R1171 Christian Compassion

We all need encouragement, and we'll find it together with Dr. Don Wilton. And as I walked in here today with a prison outfit on, I couldn't help but think that you and I may be dressed in our civilian clothes and we look good, but you know that the Bible says that all of us are born in prison. We all are dressed like this in our hearts. We're all members of the county jail. That's what sin does. Sin has no distinction.

The Bible says all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I love you guys today. You're very precious to me.

Really love you. And you know it's like this uniform. It's like this outfit.

We've seen hundreds of people dressed like this this week, precious people, sons and daughters. You know whether you're on the inside or the outside, Jesus sets you free. When you trust Jesus as your Savior, he sets you free.

He removes the shackles of your sin. And what we've seen even this week is an incredible picture of Christian compassion. Friends, this is the church. This is what we should be doing and what we are doing here at Camp Voyager and Kentucky missions and soup kitchens.

I mean the list just goes on, doesn't it? This is what God has called us to be. You know even in a year of presidential politics, I think there are people who are making a significant difference in Washington, but I want you to know and I want to go on record today to say to you that the message of Christ is what it's all about. For unless the heart of man changes, not even the greatest person in Washington can ever change the very basic fabric of our lives because only Jesus Christ can forgive us for our sin and set us free. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can give us a full and meaningful life, for what will it profit you if you gain the whole world but you lose your own soul? And some of you today are so engaged in trying to gain the world.

Your life comprises of a party. To greater and lesser degrees, you're searching for something, aren't you? You're trying to find that in your marriage and in your work and making money and being educated and these things are good. I don't know how many times, Mirror Image, we congratulated young inmates this week for studying hard, for getting their GEDs.

I'm an educationist. I believe in that, but what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and he lose his own soul? And what we've seen before I open God's Word just briefly today is we've seen such an incredible picture of Christian compassion. You know, there are many compassionate people in the world. I see a lot of good things going on. There are a lot of wonderful things that happen in our world. People giving of themselves and contributing to society and doing wonderful things, but I'm a Christian man. See, I've given my heart and life to Jesus and so have these young people. And what God has done for us is he set us free and we have compassion.

Christian compassion means that those of us who ourselves have been changed by the message of Christ have something to share with you. You're looking, aren't you? You're searching.

You think you're going to find it in that bottle of alcohol, in that party, in that funnel. You're going to search. I searched. I searched for years.

I just kept looking and I never found it. And what we've seen even this week with Mirror Image is a picture. It's a fourfold picture. Number one, it's a picture of real people on mission. These are real people. I want to testify to that. I'm telling you, you talk about these young people. I want to congratulate our parents. These are as fine a real young people as you will ever find.

Goodness me, I love them. We had the best fun. Someone told me one time when I was a teenager, you know, you become a Christian, you don't have any more fun.

You're right. Listen, since Jesus came into my heart, he made me a real person because I have real meaning. These are real people on mission. They're also real people on mission who have a real relationship with Jesus.

Do you know something about these students, folks? You know this, I know that you do. But they have a real relationship. I could see it. We could see it. You could see it in their faces. You know, I was just watching that video a moment ago, Stephen, and looking on the faces of our teenagers as they ministered. You could see that mirror image, that reflection, that joy.

It's an amazing thing. It's just real, and it's because of a real relationship. I have a real Jesus to talk to you about today. He's real.

It's a real relationship. My Christianity is not a religion. How many people talk about religion?

You know, we even had people this week in Chicago and Buffalo and in Pittsburgh and places all over the country. You know, they were saying, man, we're coming to a religious gathering, and I would remind them, even as they were dressed like I am today, this is not about religion. It's about a relationship with Jesus. But there's a third picture that mirror image presented this week again, and it's a real world in crisis. Our world is in crisis, folks. America has a moral dilemma. We're a people in crisis. There are people hurting everywhere.

You are. You're in crisis, aren't you? You're looking, and most of the time you're trying to cover yourself in a smokescreen.

You're masquerading, and the world is in crisis. People are looking for love. They're looking for meaning. They're looking for hope.

The ball game doesn't last beyond the final whistle. It's no longer just simply about a national championship or a bank balance. The world is in crisis.

Oh yes, Spain is looking for a bailout in the European Union. Oh yes, we've got brave men and women who give up their lives. I was so deeply blessed by Wilford Maccabee's testimony in our own newspaper yesterday about his brother. I was deeply moved as I read the front page of our newspaper, one of our own, and I thought about Wilford, and I thought about his brother. And I thought about the life that he gave way back then in 1945.

And I thought how that impacted me, and I thought how much better I am today because of the heroes of Normandy and of D-Day, of our veterans, of people who have given up and done such great acts of valor. But then I find myself still in crisis. It's a personal crisis.

It's an inner crisis. It's deep in my heart. Murray Image showed such compassion this week because they were a real people on mission, and they were in a real relationship with the Lord Jesus, and they entered into a real world in crisis.

That's you. You're watching me today, and you're looking at me, and your life is in crisis, and you know it. And I want to present to you today real results because that's the fourth picture, real results to celebrate.

I got so many illustrations today. I wish that I could stand here, Murray Image, and tell them the stories. You know, I remember leaving that one prison where we were out of doors.

That'll give you a clue. And as I left, and my wife Karen was standing there with me, and they were leading us through the gate, and there were two prison officials standing there. And Karen noticed with the one prison guard that he had tears in his eyes, and she very respectfully just moved off to the buses and left me alone. And this man began to talk to me, and I looked at him, and I said to him, sir, thank you for letting our students come into this prison. He said, oh, no, we need to thank you. I said, well, you've got no idea.

I said, man, it meant so much to us as Murray Image. He said, oh, no, sir, it wasn't about your students. I said, well, I tell you, it meant so much to the prison residents, to the inmates.

Look how many. He said, oh, no, it wasn't about them either. He said, you came here today for me. I just gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. Folks, I'm going to tell you that happened time without number.

Britt Billard reminded us this morning that in one of the facilities in which the power of God came down and began to move, you could feel the presence and the power of God. Takes a whole hour, hour and a half. Our boys get out of the buses and just moving the equipment into these prisons, going through security, getting checked out, setting up. Then the girls follow and taking all these girls through these prisons like moving a herd of buffalo across the plains of Africa.

And blow me down if they don't have to go to the bathroom six times on the way and all together at the same time. And then finally we get in there. Everybody gets in position and then they bring in these rows of inmates all in their cell blocks. In one place in which we were, you could sense it was difficult, it was hard, it was hot. It was in the middle of the afternoon and we were tired.

It was tough. And at the end of it, the head person in that prison came up to me and Steve and said, let me tell you about these young men. These young men in this prison in Pennsylvania were the most convicted, hardened juvenile criminals in the entire state. And as we began to share the love of Christ and show them Christian compassion, the power of God came down. And in that one prison as Britt reminded us, because he was seated at the back with all the mechanical stuff, as those hands were raised in the presence of the Lord, 17 of the administrators, the superintendents and directors, the majors and the lieutenants, 17 adults gave their lives to Christ in that prison, 17 of them. One man in one state came up to me and he said to me, Reverend, he said, I cannot imagine. He said, I'm here representing the governor of our state. And he said, in all my years working in penitentiaries and prisons, he said, I have never seen anything like this. He said, I want you to know I'm going straight to the governor. He's going to hear about it. The superintendent of prisons is going to hear about it. I believe in what you're saying.

You see, folks, there were real results to celebrate. God moved because of a group of people who showed Christian compassion. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message. Christian compassion by Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants you to know we're here to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or on our website at TEWOnline.org. While you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. TEWOnline.org is the place to sign up and it will definitely fill your email box with a powerful, encouraging word every day.

You can sign up online at TEWOnline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Let me show you something. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 35.

Here's what the Bible says. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 35. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, Gentlemen, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field. Let me show you. Look at Jesus just for a minute with me. When you look at Jesus in this passage, what do we see? Number one, a real man. Jesus is real, my friends, and he loves you.

He loves you. As we go into these prisons, we encounter people from other religions, as you can imagine. One of the people that I encountered from another worldwide religion.

It's pretty militantly anti-American. Came up and began to talk to me, and in those brief moments of my conversation. I looked at this man and I said to him, My friend, I want you to know that the Jesus about whom we speak is alive. He's real. He's the son of God, and he came down to this earth. And he was born of a virgin and he lived upon this earth and he ministered. And at the end of his life, they crucified him upon a cross for your sin and for mine. And he was buried in a grave. He was pronounced dead, but on the third day, by the power of God, he was raised up to walk in newness of life. He's real. Look at Jesus in this passage.

Not only do we see a real man, but we see real effort. This passage says that Jesus traveled all over the place. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to show Christian compassion from your armchair. Folks, we don't need just to come to church. We need to be the church. To be the church is the greatest call in America today. And to be the church, we've got to go into all the world.

I'm so grateful to God for you. Just look at what's happening. Just look at what's going on. When I think of Kentucky missions, when I think of our college students going to Haiti, the teams after teams that are going to build orphanages in South Africa, the groups that are going to Europe, the basketball camps through upward, reaching out beyond themselves. When I look at a people who stand in helping ministry centers and serve less fortunate people than we are, those who don aprons and cook meals, those who stand up and be counted for Jesus Christ, look at Jesus, a real man who gave real effort. But we see a third picture and that is real action. It's one thing to give up real effort, but you've got to combine that with real action.

What you've seen at Camp Voyager, what you will see in Kentucky, and what you will see in mirror image quiet tour is real action. In this passage, the Bible tells us that Jesus went about preaching and teaching and healing. It's a doing word. It's an action.

It's an activity. I told our gathering this morning that the time has arrived even in this congregation that we stand up and we get into real action for Christ. That we take this encouraging word, we share this truth of God with a searching world, and we do whatever it takes to do that. What a picture when you look at Jesus, a real man, real effort, real action combined with real compassion.

I love that verse there in verse 36, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. How many times mirror image did we not stand up and say, we care about you. We love you. We respect you. We've come to share with you. This means a lot to us.

You could see it in their faces. I want to say something to you today. I really care about you, my friend. You're not a statistic. Some of you are carrying tremendous hurt in your heart. You've been abused for years.

You've got every right to be hostile and angry. You've been bitten so many times. You're carrying burdens in your hearts. Your marriage is a wreck. Your life is a wreck. Everywhere you look, you see failure. Some of you today who are worshiping, you're looking and you're saying that's me.

I'm not talking about the convoy today. I'm not talking about when we're in the crowd. I'm not talking about when we sit around the barbecue pit. I'm talking about that deep inner self where you know within you that you crying out and saying, Lord, please help me. For what shall it profit you, my friend, if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? And some of you are losing your soul. Some of you are members of this church and you're losing your soul. I've yet to find anywhere in the scripture where it says, because you're a member of a church, that your soul is in the palm of the hands of God. Some of you today, the first thought you've given to the things of God have been this morning.

And you're searching. And when we look at Jesus here, we see a real man and real effort and real compassion, real action and real compassion. But we see a real crisis. Jesus reminds us of it. He says they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Do you know, I find that the further a person moves away from God, the more radical they become in their opinions about God. The more they lecture the world about God.

The more you hurt, the more you react. And some of you are fighting God. And you've lost respect.

The greatest respect you've lost is you've lost respect for yourself. Satan, the thief, has come to rob and to steal and destroy. And he's got you. He's got you.

He's got you. And Jesus said, but I've come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly. The world is in crisis. We see it in Jesus. We see real man, real effort, real action, real compassion, real crisis. But folks, the bottom line is we see when we watch Jesus here a real request. Listen to what Jesus said. He turned to his disciples. He turned to those who claim to love him. He turned to the church. He's looking at you and me right now, us.

This is what he said. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Such powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. And it's our prayer that you've not just heard this wonderful South African brogue of Dr. Don, but you've heard the voice of God calling out to you, letting you know that you are loved.

God has a plan for your life, an opportunity to have your sins forgiven, a purpose for living and a place in heaven. We'd love to speak with you about it. You can call us anytime at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Or perhaps who you need to call out to is directly to the Lord himself. You've heard Dr. Don as he's been teaching from the pulpit.

Now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Maybe you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus Christ. Welcome to the family of God. Or perhaps now you realize it's time for you as a follower of Christ to rededicate your life.

Dr. Don Wilton has prepared wonderful free resources for you if you've made one of those decisions today. To give your life to Jesus Christ for the first time or to rededicate your life, why don't you call us and let us send these resources to you. It's 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down.

It's available 24 hours a day. 866-899-9673. We'll connect with one of us, and we'd be thrilled to give you these resources from Dr. Wilton. And know that we will pray with you and for you. You'll also find ways to connect with us on our website at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. We would love to hear from you. You know, I'm so glad that we've been able to share together by means of radio today.

You just mean so much to me and how thankful we are for the Word of God together. You can call right now and connect with me at 866-899-9673. Did you get that? 866-899-9673. Call and connect with me right now. Let's stay connected between now and next time on The Encouraging Word by meeting at our website www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. As Dr. Don says, we would love to encourage you. And right now there is a powerful resource called loneliness, how to be alone but not lonely, right there on our website. Check it out at www.tewonline.org. And while you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. It's all on our website www.tewonline.org.