

I really don't like it. I'm kind of uncomfortable.

It kind of freaks me out. I don't want to lose

my reputation or my job or my friendship. All

these other things that we begin to reason. And

we say, maybe tomorrow. Do you know that every

time your heart beats, someone dies? When you

look at global statistics, every time that your

heart beats, someone dies most unsaved. In fact,

since we started this service, 6 ,000 people

have died most unsaved. By the time one day,

24 hours goes around, 144 ,000 people will die

and most of them will go to hell. In one year's

time, 52 ,600 ,000 people will die most unsaved.

It's no wonder, he said, today is the day of

salvation. I believe God's in a hurry. I believe

that the reason why we are here sucking air on

planet Earth is because there is a purpose for

you to be here. You didn't save just to go to

heaven and be a cute Christian. If you were saved

to go to heaven, then go. We could probably work

it out. Could line you up here, do a little altar

call, bam, bam, bam, go to heaven. You weren't

saved to go to heaven. You were saved and empowered

and you come to church and you're the body of

Christ that we might be a light to the world,

a salt to the earth, to let people know that

there's hope for their life. And I get concerned

with the body of Christ. And again, I'm a local

church guy. I love the body of Christ. I think

God's doing great things. I thank God for worship.

I thank God for the word of God. I thank God

for serving and ministries and all that we're

doing. But sometimes I just kind of feel like

we're rearranging lawn chairs on the Titanic.

As we lift our hands and the presence of God

comes down, I go through mixed emotions because

I love his presence, but as my hands are raised,

I get this thought that there are people driving

by right now as my hands are raised that are

dying and going to hell. And the longer that

we become a Christian, the more that we begin

to focus in on those things that Christianity

presents. And if we're not careful, we can get

so busy doing church that we forget to be the

church. The second half to the equation where

Jesus said in Matthew 22 that we should love

the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,

mind and strength. He's talking about the two

greatest commandments. He says, and love your

neighbor as yourself. See what brought, the very

fact that we're even here and created is because

God's a God of love and he wanted relationship.

And because the severing of that relationship

in sin, he loved us so much that he sent his

son to die. What drove Christ to the cross was

love. And it's what should be in our heart and

compel us to slow down long enough to realize

that there's people around us that really, really

need him. But whatever it is, we get this thing

in our mind, which I believe to be demonic, that

we can't share, we shouldn't share. Do you know

every time that you begin to share and fear comes

that that's a spirit? The Bible says that God's

not given you that spirit of fear, but of power,

love, and a sound mind. And every time that you

bow to a certain spirit, you actually give it

opportunity to move and be strengthened in your

life. And every time the Holy Spirit shows up

and says, share. and fear comes the more that

you actually bow to a spirit more than you bow

to God because you succumb to it every time that

it sticks its ugly head up in your life. But

that's not God's desire plan. And I want to talk

to you this morning about a thought that I have

that has been raging in my spirit about what

we need to do to get back to reaching people.

We've made it too complex. And I believe that

we can reduce reaching people back to a simple

thought. Now again, I'm not in saying this trying

to excuse or dismiss things such as equipping

or apologetics or strategy or training or prayer

or intercession or power or Holy Spirit. I think

we need all those things. I think that the church

is doing a good job in many of those areas, but

I believe the central core in which we build

all those things, as 1 Corinthians 13 so eloquently

describes, you can have all the gifts in the

world, but if you don't have love, they mean

zip, nada, nothing, zero. And I wanted to start

this morning by telling you a story about a man

named Anthony Campallo, who's a psychiatrist,

Christian psychiatrist, he's an author, he's

a speaker, travels from New Jersey all the way

over to Hawaii to speak at a conference. Six

hour time difference, severe jet lag. About midnight,

he's in his hotel room and realizes that he can't

sleep because it's about 6 a .m. to his body.

So he goes out into the town to get himself a

piece of pie and a cup of coffee. We're driving

around, he lands about 2, 2 .30 in this particular

area of Hawaii. He didn't know it would be the

red light district, but ends up at this little

diner, orders himself a piece of pie and coffee.

Just him and the diner. The door would fling

open at 3 a .m. And a group of prostitutes would

come in and settle down in the corner and begin

their daily conversations about the evening.

And one of the girls that was in the room, her

name was Agnes, and she stood up and said, Hey

girls, guess what? Tomorrow's my birthday. We

should throw me a birthday party. And all of

the girls just, you know, not out of bad intention,

just begin to mock her and say, Agnes, Prostitutes

don't get birthday parties. We're not gonna throw

a birthday party. Look at you. What do you think,

a birthday party for you? And as they're kinda

playing with her, she gets very upset, begins

to weep, and runs out the door. Anthony Campallo's

sitting there and feels pretty weird about the

situation. He's just kinda staring at his plate.

All the girls are quiet. The diner's kinda doing

his own thing. Very uncomfortable moment. And

he leans over to the diner and says, excuse me,

sir. He says, I don't mean to to butt into anybody's

business, but do do these ladies come in here

often? He says every night 3 a .m. Just like

clockwork He says, you know, I got this crazy

idea He says why don't we throw Agnes a birthday

party tomorrow? The diner says, that's the craziest

thing I've ever heard. But you know what? We'll

go ahead and do a birthday party. I'll make the

cake. You get all the other stuff. So Anthony

goes out and shops the next day after the conference

and he buys all the little balloons and hats

and little happy birthday signs. And he shows

up about 2 a .m. and he puts the big happy birthday

Agnes sign up and wears his little beanie hat

on his big bald head, and he's got his little

kazoo blower thing, and 3 a .m., sure enough,

ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, girls come

in and he jumps up, surprise, Agnes, happy birthday!

And they all just kind of stop and look at him.

And Agnes begins to cry. It turns out she had

never had a birthday party in her life, 29 years

old, never had a birthday party. She was so moved

by the fact that this stranger in this diner

would throw a birthday party she runs over and

asks if she could go home and wake up her two

girls and bring them back so that they could

celebrate this 3 a .m. First ever birthday party

for Agnes So she runs home and gets the two kids

and comes back and they're celebrating It's a

wonderful time and they're singing happy birthday

and blowing out candles and she comes over to

Anthony, this stranger. And she says, why would

you do this for me? I'm a prostitute. You don't

even know me. Why would you throw a birthday

party for me? And he said, well ma 'am, I just

wanna let you know that I'm a Christian. And

as he began to explain the reason why he was

moved in his heart with compassion for her, the

diner said, hey, wait a minute. You didn't tell

me that you were a Christian. If I knew you were

a Christian, I wouldn't be doing this thing.

What kind of Christian are you anyways? He says,

I'm the kind of Christian that throws birthday

parties for prostitutes at three a .m. in the

morning. What kind of Christian are you and I?

I want you to be real honest with yourself right

now and ask yourself this question. Would you

throw a birthday party for a prostitute at 3

a .m.? You see, something's happened today. I

believe in the body of Christ. Where we... Feel

an obligation and a responsibility to share and

at best will throw out events or we compartmentalize

evangelism into something that we do occasionally

but not something that we are. 95 % of all Christians

have never led one person to Christ. 50 % of

all churches in America within the next 12 months,

that's 165 ,000 churches, they will not add one

new convert to their church within the next 12

months. And so I've got to come back to this

question and say, are we the kind of people that

will throw birthday parties for prostitutes at

3M? And if not, what's wrong with our hearts?

Is there something there that we're missing?

And I believe that God has allowed every single

one of us, whether saved or unsaved, to be born

with these holes in our hearts. The reason why

these holes are in our hearts, spiritual holes,

emotional holes, relational holes That hole might

say joy on it, it might say peace, it might say

belonging, it might say significance, it might

say happiness, it might say hope, it might say

joy. All of us have the insatiable desire to

pursue those things outside of ourselves because

we by ourselves can't fill them within our own.

And the reason we were created that way is so

that we would pursue something outside of our

means, hopefully God, that could come and fill

those holes. But we have a society today that

is going around and grabbing other things to

stick square pegs in round holes. And so we go

out and we find people going and having sex and

sleeping with other people because they're looking

for something to fill the hole that says love.

Or guys that are willing to sacrifice their family

on the sake of the altar of their career because

they're looking for this thing called significance.

And I believe this one thought, that everyone

has a need and God can use me to fill it. I believe

if we could reduce the whole thought this morning

down to this one thing, it would be this. Every

person has a need and God can use you to fill

it. And I believe that as we look at scripture,

we'll find that one of the greatest ways of touching

the hearts of people is by meeting their needs.

When you look at scripture, there's a scripture

in 1 John 3, verses 16 through 18. And it's a

1 John 3:16–18

scripture that talks about Jesus and it talks

about love. And in this particular scripture,

it's written by a man named John who walked with

Jesus, had firsthand revelation in regards to

what love really was and how Christ really went

out and shared with people. You wonder why the

multitudes flocked towards him? I believe that

the anointing had something to do with it, but

I believe that there was something even greater.

You know, the Bible says faith, hope, and love,

these are the great three, but the greatest of

these is love. I believe that there was a heartfelt

love and compassion towards people that compelled

them to follow Christ. Christ loved us while

we were still yet sinners. But in 1 John 3 it

says this. It says, this is how we know what

real love is. Pretty bold statement. It says

that Christ gave up his life for us. For you,

for me. So this is love. Love is not a feeling.

Love is an action. And really, love isn't love

until you give it away. It's really when you

give something of yourself for the sake of another

that it actually equates to the true meaning

of love. The gospel would have meant nothing

if Christ didn't go to the cross. He could have

been out preaching for three and a half years

that I love you and I'm gonna save you, but if

he didn't go to the cross then act out. what

he was proclaiming, it would have invalidated

the gospel. What validated his proclamation was

his demonstration. And I think it's one of the

things that we as Christians need to get back

to, that we're good at proclaiming, we're good

at sharing with people possibly, but when it

really comes down to bringing the validation,

the demonstration, the sacrifice, the willing

to give ourselves for the sake of people, we

might just be a little bit too busy, running

a little bit too fast, money's a little bit tight,

got the kid, and we begin to say, well, I just

don't know if I can go that far, and so we privatize

that piece. So Jesus showed his love by his actions.

And it's what unlocked the hearts of people.

But it's important, and this is where I want

you to just kind of hone in this morning to get

this one point. It wasn't just that he acted

out. It wasn't necessarily what he did that was

so important to the person. It was why he did

it. You can go out and do something for someone

out of obligation, and you have lack of appreciation

because there was no heartfelt response behind

it. Oh yeah, here's some money, go on and go.

It's not like, wow, thank you for touching me,

that meant so much. But when the motive behind

what you do is because you love someone, it begins

to melt the heart. And that's what I want to

talk about this morning is this area of compassion.

How can we get the love of God back into our

heart to begin to love people? Everyone has a

need and it's our responsibility to fill it.

And boy is it windy. I was at a Safeway just

a little while back and there was a lady behind

the counter. She was just checking her groceries

and as I went to the counter I felt the Holy

Spirit speak to me give me a word for this lady

and She's scanning the groceries and as they're

going across. I said to her I said How's how

are you doing? How's your day? And she says oh,

it's just another day And this is the word that

the Lord gave me says it doesn't have to be that

way there is another way And I remember her stopping

and just looking at me and she just kind of stared

at me for a second and we kind of caught eye

contact and we are staring at each other. And

it wasn't definitely one of those moments. It

was just, I mean. We could see that we were engaged

and I could see tears welling up in her eyes

and she put her head down and began to scan her

groceries and I left and walked out in the parking

lot and I was about 50 yards from the building

about ready to get into my car and I hear this

lady screaming running through the parking lot.

She's got her hands up and she's running in the

rain. She's going, you've got to tell me what's

the other way. What's the other way? I'm just

going to. I mean, I wonder what she's doing,

but she's running at me. She's crying and screaming.

She had left the cash register. She had left

all the money. She left all the different customers

in line. And she rolled up her sleeves and she

began to tell me how she's in a lesbian lifestyle.

And that her partner's very abusive and every

night she hears a voice telling her to kill herself.

And she's got hundreds of cuts from razor blades

and knives all up and down her arms. And she's

saying, you've got to tell me what the other

way is. world filled with needs What she was

looking for was not a track Was not a church

invite She was just simply looking for love She's

looking for love When you think of the word compassion

what comes to your mind When you look at this

word compassion in the Greek when it said that

Jesus had compassion on them You can see that

multiple times in Scripture Where Jesus it said

when he saw them he had compassion on them, and

then he did something He he saw need he began

to ask What that need was he began to personalize

the need? As he felt their pain he would then

move and there's a couple scriptures that I want

to read to you that just validate this thought

Matthew 9 36 and 37 says but when he saw the

multitudes he was moved with compassion for them

Because they were weary didn't scattered Matthew

14 14 and 15 says this and when Jesus went out

and saw the great multitude He was moved with

compassion for them, and then he healed their

sick. It's interesting, he sees the need, then

he is moved with compassion, and then he responds.

He sees, he feels, and he responds. Most of us

today, we see the needs, but we don't see the

needs. They're all around us. You see it on the

nightly news. You see it when you read the newspaper.

People around, there are hundreds if not thousands

of needs all around us every single day. We see

them, but maybe because we're so busy or we don't

ask, it's not personalized where it begins to

affect our spirit, where it compels us then to

move. So we see it and oh wow, that's a real

bummer. But nothing really happens. But Jesus

saw it. He was moved and then he responded. The

word compassion in the Greek, the word sphagnaxoma,

he means a gut wrenching emotion. It means that

you begin to see a person's need and through

the Holy Spirit working in you and through you,

you begin to personalize that person's experience

or pain as if it was your own. and you begin

to be moved with Holy Spirit emotion, not just

fleshly emotion, and you're compelled to do something

because you feel something in your heart that

you're supposed to do. Really what compassion

is, is it's passion personalized. It's impossible

to have passion for the multitudes if we don't

have compassion for the individual. Jesus would

have passion for the multitudes, but do you notice

how throughout scripture most of the encounters

with the multitudes was reduced down to him ministering

to the woman in the crowd that tugs his garment?

Leaving Jericho with multitudes following him

and a guy on the side of the road called Blind

Bartimaeus screams out and he ministers to the

one or Zacchaeus in the tree. The little girl

that's sick or the leper that's got a disease.

There's always the multitudes but he reduces

it down to touching the one because that's where

true passion is birthed out. It's in the individual.

It's in touching the life of the one. And I want

this morning to talk about this whole area of

compassion because I think it's an area that's

missing greatly in the church today. There was

a young lady who came to one of our services.

She had been living on the streets since she

was 13 years old. She was now 19 years old. She

had been selling her body every day living under

the bridge in Portland. There's a homeless girl

that came into our service and she had a tethered

little piece of paper where she had written a

poem that she had in her pocket or purse for

some time. It's very weathered, very tattered

and she felt like she was supposed to come to

our church to give a pastor this poem as a representation

of the people that lived under the bridge and

what they thought about the people that lived

on the hill. that went to the church and came

in the nice rose -colored stained glass windows

and the nice car and cute outfits and everything

that we kind of do which I'm not against as long

as our hearts right. But here was her poem she

had written and handed to me. The title of the

poem was When the Heart is Broken. And here's

the poem. She says, when the heart is breaking

and the spirit is deceased, you serving your

God brings me no release. When money fails and

teardrops fall someone will ask is this all?

All to life living free when burdens daily shackle

me Where is God on lonely streets with chilling

wind and hurting feet? What we need is not your

words while our hands reach for help So save

your sermons and your muttered prayers and show

us instead that you really care and give me answers

while my heart bleeds that your God above cares

as you fill my need." And she was basically saying,

you know what? I appreciate all the tracks that

people hand out and all the prayers and you got

to get your life together and Jesus loves you.

But at the end of the day, is there anybody here

that will just stop and love me? Is there anybody

here that will just kind of give me a meal or

maybe say, hey, listen, I've got a home where

you can stay or here's some money to get a hotel.

She's saying, listen, really? And I think she

really had revelation that she wasn't being cynical.

She wasn't being arrogant. She wasn't vindictive.

She said, I think that I perceive love to be

something that's an action where you're willing

to give something of yourself for the sake of

someone in need. Is that what you guys believe?

Obviously I was deeply convicted, this young

lady, and just like you probably coming to church

every Sunday and not even thinking about the

fact that there could be a 19 year old girl that's

surviving by selling her body in order to eat

that lives under a bridge a few miles from our

church. What she was basically saying is, I'm

just wondering if there's any compassion left

in the world. I wonder if any Christian has enough

compassion maybe to help me with my situation.

And so I just want to drop into your heart five

thoughts. And again, I want you to personalize

these this morning. And I really want you just

to take some notes and think through these five

areas of compassion. I call them the five signs

of love for people. And I believe they're things

that we need to have in our life as a Christian

in order to make an impact or a difference in

the world around us. So I want to talk about

these five, and they come out of Luke chapter

Luke 10:25–37

10, verses 25 through 37, and it's the story

of the good Samaritan. Jesus is in a discourse

with a religious lawyer. The religious lawyer

has come to Jesus and asked him the question,

what must I do in order to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus says to him, well, what does The laws

say, what does Moses say? And he says, well,

he says to love the Lord your God with all your

heart, soul, mind and strength and love your

neighbor as yourself. And Jesus goes, right,

do this and you will live. And then the man replied

again, trying to trick Jesus, it says, he says,

and who is my neighbor? And Jesus begins to tell

him the story of a man that was on his way leaving

Jericho that gets beat up by some bandits and

thrown in a ditch and left half dead. And he

says that there was a Levite and a priest that

came by and saw the man's condition and went

to the other side, but there was a good Samaritan

that saw the condition and when he saw it, he

went to where he was. He helped the man out,

put him on his animal, took him to an inn, took

care of him, stabilized him, and paid his bill.

And Jesus asked him the question, now who's your

neighbor in this story? Obviously, Jesus was

going after the heart because He realized that

the religious lawyer was a lot like you and I.

We had all the right answers. We probably loved

God. We really care about our family. We give

tithes and offerings and we love the word of

God. But Jesus was going after this heart thing

in this guy. He realized that there was something

about him that had calloused over his love for

people. And I believe that there's five things

in this story here that we can apply to our life

this morning that will really help us. And the

first principle is this, is that compassion goes

to where the lost are. In Luke 10 33, in this

particular story, in Luke 10 33 it says this.

It says, but there was a certain Samaritan as

He journeyed went to where he was. You see the

Levite and the priest, it says, and when they

saw his condition. So in other words, they saw,

but because there was callousness of heart when

they saw, they went to the other side. It's kind

of like driving down the road. You see the guy

asking for money. We see. Wouldn't, wouldn't,

wouldn't we go to the other side? We see the

hurting person. There's so many needs around

us. We have a calloused heart where we look and

we see, but we don't see. And Jesus is beginning

to say, hey look, there was this Levite and priest

that's kind of a lot like you. And you see the

condition, but you don't do anything about it.

He says, but there's this other guy that's a

Samaritan, and by the way, he used the Samaritan

because there was such conflict with the Jews

in Samaritan. He's saying, there's even a guy

that maybe even less in your eyes than you really

think you are, this Samaritan, this half -breed

that was willing to do what you wouldn't do.

And it says, when he saw his condition, it says,

he went to where he was at. Jesus preached a

gospel of go, not just a gospel of come. Our

thought, our perception is that we want people

to come to Christ on our terms, in our world,

in our environment, in our church, in our small

group. Hey, come to my church, come to my small

group, come to my house. We would never think

about going to where they're at. I mean, we wouldn't

go spend the night under the bridge with the

girl. But you can definitely come to my beautiful

house. Now, I'm not suggesting that everybody

go and sleep under the bridge. But I am saying

is that we have to at least go to where people

are at emotionally, relationally, financially,

spiritually. If we can identify the need and

go at the need right where they're at, we can

find that's the key to unlock their heart. Jesus,

46 times in the New Testament, went and ministered

to the need of the individual right where they're

at, excuse me, I'm sorry to scare you there,

before ever even opening his mouth with any gospel

word. He found that there was a need, he went

to where that need was at, whether it was healing,

whether it was comfort, love, whether it was

protection, and he met the need and then he brought

the gospel message. And it was the key that unlocked

their hearts. There was a young lady I met at

a gas station. I pulled into the gas station

at 82nd and Sunnyside, the Astro gas station.

There was a lady pumping gas there, her name

was Becky. Becky had a haircut much like mine.

She had a lot of different pieces of jewelry

in her eyebrows lids mouth nose tongue ears forehead

eyebrows she was loaded down with lots of different

artifacts and Becky looked like she was a fairly

hardened individual her dress her demeanor her

attitude she looked like a calloused hurt wounded

young lady and I remember as she came to the

car asking this question God, how did you see

her? God, give me your heart for this young lady.

And as I prayed that prayer, my whole perception

of this young lady changed. I began to see a

wounded, hurting little girl. She was the same

age as my daughter. I'm thinking, who was her

dad? What happened in her life? I was just moved

with compassion. And I remember saying to her,

I said, Becky, as we talked, I said, Becky, Just

want to let you know God loves you so much She

says thank you so much. I said, you know, I just

want to let you know that And God really thinks

that you're special I just begin to talk to her

about the love of God and I could tell she was

genuinely moved this was happening during measure

36 which was the contention that was taking place

with the church or with our state in regards

to same -sex marriage and amending our Constitution

and so Made this comment. I said well, and you

know Becky I'd love to invite you to my church

the come thing kind of the mistake of this conversation

And she says oh really well what church do you

go to? I said well I go to City Bible Church

and she jumped back her whole demeanor changed

and she started screaming blood curdling screams

Screaming at me while I was sitting in the car

She says, I'll never go to that church. You people

don't like me for who I am. I'll never go to

your church. And she walks off and I'm thinking,

wow, I felt good. That just really ministered

to me. I'm just kind of looking around. People

are watching what's going on, wondering if I'm

some weird freaked out person trying to attack

this girl or something. And she had my credit

card and had to come back to my car. And it was

one of those turning points where I had at that

moment the opportunity to tell her, hey Becky,

by the way, fly or fry, you're going to hell

on a grease pole or I could love her. And when

she came back, I made this statement to her.

I said, Becky, I don't know what happened to

you. I don't know what's happened in your past.

I don't know why you're hurting inside. But I

want to let you know this one thing is that I

love you unconditionally And she was so moved

with that statement I probably the first time

she'd ever heard something like that tears welled

up in her eyes and she kind of gave me her card

and took off and The rest of the week, I was

just so overwhelmed with compassion for this

young lady. I continued to pray for her every

morning. I found myself crying and just asking

God to touch her heart. And on Friday morning,

that happened on Monday, a week later on Friday

morning, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said,

take her a dozen roses. Now, I've never done

that for a strange woman. And I realized that

I was going to have to cough up this information

to my wife when she woke up. My wife woke up

and I just told her I said hey, babe, you know,

I met this girl on Monday and I Told her I loved

her and You know, she's really been on my heart

and I've been praying and crying for her all

week And I just feel like I'm supposed to take

her these roses, you know my wife laughs She

knows me well enough to know that something's

going on and so I end up buying buying these

roses and I drive back to this particular place

and rolled the window down. Becky comes running

at a full speed towards my car. She goes, hi,

how you doing? And I'm thinking, man, do you

remember who I am? You know, your forehead was

splitting and a little lizard demon came out,

you know. I said, Becky, I've been thinking about

you all week, and I just want to let you know

I really meant what I said. I love you unconditionally.

You know what she said? She says, oh, I know

that. She says there was something different

about what you said That made me so excited.

I went and told all my friends about you See

it wasn't the track It was the fact that I just

met her which I believe the Holy Spirit helped

me met her at her point of need I said, Becky,

these are for you. And I gave her the roses.

She started crying. I started crying. We're just,

I love you. I love you too. Oh, I love you. It

was just this real emotional moment with this

strange lady. I don't recommend that, guys. But

it was just one of those things that I just obeyed

the Holy Spirit and gave Becky these roses. Listen

closely. There's a difference between acceptance

and approval. Listen closely. Unfortunately,

as Christians, when we look at someone's lifestyle

and we don't approve of what they're doing, we

tend not to accept them or want anything to do

with them because we don't approve of them. It

may be one of your children that have run away

from God and so you've pulled yourself back from

giving them love or what have you. I learned

a long time ago That I am to love people unconditionally

that acceptance is unconditional I Can still

accept someone even though I don't approve of

their lifestyle I Had a couple guys live right

across the street from me for five years. They

adopted five kids. They were both homosexuals

And my staff used to always say, you know, what

are you gonna do? I said, well, I'm inviting

them over for Easter. Oh my gosh, you'd let their

kids play with your kids? Yeah, they need Jesus.

I mean, I love them unconditionally. I don't

approve of their lifestyle, but how else are

they gonna come to Christ if they don't see the

love of Christ? And I remember the first time

I met Al, he goes, oh, you're that preacher across

the street, aren't you? He looked all freaked

out and stuff. And I said, yeah, actually I am.

I said, hey, I'd love to meet your partner. Really?

He said, yeah, what's his name? His name's Russell.

Yeah, go get him. And so Al and Russell come

out. And I said, hey, listen, we're doing a big

Easter egg hunt, which we weren't doing. I was

just making it up real quick so I could get him

to my house. I said, this Sunday we're doing

a big Easter egg hunt. My wife's going to cook

this big meal and you're invited. I went back

and said, hey honey, guess what? We're having

a big Easter egg hunt this Sunday. I get myself

in trouble again. I wanted them to see that you

know what? That God loved them. Remember, God

loved you while you were still yet a sinner.

The only difference between you and Al and Russell

is the blood of Jesus When you stand before him,

you're not gonna say look at all the wonderful

things I've done He's just gonna look at you

and the only thing that will matter is is there

the blood Get blood. Okay, because the only thing

that makes you right before God is his blood

We need to go to where people are at The second

point is this is that compassion Has to come

from the heart. It's not an obligation It's a

willing desire to go meet someone's need because

you love them We don't do it because we're looking

for a notch on our belt or a way to be able to

share a great Testimonious because we're doing

some kind of invite Sunday and the person that

brings the most people gets a box of Twinkies

We do it because we love people We do it because

that person matters to God You know you look

at some of the words that Jesus spoke. These

are tough yet important heart words He says this

he says greater love has no man Then he who lays

down his life for a friend ha ha that feels so

good Die for someone else awesome How about this

one Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus made

it clear who the neighbor was. It wasn't the

guy with the white picket fence with the beautiful

marriage and the two kids and the dog and the

cat and driving a big 350 diesel truck. It could

be someone that looks a little bit ugly or a

little bit dirty or a little bit bad. And it

says you're actually supposed to love them as

you love yourself. Ouch. He who saves his life

will lose it, and he who loses his life for my

sake will save it. Compassion's gotta come from

the heart. God, you've gotta help us to start

really loving people, to slow down long enough,

and to say, God, my heart is deceitfully wicked

above all things, but your heart, God, is something

I really, really need. For people around me,

you know that irritating guy at work and That

neighbor next door that just kind of ticks you

off saying God give me your heart for them Number

three is compassion leaves no room for condemnation

In Luke 10 34 it says so he went to him and he

bandaged his wounds pouring out all the oil and

wine He didn't say that he poured salt on his

wounds, it says that he poured bandage and oil

on his wound. He saw the need and the first thing

that he did is he met the need. He didn't try

to say, well you deserve this, you deserve that

pit. Serves your rights you're in that pit. If

you're like me, you wouldn't be in that pit.

If you wouldn't have spent the money the way

you spent the money, you wouldn't be in the situation

you're in. If you wouldn't have been sleeping

around, you wouldn't have got that kind of disease.

My God, how come you're not like me? It just

says that He bandaged His wounds. And sometimes

we can be so verbally or non -verbally so critical

and judgmental as if we've arrived. The next

point is this is that compassion yields its rights

for the sake of others. Luke 10 34 it says that

He set him on his own animal and brought him

to an inn. The guy was going somewhere. The guy,

it says that he got off his animal. It didn't

say that he got on the animal and says, hey,

let me take you somewhere. And took off flying

and said, just follow me. He says, no, he got

off and he took the guy and he put him on his

animal and he, he. walked the animal to the end.

He went the opposite direction. He took him.

He settled him in. He stayed with that man. Wow.

He yielded himself for the sake of others. Let

me just tell you a quick story and then we're

going to close. There was a Single mom that had

a six -year -old boy dying of leukemia his nickname

was Bopsy as He grew up the whole thing that

he wanted in life was to be a fireman someday

and As they admitted him into the hospital because

he was struggling and dying fairly rapidly This

single mom thought well, you know what somehow

some way I've just got to try to make to the

best of my ability his dream come true So she

called the fire captain of one of the stations

in Phoenix where she lived. And she said to this

man, she said, you know, I've got a son that's

dying of leukemia and he's always wanted to be

a fireman. Do you think that you could send over

one of your officers or one of your firefighters

just to come in and maybe give him a badge and

just tell him that he's going to be a firefighter

someday? The man being a Christian says, you

know what, ma 'am, I can do better than that.

He began to cry on the phone understanding her

dilemma and said you know what we're gonna do

He says I want you to have him ready next Tuesday

He's gonna be a fireman for a day, and he called

the whole team together. They got him his own

hat They made him his own outfit got his own

boots They showed up picked him up took him out

for the day whoo He got to sit in the truck and

it moved him so well that actually it changed

his condition because he had some hope And for

about six months he did real well, but he took

a turn for the worse and was in his last days

of of life and was slipping into a coma and this

lady had remembered what this man had done and

so she called him up and said you know Bob see

he's about ready to die he slipped into a coma

and I'm wondering if there's any way that you

know your team could come over and just be around

him as he died and again that The firemen begin

to weep and he says, no, you know what? He touched

our hearts so much we can do better than that.

He says, I want you to do something for me. I

need you to go down and tell the people at the

front desk that I'm going to call a three alarm

fire. And he says, what I'm going to do is I

want you to open up the window to his room and

we're going to go ahead and call firemen from

all over the city and we're going to put ladders

up and we're going to come flooding in and I'm

going to fill that room to let Bob see no. that

he matters to God and he's the best fireman that

ever existed and sure enough he called a three

alarm fire and fire trucks from all over the

city the ladders went up they went into this

particular room and they stood around his bopsy

went from this life to another life and I think

that I think now that's Christianity that's saying

you know I'm gonna yield my life for the sake

of an hour you know when you do that where it

just kind of feels good the reason it feels good

is because God made us that way to do that. That's

why it feels so good. I'd like you just to stand

to your feet right now. I want to give the Holy

Spirit just an opportunity. I know that we need

to finish here. There's another service. But

I want you just to close your eyes for a moment.

Just ask the Holy Spirit to come and to touch

your heart right now I believe that this is such

an important word for the body of Christ today

We just we need to get back to just loving people

slow down long enough and say God Thank you for

the way you've blessed me But God helped me to

make a difference and those that around me that

are hurting And if you're here this morning you're

saying, you know mark I I've maybe got a little

busy. Maybe my heart's got a little calloused

or I've been a little preoccupied and you just

feel like you want a fresh touch from the Holy

Spirit to really just have a new heart for loving

people. Would you just put your hand towards

heaven? I just want to pray for you this morning.

And I believe in impartation. I know your church

does too. I believe we can pray a simple prayer

and we can leave different than when we came

in. just simply because we acknowledged our need,

we acknowledged maybe some of our shortcomings,

and we asked the Holy Spirit to help us. Now,

Father, I thank you, Lord, for every hand raised

towards heaven, Lord, and including my own. And

Lord, we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit

on this place. Lord, I just thank you that you

loved us, you died for us. Lord, I thank you

that every day, God, you supply all of our needs

according to your riches and glory. Lord, you

take care of us like you more so than just the

birds of the air and the fish of the sea and

the lilies of the field. Father, you take care

of us, God. Lord, how much more should we, Lord,

be a representation to those around us. So, Father,

I pray right now. Lord, you come and you touch

the heart of every hand raised right now. Lord,

I pray that you come and you begin to massage

with the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit. Lord,

the heart of every person where they're dry,

God, you anoint it where it's cracked, you fill

it with the love of God. And Lord, I pray that

the end result, Father, of this prayer, God,

and our confession in need of you, God, would

be that lost people would experience the love

of God through our lives. Lord, let this building,

Lord, let this church, let these services be

filled with people that came because they were

compelled to come because someone simply loved

them. God, bring them from the east, the west,

the north, and the south. God, put them in our

path. Lord, today, even as we leave here, God,

at the restaurants, Father, our neighbors, God,

come on. Jesus' name, God, open our heart to

see, feel, and respond in a new way. And God,

we thank you for what you're going to do. We

ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen, amen,

amen.