Love Does Something

For your education. Because I've got people all the time, they say,

well, we've got poor around here too. We do.

And we're doing things for the poor in this area. We give away diapers.

We've got a free meal every Monday night. We support local causes and local

programs that reach out to hurting families.

But internationally, some of us have seen global poverty.

Global poverty, let's put it into perspective, because you need to know this

just so that you're educated on it. A global poverty, if you make 10 or 15 to

$20,000 household in the United States, you're considered to be below the poverty level.

If you make that in the United States, 15 to $20,000 for your household on the

global scale, you're among the top 10% of the richest people in the world.

If you make $15,000 as a household in the United States,

the worldwide, the global poverty level is $6 and 85 cents a day for food,

shelter and all of the basic necessities that means

that if you're at the poverty level globally then

you're trying to live off of less than twenty five hundred dollars per

year as a household and so just uh

sometimes we got to put that in perspective man i've been

on the continent of africa i've been in central america i've

been in the middle east i've seen what global poverty looks

like and we're going to help here at home but we're

going to help people around this world to and so uh i would challenge you sponsor

a child all right we're gonna preach about this today matthew chapter 25 is

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

now i'm not just preaching about compassion international i'm preaching what

jesus said so let's see what jesus had to say about this subject this morning

matthew chapter 25 verses 35 through 40.

Matthew 25:35–40

Here's what the bible says jesus speaking here here said for when i was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry

and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you as a stranger and welcome you in? Or naked and clothe you? Look at this.

And when were you sick or in prison we visit you?

And the king will answer them, truly, I say to you, as you did it to the least

of these, my brothers, you did it unto me.

In other words, when you were helping those that could not help themselves,

you were doing it as unto the Lord.

And so I want to preach on that subject this morning, over all this thought

that Jesus is giving us. Here's my title this morning, Love Does Something.

Love doesn't just say I'm thinking about you. Love does something.

And so let's pray this morning.

Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. We just ask you to speak to

our hearts this morning.

God, we thank you for the blessing that we have in our lives.

But father according to your word the book of zachariah you have blessed us

to be a blessing among the nations and so father we just ask you stir our hearts

this morning and what you have called the church every individual believer to

do in the name of jesus we pray and the church said.

Amen that's a little bit better amen than the nine o'clock i had to get them

stirred up uh my thought this one my thesis this morning so that so if you kind

of wonder what i'm talking about take home with you. This will be posted online, I'm sure, later.

It's when we serve, Jesus is seen. That's how people see Jesus in us, is when we serve.

It's not when you wear your freedom of worship t-shirt. It's not when you have

some, you know, we're going to give away some great Mother's Day gifts here,

and it's got freedom of worship. It's not when people see you with that.

It's when we serve, Jesus is seen, because love does something.

Love, and the love of Christ especially, love is something that is put into

action. Now, I've got to tell on myself, I do this quite often because you guys know I'm fallible.

A lot of you guys know me, and so you know I make mistakes, but let me tell

you something. I was convicted over this week, okay?

Can the preacher just go ahead and confess to you right now?

So this week, I was at work. I know this is terrible in light of what we just talked about.

I've been convicted all week because of it. I was at work this week,

and I was really hungry, like, you know, like American hungry,

like I hadn't skipped a meal in months.

And I had breakfast that morning and probably a snack, but it's lunchtime and

I'm like American hungry.

And so, so I was at work is Thursday. I was hungry and they were the,

some of the staff members were using my car to pull a trailer around.

And, and so I didn't have wheels available. I forgot my lunch that day.

I usually bring a sandwich or something. I forgot my lunch. And so I'm hungry.

I don't have food there with me. I don't have the ability to go and buy some food on my own.

And so what do we do when we don't have the ability to go and get food? We.

Oh yeah, you do it too. So you're going to be convicted too. Trust me.

And so I door dashed, I door dashed and I was craving chicken fried rice.

I don't know why I was just craving chicken fried rice. And so I door dashed chicken fried rice.

I won't tell you which restaurant it was from. It was the best one though.

And so I got chicken fried rice from the best one. And by the time that I paid

the fees and tipped the driver and did everything else,

I paid $23 for an order of chicken fried rice that was delivered to my office.

I'm in the middle of, because I've been reading all this. I've been studying

this. I've been reading the words of Jesus.

And you know what? All of a sudden I'm there eating that chicken fried rice.

And in the back of my, I hear the Holy Spirit saying, how many people don't have anything to eat?

And you just paid $23 for chicken fried rice. It convicted me.

So we're picking up another child today. We're going to sponsor a fourth child

all because, man, I got money to eat $23 chicken fried rice.

Surely I've got money to sponsor a child.

It convicts you sometimes when you realize, because I look at my account,

and a lot of times I'm thinking, how are we even living?

But in reality, we are blessed. We are blessed people living in a blessed nation, and God has blessed us.

Now, I look at this text that we read today. We read this story.

Jesus is talking to the crowd about when they were ministering to Him,

how they did it to the least of them. It was as unto the Lord.

I started kind of setting the scene in my mind about this.

Now, if you would, just kind of take your mind there for a second,

the scene of this text, and you're walking down this dusty road in a Judean countryside.

And as you're walking there, you're looking around, you're seeing Roman soldiers,

but At the same time, there's a mother that's there, and she's trying to figure

out how she's going to feed her little child.

At the same time, there's a blind beggar that's on the side of the road,

and he's thinking, I can't provide for myself.

Society could barely even accept him. How am I going to see my next meal?

At the same time, there's people all around, this man, this Jewish teacher,

this teacher that was a carpenter, and now some are calling him master,

calling him teacher. and they're surrounding him because he seems to have the

answer to all of their problems.

And you round the corner just in time to hear him say, I was hungry and you

gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

And somebody whispers in the middle of the crowd, and, you know,

Jesus perceived things.

And so when he's telling this story, you know, I know that they wouldn't even

have to set it out loud because Jesus would have perceived it.

Somebody in the crowd whispers, when did we ever give him anything?

When did we ever feed him anything? And Jesus, by the Holy Spirit,

perceived this. And he looked at them, and he said, when you did it to the least

of these, you did it unto me.

See, this is the Jesus that we serve this morning. I want to make this very

clear to you, that the Jesus we serve today is not the megachurch pastor Jesus.

It's not the Jesus that walks out from the fog machine after his security detail

has led him through the crowd so that nobody touches him and nobody talks to

him and nobody disturbs him.

And he walks to the pulpit in time to give just a few words of inspiration and a few cliches.

And then he's ushered out into his escalade that wisps him back to his mansion

where he's waiting to a jacuzzi and a massage.

I don't know. Ashley's like, what are you talking?

I'm just saying that's not the Jesus. I know that's a lot of mega ministries.

We've got a lot of non-profits. Amen. I'm going to say that right now.

There's a lot of people that gives word, but there's nothing that's,

there's no prophetic word left anymore because that's not the Jesus that we serve. The.

Music.

Something in our world today. And so as I'm preaching this morning,

know this, that I'm not just preaching about the church doing something.

I'm preaching to every single individual in this house, that individually,

not just collectively, because sometimes we say, well, the church sponsors missionaries

on every continent. I said this morning, the church sponsored missionaries on every planet.

And so we do, all right? We do on every inhabited planet.

But anyway, We sponsor missionaries on every continent, but the reality is Jesus

has called each and every one of us to do everything that we can personally.

So today on this Compassion Sunday, this is not a sales pitch.

This is not a make you feel guilty plea or emotional appeal.

This is a mirror so that you can see yourself in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That when we read the text where Jesus said, when you've done it unto me,

unto the least of these. You've done it unto me.

We can look at ourselves in the mirror of the gospel and say,

are we everybody that Jesus has called us to be?

In other words, this is a holy moment.

In other words, this is a place where the Holy Spirit is going to be ministering.

To your hearts. These are not my words that are being spoken this morning.

I'm simply a mouthpiece to open your heart so that the Holy Ghost of God can

come in and make adjustments where, just like me sitting over that box of chicken

fried rice, realizing that if I've got so much that I'm doing this,

that I've got enough to help somebody else that's less fortunate than I am.

Because remember, Jesus didn't say when I was hungry, you prayed for me.

Jesus didn't say that when I was thirsty, you thought about me.

He said, when I had need, you did something.

So I'm preaching to a group of people today that believers are people who don't

just think, that don't just pray, but they do something about the need that

the world has. If you believe that, say amen.

He said, you gave me food, you welcomed me, you clothed me, not theoretical compassion.

It was the compassion of the incarnate Christ. That's what it came down to,

is that Jesus Christ was the word made flesh that dwelt among us,

and he didn't do it just as a symbolic idea of who God was.

He came to make a difference in humans. That's love with legs on it,

love with hands on it, love that made a difference in the world that he was living in.

Let's go back to our text this morning. Jesus came to minister to the forgotten ones of his day.

That's the thing that just amazes me about Jesus.

As you read about it, you read the Gospels, if you read the historical accounts

of what the day was like when Jesus was ministering,

there would be heaps of people that were in the street that had need,

that they would bring the sick to Jesus and the hurting to Jesus.

And the Bible said that Jesus did all manner of good to those that he came in contact with.

Jesus himself grew up not in luxury, but in poverty.

Jesus, when he came to this world, God chose to send him through a girl,

a virgin, who was not living in the lap of luxury. She was actually just trying

to find her way just like everybody else in that day.

And so Jesus wasn't raised in luxury, but he was raised in poverty.

When he started his ministry, he didn't ascend to a seat of power, but he came to serve.

Music.

Man, that's a lesson that a lot of people in ministry in America today need

to learn is we didn't come to Lord over people.

We came to serve people, to show them the goodness of God and the Jesus that we're preaching.

Touched lepers. He healed women who were shamed to the world.

He lifted children in his arms when other people told them to get those kids away.

See, that's the kind of Jesus that we serve this morning. I started thinking

about it this way, and this is the way my mind processed it this week,

that the religious leaders, they kept track of laws.

But you know what Jesus kept track of?

He kept track of people because it's all about people in the kingdom of God.

We said this a few years ago.

But people are our purpose. Our purpose here on this world is not to build buildings.

Our purpose here on this world is not to make our brand known.

No, we're here to make Jesus known. And the way that we do this is we keep track

of people and always make it about people.

In that culture, to be poor was cursed. But Jesus said you can be poor and still be blessed. Amen.

See, I learned that as a kid growing up, I grew up in a home that we may not

have been rich. Well, my grandmother said a lot of things.

But she taught me that we may not have been rich, but the Lord loved us and we were blessed. Amen.

She also said we might be poor, but we don't have to be nasty.

But that's a whole other lesson that I'll teach to you.

And she always made me write my name in my underwear because I was in a car

accident. I don't know where all these things come from.

How weird was that? She would say, I mean, like I did in shower,

she'd say, put on clean underwear in case you're in a wreck.

I'm thinking, is that your biggest concern if I'm in a car accident is I don't

have clean underwear on?

But, you know, she taught me, though, that even if we were poor,

that we still had the blessing of the Lord on our lives.

In the world, in the world that Jesus lived in, children were expendable,

but Jesus said those children was the example of the kingdom of God.

Man, that's the Savior that we serve this morning. That's the Lord that we're

following this morning, and sometimes it's not the Jesus that's represented

in our church culture, but that's the Jesus of the Bible.

That's the man who loved humanity so much that he came to die for them.

And then we run headlong into this bombshell in Matthew chapter 25 where Jesus

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

said, when you feed them, you're feeding me.

When you clothe them, you're clothing me.

When you see them, you're seeing me.

How many times are we walking through our lives, through our daily world.

Our daily lives, and we don't see the need that's out there because we become so callous to it?

I was in a city a few years ago and we were in this city and I was with a friend

and we were walking through to a restaurant.

We walked under a bridge and we literally had to step over the legs of two homeless

people that were laying under this bridge. It was just sad.

We don't see a lot of home. There is homelessness where we live,

but at that time, it's grown the last couple of years. At that time,

we didn't see as much of it here.

And so we were eating dinner, and I asked him about the homelessness in that city.

And he said, well, I don't know if I've really seen any homeless people.

And I made him aware that we had literally stepped over the legs of two homeless

people under that bridge as we walked to dinner.

And it was enlightening to him

because it was so normalized to him that he didn't even see it anymore.

Church, we've got to get to the place that when we see hurting humanity,

when we see starving children around the globe, that it's not just another commercial

anymore, but those are human beings.

Those are people created in the image of God. And Jesus said,

when you've done it to the least of them, you've done it unto me.

Looking at the words of Matthew chapter 25, these words were not,

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

it's not metaphors. These are mandates.

This is a cardinal call to all of the Christian community that this is the way

that the world will see Jesus is by the works that we do.

Rodney Stark said it this way. Rodney Stark noted that Christianity in the early

days of Christianity, Christianity grew not through force but through mercy.

The early church fed the poor, cared for abandoned children,

and served the sick, and the world noticed.

Amen. You know when the world is going to start noticing what we're doing,

when we start reaching out and making a difference in humanity,

when we start meeting the needs of people.

I told you this maybe Wednesday night. Okay, Wednesday night,

I said this, that signs and wonders, I felt this by the Holy Spirit,

that we're going to start seeing signs and wonders again.

We were praying at the end of service. I felt the move of the Holy Ghost.

But when people see those signs and wonders, but it's not just about those signs

and wonders, because I truly believe that you won't see signs and wonders unless

you're doing everything else that Jesus said to do,

and you're helping to clothe the naked and feed the hungry and help those that

are desperate humanity.

But when we do that, people will notice once again.

We've got to get back to the place where we realize that these are human beings

created in the image of God.

The Bible teaches us this. The early church had a grasp on this.

Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 said that God created man, mankind in his own

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

image. And the image of God created him.

Male and female created them. The Bible shows us that every single human being

on this planet is created in the image of God.

They may not act like the image of God. They may not talk like the image of God.

But down in their DNA, they've got God's DNA. They were created in the image of God.

Every human being, from the king's children to the children laying in poverty,

were created in the image of God.

And that shapes the way that we view humanity. humanity because sometimes we

just think of them as, oh, they're just mean people over on that side.

No, they're not mean people over on that side of town. They're the image of God.

Oh, they're just those godless people. No, they're not just those godless people

over there. They're the image of God.

See, the image of God and our idea of the image of God, it defines our idea

of worth that other human beings have.

See, our culture, let me go ahead and just talk about our culture for a second.

Our culture has sought to value some people and devalue other people.

I know it's hard to hear, right? It's hard to hear in this, but I want to say

this right now, that you are not sinning. We're believers.

We're not just a member of a democracy. We are more so a member of a theocracy, all right?

That God is our ruler. That God is the ultimate say. That we honor the king.

We honor the president. We honor our rulers in authority.

But number one is we honor God and we will not go against anything that God says. Amen.

All right. I will obey the laws of the land until they contradict the law of God.

Because ultimately, God is my father. God is my judge.

When you start to see everybody created in the image of God,

then you realize there are no such things as lifeless or valueless humans that

they are created in the image of God.

It was God who created us, who breathed the breadth of life into our lungs.

The Bible tells us that we live and move and breathe because of Him.

So we are all created in the image of God. Psalm chapter 139 verse 14 says,

Psalms 139:14

I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

That means that the world measures people by position and by possessions and

by every other item of status.

God sees the image of himself in every single human being. You know what that means?

That means that that drug addict out there on that street corner right now,

you look at them and you say, well, they're just a lost cause.

That might be the next great evangelist that God saves his soul to preach the

gospel to your children and to your grandchildren.

I heard people. I was at a basketball game one time. I was lost in sin. I was away from God.

Many of you know my father is a murderer. My mother's in heaven,

was murdered by my father.

I heard somebody one time at a basketball game. They were talking about my brother,

but they didn't know I was close enough to them. I was around them to hear it.

Said them boys are going to end up just like their father. And they said a bunch

of things about us. In other words, they thought we were a lost cause.

I thank God that there was a church that prayed for us when other people saw

us as a lost cause. You know what?

Some of those people that saw us as a lost cause, they've heard the gospel come

from our lips. Their kids, their kids and their grandkids have been saved by

sermons that were preached by a man or by men who people labeled as a lost cause. You know what?

They're not a lost cause. The drug addicts, not a lost cause.

The prostitutes, not a lost cause.

Those that are lost in all kinds of perverse, they're not a lost cause.

They're the image of God.

See, here's what the book of Proverbs said. Proverbs chapter 14,

Proverbs 14:31

verse 31 says, whoever oppresses the poor man insults his maker.

See, what it shows us is there's more value than that. See, the image of God

demands that we show our compassion to people that are in need.

Theologian Wade Grudem says it this way. He said the image of God in man means

that human life is sacred and it should be treated with dignity,

compassion, and care. And that means everybody.

That means children that are growing up with that clean water.

That means people who are growing up with that adequate medical care.

That means people who are living in extreme poverty. And it means people in

our nation who are bound by addiction, bound by oppression, maybe mental illness,

whatever is going on in their life.

They are people that were created by God in the image of God.

James chapter 2 says it this way. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and

James 2 · chapter mention

lacking in daily food, and one of you says, go in peace, be warmed and filled

without giving them things that they need for the body, what good is that?

And we're guilty of that. Even in our church culture, our Americanized church

culture, because we've been callous, we've become callous to the need of humanity.

And the reality is these are the children of God.

So I got three things. I was setting the stage. I've got three things that you

need to remember when we're looking at this.

What does the compassion of Jesus teach us? I've got three things I want you

to leave with this morning. Number one, compassion isn't optional. It's foundational.

Compassion, you know, when people say, I love him because he's a compassionate

person. Well, somebody shouldn't be compassionate while somebody else is not.

Compassion is not optional. It's foundational. It's who we are as the people of God.

The Bible teaches us in the book of James chapter one, verse 27 says that religion

is pure and undefiled before God. It's visiting the orphans and widows in their affliction.

That's in other words, those people that are marginalized and cannot do for

themselves, cannot provide for themselves, that true religion that's undefiled

is caring for them, visiting them in their affliction.

That's one of the reasons why this church decided to partner with the Appalachian

Children's Home, a great organization, to establish a foster care ministry out

of this church, out of this location, because we realize there's children in

our region, not just around the world, but in our region,

that need a good home to go to, that need care, that can't provide for themselves.

But we have to also have those eyes as individuals.

I read this story. I was prepping this week, and I read this story about a pastor in Haiti.

And this little pastor in Haiti, he pastored over in a place where they didn't

have a lot of money and they had this little kind of hut, it was a makeshift

tent really is what it was,

a makeshift tent that they used as a church and they couldn't really fit very

many people, but they'd squeeze people under it. And when it rained, everybody got wet.

And when the mosquitoes were out, everybody got bit. You know,

it was one of those things.

And they kept on having church anyway. And the Lord laid it on the pastor's

heart one day to take what little they had and start feeding these hungry children

that were in their neighborhood.

And so they started providing meals.

When they weren't having church,

they would provide a meal for the hungry children that were around.

And somebody came and they criticized. They said, why are we providing all this

food for people when we don't even have a building? And this is what this pastor said. A true story.

The pastor said, we don't have walls, but we have love, and love must feed.

Amen. I love that right there.

You know what, in this church, we may not have a million dollars and we may not have a mega ministry.

Music.

Cannot take care of themselves because that's what Jesus has called us to do.

Today, the church, the church is being the church.

And that's not just the church sponsoring missionaries around this world,

but that's each and every individual doing their part to make sure that the

need for humanity is taken care of.

So compassion is not optional. It's foundational. but

not only that but compassion opens the

door for the gospel how many times and

i'll tell you it wasn't long ago there's a lady that

was had come by the property here and and she wasn't asking for money wasn't

asking for anything else and i just felt on my heart just uh just to pull out

what little money wasn't much and i just handed it to her and she said i don't

need that and and i said i i did i'm not giving it to you because you need it

i'm giving it to you because I want you to know that Jesus Christ loves you.

And later on, she came back. And, you know, it wasn't because it wasn't much

money. It wasn't much of anything.

But it showed her that there's compassion in the people of God,

that they're different than some other, that the people of God are different

than other people, that the people of God is not, you know.

Can I go ahead and get close right now? Can I do that? We live in communities

that's trying to find a way to hide the poor.

We live in communities that are trying to find a way to eliminate them as distractions and eyesores.

When the church, you know what we do? We find a way to meet the needs of the poor and the needy.

That's why we do what we do. That's why we give money that we give.

That's why we have programs that we have. Somebody asked me a few months ago,

Randy, they asked and they said, well, I mean, what organization gives you all those diapers?

Or who donates that? I said, nobody donates that. People will give here and

there, but the church buy those diapers.

We purchase those diapers to give. He said, why in the world would you do that?

I said, because we want to show somebody that Jesus loves them.

And one of the things that we do when they come through here,

we pray with every single person in those cars and tell them there's a Jesus that loves them.

And if we got to buy diapers to do that, we're going to buy diapers to do that.

Monday nights, we cook meals. If we got to cook meals to do that,

we're going to cook meals to do that because it's not about how much can we

accumulate on this world.

Music.

This church is not a savings and loan. It's a life-saving vessel to carry the

gospel of Jesus Christ, and we were put here to meet the needs of the people of this world.

I got to get back over to Compassion International for just a second.

People that, I read this stat this week, that children that are sponsored through

Compassion International are 80%, oh,

there we go, are 80% more likely to graduate from their educational programs,

75% more likely to become leaders in their churches and their communities,

all because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want to say this right now. I am where I am today, not because of degrees

and not because of education and not because anything else.

I am where I am today because of the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ.

And we can make sure that somebody else's testimony, that they are where they

are today, all because of the love of Jesus Christ.

So when we reach out to lost humanity, we're not just meeting a physical need.

We're planning a seed of revival. That's what I believe.

How many of you, just think about that. You don't have to raise your hand.

But how many of you, you look around right now and you say, I am where I am

today because of the goodness of God.

I am where I am today because of the miracle working power of God.

You know, I was testifying to somebody the other day.

They were asking me about, they were talking about education and stumbling blocks

to education. I said, I know my life's a miracle.

My life is a miracle. I said, I went, I struggled through my bachelor's degree.

Next thing I know, I had a man approach me and say, you need to get your master's and we'll pay for it.

I went, got my master's. It was paid for. I went and signed up for an EDS.

I did not think it was going to be paid for halfway through it.

Somebody approached me and said, we're going to pay for your EDS.

So that was paid for. I signed up. I just felt, you know, sometimes you pray about these things.

I felt the Lord was leading me to go get my doctorate degree.

So I went, signed up for that doctorate degree, worked all the way through it,

had to take out loans to do it.

I don't recommend that to anybody. Dave Ramsey would say no to that.

I took out loans to do it. I was standing at graduation and the dean of the

department came up and said, you did such a good job in your program.

How would you like to come teach for us? I said, I'd love it.

She said, well, good. You start in the fall. I made enough money in that first

year and paid for that whole doctorate degree.

You know what? You know what that is? That's showing that when God shows up

in your life, he equips you and enables you to do things that you could not do otherwise.

Wouldn't you love to plug somebody into the goodness of God,

into the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then all of a sudden, supernaturally,

they become equipped to do things that they would not be equipped to do any other way?

You know what? There's people I've had. I've heard testimonies in this building,

people that said, you know what? I was working my job, and I shouldn't have

figured it out, but I just pray. I said, Lord, give me the insight.

She said, the Holy Spirit gave me insight into what I was looking at.

She said, I would have never been able to know that otherwise.

But see, that's what we see is that God gives us, the Bible says that God has

given us the ability to obtain wealth.

That doesn't mean you're going to be rich, but it means that all of our need

will be supplied through his riches and glory.

I mean, I know that's an eternal thing, but we see here that the Bible says

the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and it adds with it no sorrow.

Okay, I'm not, some of you like, did I get that jet plane? No, you don't.

I'm not stepping out on that limb right there. All right. I'll just say this.

I'm not going to say it because somebody might stream this and I'll be in trouble. All right.

Number three, do you think the Lord would want me to have a jet plane when there

are people starving to death all over this world?

I've flown, coach. It flies.

It flies. Amen. I fly. Allegiant. That's like flying on a park bench on a Greyhound bus with wings.

Right? It gets you there. Sometimes I think I might have to hold a chicken on

the way. I mean, it's just kind of, but it gets you there. It gets you there.

Well, finally, compassion is worship in action.

Compassion is worship in action. Hebrews chapter 13 says, do not neglect to

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

do good and share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing unto God.

We talked about lifting our hands to worship. We talked about what we did this

morning in worship, lifting the hands that God has given us.

What if we use those same hands to provide for those that are in need?

What if we use those same hands to feed the hungry?

What if we use those same hands, Randy, on the diaper ministry on a Saturday

morning to hand out diapers and tell somebody about Jesus Christ?

Yeah, I've heard them ask out there, they said, well, what do we need to do

to qualify for this? You have need, that's what you have to do to qualify.

It's the same in the kingdom of God, because when people see the gospel being

preached and being exemplified,

they realize that the same people that love us unconditionally,

they must be a part of a God that loves us unconditionally, and they want to

be part of something like that. I love Brother Leonard Ravenhill.

He says this. He said, you have not truly worshiped until your worship costs you something. Yeah.

Yeah. See, all of us, I think have that, it may not be a box of chicken fried rice.

It was pretty good chicken fried rice. I got to be honest with you.

But all of us have our $23 splurge when there's people that are starving all over this world.

I read stories from the Compassion International site.

A little boy named Alex was abandoned, starving in Kenya.

His sponsor wrote, God has not forgotten you.

And that little boy said that gave me hope to keep coming back to that compassion

program week after week And he said it's what what sustained me during that

point in my life I love this little girl named maria in bolivia.

She said when my sponsor called me her daughter I knew I mattered and that changed

everything I I put that clip that part of it in there But the story was that

she'd been abandoned by her parents and she didn't know what it was like to

have parents All she knew was to be an orphan and she said when my sponsor called

me that her daughter said,

I knew that I mattered and it made all the difference in my life.

Man, meeting needs, that's what the body of Christ is called to do.

If you guys come help, let's kind of wind this thing down.

Jesus, he said, when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.

See, the reality is when we serve, Jesus is seen because love does something.

Love does something. So we're going to pray in just a moment.

We're going to pray about what's God called us to do in our local community

to meet needs. We're going to pray for that in just a moment.

But I made a list today.

I know.

Now, this list, this is not from the Bible.

This is not the opinion of my wife or anybody else at Freedom of Worship Church.

Okay, I'll go ahead and let everybody off the hook right now.

This is your pastor's personal opinion. So take it for what it's worth.

And really, it was more self-reflection than anything.

But here's my list of you should sponsor a child with Compassion International

if this morning. All right?

I toned it down it's not real harsh you should sponsor if you doordash at least once a month,

if you order hello fresh or any other meal kit that nobody else in the global

community even know what it is if you have more cars than licensed drivers in

your household you should sponsor a child if you scrape food off of your plate and into the trash,

you should sponsor a child if you

buy starbucks or any fancy if you

buy seven bucks or any fancy coffee drink once a

week you should sponsor a child if you

have a streaming service that you barely use you should

sponsor a child i was looking at my bank account the other day and said huh

i didn't realize we had that sponsor a child if you've ever upgraded phones

from a phone that still works you should sponsor a child if you have clothes

in your closet with tags still on it,

you should sponsor a child.

If your pet has a halloween costume you should sponsor a child i got you kelly all right.

If you've paid for expedited shipping, if your garage is used for storage instead

of parking your car because you have so much stuff, you should sponsor a child.

If you have a gym membership and you still don't go, you should sponsor a child.

If you ever bought a scented candle, not for light, just because you like the

way it smells, you should sponsor a child.

If your thermostat has ever been adjusted for comfort and not survival,

you should sponsor a child.

If you've spent $43 or more on any single meal this month, you should sponsor a child.

If your Christmas decorations take up more than one storage bin,

you should sponsor a child.

If your coffee order has more than three words in it,

soy mocha venti extra foam you should sponsor a child if you bought an outfit

that you just for one event that you don't really intend to wear again you should sponsor a child,

if your amazon cart is never really empty.

You should sponsor a child if your car has heated seats and you still complain

about the cold you should sponsor a child,

and this one got me because I see it if your trash can has more food in it than

packaging you should sponsor a child.

Really what that was was a reflection of how blessed I really am in light of

people that are unfortunate.

And so today I stand before you convicted.

That there's people in need. And Jesus said, when you've done it to the least

of these, you've done it unto me.

So what can we do? This is a challenge by the Holy Spirit. What can we do to

show the love of Jesus in our community?

Let's all stand out of this building. a little bit of this building.

Here's what I want us to do because I realize that some of you have been standing

here today and you've heard the Jesus that I've been talking about.

Not just the meeting the need, but you've heard the Jesus that I've been talking

about and you're saying to yourself, that's the Jesus that I need in my life.

That's the one that can help me. That's the Jesus I've been looking for.

I've seen this plastic Jesus that our culture has kind of made.

But the Jesus of the scripture is the one I've been looking for.

For some of you, you need Jesus in your life today.

Every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody looking around. If you're here today

and you'd say, I don't know Jesus for myself, maybe you're a backslider and

you don't know Jesus. You've walked away from that relationship.

But you'd say, I'd like to know Jesus right where I am. We're not going to pull

you out, not going to embarrass you, but you get to know Jesus right where you're

standing right now. If you're here today and you'd say i'd like to know that

jesus for myself I just want you to raise that hand up.

You can put it right back down Say that's me. I want to know jesus.

I want to know jesus I want to know jesus for myself Because I know there's there's people here.

You need to know him. You need to know him So I pray that today You can accept

him as your savior Here's my call to this church My call to this church is What are we doing?

To make sure jesus is known in our community Thank you.

Love does something. So if you're here today and the Holy Spirit's minister

to you, and I'm going to raise my hand on this because I've been convicted.

If you're here today, you'd say, Pastor Scott, I want to start doing more to

show Jesus in my everyday life, in my community, wherever it is.

There's hands already going up.

Yeah, that's me too. That's me too. Yeah, that's us. That's us.

Here's what I want us to do. Can we do this? Because I feel the Holy Spirit here today.

I want to open this altar. I want us to come and pray. not

just for us to do more but i want us

to pray for our community i want to i want

us to pray for our our local people in poverty

our local people who are sick our local people

who who are struggling emotionally and i want us to pray for our world because

even we have a world in crisis we have a global hunger problem we have i want

us to pray for for nations that are at war there are believers right now in

Ukraine and Russia that are caught in the middle of this war.

And beyond that, these are people that were created in the image of God.

I want us to pray for peace in our world. Can we do that? I want to open this

altar up. And if you raise your hand or if you just want to come and pray with

us, I want us to open this altar.

I want us to come pray this morning. I feel the Holy Spirit bidding us to come

this morning. On the count of three, step on out.

One, two, three, step on out. Step on out. Let's come pray this morning.

Amen. Let's come and pray this morning together. Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit deal deal with our hearts this morning Holy Spirit open our eyes

this morning Holy Spirit continue to call us.

Music.

That says they're in need. And I've heard people say, well, how you know they're

not just going to go by, you fill in the blank, drugs, alcohol, whatever, with that.

And the reality is, I don't. I don't.

But God has not called me to be the investigator of the needy.

Right? You give somebody $5, try to help them out a little bit.

You give somebody 10 bucks, try to give them money for food.

You've done what God's called you to do.

What they do with is putting them in God. But I don't want, it's a built-in excuse is what it is.

It's a carnal excuse. why we're it's the enemy trying to keep us from being

the people of God that God's called us to be you know what I say?

Let's meet the need let's be the people of God,

when they're hungry let's feed them when they're naked let's clothe them when

they need visit let's visit them because that's who God has called us to be,

we're going to dismiss there's a table right over there you can sponsor a child

from Compassion International,

this morning we started out with 30 packets I think that the 9 o'clock they

sponsored over 20 children this morning and so we got QR codes over there you can,

there's different children you can scroll through we look for children that

had similar birthdates to our children that's what we did we wanted them to

be the same age as our children as our children grew up and they eventually

aged out and we got different children it is what it is but I challenge you

If God's laid it on your heart this morning,

let's meet the need this morning. Let's meet the need.

God bless you guys. We love you. We'll see you on Wednesday night. God bless you.