PRAY IT! Compassion for Crowds

When I see a large crowd, my first instinct is to retreat quickly.  Needless to say, you probably won't find me at Walmart on a Saturday mid-morning!  In Matthew 14:14, we read about one of the many, many instances of the compassion Jesus had for others, including large crowds.  "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." 

In Matthew 9, we are exposed time and time again to instances where Jesus acted compassionately toward those who were in need and hurting.  He extended friendship.  He provided healing.  He offered steadfast love.  In verse 13, Jesus suggests to the Pharisees, who are questioning his friendship with sinners, that they "Go and find out what is meant by the scripture that says: ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ "

Jesus also had a top-notch prayer life.  One of the most essential things we can do as we live the compassionate life God has called us to is to pray for people.  Pray for individuals.  Pray for crowds.  Pray.  Yet this is often an easily skipped step.  Why?  Distractions of life?  A desire to skip ahead to actions that seem to have more tangible results?  Feeling like your own relationship with God isn't where it needs to be ,so how could you possibly come to God on behalf of others?  Whatever the reason, God has an answer:  Pray.  God has a solution:  Come to me!

Pray now for God to remove barriers and distractions. 
Consider selecting a specific time and place for you to pray as you and God work to make prayer intentional and consistent.
Prayer pairs quite well with Scripture - consider combining prayer and Bible reading time and see what happens.
Prior to interceding on behalf of others, spend some time praising God and thanking Him for what He has done for you (and others).  Spend some time asking God to forgive you.  God is faithful.  Remind yourself constantly of who God is... who it is you are praying to... and watch the obstacles and hurdles come down!

In order to pray compassionately for the people around us, we need a healthy prayer life, and we need Godly compassion.  Spending time with God daily is the response and solution to increasing our compassion for the people God has placed in our lives.

Jesus, stir my heart with compassion for the broken and hurting around me.  Teach me what it means to show "kindness" when I travel through my city.  Amen.

Join us tonight at 7pm - The PoC Prayer Service. 

Pastor Celia

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Harvest Plan”

Supplies: Bible; notecards, at least one for each family member; pens

THINK 

Do you know what it means to be an outsider?  An outsider is someone who doesn’t belong.  For some reason, they don’t fit in and are often excluded, picked on, teased, or just left out of what everyone else is doing.  I went through an “outcast” season in middle school.  We moved to a new state and our new church was a half hour away in a different town.  All of the kids at church went do a different school, so it took a long time to build relationships.  For a short time, I felt very left out and lost.  Has that ever happened to you?  Share with each other about a time when you felt like an outcast.

No matter where we are, there are always some people who don’t seem to fit in.  Take a minute to think about people like that where you are.  Who are some outcasts at work?  School?  Your neighborhood?  Church?  Have each member of your family pick at least one person they know who is often left out and write that person’s name on their notecard.  (If your elementary student was in PoC Kidz this Sunday, they already wrote down some names.  Have them find those cards for the rest of this activity or make out new ones.)

READ

Read Matthew 9:35-38 together.  Paraphrase for younger children. 

THINK AGAIN

When Jesus looked around at the crowds following Him, He saw the same thing we see today: people being harassed and feeling helpless.  His heart broke for these lost sheep, not because they were being excluded from the cool group, but because they were at risk of being excluded from Heaven.  Jesus knew that unless these people were taught about the God and given a chance to believe in Him, they would miss out on eternity.  And these folks weren’t just in the town He was in—they were everywhere, a harvest field of lost souls!  So He asked His disciples to pray that God would send more believers out to help these lost individuals come to God. 

APPLY

Jesus has the same prayer for us today.  He wants our help in “harvesting” the harassed and helpless people that are all around us.  He wants to use us to “bring in” the lost people at our schools and workplaces and neighborhoods to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Take another look at your notecard.  What can you do, specifically, to reach out to that person?  How can you help them be included, first socially, but eventually eternally?  On the back of the card, write out a plan of how you will build a relationship with this person.  (Again, if your child already has a card from Sunday, they may have already thought of a plan.  Help them write it down if they need to.)  Go around and share your plans.  Talk about a timeline when each of you will implement the plan and a date when you will check back with each other to see how it’s going.

Continue to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send more workers into His harvest field.  As you’re doing that, realize that others have been praying for you…because you are now counted among those workers.  Thank you!

PRAY

Jesus, thank You for having a compassionate heart for those who are harassed and helpless.  Thank You for caring enough to send people to rescue the lost.  You sent someone after each of us to help us learn about You.  Help us now as we go out as Your workers in Your fields.  Bless these conversations and relationships, Jesus, and may they bring new lives into Your Kingdom.  In Your Name we pray, Amen.

REPLY

Did you and your family enjoy this devotional blog?  We'd love to know about it!  Our hope is to continue providing this weekly opportunity for families to do a devotion together.  If your family did this devotion, please shoot us an email, text or just post a comment to this blog.

EXPLORE IT - Matthew 9

The book of Matthew is a Gospel account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  It most likely was written by the apostle Matthew (there are those who would argue someone else penned this book, but scholarship has shown this highly unlikely).  The date when this book was written is somewhat controversial.  Most scholars believe it was written between 70 and 80 A.D. while some believe an earlier date in the 50’s or 60’s.  Matthew wrote predominately to a Jewish population, proving to them that Jesus was the awaited for Messiah.  To target a Jewish readership, Matthew illustrates how Jesus’ life fulfills Old Testament prophecy and uses traditional Jewish terminology like “Kingdom of Heaven.”  Matthew is a very artistic author and takes license with the chronology of events in order to group facts together topically.

The beginning of Matthew shares Jesus’ childhood and the beginning of His ministry.  Matthew 5-7 shares the authoritative words of Jesus while His authoritative deeds are described in chapters 8-9.  This then sets the scene for the disciples’ commissioning in Matthew 10, for their ministries of word and deed.  The miracles presented in Matthew 8-9 are chosen to demonstrate Jesus’ authority (we are most likely only seeing a sampling of all the miracles Jesus performed while on Earth).  Most scholars agree that these sections are not presented in chronological order due to Matthew’s propensity for topical arrangement of material.  Some of these miracles may have actually occurred before and/or during the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount.  Also, the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are most likely a collection of several of Jesus’ teachings and not from one extended time of teaching.

Matthew 8:1-10:4 contains three cycles of miracles and discipleship and focuses on faith, discipleship, and gentile mission.  The discipleship sections are interspersed between the three cycles of miracles.  This illustrates for us that discipleship takes place as we go along the journey with Jesus.  As He is working in our lives, He is also teaching us to be more like Him.

Blessings,
Pastor Amy

PREPARE FOR IT! - Saturday Reading - Matthew 9

Tomorrow's sermon will include the following scripture.  

Let's read it together today to prepare our hearts.

Matthew 9

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

9 Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. 2 Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”

3 But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”
4 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
7 And the man jumped up and went home! 8 Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority.

Jesus Calls Matthew

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” 13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

A Discussion about Fasting

14 One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”

15 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.
17 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

Jesus Heals in Response to Faith

18 As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.”

19 So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. 20 Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, 21 for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music. 24 “Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him. 25 After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up! 26 The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.

Jesus Heals the Blind

27 After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

28 They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” 30 Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.” 31 But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.
32 When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus. 33 So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. “Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel!” they exclaimed.
34 But the Pharisees said, “He can cast out demons because he is empowered by the prince of demons.”

The Need for Workers

35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples,“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Living On Mission with Paul in Jail

Living On Mission with Paul in Jail

I have a confession.  I’ve spent a lot of time at the county jail.  Ok, before you start to wonder about the thoroughness of background checks for pastors, let me ease your mind a little.  When I was a kid, my best friend was the daughter of the county sheriff. The jail and the sheriff’s apartment were both housed in the penthouse of the county courthouse.  Fancy, huh?  Not really.  One of the things I remember most is the concrete floors (these were of course used throughout the jail too.)  While concrete floors were GREAT for roller skating, they were not so great for sleepovers.  Hey, but at least we had sleeping bags and pillows, right?  Even those in jail on the other side of the penthouse had bunks to sleep on.  I’m guessing that Paul often had no such measures of comfort in his jail.  And yet…

Paul chose to stay.  In jail.  On earth.  He chose to delay the comforts of heaven and all of the pleasures that he knew awaited him there.  Why?  So that he could help others.  He showed us what it was like to live not for ourselves, but for others.  He poured out his love, his gifts, his knowledge, and his very life for the sake of others. 

What would it look like for us today to live for our city?  Could we give up some of the luxurious comforts that we enjoy in order to have the means to give to others? Could we go out of our way to show kindness when it’s not convenient? Could we begin to think of the needs of others as more important than our own needs?  This would certainly be a new way of life for me.  I believe that this is the way of life in the Kingdom of God.

Let’s practice living on mission and get caught RedHanded – LovingOurCity.

Pastor Angela