Nearly rumbled with a few jerks yesterday… almost lost my smile… immersed myself in good conversations with beautiful people and OVERCAME the jerks. Some people! I mean we’ve all been a little jerky at times, but some people have no manners.

When this happens, I have to remind myself that jerks are not born, they are created. Most of the time, people get WEIRD and ARROGANT because of some outside INFLUENTIAL FORCE… and they really can’t help it.

Everyone needs to be RESCUED from something. I was a real jerky guy at 19 when I first met Christ… still more jerky than I’d like to be after 18 years of Christian living. So glad God didn’t interview me before LOVING me. So happy he loves me even when my enemies ask him not to. lol

Loving some people is almost IMPOSSIBLE. Jesus said…

“Love your enemies (the jerky people in our lives)! Do good to them (yeah right). Lend to them without expecting to be repaid (OUCH). Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High (thats the goal), for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked (no wonder he is GOD). You must be compassionate (able to see life through others eyes), just as your Father is compassionate.” Luke 6:35-36

God is kind to people who are not kind to him. This is because he is COMPASSIONATE!

Compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

This morning, I am deeply convicted about the feeling of RETALIATION I experienced during this jerky encounter. I got irritated way more than I should have. Instead of praying, I started thinking about what I should say in my comeback speech… and I started to magnify the obvious flaws of my attackers.

This morning, my PEACE returns as I remember my own obvious flaws and my own need for Gods mercy… and all the things I’ve done with my life to place others in misery from time to time. I spent so much of my prayer time asking God to make me a far more loving person… and far less a source of trial for others. I want to BLESS and not curse… and I just like you, I need God’s help to do so.

As I close out this message… I’d like to encourage YOU to seek Gods heart for the antagonistic people in your social circle. Seek for a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with A DESIRE TO ALLEVIATE IT. Look beyond the PAINFUL SYMPTOMS affecting your own life, and SEE the real need… then pray for transformation like there is no tomorrow.

I hope that todays short message adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! Here’s a song to help…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOJW4Uwy3c

Last Wednesday night, during worship time at Destiny Family Center, God asked me to look around at the people in the auditorium. He asked me to start paying more attention to the PEOPLE I was ministering to rather than how successfully I pulled off my messages. 

As I looked at different people, it was as if I could see straight down into their souls. In that moment, all pretense was stripped away and I could see and FEEL the real state of EVERYONE. Nothing was hidden!  

Well, as you can imagine… this experience really boosted my compassion… I almost started crying as I listened in on the thoughts of some people. The difference was felt in that service and then again on Friday night in Pikeville, Kentucky… and that difference will be felt again this morning at DFC.

Compassion is defined as a sympathetic CONSCIOUSNESS of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

Mark 6:34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had COMPASSION on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 

Mark 8:1-3 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have COMPASSION for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with COMPASSION, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Jesus demonstrated a SYMPATHETIC CONSCIOUSNESS of others’ distress, together with a DESIRE to alleviate the pain! He wasn’t in front of the LARGE CROWDS to PULL OF SUCCESSFUL CHURCH SERVICES… but to FEEL their real needs… to be MOVED by their pain… to LOVE HIS AUDIENCES and HEAL THEM!

I want to be more like this in my own life… we should all aim at developing a far deeper SYMPATHETIC CONSCIOUSNESS of others’ distress. What a difference this will make in our EFFECTIVENESS!  

I pray that you guys and gals will have an amazing Sunday… that you will make a bigger DIFFERENCE than any Sunday before this one! Thanks for reading todays blog and loving this blog site! God bless you all in so many ways! Here’s a video recored live at Destiny Family Center a few years ago… enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQRClW6_CTg

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qSakxWt54

Galatians 6:1-3 NLT “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. ² Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. ³ If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.”

Jude 23 NLT ”Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.^“

Humility

Compassion

Sacrifice

Faith

Let’s do it!

Good Monday Everyone!

I’m in my family room listing to a Kent Henry Worship Instrumental… feeling pretty overwhelmed with God’s love right now. How can I explain moments like these in human language? Every once in a while, the reality of God sweeps through my heart and mind… my eyes water, a tear slowly make its way down my cheek, chills pop all over my body… and I sit in that moment wishing it would last forever!

Like the alignment of sun, moon, and earth that brings us the rarity of an eclipse… these spiritual moments occur through the rare alignment of certain spiritual occurrences. And when they all come together at one special moment… their rarity is felt and appreciated for some time!

I suppose for me today… the components of my experience are very obvious! It begins with the Washington DC Outreach. This year, even more than previous years… I really experienced the enormity of what took place! There are so many hurting, lonely people in our earth. And while so many well to do humans point the finger down at these bleeding ones, God compels us to come to their aid! God cares about each one of them… not desiring to lecture them about the series of wrong turns they made that led them down into the gutter… He possesses us with his compassion and sends us to kneel down beside them… He gives us a message to speak… He asks us to read them a love letter… And we go with his love and his tears. He embraces them with MY ARMS… and I can feel HIM IN ME making his appeal through MY HEART.

This year, we took a team of 35+ into the frigid streets of our nation’s capitol. All day long, we gave HOPE to the HOPELESS. Even more than the message we gave them was the message we asked them to tell us. We gave them our ears… we listened to them like they mattered… and they FELT OUR LOVE FOR THEM! Their tears and ours flowed like rivers all day long.

On man “Alfrado” explained how he came to America from Elsalvador… it took him 3 months to get here, dreaming that this would be a place of new life for him. And there he was sleeping on park benches and eating food from the trash containers. Alfrado said that some nights, it’s so cold he is scared to fall asleep… that he may freeze to death and not wake up.

Another lady “Pricilla” said that she just got released from prison a year ago after being stabbed in her spine during a prison brawl. She grabbed me and made a puddle on my shoulder as she wept about how scary it is living on the streets at night! She talked about being raped and beaten over and over… and told me that she is not built for this kind of life!

Then there was “HANK”… the happiest homeless man on the face of the earth. We all left Hank wondering if we had met an angel! Just like Hank, so many of these destitute men and women gave us back so much more that we gave to them!

Throughout this day, we distributed hundreds of sandwiches, care packages, sweaters, sweatshirts, blankets, and everything else we could get into their hands. More than these… we gave them Jesus… and they took him happily into their hearts! Every single person on our team stepped out with a fearless kind of faith… they shared their personal life stories, prayed like seasoned ministers, and gave LOVE as if God himself was right there in physical manifestation!

Special thanks to Evangelist Gerald & Phyllis Mayhan for being our homeless outreach GUIDES… for their passion, their humor, and their love!

Beyond the DC Outreach, God is warming my heart today with the nearness I feel with my wife and kids, the accuracy I feel in the message I have been preaching at DFC, and the awesomeness of Gods Word stored up in my heart after reading the bible cover to cover in 66 days! All of these things have come together this morning to BLESS ME with a very SPIRITUAL MOMENT. To God be the glory for all of this… and for filling my life with his amazing love! I pray that he will work in all of us more and more… and more and more! That we will RISE AND SHINE in 2009… that we will love living the life of a beautiful people in a CITY ON A HILL… SHINING for the entire world to see!

Check out the DFC webcast archive from yesterday morning to watch more on the DC Outreach… and to catch the rest of that amazing service! Chat with you guys later on…

I hope you guys are coming to Destiny Family Center today… 10am! As mentioned in a few blogs this week… it’s sure to be no less than AMAZING! If you’re not able to bring your beautiful self here to Stuarts Draft, join us on the LIVE webcast!

For more that 15 years, every winter we’ve been joining with Evangelist Gerald and Phyllis Mayhan in an unprecedented outreach. This year, we’re going on THIS COMING Saturday, January 24th, 2009… it’s an all day event… and you will sleep well that night! Our team will blanket our nations capitol with food, clothing, and personal items such as toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, tissues, etc. to every homeless person we can find! We’ll be going up under bridges, outside of abandoned buildings, in the parks, and to the homeless shelters. It’s an EXPERIENCE you will never forget!

If you would like to get involved here’s how:

1. Call the DFC office @ 540-337-2216 Tuesday – Friday 9-5pm to get more info and sign yourself up!

2. Call the DFC office to make a donation over the phone. The outreach is expensive and your gifts will make a HUGE difference!

3. Pray for us all week long… that this will be our BEST outreach ever!

4. If you’re local, call the office to volunteer for packing the goody bags!

5. That’s all I can think of right now… thanks for all your help!

I just finished praying for you guys… I hope your day is AMAZING! Love you all… chat with you later!