Compassion for the Lost - Stand Alone Sermon

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Them. [00:00:00] Speaker B: That's totally appropriate. We get to do something else fun this week, too. I was off this week. Thank you for letting me have a little bit of vacation time. It was desperately needed from my heart. And one of the ways we accommodated that is we have a guest preacher today. So one of my longtime friends, longtime friends in ministry, but longtime friends in life, Brandon Hughes is here. He's the pastor of Redemption Road Church in Winfield, and he is a better preacher than me. So please do me a personal favor and just act like you don't like this for the next 40 minutes. That way I can feel better about myself. Brandon, come on up, man. Share the word with us. Thank you for being here. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Love you, Big dog. What's up, Emmanuel? You didn't have a choice in this, but thanks for having me this morning. Thanks for letting Sam get away and have a vacation week that's much needed in ministry. If you're in ministry, you know that. If you're in regular life, you know that. Sam and I have known each other since we were 16. If you want to do the math, I'm 40 in two weeks, two months, I should say. I'm already losing my mind. And I'm known as Rooster and Sam is known as Sam Wise Gamgee. Isn't he pretty wise? I mean, look at that salt and pepper on that beard, man. I've got cinnamon and sugar happening in my hair, so it's all gravy. Well, guys, welcome. This morning, we're going to be in Matthew Chapter nine. Sam and Kim have been just anchors in our family's lives for the better part of a couple decades. And like Sam said, I pastor a church called Redemption Road Church. You guys are sending out Redemption Hill, so there's a lot of redemption going on. Praise the Lord. And the guys told me to try to hold back the hick talk, so I will try my darndest. Y'. All, Jesse's already giving me the stank eye, so we're going to jump into Matthew 9. But Sam was involved in my life at some very key moments. Just helped me endure through ministry and some depression. And three years ago, Sam preached for me when I was off for a month. I was involved in a pretty tough accident, and Sam stepped in and came all the way up to Winfield to preach for me. And so I get to return the favor this morning, and I'm super excited. You guys have been in this series first and Second Samuel, and I love the messages Sam has been given. What an amazing teacher of the word of God. What I've been getting from the messages is that the things and the kings of this world don't satisfy. They don't cut it right. They're fragile, they're frail, they're failing all the time. But today we kind of tie into your guys series. King Jesus is everything. He is the rock that we stand on. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And I love what Hebrews 12 says, that this world will shake apart so that the things that are temporal will be gone. And we can see the things that are eternal in the text. This morning, Jesus has been going all throughout Capernaum and all through the towns and villages of his home city. And he is just quite literally bringing the kingdom of God. He's bringing it in power. He's bringing it through healing and miracles and deliverance. And it's incredible. And this morning we're going to read Matthew 9, starting in verse 35 through 38. I want to apologize already again to Barb. I have about 1700 slides. I'm a slide guy. I'm a visual learner in Lincoln County. We need to see things. We're not the sharpest out there. And so you can read on the screen. You can read the Bibles that are your chairs. But read along with me. Matthew 9 starting in verse 35 through 38. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages and teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Underline that if you're allowed to in your own Bible. Proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion. Jot that down. Underline that. He had compassion for them. Because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Lord, we pray this morning, just as we prayed over a family today who's being sent out into a harvest field. We pray this morning, Lord, the harvest that you would stir in our hearts for these few short moments. A compassion for the lost, A compassion for those who are without a shepherd. A compassion for those who are being tormented and following the prince of the power of the air. We pray that you would put that compassion in our hearts this morning. In Jesus mighty name. Amen. The big idea this morning is this. As we reach the lost with the gospel and we make disciples of Jesus. When we're driven by the compassion of Jesus, we make disciples we reach the lost when we are driven by the compassion of Jesus. That's our main calling church, is it not? Matthew 28. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all that I have commanded you. Lo and behold, I'm with you always. You're never going to do that if you're not driven by compassion. We will rarely step out and risk our reputation if we're not first driven by the compassion that Jesus has for us. I believe your guys mission statement here as a church is that we would something like this would take what God has poured into us, the love God has poured into us. And from that we pour that love out into others. And so Jesus this morning in our text is literally doing that and he's calling you and me to be a part of that work. We put verse 35 back on the screen. Just some context. So Matthew up to this point we have the birth of Jesus, which we'll celebrate in several months. We celebrate every year. John the Baptist comes on the scene, right? John the Baptist is this guy from like my area, Lincoln County. Big bearded dude, eating all kinds of crazy stuff. I don't know about you guys, but we are very crunchy in Lincoln County. Like my wife has a tool belt with essential oils on it. I guarantee it. John the Baptist is eating like locusts and honey, dude. Like he's raw, he's organic, he's vegan and he's going throughout the region. He's proclaiming the gospel, the kingdom. He's saying, hey, get ready, there's somebody coming greater than me. Get ready. This guy is. I'm not even worthy to tie his sandals. Get ready. I'm baptizing you with water. He's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Ketchup. Wow. And fire. I love that addition. Whoever's kid that is a plus. Wow. He's going to baptize you with water and with or with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So John comes on the scene and Jesus gets baptized, right? The Trinity is present. In one moment, the heavens open up. God the Father says, this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit descends like a dove and Jesus goes out in the power of the Holy Spirit. And what's the first thing that happens to Jesus? Says that he goes to be tempted by the devil. I don't know about you guys. When I was first saved, that was the last thing on my mind. But I want to give you Guys, a truth. This morning when we step out and surrender to the call of Jesus, you're not only signing up for the army of God, signing up to follow Jesus, you're signing up on Satan's most wanted list. When you take a stand for the gospel and your family and your relationships and your life, the target on your back grows bigger. The birthmark of a believer is a target. Jesus goes immediately into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, the great false teacher. False teachers love to take pieces of the word of God, twist it away from God's glory to the glory of man. And Jesus, with the whole counsel of God's word, does what? He fights Satan. He has victory over Satan. He goes out in the power of the Holy Spirit. And immediately Jesus starts proclaiming two things. Repent for the kingdom of what? The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And that's where we're at this morning in our story. Jesus has quite literally said the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he brings it in. Matthew, chapter eight through nine. You see Jesus healing all kinds of people with all kinds of problems, from all kinds of backgrounds. The kingdom of heaven has no respecter of persons. It infiltrates every part of our life in one and two. Samuel, the series you guys are in. Think of Israel as Jesus arrives on the scene. They finally have the king they've wanted. Some of them are looking for a political king, but Jesus came to bring a spiritual and eternal kingdom. Think of the years and thousands of years of longing that Israel has for a king that actually can do something, for a king that actually can give salvation for a king who can actually bring healing, for a king who can actually bring restoration, for a king who can actually bring peace in your heart. In my heart. Jesus brings this kingdom radically. And I love this part of the text. We'll jump into it. Some of you are like, man, this is not an exegetical sermon. It's all gravy. We'll get there. Jesus comes to this part of the text. He's bringing the gospel of the kingdom. And then it's almost as if he looks over at his fearful disciples and he says, hey, you're next. It's your turn now. I'm doing the healing. I'm setting people free. I'm casting out demons. And then he looks at his dudes and he says, you will now be my ambassadors. Church, I submit to you today. He's looking at us as his disciples in west county to be his ambassadors, to share the gospel, to bring the gospel of the kingdom. You have A place, an area of influence in your life. He's been goading at you. Hey, share me with others. Share this gospel, the kingdom today, that is our calling and will be to the last. Matthew 28. We're very familiar with Matthew 28 in this church. I'm sure if you're not. If you're new to Bible study, this is. This is the Great Commission. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven, on earth has been given to me. I love that we don't go in our own authority. I'm sorry, by the way, I move around a lot. I'm super hyper. We do not go in our own authority. He has kingship over the entire universe, and we go in that authority. I remember we were driving to a Bible study three years ago, and I, for some reason, always buy tight pants. It's just a thing. Some of you are, like, looking at my pants right now. Don't look too hard. I just always buy these tight pants. So I have to air dry them. And we were flying down the highway at like 65 one day trying to get to Bible study. We got to get to Bible study on time. So we're sinning, trying to do it. I'm holding these pants out the window to air dry them, and they're like, no joke. State trooper pulls me over, says, dude, what in the world are you doing? You're like, man, you'll never believe this. I'm on my way to Bible study. And he's like, sure gave us a warning. But that guy has no authority in and of himself, does he not? What badge? What does this badge represent? The authority of the law. Jesus says, you go in my authority, and I love this. He says, make disciples of all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, teaching them all that I observe, all the all that I've commanded you to observe. And this is the promise church. Take this home today. Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Solomon couldn't be with his people to the end of the age. David couldn't be with his people to the end of the age. Saul could not be with his people to any age. But Jesus is a king who is with us always till he returns. Amen. That is the promise that we have this morning. I want to ask this question. How in the world do you and I carry this out? Because some of you guys barely made it this morning without tying your shoes and barely getting out of bed. Some of you guys are, like, ready to, like, do A U turn when your kids were screaming in the van and you're like, just forget it, let's go to McDonald's. How in the world can us flawed human beings carry this out? There's no way. Look at this. Well, three observations. Jesus says in the text three things. This is all by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be driven by compassion. As God has poured his love into us, we pour it out to others, man. We will never step out if we've never basked in the love and the compassion of Jesus. Number two is this to pray earnestly? That's fervently. Number three is this to actually go into the harvest? How do we make disciples? How do we reach the loss? It's these three things. Let's jump into number one in our text. We need to be a people that are driven by compassion. Look at verse 36 again. Jesus sees the crowds after he does all these miracles and what does it say about him? It says he had compassion for them. He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like a sheep without a shepherd. One of the main reasons you will see all through the gospel texts in Jesus's miracles and ministry is he was driven by compassion. Over and over and over, driven by compassion. This word compassion means this. It means to yearn deeply within. When you see something wrong in the world, it hits you deep within. In the Greek, it almost bears out like this, like a gut punch right to the gut. In fact, we'll throw this definition on the screen. Compassion is this. It's to empathize with somebody who is suffering. We all can do that piece right. Man, that's so sad that that happened overseas. I feel so bad. But compassion is two part. It's to not only empathize deeply within over suffering, but it's to actually do something about it. And this was our king, this was our Savior, who not only emphasized or not only sympathized with our lostness, but he did something about it. The world's compassion, man, is cheap, man. Through social media we have this pseudo compassion where we'll see on our feed all kinds of things going on in the world. And at best maybe we'll heart it, put a thumbs up to it. At best maybe we'll put post a comment about it. And maybe at the if you're like world class Christian, you'll throw some money at it. But compassion is actually stepping out of your comfort zone like Jesus stepped off his throne in heaven and going to do something about it. Jesus didn't Just document our lostness. He didn't come and do a documentary on our lostness. He came to rescue us from our lostness. This is the compassion that is driving Jesus. It's the benchmark of his ministry. When he's feeding the 5,000, he's driven to feed them because of compassion. When he's healing the sick and setting the captives free, he does so because of compassion. The Samaritan, the good Samaritan reaches the dude on the side of the street because of compassion. The prodigal son, when he's returning far off, who's pacing the property grounds. I love this view, by the way. Do you know how shameful that was for the Father to pace the property grounds and to sprint towards his son? What drove the Father to do that? Compassion. One of my favorite texts on this in the parables of Jesus is Matthew 18, the parable of the forgiven servant. This is so good, guys. I love the Bible. Do you love the Bible? [00:15:16] Speaker B: I love the Bible. [00:15:17] Speaker A: I love the word. This is so good. Matthew 18, there's a man who owes this debt. And this debt is 10,000 talents. Now we look at that and we're like, what in the world is that? That doesn't seem like a lot of money, man. In Greek culture, there was literally no word for infinite. This was the highest measure in Greek culture. 10,000 talents. Scholars believe this was 20 plus years salary to pay off. In other words, what the text is saying. This dude had an unpayable debt he could never pay. Unpayable. And he's begging the Master, please forgive my debt. Please don't put me in prison. Please don't put my kids in prison. And what does the Master do? Out of compassion? He forgives the debt. This is Jesus to you and me, friends. Out of compassion. Jesus forgives a debt that we could never pay. He's forgiven a debt we could never repay through an act we could never accomplish through a savior that never stops loving you and me. Why compassion? Look at verse 36. Why is Jesus driven by compassion? Why not just man? Like reverse it all or do it pull an omnipotent deal? Why is he driven by compassion? It's this. Because he saw them like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. What's a sheep without a shepherd? Gone. Man. We're just going to get country here for a sec, okay? We have a farm up in Ellsbury. Raise your hand if you heard of Ellsbury. [00:16:48] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:16:49] Speaker A: Holy mackerel. You guys are all coming over to the farm and we raise Sheep and goats on our farm. And they brush hog for us. We eat them. Oh, my gosh. They eat sheep and goats. [00:17:02] Speaker B: Wow. [00:17:03] Speaker A: Who is this guy? Sam brought. And then we sell them. And the other day I sold about nine lambs to a dude and was able to share the gospel with him. But there are times on our property where coyotes come in and they're crazy. You need to have fence, cattle fence. You need to have electric fence. You need to have a pond. You need to rotate them on grazing for. You need to give them Ivermectin. Remember that Covid era, right? Nope, that was just Lincoln County. We used Ivermectin. Sorry. Give them Ivermectin. For the worm issue. You need to have some sheepdogs, like the big old great Pyrenees we have. And then you need to have a Shepherd with a 308 sitting on the hill. America. I've had to put a 308 through several coyotes. That is a sheep without a shepherd. That's what Jesus sees. And he ties into this prophecy in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, that says the shepherds of Israel, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, were supposed to guard the sheep. Yet they destroy the sheep. Yet they scatter the sheep. Yet at the expense of the sheep's nutrition, they become fat, the sheep become lean. And God says this in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It's incredible. He says, I will be their shepherd. I will protect them. I will bring them back into pasture. I will bring them back in the fold. I will fruitfully multiply them. And he sends Jesus the chief shepherd to get it done, does he not? Church John, chapter 10. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But the chief shepherd says, I have come to give you life and life abundantly. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That is the compassion here that is driving Jesus. I don't know about you guys, but I would ask the question of myself and us. Are we driven by the same compassion when we see the lost? Are we have this gut level punch where we see people on a trajectory toward hell? Do we weep at people who are tormented by Satan, who are enslaved by Satan, who are following the prince of the power of the air? If I were honest this morning, I don't often I'm much like the forgiven servant who's been forgiven in eternal debt. Do you guys remember the rest of the story? I'm forgiven. Eternal debt. Thanks God, I've got it from here. And then I go beat up a brother of mine who has a lesser debt owed to me. The question this morning Is how church do we be driven by this compassion man? Sam will say it all the time, almost guarantee it. We have to be in awe of the gospel every single moment of our lives. We have to be so in awe of the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness that Jesus gives us that we can't help but share it. I think often as believers, we, we take this incredible debt that's been forgiven and we just say, I've got it from here, Lord. And we start depending on a religious track record on a religious scorecard on all these different things. Or if you're like me, you screw up once and you martyr yourself for several weeks. Jesus came to have the perfect track record on our behalf. Jesus came to be a martyr, so we didn't have to. How are we driven by compassion? I want to go to the story of Paul in second Timothy. Paul was a man who was driven by compassion. And Paul at the end of his journey. We're going go to second Timothy chapter one. We're in this series right now at our church called Contend and in second Timothy chapter one, if we want to throw it on the screen, Paul is at the end of his life. Paul is on death row. And he says this Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. Paul, if we'll throw this on the screen, is in this prison called the Maritime Prison. Paul is at the end of his entire life. He's on death row in this prison called the Maritime Prison. And this prison is under all of these Roman institutions. It's the lowest of the lowest geographical location you can be in Rome. The only way you get in that prison is through a hole in the ceiling. The only way you get out of that prison is through a hole in the ceiling. The only way you get food is through a hole in that ceiling. The only way you see light is through a hole in the ceiling. The only way that you hear somebody's voice is through a hole in that ceiling. And yet Paul has the audacity on death row to say there is life in Jesus Christ. Not only that, he has the audacity to thank God for Timothy. How can you be thankful in that? Here's the kicker. Church to walking in compassion. It's to be grateful always in all circumstances for the love that God has poured out into our hearts through Jesus Christ. Paul had this deep abiding relationship with Jesus, deep abiding relationship, this deep thankfulness for what Christ had done. Maturity is not going further into self martyrdom when we mess up, it's being driven deeper into God's grace and compassion when we mess up. At the beginning of the year, we called in a pastor from another church to help consult us on some things going on in our church. And all six of the staff were sitting there with pen and pad, ready for strategy, ready for the solutions, ready for the things that we needed to do to correct things in our church. We're ready for this big business strategy meeting. And he looks at us dead in the eyes and says, do you guys just ever share what you're thankful about? You could hear a pin drop. You guys have a culture of thankfulness here. And we're like, is this the strategy? Is this the solution you're giving us? And it just stopped there. And for six months now, we have just tried to create this culture of thankfulness for the gospel that has been poured into our hearts. We reach the loss. We make disciples through compassion. Church number two is this. Jesus sees these sheep without a shepherd. He's driven by compassion in his ministry. And then he concludes this. He says, you need to be praying earnestly. We reach the loss and make disciples through earnest prayer. Look at verse 37. The harvest is plentiful. So Jesus brings up a problem, a good thing and a problem. He says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. So Jesus brings up this crazy, heavy problem. He says, man, there's fruit on the vine dying. There's a harvest ready to be harvested. There's people waiting and wanting Jesus, but there's nobody to share the gospel. I want to ask you guys this question. What is the solution to the problem? The first piece of the solution, it's to pray earnestly. Jesus doesn't say, get better strategy. Jesus doesn't even say, go out. He says that in a little bit. Jesus doesn't say, get all the elders of the church together to have a strategy meeting. He doesn't say, go do a picnic. Go do a barbecue. He says, what? To pray earnestly. The solution to the problem of the harvest is prayer. I love this Greek word for prayer. It means this. It means shameless persistence. Shameless persistence. There's a parable Jesus tells where a friend comes to another friend at night because there's a visitor at his house, and the friend is in bed with his family. And he says, hey, bro, I need some bread. You guys ever do that in college? I did that to Sam before. Dude, I need some food, man. This friend starts knocking on the door over and over and over. And the guy's like, get out. I'm sleeping in bed with my family. And because of his what persistence. He answers and gives him the bread. Jesus is saying that kind of persistence ought to be true of our lives. It means to stretch yourself out out into mean business about the lost. It would be like this. It would be like parents of young children. When you have a kid that gets sick, I love the progression here. When you have a kid that gets sick, like let's just say has a small cold, he's like 99. Is that over the regular babe? My wife's a nurse. 98 degree fever. 99 degree fever. And what do your parents do? You're like, man, it's all good. He'll get over it. You kind of pray the Calvinist prayer, like God's sovereign, God's in control, everything's good. And you just go back to watching tv. Dude. When that fever spikes over a hundred, man, you're getting on the ground like a Pentecostal saying about a Honda check. And you're like going to some heavily language and you're like casting out demons out of that kid. And you're like got your tool belts on of essential oils. Like you're praying right. You're going to hit that kid on the forehead for more than just disobedience. Like you have this fire in you for your child to be healed. This is the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about for the lost. Do you have a burning is what it means. It means to boil hot for those who are without a shepherd. It means to burn within. Jesus says man, to pray earnestly is the first offensive weapon church for the problem of lostness. To pray earnestly and I love this. It's not a prayer for you and me to be stronger, better, more strategy. It's a prayer to who? It's a prayer to the Lord of the harvest. Not a prayer that you and I would have better strategy or that you and I would send Redemption Hill or that you and I would send harvesters. It's to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the field, man. Life's discouraging at times, is it not? The Christian walk is discouraging at times. But you look through Matthew chapter eight and nine over and over and over. What was the kicker to the healing and to the deliverance and to the salvation. It was a simple prayer of faith. Not in my ability, but in the harvest sender's ability. In the Lord of the harvest, Jesus directs our prayers to him. The only one that can figure it out the only one that can send, the only one that can save man. I've prayed this passage dozens of times in almost 22 years of ministry with tears. Ministry's tough, man. That's why Sam needed a week off. Not because of you guys. You guys are great, Most of them, but ministry is tough. Living the Christian walk is tough. People come and go. People betray you, people abandon you, people hurt you. And here's the beautiful thing. When we pray this prayer in earnestness, God, in due season, at the right time, all the time, sends the perfect people to fill in the gap. This is what Jesus is saying. I want to ask this question. When we're thinking of sharing the gospel or making disciples, is prayer a last ditch effort or is it a first response? Is prayer the first offensive deal that we go to or is it the last ditch effort? Look at Romans 1:16. Paul says this. I love it, he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of who? The power of God unto salvation [00:28:02] Speaker B: to [00:28:02] Speaker A: everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. I think we often shrink back in discipling and, and sharing the gospel because it's based on our power. Paul says he's not ashamed because it's God's power that does the work. That is the prayer that Jesus is calling us to, to put our faith in him. And I just want to tell you, Emmanuel fellowship, as you guys have been sowing seeds of the gospel, I just was praying for you guys all week. God has called you to a field that is ripe with harvest in West County. God has called you to a field that is ripe with harvest in West County. The nations are literally coming to West County. People have never heard the gospel. God is calling you to West County. There are cultural Christians who are headed to hell right now because they were raised in their faith. Their parents, they think they're good. They need to hear the gospel. God is sending you, Emmanuel, to West County. There are people, a post Christian era Americans who have never heard the gospel. God is sending Redemption Hill to St. Charles county to preach the gospel. God is sending you guys to South City to preach the gospel because the harvest is plentiful and your pastors are yearning for you guys to partner with them. And it starts with prayer. Church starts with prayer in your gcs, starts with prayer in this building as you guys have done. It starts with prayer in your discipleship relationships I want to challenge you this morning to get alone in the secret place and let God hit your heart with his compassion. You'll have compassion for the lost. My girls and I started a prayer journal a couple years ago. And last year, during June, almost a year ago, we were praying for our neighbor, which out in our property, our neighbors are like acres and acres apart. We were praying for our neighbor Zach, and my daughter Natalie and Raquel all of a sudden had this just burning to pray for my neighbor Zach. And I'm like, cool, write it down. And like, what do you want to pray for, God? I just pray that Zach would come to know Jesus and come to our church. That's it. One prayer. This is the earnest prayer. It's not our striving, it's a prayer. Faith to God, his power. She prays that prayer. Next day, I get a text message from Zach. Hey, dude, this world is going crazy. Can you tell me about Jesus? [00:30:30] Speaker B: Sure. [00:30:31] Speaker A: And for days on end, I'm sharing the gospel with Zach. And two months later, we're continuing to pray for Zach, and he shows up to our church with his wife. And I'm jaw dropped. And ever since that moment, there is not a church event that he doesn't go to. Two months ago, Zach's life was so on fire that his wife's like, I want what you have. And two months ago, we baptized both of them in the creek between my properties with 40 of our small group there to celebrate. And Zach baptized his wife because she said, I want what he has. Just last night, we were. We were strategizing, hey, bro, how do you want to lead our small group this summer? Zach? We witnessed to the trash dude who came and picked up my scrap last night. Zach was the primary dude witnessing to him. That's one prayer of faith. One earnest prayer of faith. Church. It's not on you and me. It's on the Lord of the harvest. Amen. What would happen if Emmanuel Fellowship got busy and serious and said, we're all in for the lost knowing the gospel in West County? What if all hundred of you said, let's just pray and see what God does? What if you parents with your young children started a prayer journal and just prayed for your neighbors? How many Zach and Taylors would there be? We share the gospel. We reach the loss and make disciples through earnest prayer. Here's the third and final. We'll close with this. Jesus talks about the. Matthew talks about the compassion Jesus has. Jesus takes that compassion and he says, hey, we need to be earnestly praying and then he says this. We'll look at the last verse here. In verse 38, he says this. He says, the labors are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest. [00:32:21] Speaker B: For what? [00:32:22] Speaker A: To just sit encamped in your house and hope God does something to stay bunkered away? He says, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. To send out laborers into his harvest. This is the second part of the solution of the harvest problem, as you and I actually have to go. We don't have a God who sits on the sideline who says, man, I hope they'll work it out. We have a God who got off his throne in heaven, put on flesh, was beaten, tortured, ridiculed, mocked, suffered a painful, horrible death, took on the entire wrath for our sake, and was resurrected for. For you and me. We have a God who sent his son, and he's calling us to be sent today to the harvest field. And I love what Jesus does. It's almost. You can almost see the scene. They're sitting there. Jesus has just brought the kingdom of God. And he says, all right, guys, your only duty is to pray. And as they're praying, he goes, sweet, God's already answered the prayer. Where are the harvest workers? It's you guys. Tricked you. I'm sending you. You were praying for yourself. You didn't even realize that. And today he looks at us and he says the same thing. This Greek word, some of you guys know this means it's Ekballo, man. Sam and I had this corny Greek New Testament teacher in college, like 20 years ago. He'd relate these Greek words to an English word. What does Ekballo sound like? In other words, Jesus says the same word that is used to cast out and drive out and send out demons for us to get off our butts and get out into the world. Spurgeon says it somewhat like this. As a paraphrase. Spurgeon says the Holy Spirit authored this text in such a way that he says the same amount of Holy Spirit power it took to drive a demon out is the same power it takes for us to get out of our seats, out of the church, into the world. He says to cast them out, drive them out. That's our call today. Church is to go out. And some of you guys, all of us have these things I like to call aois area of influence. Some of you guys are, like, super frustrated at your job. I think God's probably keeping you there because you haven't been a harvest Worker. Yet some of you are like, man, just get me out of this season into the next season. And God may be holding you there for somebody else's salvation. To hear the gospel from your mouth. And all they've heard is complaining and negativity and get me out of this job. And God's like, man, I've anointed you to share the gospel. When are you going to do it? Ask yourself today, what is your area of influence? Stay at home, moms, man, you've got it right in front of you. The harvest is right there with those little kids in front of you. Some of you guys are in school. Do not the school, public school systems need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you are retired. You're like, that doesn't really apply to me. Yeah, it does. You go all over the place. You have the most time. In fact, our retired people are the biggest harvest workers in our church. To share the gospel, to bring people to Christ, it's incredible. God is calling us to be harvest workers. I want to throw these three things just as a summary of the text. Maybe some of you today just need to pray this prayer. God, give me an opportunity to show compassion. Help me see an issue and help me step into it and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Jesus calls us not only to feel it in the feels, but in the heels, baby. That's country talk. To not only feel it here, but to go and do something. Maybe some of you need to just start a prayer journal with your kid or yourself and pray for a Zach or a Taylor in your life or pray for a partner in the gospel in your workplace. And then a lot of us, I think, need this. We just need to go and do it. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands because you're probably introverted as I asked this question, but how many of you love the osmosis approach of evangelism? Man, if I just like. If I just am like stoically holy, quiet and just don't cuss and don't gossip, eventually, 20 years down the road, osmosis will take over and they'll come to Jesus guilty. There's a threshold you have to cross to actually proclaim the gospel. And you'll probably be ridiculed just like Jesus. You'll probably be rejected just like Jesus. But you're not doing it for them. You're doing it because love from him, that's the call we have. Church. Imagine if Emmanuel, all hundred of you guys went after this and some of you are I want us to close today as the worship team comes back up in Hebrews chapter seven. You guys turn there, it won't be on the screen, but Hebrews chapter seven is such an incredible text. When we think of the compassion of Jesus, we often think of it in the past, man. We look at Jesus ministry and we're like, dude was compassionate, right? I mean, this is how compassionate Jesus was. Jesus was praying for his disciples in Gethsemane. And the high priestly prayer before he goes to the cross, he was praying for them, not himself, hardly at all. He was praying they would stay awake. He was praying that they would endure. He was praying that they would be unified. That is a God, a king of compassion. When we think of Jesus compassion, we often put it in the past. Jesus ministry, right? When we think of Jesus compassion, we often think of the cross, which was the greatest demonstration. But I want to tell you this morning, church, Jesus compassion is still overflowing to you today. If you look at Hebrews chapter seven, it's such an incredible text. Jesus compassion is overflowing to you today. Hebrews 7 says this about Jesus and his high priestly ministry. The former priest, verse 23, Hebrews chapter 7. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death for continuing office. But Jesus holds his priesthood permanently. Jesus will be our Savior and our king for eternity. And what is his role in that? Because he continues forever. Verse 25. As Jesus continues forever as our high priest, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. And he always lives to make intercession for them. Jesus today is interceding for you, believer. Jesus today is living eternally to make intercession for you. I want you to bow with me this morning. As we look through these lists of things, we can get overwhelmed. But believer, I want to speak this to you today. Jesus is interceding for you right now. So whatever you've brought into this building today, lay it aside and think of this fact and this fact alone. Jesus is interceding and he is praying for you to make it. He's praying for you to endure today. He's praying for peace that surpasses all understanding over you today. Continually. Jesus is praying that you would have strength today. Continually. Think of that as we respond this morning. And number two is this. As we pray, just bow with me. I pray. And I know that there are people in this room who are on the fence with Jesus. They've not fully surrendered to the lordship of Christ. Jesus is praying for you today that you would fully surrender to him. He's the King of Kings and he's the Lord of Lords. He's praying fully today that you would surrender to him. So God, I pray this morning as we wrap up this time in your word, those of us who are weary, those of us who just are about to throw in the towel, Jesus, that you would make yourself known to us this morning that you are a gentle, lowly, humble king, but you're also returning in glory and in power. God, I just pray this morning for the person in here, the people in here that don't know you, that they would surrender to you fully this morning. We thank you for your compassion over our lives. We thank you for your grace and your mercy that are new every morning. We pray all this in Jesus mighty name. Amen. CHURCH I want to encourage you to continue in a, in a time of prayer this morning as we respond through worship, and to just remember this, that Jesus's compassion over you will never fail. It will never end. And that he loves you and that he's chasing you this morning. CHURCH let's pray, let's respond.