Infinite Compassion

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Scripture

Through the LORD‘s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion never fails.

Lamentations 3:22

Quote

Our life becomes much more fulfilling when we learn to give folks a piece of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.

~Image Quotes

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In preparing for Sunday nights message, I was struck by something I read in Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Luke. Dr. Wiersbe believes the Jewish religious leaders were setting Jesus up with they invited him to the home of a leading Pharisee for a Sabbath day dinner. They also invited a man with dropsy which is an old term for modern day congestive heart problems. The man was laden with excess fluid in his tissue and it made life very difficult. They were using this suffering man for bait, watching to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath. They assumed that Jesus strength was also His weakness. In their twisted minds, He would have to violate the Sabbath Law in order to show compassion on the hurting man.

Here is the thought I had: how many people did Jesus heal in His three year ministry? I would guess it would be thousands. We know that thousands enjoyed the benefits of His miracles. Of these thousands or perhaps ten thousands, how many committed their life to Jesus. How many actually took up their cross and followed Him? John MacArthur believes that Jesus had only 500 followers at his crucifixion. I would think a few more but probably not over a thousand.

What is my point? Jesus loved people. Jesus had compassion on people and His love was purely unselfish. Jesus didn’t help people so that they would help Him in return. He did not love people so that they would love Him in return. He loved people knowing they would not all love him in return or come to His aid when He needed them. Wow! What a selfless Savior. It should make your day, just knowing that JESUS LOVES YOU!

This same passage and the commentary on it convicted me. The Pharisees failed the one litmus test that determines our position, our seating in the KINGDOM, “Loving their neighbor as they loved themselves.” The Pharisees did not love people; they loved money, seats of honor, praise of men and social status. In the coming KINGDOM, they will not have a seat because they failed the basic or acid test, they did not love people. I have failed in a thousand ways, maybe more but my greatest failure is in loving people; I am sure of it.

The Marketing Gurus say, “Every person has an invisible sign on their back that reads…Make me feel important.” Those who are good in human relations see the sign. As soon as I read this I began to think about people who make you feel important: unfortunately, I am not on the list. I would not be surprised if this is not my greatest sin. It is certainly something that I would like to see changed.

Abba Father, I repent of mistreating my fellow man, of not loving my neighbor as much as I love myself. Please change me into a loving, compassionate person. I want to be like Jesus.

REVIVAL–November 6-9

With Wade Morris

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Hear me bro, I want you to know… “I’m coming to Danville November 6-9.”

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  • SUNDAY SCHEDULE: Deacons Meeting @ 8:15, Breakfast @ 8:30, LIFE CHANGING BIBLE STUDY @ 9:15, CELEBRATE JESUS @10:15, AWANA and Visitation @ 5:30, Evening Worship @ 6:15.
  • Pray for Bill Harrison. His resection was rescheduled for tomorrow. Pray that it will not be cancer and that no surgery be needed. By the way, Bill picked up children Sunday night for AWANA knowing that all these unpleasant things were going to happen this week. Let’s lift up some heart felt prayers for Bill.
  • I am thinking about driving toward MATTHEW, I just need to see some rain.
  • MATTHEW: The first thought that popped into my mind when I realized that the Weather Service had names this tropical storm MATTHEW was Matthew Tidwell. I thought, these folks have messed up. This hurricane will have abounding, ceaseless energy and it does. It should hit Florida late Thursday night and will go up the coast all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is moving slow 12-15 MPH and picking up steam. It is a Cat 4 now but could get worse.
  • Another great crowd for the GATHERING [3 in a row]. Great music. The sermon was kind of boring but other than that, everything went great.
  • I woke up real early this morning with a bad headache and somehow during the early dark hours of morning, I hit a wrong button on my SMART PHONE and now all my messages are in Chinese. Shohn is trying to restore it as we speak.
  • OCTOBER EVENTS: [1] We host the MBA Annual Meeting on Monday night October 24th. [2] Our FALL STEW is on Wednesday night October 26. The kids will also do hay rides on this night. [3] Trunk-A-Treat is on Sunday evening October 30 [5:00-6:30]. We have 35 venders signed up. This is the most in over a decade.
  • Today, we view slides of Romania. I went there with Doug and TIME some 7-8 years ago. They still shock their hay as you can see in the bottom slide. They can pull a horse and wagon up to these shocks and load them on to the wagon. I don’t know how they shock it so tight but I have seen them hauling a shock on a wagon. In Romania, you see both tractors and horses working in the same field. It is a unique country in that respect. Here in America, the tractor has replaced the horse but not there. I suppose this could be due to 70 years of communism and most Romanian farmers cannot afford a tractor. It is refreshing to see the new and old working together.
Romania
Romania
Romania
Romania

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