Pastor Darren is out of the country and ministering in Kenya for a couple of weeks, so this past Sunday morning I had the opportunity to preach. My message was entitled, PAUSE. The main text was Luke 8:40-48, which speaks about the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. This passage of scripture is powerful because it shows us the compassion and concern that Jesus had for this woman. Jesus was asked by a synagogue leader to come to his house to heal his 12 year old daughter who was dying. As he was going through a crowd of people this woman reached out and touched the edge of his cloak. The bible says that immediately the woman was healed and that Jesus turned around and said, "Who touched me?" Peter responded, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”I like this passage of scripture. Jesus modeled how to PAUSE and take a look around at the needs of others. He was on his way to heal a young girl, yet someone reached out to him. I utilized the picture above to symbolize how fast life is for most of us. We have our responsibilities and priorities on our mind and we do not have anyone else’s needs on our radar. I went a little further with how our witness is modeled. We can minister to others through our compassion and authenticity.
Jesus showed his compassion for Mary and Martha after the death of their brother Lazarus. John 11:35 states that Jesus wept. I have heard various views about why Jesus wept, but I have adopted the thought that although Jesus knew that he could raise Lazarus from the dead, he had sympathy and compassion for these ladies that just lost their brother. He could have said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Do you not know that I am the Son of God and I can raise your brother from the dead?" This didn't' happen because he felt for them and demonstrated this through his tears. I personally believe that we connect better with our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers if we show compassion during their challenges. Meaning, when a person asks us for prayer that we actually pray for them and not just pat them on the back and say, "I'll be praying for you brother." Also, when someone is hurting the problem that we have as Christ-followers is that we tend to pull out the address book of scripture and bombard them with it. I believe Jesus modeled to us in this passage through his tears that it is better to feel for them through their pain than to say, "Well you know in the bible it says..."
Paul and Silas show their authenticity through their witness in Acts 16:16-40 when they minister to the jailer and his family. Although they were put into prison and were guarded by this man, when God broke off their shackles and opened the prison doors these men didn't run out. In fact the jailer was going to commit suicide, perhaps to make it look like the prisoners escaped and killed him instead of having to comment to his superiors on how the prisoners escaped. Paul and Silas immediately minister to the man, he accepts Christ and then they go to his house and the man's family accepts Christ then they have dinner. They show their authenticity of committed believers by ministering to this man. I feel that often times we have made it so hard to minister to someone. We think that we have to do a number of steps and then close the deal. This idea was created several years ago in the evangelical church, but it does not show much commitment to the relationship or authenticity of the witness. We have borrowed from the business world utilizing the ABC's method: Always Be Closing. Yes, we must share our faith! It is a command and part of the great commission, but we cannot utilize the antiquated door to door salesman approach in the 21st Century. If you are going to share about the Lord then you must take interest in their needs just like Paul and Silas did. They should never become a notch on our belt or a check mark on our "Christian Report Card". On the flip side of the coin, if we are not active in sharing our faith then we need to realize the importance of our ministry. We all have a been given an opportunity to minister to the needs of the people within our circle. At the close of the message I utilized Brandon Heath's video, Give Me Your Eyes. Just like Jesus modeled for us when he stopped and ministered to the woman, we need to PAUSE and look around at how we can help with the needs of others. Check out this link to the Give Me Your Eyes video by Brandon Heath.
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