1 00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:32,220 Not that those are good things, but it's good. That's what 2 00:00:32,220 --> 00:00:35,620 families do. They get together and talk about what they need and 3 00:00:36,020 --> 00:00:38,500 that's what we need to do here. And that's how we're able to 4 00:00:38,500 --> 00:00:43,020 get our minds off of ourself and help someone else. So I appreciate 5 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:47,820 that. Thank you, Brother Reed. But tonight I am honored to be able 6 00:00:47,820 --> 00:00:52,340 to speak tonight. I don't take these opportunities lightly. And 7 00:00:52,900 --> 00:00:56,800 really I began to pray what the Lord would have me to speak on. 8 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,480 And I knew exactly what he wanted me to say before I was asked. 9 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,040 And this was just something that's been on my heart for a while. 10 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,520 It's actually something I learned back. And this was a truth 11 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:12,320 that I Learned back in 2014. And I'll explain that here in just 12 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,720 a little bit. But it really is not about me. I just, I think that 13 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:20,080 my story, I guess my illustrate or my experience will 14 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,570 help illustrate this truth. And I pray it be a blessing to you. 15 00:01:24,730 --> 00:01:27,610 I do have another prayer request to add. I didn't put it in 16 00:01:27,610 --> 00:01:31,010 there. I was seeing if my wife would do it, but she didn't. No, 17 00:01:31,010 --> 00:01:36,410 I'm just joking. But my son Daniel just had all four of his wisdom 18 00:01:36,410 --> 00:01:41,170 teeth pulled out of his head at the same time. And so they said 19 00:01:41,170 --> 00:01:45,650 that he was not mission ready with all four in there. So now apparently 20 00:01:45,650 --> 00:01:50,940 he is. But his head's about 10 gallons right now. And so pray for 21 00:01:50,940 --> 00:01:57,140 him. He's hurting and he's recovering now. So pray for him. 22 00:01:57,140 --> 00:02:00,540 And I appreciate that. I know he'll appreciate that as well. So 23 00:02:00,540 --> 00:02:05,980 open your Bibles with me. Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter number 24 00:02:05,980 --> 00:02:13,700 nine. Matthew nine. This is a familiar passage. And with us just 25 00:02:13,700 --> 00:02:18,530 wrapping up our missions conference, our missions focus week. 26 00:02:19,250 --> 00:02:23,970 This is a missions primarily focused in on mission work. And so 27 00:02:23,970 --> 00:02:27,730 we're going to cover that. And let me just remind you again how 28 00:02:27,730 --> 00:02:34,570 many people, missionaries and ministries are depending on us to 29 00:02:34,570 --> 00:02:39,130 hold the rope. And so we have obligations to a missionary for the 30 00:02:39,130 --> 00:02:43,700 life of their ministry. And, and so I would just encourage you 31 00:02:43,700 --> 00:02:47,180 once again to pray what the Lord would have you to do this year 32 00:02:47,180 --> 00:02:52,460 for missions. And we have a big obligation and I know that God, 33 00:02:52,460 --> 00:02:56,820 if we are continuing God's work and we're doing it his way through 34 00:02:56,820 --> 00:03:01,340 the local church, God will bless. And so just as an encouragement 35 00:03:01,340 --> 00:03:05,420 here, but let's read In Matthew, chapter 9, verse, we'll 36 00:03:05,420 --> 00:03:10,570 start in verse 35. The Bible says, and Jesus went about in all 37 00:03:10,570 --> 00:03:13,490 the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and 38 00:03:13,490 --> 00:03:17,690 preaching the Gospel of the kingdom and healing. Look what it 39 00:03:17,690 --> 00:03:23,170 says. Every sickness and every disease among the people, it says. 40 00:03:23,170 --> 00:03:26,810 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion 41 00:03:26,810 --> 00:03:30,610 on them because they fainted and they were scattered abroad as 42 00:03:30,610 --> 00:03:36,220 sheep, having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, 43 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:40,900 the harvest. Here it is. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the 44 00:03:40,900 --> 00:03:45,260 laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, 45 00:03:45,260 --> 00:03:48,619 that he will send forth laborers unto the harvest and to 46 00:03:48,619 --> 00:03:53,260 his harvest. Let us pray. Lord, I pray that you calm my nerves, 47 00:03:53,260 --> 00:03:59,070 Lord, help me now to speak what exactly you have for us tonight. 48 00:03:59,230 --> 00:04:02,350 Lord, I pray I don't get in the way tonight. I pray that your 49 00:04:02,430 --> 00:04:07,110 spirit would be evident, Lord, that you would move from seat to 50 00:04:07,110 --> 00:04:11,070 seat, from people to people and heart to heart, Lord, and accomplish 51 00:04:11,630 --> 00:04:16,270 exactly what we need tonight. Lord, help us to hear your word and 52 00:04:16,270 --> 00:04:19,790 respond to it accordingly. Or may you be pleased with what you 53 00:04:19,790 --> 00:04:25,400 see here tonight. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. So this, this 54 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,960 compassion, this first I just want to give you some context. You 55 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:34,800 know this, but this is a way of reminding this is Jesus Christ 56 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,560 that we're talking about. He is speaking here. This is the one 57 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,320 that the Old Testament scriptures prophesied that there 58 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,840 would be a coming Messiah. And he would do many wondrous miracles. 59 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:49,950 Healing the sick, causing the blind to see, casting out devils. 60 00:04:50,180 --> 00:04:54,660 That's what Isaiah prophesied. So their Old Testament, they were 61 00:04:54,660 --> 00:04:59,380 longing for this person, this Savior, the chosen one to come. And 62 00:04:59,380 --> 00:05:05,060 now he has come. And now he is actually in chapter what's amazing 63 00:05:05,060 --> 00:05:09,740 about this portion of Scripture, Matthew 8, 9 and 10. It 64 00:05:09,740 --> 00:05:13,740 kick starts his ministry in a way that we hadn't really seen. We've 65 00:05:13,740 --> 00:05:17,140 seen the Sermon on the Mounts, we've seen some miracles. But if 66 00:05:17,140 --> 00:05:21,500 you read through chapter eight and nine, it is packed full of miracles. 67 00:05:22,060 --> 00:05:26,540 Jesus Christ is busy. He is. He is out doing the will of the Father. 68 00:05:26,940 --> 00:05:31,420 And this is causing a stir amongst the people in the villages 69 00:05:31,420 --> 00:05:35,300 and all the things that are happening. He's causing blind people 70 00:05:35,300 --> 00:05:40,180 to see. He's causing folks that are paralyzed to get up and 71 00:05:40,180 --> 00:05:45,620 walk. He's casting out demons multiple times throughout these chapters. 72 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:52,020 And this is causing a stir in the community, A following. His fame 73 00:05:52,020 --> 00:05:58,300 is now spreading abroad. And now he simply goes to deal with these 74 00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:02,420 two blind men. If you read back for the sake of time, I'll paraphrase 75 00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:06,900 for you. But he does this miracle, he heals these two blind 76 00:06:06,900 --> 00:06:12,420 men and he tells them, don't tell anyone. And they go and tell 77 00:06:12,420 --> 00:06:16,620 everyone. I wonder if we did that Say, hey, don't go out on visitation, 78 00:06:16,860 --> 00:06:20,660 would you do you know, I don't know, but he tells them, he tells 79 00:06:20,660 --> 00:06:25,099 them, don't tell anyone and they go tell everyone. And this is 80 00:06:25,099 --> 00:06:30,180 beginning, this movement, if you will, is just, I mean it's really 81 00:06:30,180 --> 00:06:33,620 gaining momentum. Christ is accomplishing everything that he 82 00:06:33,620 --> 00:06:38,950 had set out to do and he gets, and all this busyness of his ministry 83 00:06:38,950 --> 00:06:41,870 and all the things that are happening. And I just wondered for 84 00:06:41,870 --> 00:06:47,190 a moment what it would be like to be a disciple, an apostle. You 85 00:06:47,190 --> 00:06:52,630 are watching this, you are watching this man do miraculous things. 86 00:06:53,110 --> 00:06:57,750 In fact, they said, we have never ever seen anything like this 87 00:06:57,750 --> 00:07:01,350 in all of Israel. Now remember, Israel was in the state 88 00:07:01,510 --> 00:07:07,120 of, of this religious stronghold. They have replaced God 89 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,280 with their religion and all these people have been sold a false 90 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:15,240 bill of goods. They said, hey, you follow our religion and it will 91 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,520 satisfy you, it will help you in your time of need. And they said, 92 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,040 hey, we've washed our hands, we've kept all the laws, we've ate 93 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,440 all the food, we've done all the dietarial and the ceremonial, 94 00:07:27,850 --> 00:07:34,010 you know, we've kept all those and you've lied. It doesn't fulfill. 95 00:07:34,890 --> 00:07:39,090 We are worse now because we had a sense of hope than we were 96 00:07:39,090 --> 00:07:42,250 before youe tell us, I mean this was the frustration that was 97 00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:46,770 growing and these crowds were gathering and they, of course some 98 00:07:46,770 --> 00:07:49,810 of them wanted to come. Just say, hey, do another one. Hey, you 99 00:07:49,810 --> 00:07:53,570 know, can you do another one? And they're following Christ as like 100 00:07:53,570 --> 00:07:58,570 this miracle monger. But there were some that really loved him and 101 00:07:58,570 --> 00:08:03,690 began to get to know him and it made all the difference. But this 102 00:08:03,690 --> 00:08:07,490 is kind of the setting of where we're at. This is 36, verse 103 00:08:07,490 --> 00:08:12,450 36. It says, but when he saw the multitude, he was moved with 104 00:08:12,450 --> 00:08:17,010 compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad 105 00:08:17,010 --> 00:08:22,010 as sheep having no shepherd. Now the direct context of this is 106 00:08:22,010 --> 00:08:25,640 salvation. They were lost people. These were lost people. But 107 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,960 you and I know a little bit, maybe a secondary application of 108 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,280 what it means to be without a pastor. You and I can feel that a 109 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:40,760 little bit. You know, there's some. That's hard. We're in a tough 110 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:46,840 spot right now. But the primary focus is upon the lost sheep. 111 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,560 Okay, so look what it says. It says, we're just going to try to 112 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:54,890 break down this small portion. So hang, stay with me and I pray 113 00:08:54,890 --> 00:08:58,410 this be a blessing to you. It says, but when he saw the multitudes, 114 00:08:58,410 --> 00:09:02,290 he was moved with compassion. Now I don't know about you, but my 115 00:09:02,290 --> 00:09:06,250 Bible, I Have a red letter Bible. And Jesus is not speaking 116 00:09:06,330 --> 00:09:13,050 here. Okay? Right. Or is he? Matthew's writing. How did he know 117 00:09:13,050 --> 00:09:19,730 he was moved? How did Matthew know that Jesus was moved to. How 118 00:09:19,730 --> 00:09:24,250 did he, Matthew, no doubtingly, Matthew was called later, 119 00:09:24,410 --> 00:09:28,330 earlier in this chapter, he was called to be an apostle. He called 120 00:09:28,330 --> 00:09:35,569 to be a disciple of Christ. And he's writing down the events 121 00:09:35,569 --> 00:09:39,610 of what took place. He had just seen amazing things happen. 122 00:09:40,090 --> 00:09:45,370 And he says there was something physically. Jesus was physically 123 00:09:45,370 --> 00:09:51,100 affected by what he saw to the point that it got my attention. And 124 00:09:51,100 --> 00:09:55,380 now the Holy Spirit has led him to lead. So you and I can see 125 00:09:55,380 --> 00:09:58,740 this as well. And this is where we're at. We're at the place 126 00:09:58,740 --> 00:10:08,140 where Christ is moved to the point of he is physically noticeably 127 00:10:08,220 --> 00:10:15,260 different. He doesn't just see the multitudes. By the way, the disciples 128 00:10:15,260 --> 00:10:20,140 saw the same multitudes, right? They were there. They could 129 00:10:20,140 --> 00:10:23,540 look out and see the same people. Christ looks out and see 130 00:10:23,540 --> 00:10:28,740 the same people. But he was affected differently. He was moved. 131 00:10:28,899 --> 00:10:34,300 The Bible describes it. Moved with compassion. And the definition 132 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:45,150 of compassion is a suffering with another. He. This is nothing 133 00:10:45,150 --> 00:10:50,030 that you don't know. But we have a compassionate God. He knows 134 00:10:50,030 --> 00:10:54,030 what you're going through. He knows your heartaches. He knows your 135 00:10:54,030 --> 00:10:58,350 shortcomings. He knows what makes you anxious and what makes 136 00:10:58,350 --> 00:11:04,960 you discouraged and really how you function. He knows it affects 137 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,240 him. It affects him to the point where he does something about 138 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,120 it. And this compassion. Here's the other part of the definition. 139 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:19,880 A suffering with another, a painful sympathy, sorrow to pity 140 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:25,520 in the inward parts, compassion. This is also Webster's, 141 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,680 the last part of this definition. Listen to this. It says, 142 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:35,600 compassion mixed with passion, compounded with love and sorrow. 143 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:47,920 Do you have that? Do I have that? How many people did you pass 144 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:54,920 today? Driving down the road, gas station, convenience store, grocery 145 00:11:54,920 --> 00:12:01,460 store, school, work, practice, whatever you had, whatever your activities 146 00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:08,740 were. How many people did I pass today? I wasn't moved. Was I 147 00:12:08,740 --> 00:12:16,180 moved? Did I have this same level of compassion on the people 148 00:12:16,180 --> 00:12:23,660 around me? I don't know if I did or not. I want to say yes. I 149 00:12:23,660 --> 00:12:26,940 want to say yes. And then the next question is, okay, what did 150 00:12:26,940 --> 00:12:32,460 I do? Did I sympathize with them? Or was I moved to action? See 151 00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:35,780 sympathy. David Livingston, he's a great pioneer missionary. 152 00:12:35,860 --> 00:12:40,580 He gave this quote. He said, sympathy is no substitute for action. 153 00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:44,260 So we can be sympathetic. We can sit here and see the missionary 154 00:12:44,260 --> 00:12:49,140 videos and say, you know what I can see, you know, God bless those 155 00:12:49,140 --> 00:12:51,950 that are in that closed country. God bless those that are 156 00:12:51,950 --> 00:12:55,870 in Brazil or wherever they're at. And that's fine. That's good 157 00:12:55,870 --> 00:13:00,670 to have sympathy. But compassion is different. Compassion 158 00:13:00,750 --> 00:13:06,830 allows. It involves you moving to action. You take that sympathy 159 00:13:08,350 --> 00:13:11,830 and it's moved to action. Now we're going to. We're going to do 160 00:13:11,830 --> 00:13:15,710 something about it. Paul said in Romans 10, he says, Brethren, 161 00:13:16,210 --> 00:13:19,410 my heart's prayer and desire for Israel is that they might be 162 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:24,570 saved. And you see, Paul didn't just give platitudes to things 163 00:13:24,570 --> 00:13:28,570 that he loved about his people. He loved the nation of Israel. 164 00:13:28,570 --> 00:13:31,570 He loved his people. He was called to the Gentiles, but he loved 165 00:13:31,570 --> 00:13:36,170 the Jews. And Paul said, hey, I'm going to go to every single synagogue. 166 00:13:36,170 --> 00:13:39,290 I'm going to be preaching in every major city. I want to go to 167 00:13:39,290 --> 00:13:43,940 Rome. All roads lead to Rome. I want to get there, get. I want 168 00:13:43,940 --> 00:13:47,260 to get this. He had compassion, he had a way. He had 169 00:13:47,260 --> 00:13:51,220 a drive about him. And this is what Christ. This is the heart of 170 00:13:51,220 --> 00:13:56,900 Christ that's beating right now. This is something, this broken 171 00:13:56,900 --> 00:14:03,580 heart, these lost people attract the very heart of God. I 172 00:14:03,580 --> 00:14:12,190 mean, God will stop what he's doing to look at the lost, to see 173 00:14:12,350 --> 00:14:18,270 you're hurt, to do. I mean, look how far he came to save you. 174 00:14:18,670 --> 00:14:23,910 He came from the glories of heaven to die on a rugged cross, 175 00:14:23,910 --> 00:14:27,830 to be laid in the dirt as a baby, and then to go to die on the 176 00:14:27,830 --> 00:14:33,350 cross. That was compassion. That was passion and action. And 177 00:14:33,350 --> 00:14:38,430 he saw the multitude. He was moved by man's misery. He saw their 178 00:14:38,430 --> 00:14:42,550 disappointments. And look what it says here. It says at the middle 179 00:14:42,550 --> 00:14:46,910 verse, it says, because they fainted and were scattered abroad 180 00:14:47,630 --> 00:14:54,190 as sheep having no shepherd. Now, in that context, that word fainted 181 00:14:54,190 --> 00:15:01,790 means completely devastated. They were under the assumption by 182 00:15:01,790 --> 00:15:05,110 the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees of the 183 00:15:05,110 --> 00:15:10,700 day that the. This way, these actions, these religious rituals 184 00:15:11,020 --> 00:15:16,060 can buy you and me favor with God. And they said, well, hey, we're 185 00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:18,900 going to go do. We're going to check all those boxes. We're going 186 00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:23,900 to do what you say. But it doesn't help. I don't feel any closer. 187 00:15:24,220 --> 00:15:28,380 It's not working. And so now Jesus Christ comes on the scene. 188 00:15:28,780 --> 00:15:34,030 And now things are happening. Now things are moving forward. They 189 00:15:34,030 --> 00:15:38,270 said, we've never seen this before. Something's different. Christ 190 00:15:38,270 --> 00:15:42,710 saw their spiritual condition. They were looking. It says that they 191 00:15:42,710 --> 00:15:47,110 were looking and were scattered abroad because they fainted 192 00:15:47,110 --> 00:15:51,310 and were scattered abroad. They were looking, but they never 193 00:15:51,310 --> 00:15:58,510 found. They're still looking. And it broke his heart. And he really 194 00:15:58,910 --> 00:16:03,900 wanted. Sometimes, you know, you read through the gospels, you 195 00:16:03,900 --> 00:16:07,220 read through Christ's teachings. You know, there's times 196 00:16:07,220 --> 00:16:10,740 where Christ taught and there's times where Christ preached 197 00:16:11,060 --> 00:16:16,260 and then there's times where he is just in action and he's working 198 00:16:16,260 --> 00:16:21,940 and doing. And this is one of the ones where this lesson, he's 199 00:16:21,940 --> 00:16:26,260 not really teaching a lesson, so to say he didn't plan this sermon 200 00:16:26,260 --> 00:16:30,160 three point outline. He's not typing, but he's preaching by his 201 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:36,920 actions. He's the only preacher ever to be able to preach 202 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:42,080 what he lives and lives what he preaches fully. And so they were 203 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,760 here, they desired this spiritual instruction and they had 204 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,800 gone to the world, they had gone to religion, they had gone to 205 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,360 all the things that the world had to offer and they were left empty. 206 00:16:53,840 --> 00:17:00,320 It was the blind leading the blind and they were without a shepherd 207 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,480 and Christ's heart was broken. So then I want you to see first his 208 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:09,000 compassion. Secondly, I want you to see the problem. I want you 209 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:14,240 to see what is going on here. And what I believe to be the surface 210 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:19,360 level problem was there wasn't enough laborers. Well, the laborers 211 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:23,580 were right beside him. They were looking right at him. He had 212 00:17:23,580 --> 00:17:28,420 laborers. Where was the disconnect? What are we not seeing? 213 00:17:30,580 --> 00:17:37,220 The problem was that he was, he was dealing with a heart issue. 214 00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:44,580 Let me share with you this story. This was in 2012. I started. 215 00:17:45,700 --> 00:17:49,020 My wife and I started a van route in Dayton, Ohio. We started 216 00:17:49,020 --> 00:17:52,220 with one family, a boy and a girl. And Lord grew that. And we 217 00:17:52,220 --> 00:17:55,500 had to get my cdl as we started driving a bus. We started 218 00:17:55,500 --> 00:18:02,060 averaging about 30 and things were going well. Well, VBS comes 219 00:18:02,060 --> 00:18:08,260 on and VBS was crazy. Okay, VBS was crazy. And we had eight bus 220 00:18:08,260 --> 00:18:13,380 routes and lots and lots of kids. And my route was on the west 221 00:18:13,380 --> 00:18:17,940 side of Dayton. And just what you're. Yes, it was that what you're 222 00:18:17,940 --> 00:18:20,430 thinking the west side of Dayton would be. And it was a. It 223 00:18:20,430 --> 00:18:24,030 was a tough inner city neighborhood. Those kids were grown, 224 00:18:24,190 --> 00:18:29,150 those kids were raised a different way and they were brought 225 00:18:29,150 --> 00:18:34,350 up, they just experienced things that you and I. Maybe not. 226 00:18:34,350 --> 00:18:40,430 Maybe you have, maybe not. But it was a difficult ministry and we 227 00:18:40,510 --> 00:18:46,430 had VBS and I had taken off a couple days the week before, passed 228 00:18:46,430 --> 00:18:50,870 out a bunch of flyers and. And we're going to have a big day. And 229 00:18:51,510 --> 00:18:54,950 in the bus office at Cornerstone is a plaque and it's 230 00:18:54,950 --> 00:19:00,310 called the 100 Club. And it gave like the few, like nine people 231 00:19:00,390 --> 00:19:06,070 who had 100 kids on their route. And I'm like I want that. 232 00:19:06,070 --> 00:19:13,030 I want to have 100 kids. 100 is my goal. And we're not talking 233 00:19:13,580 --> 00:19:20,380 laws and safety. We're just talking just my ambition. So what 234 00:19:20,380 --> 00:19:27,100 happened is the first night we had 72 on the bus, 72 on the bus. 235 00:19:28,620 --> 00:19:38,660 And seven of them got saved. The police got called. They were 236 00:19:38,660 --> 00:19:44,140 throwing stuff out the window at other cars. All of them didn't 237 00:19:44,140 --> 00:19:50,140 get saved, Only seven of them, no. So I dealt with that, got home, 238 00:19:50,140 --> 00:19:54,220 it was late, and I'm like, hun, that was a good talking to my 239 00:19:54,220 --> 00:19:57,700 wife. I was like, that was good, wasn't it? She's like. She 240 00:19:57,700 --> 00:20:03,460 starts breaking down, she's crying. And I'm like, what did I 241 00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:07,820 miss? I thought this was good. I thought we did something well. 242 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:16,720 And she's like, I can't do this now. What, Lord? I was like, 243 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:20,480 what's wrong? She's like, it's just so much. She's like, there was 244 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,240 a fight. I broke up a fight. I'm picking up kids, they're jumping 245 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,240 over seats, they're doing this. They're throwing stuff out 246 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:32,200 the window. They're too much. And I said, okay. The next day, 89 247 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:42,410 kids. My wife's like, I'm done with you. But I needed her. I needed 248 00:20:42,410 --> 00:20:48,930 her on. We had several workers and long story short, we. She's struggling. 249 00:20:49,569 --> 00:20:52,770 She's really struggling. On Wednesday night, we went Monday through 250 00:20:52,770 --> 00:20:57,290 Wednesday. And on Wednesday night, I just said, hey, let's just 251 00:20:57,290 --> 00:21:02,830 finish this. Let's get through this. And will be done. Well, 98 252 00:21:02,830 --> 00:21:11,190 on Wednesday night, almost 198. And that was just over the top, 253 00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:15,350 just overwhelming. Can't handle this. This is just so stressful. 254 00:21:16,070 --> 00:21:20,750 And I said, okay, well, this is the last night. And I did have 255 00:21:20,750 --> 00:21:23,990 a talk with the Dayton police officer saying that, you know that 256 00:21:23,990 --> 00:21:28,410 your bus is regulated for 72 riders, right? Okay, well. And so 257 00:21:28,410 --> 00:21:31,130 do all my officers. They know that you know, that. Just want to 258 00:21:31,130 --> 00:21:33,890 let you, you know, make sure we're on the same page. And I said, 259 00:21:33,890 --> 00:21:41,130 okay, that's fine. Well, that evening I. That the day before we 260 00:21:41,130 --> 00:21:45,690 went out, we ran an evening vbs. And I prayed and I said, Lord, 261 00:21:45,690 --> 00:21:49,890 I said, I don't know how to really pray for this. I said, I've 262 00:21:49,890 --> 00:21:54,010 sit here and you seem to be blessing the ministry. You seem to 263 00:21:54,010 --> 00:21:58,540 have your hand upon this. I'm doing something wrong. What am I 264 00:21:58,540 --> 00:22:05,260 doing? What is the problem? The disciples saw the same. What 265 00:22:05,260 --> 00:22:13,500 is going on? I'm missing something. And God showed me later 266 00:22:14,140 --> 00:22:17,180 in this verse. I didn't know it at the time, but reading through 267 00:22:17,180 --> 00:22:22,420 this, the Holy Spirit said hey, do you remember that time in 268 00:22:22,420 --> 00:22:27,380 Dayton when this happened? So yes, he said similar, not the same, 269 00:22:27,380 --> 00:22:31,860 similar to this. And what happened after was that night we, 270 00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:36,020 we went and we had another, we had 72 on the, on the route. We were 271 00:22:36,020 --> 00:22:39,620 legal. We had a couple vans that followed behind us and it was, 272 00:22:39,620 --> 00:22:44,500 it was a, it was a good year. A good, it was taxing. And that evening 273 00:22:44,500 --> 00:22:49,220 we went to, to rally all the kids up to load them up on the bus. 274 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:59,600 Those kids just came around us, just loved on us. I mean we were 275 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:03,400 surrounded. There were kids like, I mean just everywhere and 276 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:08,160 they were saying, Ms. Leah, we love you Mr. Daniel, we love you. 277 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:15,890 And I said God, did I fall in love with the ministry or did I fall 278 00:23:15,890 --> 00:23:24,090 in love with the people? You see, God sees people. He doesn't 279 00:23:24,090 --> 00:23:32,850 see these ministries in and of themselves. God loves people. And 280 00:23:32,850 --> 00:23:36,610 what, what happened next was I began to pray that God would give 281 00:23:36,610 --> 00:23:43,480 me a love for those kids. Be careful what you pray for. We had 282 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,960 a bulletin board with all of these kids pictures on them with 283 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,640 all their names written. They had some unique names and we're trying 284 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,360 to remember all these names. Man, I could recall every one of 285 00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:03,400 them. I know what they look like. God taught me a valuable lesson 286 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:09,170 that ministry is about the people. And if we are not loving 287 00:24:09,330 --> 00:24:14,490 people, we're not doing it God's way. And we've got to get back 288 00:24:14,490 --> 00:24:19,130 to where God, where we are serving God because we love what 289 00:24:19,130 --> 00:24:22,610 he loves. That is the definition of the will of God, of 290 00:24:22,610 --> 00:24:27,730 doing the heart of God, doing what God wants. This is what he wants. 291 00:24:28,290 --> 00:24:32,650 And one thing too now what I've caught is every time I watch 292 00:24:32,650 --> 00:24:36,960 a missionary video, you can hear it in the missionaries voices. 293 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:43,000 And they will say God has called me to this place. But look 294 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,360 at all the people. And when they put their focus on the people, 295 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,560 I would say most of the folks who come through this church, they 296 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:56,960 are, they, they, they have the heart for people. They're not focused 297 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,950 in on building big this or doing this. They love people. People 298 00:25:01,350 --> 00:25:06,990 and that's what we need right now. We need to be able to serve 299 00:25:06,990 --> 00:25:12,990 God, to minister to others with the love of Christ. And that 300 00:25:12,990 --> 00:25:18,030 forever changed me in a way. You know, there's a way for us to 301 00:25:18,030 --> 00:25:21,510 learn truth where we hear the word of God. We hear someone, our 302 00:25:21,510 --> 00:25:24,990 pastor or our Sunday school teacher preach a truth and we receive 303 00:25:24,990 --> 00:25:28,560 it and we say that that's great, I love it. We go tell someone. 304 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,560 But then there's Another way to receive truth, too. It's where 305 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,520 you live it out. It's where God has allowed you to go through 306 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,720 the lesson or go through the test. And then he teaches you the 307 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,200 lesson at the end. And that was this for me, where God said, 308 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:49,040 hey, these disciples who are looking at the same people who saw 309 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,560 their diseases, he saw all their disfigurements. They were paralyzed, 310 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,800 some of them. They were disfigured. They couldn't speak, 311 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:02,620 they couldn't see. And God saw not the outward way that broke his 312 00:26:02,620 --> 00:26:07,780 heart. He saw their eternal spiritual condition. And he was moved 313 00:26:07,780 --> 00:26:12,620 with compassion. He did something about it. Then. Now the 314 00:26:12,620 --> 00:26:16,180 actual problem of not having laborers come about. So we see the 315 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:19,180 problem now. We see the prayer. Look what the prayer says 316 00:26:19,180 --> 00:26:23,380 in verse 37. It says, Then saith he unto his disciples, the 317 00:26:23,380 --> 00:26:28,080 harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Then he 318 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,960 tells the disciples, he says, pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the 319 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,680 harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. 320 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:45,080 This prayer is, I believe that these disciples. And you go back 321 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:49,120 and you can look, in Luke 10, there was more than 12. The Bible 322 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:53,800 says that there were 12 and 70 more. There was approximately 82 323 00:26:54,470 --> 00:27:00,670 disciples, 12 apostles, 80 and 82 disciples that he was talking 324 00:27:00,670 --> 00:27:08,430 to. And these. These disciples saw this. And this was such an impactful 325 00:27:08,430 --> 00:27:13,510 moment in their life, in their ministry. Because the very next verse. 326 00:27:13,830 --> 00:27:17,310 Look at verse 10, chapter 10, verse 1, it says, and when he had 327 00:27:17,310 --> 00:27:21,150 called unto his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean 328 00:27:21,150 --> 00:27:25,410 spirit to cast them out and to heal all matter of sickness and all 329 00:27:25,410 --> 00:27:31,130 matter of disease. And then you see the first mission trip of 330 00:27:31,130 --> 00:27:35,330 the disciples where they went out and they began to preach the 331 00:27:35,330 --> 00:27:39,890 kingdom of God to all of them. So what they saw here, yes, the prayer 332 00:27:39,890 --> 00:27:46,690 is needed. And I would challenge you tonight if you're involved 333 00:27:46,690 --> 00:27:54,270 in ministry in any way. Usher, a deacon, a nursery worker, a Sunday 334 00:27:54,350 --> 00:28:00,270 school teacher, any capacity at all for ministry, I would challenge 335 00:28:00,270 --> 00:28:08,430 you tonight to ask yourself, why are you serving? Why are we doing 336 00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:15,880 what we're doing? And if it's not for the people, it's not right. 337 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:22,240 I believe that. I believe that God is showing that here, that it's 338 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:30,240 this love for people that I can't teach you, that I can't give 339 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:35,320 that to you. I don't have what you need, but God does. And I promise 340 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:41,890 you, you pray and you ask God to give you a love for that people. 341 00:28:42,770 --> 00:28:45,610 You don't have to pray for the ministry. You just love the people. 342 00:28:45,610 --> 00:28:52,450 The ministry will do. God will give the increase. So hit this prayer. 343 00:28:53,090 --> 00:28:57,730 God has been and is currently working in everyone's heart to bring 344 00:28:57,730 --> 00:29:02,290 us all closer. He's allowing things in our lives and circumstances. 345 00:29:03,810 --> 00:29:07,730 Passages through scriptures, daily reading, devotion, Sunday school 346 00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:13,270 classes. All these things are family events. He wants you and I 347 00:29:13,270 --> 00:29:18,150 to get to know him more. He wants us to come into a closer relationship. 348 00:29:18,790 --> 00:29:23,190 That relationship, what does it actually mean, is when we start 349 00:29:23,190 --> 00:29:27,790 to act upon the very heart of God. When we see what moves God's 350 00:29:27,790 --> 00:29:35,760 heart and we say, that is what I want. I want that type of love. 351 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:40,280 I want to be able to affect people in those ways. And I believe 352 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:47,800 that God will respond to you in a great, great way. And I don't 353 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,880 know how the Lord will use this message tonight to help you. 354 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:59,600 But I needed a reminder of this. I needed a reminder about why 355 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:12,640 my why got a little off balance. Every time. Every time you 356 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:21,040 do something, watch your heart. Your heart matters so much. 357 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:25,160 We can please God with our actions, with what we do and why 358 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:30,620 we do it. But our heart is really the working ground of God. 359 00:30:30,620 --> 00:30:34,180 And after they prepared the heart, after he prepared the heart 360 00:30:34,180 --> 00:30:40,060 of his disciples, the ministry just took off. Everything was good, 361 00:30:40,380 --> 00:30:44,820 you see, they turning the world upside down. Now would you 362 00:30:44,820 --> 00:30:52,180 stand with me? Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we come to 363 00:30:52,180 --> 00:30:57,600 you tonight thankful for your word and the truth of it. Thank you 364 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:01,400 for how real it is in our life. Thank you for the effect that 365 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:06,600 it has. Lord, I pray now that you help me with my heart, Lord. 366 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,840 That you would prepare in all of us as a whole, Lord, exactly, 367 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:16,880 exactly what you would want from us, Lord. That we would see 368 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:23,650 your actions and we would be moved with compassion. Lord, I pray 369 00:31:23,650 --> 00:31:29,130 that you would resonate this in a way that, Lord, I can't and 370 00:31:29,130 --> 00:31:33,050 I'm not even going to try to. But I pray that, Lord, you can take 371 00:31:33,050 --> 00:31:38,970 this and do what you do best with it. Lord, work. Help us now. 372 00:31:38,970 --> 00:31:41,290 I pray in Jesus name, Amen.