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UNCONDITIONAL LOVE "JOEL OSTEEN"

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Posted by: sandpet

Sermon by "Joel Osteen"

"LIVING A LIFE OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE"

SERMON: God bless you. Open your Bibles, please, to First Corinthians, chapter 13.
I always count it great joy and an honor to have the opportunity to share with you. And in this 13th chapter of the book of Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes in great detail many of the qualities and characteristics of God's love. We don't have time to read the whole chapter but he talks about love is patient and kind; it's not proud and boastful and on and on and on.

But I simply want to focus on one little phrase from verse 7 that's found in the Amplified version. It simply says, "Love believes the best in every person." One translation says, "Love overlooks a person's faults." And I want to challenge all of you today to just make up your mind to live a life of unconditional love. We've got to be quick to show God's mercy. Psalm 18:25 says, "The Lord is merciful to those who show mercy."

See, we should not be hard and critical and judgmental toward other people. Love sees the best in everybody. And every one of you, if you look hard enough and long enough, you can find something positive in every person you know. You can even find some good in your worst enemies. Love overlooks a person's faults.

But have you noticed how human nature is to point out each other's faults. Then we start to talk about them, start to criticize them. Really it just leads to gossip. And what we allow to come out of our mouths is so important. Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." With your own words, you can build people up or you can tear people down. And many times, when people make a mistake in life, the church world in general just says, "Hey, let them have it. They deserve it. Give them their rightfully deserved punishment. They're guilty." You know our natural flesh says, "Yeah, that's right. They need to learn their lesson."


But friends, this type of attitude goes directly against the nature of our God. When Jesus was here on this earth, everywhere He went, He reached out with His incredible love and mercy and compassion. And He always lifted people. He encouraged them. He built them up. He always saw the best in people.

And one of the greatest examples of God's love and mercy is found in John, chapter 8. All of you know the story. Jesus was at the temple teaching one day. And these religious leaders burst in there and threw a lady down right in front of Him. And they said with great joy, "Jesus, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. She is guilty and the law of Moses says that we should take her out right now and stone her. What do you think we should do, Jesus? What's your verdict? Surely, you're not going to disagree with what Moses said." And Jesus did something very significant. I'd never really seen this before. The Bible says that "He stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger and He ignored them". The King James version says that He acted as though it never happened. He acted "as though He never heard them".

And see, friends, this is a very powerful lesson to understand. I believe the Holy Spirit was saying that when we are critical and when we are negative and when we are judgmental and condemning toward other people, God will just ignore us as well. God won't pay any attention to us when we act that way. God is not pleased when we run around pointing out each other's faults. He doesn't jump on the band wagon and say, Oh, thank you so much for bringing to my attention what a lousy, rotten guy that guy is. No friends, when we are negative and critical, He just looks the other way. He doesn't want to hear that garbage. He doesn't listen to it. That's not why He put us here on this earth. And time is too late and the hour is too late for any of us to waste even one second of our precious valuable time just criticizing and pointing out somebody else's faults.

And many of you may wonder why some of your prayers are not being answered. I challenge you to constantly check up on yourselves. Make sure that you're living a life of unconditional love. Make sure that you're looking for the best in everybody. See, Jesus said in Matthew 7:3, "Get the log out of your own eye before you try to get the speck out of your brother's eye." The Amplified even makes it more powerful. He said, "How can you possibly see the tiny particle in your brother's eye when you've got a beam of timber in your own eye?"

See the Holy Spirit was saying so powerfully, just concentrate on yourself. Just examine your own heart. Just make sure that you're keeping yourself pure and don't worry about somebody else's faults. Don't look for them. Overlook their faults and see the best in them. And see, we've got to all give people a little room to be the people that God's called them to be. Don't fence people in.

See, I realized a long time ago if everybody in this world were just like me, this world would be a very boring place. And just because somebody doesn't comb their hair like me or dress like me or have my sense of humor, it doesn't make them wrong-(Laughter) I don't know. Whatever. It doesn't make them wrong-Why is that funny? (Laughter) The first crowd didn't laugh at it.

Anyway just because they don't look like me and were my same type of clothing, it doesn't make them wrong and me right. It just, you know, God just made us different. We're all individuals. We're all uniquely made. Some people they don't like to wear a suit and tie to church. But big deal. There's no place in the bible that tells you exactly what to wear when you come to church. And the main thing is God just wants you to wear something. (Laughter) This is not the Garden of Eden. Don't come in here looking like Adam and Eve. But one of the biggest mistakes we make is to be critical of our differences. We should learn to appreciate the variety that God made.
And we've got to be extremely careful, especially as Spirit-filled Christians that we don't look down on or criticize somebody else just because they don't worship exactly like we worship. Maybe they don't take communion like us. Maybe they don't baptize like us. Maybe they don't believe every single thing we believe. Well, big deal. That doesn't make them second class in God's eyes. We all have a tremendous amount to learn. And we should never have this 'know-it-all' attitude or 'better than you' attitude just because our church maybe is a little bigger than theirs or just because we flow a little more or a little less in the gifts of the Spirit.

See, I was questioning God one day about all these difference in our churches today. I've been in churches that are very, very conservative. They're a little stiff for my taste. Then I've been in some that are really wild and crazy. Sort of like a tent revival every service. One day, I prayed. I said, Lord, which one is right? And God spoke to me so strongly. He said, Joel, they are both right. He said, I have purposely, by my divine will, raised up a variety of churches so that they can reach a variety of people all over the world.

And see friends, it is not our-Amen. (Applause) See, it is not our place to run around judging and being critical of how God leads somebody else to worship. Years ago, I went to a spirit-filled Catholic service and I promise you I've never felt the presence of God so strong in all my life. My attitude is I'm for everybody that's exalting and uplifting and magnifying the name of Jesus. (Applause)

And they may not worship exactly like we do, but the main thing is if they believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then whether we like it or not, we are on the same team. And you say, Joel, but they're doing a lot of wrong, they've got a lot of faults. Well, listen friends, let God deal with it. God's a big God. He's well able to take care of them. Well, Joel, what about all their false doctrine. Well, friends, I say it in all due respect, what about your false doctrine? I dare say that there's a person alive today that interprets every single scripture in this Bible one hundred percent accurately.

And our calling in life is not to run around 90 miles per hour and try to straighten out everybody doctrinally or try to point out all their faults. We should not concentrate on what we don't agree on. We should concentrate on what we do agree on. And see, most of the time, isn't it amazing that we let the little two to five percent that we don't see perfectly eye to eye on, we let that stop us from enjoying fellowship with each other for years and years and years. And isn't that pitiful? Life is too short to live that way.
I love the attitude my dad used to have. He said, if you draw a circle and shut me out; I'm going to draw a bigger circle and shut you in. See, we've got to learn to be inclusive and not exclusive. And the Bible says in Hebrews 3:13, "Exhort one another daily." That word "exhort" means to uplift, strengthen, and encourage. And if you're allowing anything other than uplifting, positive, faith-filled encouraging words to come out of your mouth about another individual or about another church, I can promise you it is not pleasing to the Lord and it will hinder you in your walk with the Lord.
The Bible says in First Peter 3:10, "If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue, and guard your lips from telling lies." Nothing does more damage in the Body of Christ and nothing separates life-long friendships any quicker than spreading rumors, telling lies, and gossiping about people. And friends, there's no excuse you can come up with to try to justify telling something about another person that is going to harm them. Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. Even if it is true, that's no excuse. Love overlooks a person's faults. Love sees the best in everybody.

See, most of all of us agree that it's wrong to gossip and say negative, critical things about people. But did you realize that it is just as wrong to even listen to gossip. Because when you do that, all you're doing is encouraging that person to continue to spread that garbage. Somebody calls you on the phone and says, Man, I've got some news hot off the press. It's the latest, greatest, juicy details. You've got to meet me after work, girlfriend. (Laughter) Have I got some news for you! No, listen friends, you know, you're over there salivating. You can't wait till 5 o'clock to come. But you have no business being a part of that. As a matter of fact, you have a responsibility to try to stop that junk. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:13, "A gossip goes around spreading rumors, while a trustworthy man tries to quiet them."

One of the best things you can do if somebody is spreading gossip and lies and criticizing people around you is try to stop it even before it gets started. Say, hey wait a minute, let's just take a moment and pray for that person instead of making fun of them and pointing out how bad and how messed up they are. Look, if you're going to live a life of love, you've got to be on the offensive. You've got to stop that junk before it gets started. You shouldn't be quick to point out other people's faults. You ought to remember Jesus just looks the other way.

All these religious leaders had thrown that woman down, caught in the act of adultery, and Jesus just continued to ignore them. In John, chapter 8, verse 7, it says that they kept on in their accusations. They kept on questioning Jesus about what they were to do with her. And finally, Jesus got so fed up with them and he looked at them and said, "Listen, you that are without sin, you go ahead and throw the first stone." And see, Jesus clearly gave us the requirements for having the right to be judgmental and critical toward other people. He said, it's okay to criticize somebody provided you meet this one simple requirement. And that requirement is that you have never once sinned yourself.

See, I can't speak for you, but I can tell you with great confidence, that takes me out of the stone throwing business. And all these religious leaders, they began to leave one by one from the oldest to the youngest. And now the only one that was left with that lady was the very one that had every right in the world to condemn her and to throw the first stone. He was the Son of God who knew no sin. But that's not even the nature of our God. He just simply looked at her and said, Woman, where are all your accusers? Hasn't anybody condemned you? And she no doubt looked up for the first time, looked all around, and much to her surprise, all these religious hypocrites were gone. And she said, in a broken quiet voice, Lord, no man's accused me. No man's condemning me now. And Jesus looked at her through His incredible eyes of love and mercy and compassion and He said, Hey, neither do I condemn you. Go and just don't sin anymore.

Jesus is such a tremendous example for us to follow. Our God is so full of mercy. He is so kind and so compassionate. He always see the best in people. He sees your potential. He overlooks your faults. He knows you're just human. He knows you're going to make mistakes. But the good news today is God is not in the condemning, criticizing business. He's in the loving business. God is love. And friends, when you show love, you are sharing God.

Notice Jesus, He didn't berate that woman. He didn't chew her out. He didn't tell her she was on her way to hell. He simply loved her. And love never fails.
You say, Joel, she was wrong. She was living in sin. She was guilty. But friends, only the guilty need mercy. And the next time you're tempted to be hard and judgmental and critical toward somebody that's made a mistake, you always think about where you would be without the love and mercy of God. We would all be on our way to hell.
See, when you're hard and judgmental and critical toward people, all you're really doing is planting bad seeds. And one day, you've got to know you're eventually going to reap what you plant.

I remember growing up we knew this minister. He was so strongly opposed to divorce. And don't get me wrong. I'm 100% against divorce. But this man, I mean he was so negative and critical and judgmental towards people that had been divorced. If you got a divorce, you might as well just, he just wrote you off. You were basically finished as far as he was concerned. But one day, something happened that totally changed his mind about divorce. Unfortunately, his own son went through a very long, drawn-out bitter divorce. And as you might imagine, his opinion and his view on divorce radically and drastically changed. He publicly apologized. And he started a new ministry to help heal the hurts and pains of divorced people.

See, when you are unwilling to show mercy, when you are unwilling to show God's love, when you are unwilling to forgive people, you burn the bridge that you very well one day may need to travel yourself. And see, I'd be very hesitant, I'd be very careful not to criticize anybody until I first walked in their shoes. You don't know what they've gone through in life. You don't know what hardships and what pain and what rejection and what trauma they may have endured. All you can see is the surface. You don't really know what environment they were raised in. You don't know what hurts they may have so wrongly suffered. And it's so easy in life. We see somebody that makes a mistake and we just point at them and say, Man look at that. They're wrong. They're guilty. They need to have what they-you know, they're getting the punishment they deserve. And yet we don't know anything about them. We just judge them so quick.

But friends, where is the love that overlooks a person's mistakes? Where is the love that encourages somebody to get back on the right path? Where is the compassion that puts your arms around somebody and loves them and hugs them and holds them and comforts them in their time of need? Where is the mercy that God so freely gave to us? Can't we extend a little to them. That's the least we could do.

See, one thing I loved about my dad was that he was a man of incredible, extra-ordinary love and compassion and mercy. He lived to encourage people.
Ya'll all remember a few years back, several of these national ministries made some big mistakes, big misjudgments. They were wrong. They were guilty. And the whole world was letting them have it. The media was having a hey-day and the church world wasn't really too forgiving. But my dad, the true heart of my dad came out and my brother-in-law, Kevin, found this letter from my dad, hand-written letter to one of those ministers and I just wanted to share it with you today. I retyped it. Talking about showing the love of God. Written to one of those ministers. He said:
Dodie and I and all of Lakewood put our arms of love around you through this telegram. Our Lord Jesus will see you through it all. His blood is sufficient for cleansing. His power is sufficient for lifting you up. His compassion and mercy are sufficient to give you another chance. His wisdom is sufficient to show you how to go in the future. Remember the bird with the broken wing will fly twice as high again. Jesus, who is the Lilly of the valley stands with you in your valley and so do we. Your friend through the years and your friend in your darkest hour. John Osteen
(Applause)

See, love overlooks faults. Love overlooks mistakes and love shows mercy. Jesus said in Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." And what we've got to realize in life is that at one time or another all of us are going to need God's mercy. I promise you. So we need to learn to be quick to show mercy to other people so that God will be quick to show mercy to us.

The Bible says in Galatians 6:1, "When a person falls into sin, you who are spiritual should restore him with all gentleness." One translation says to "quietly help him get back on track." Notice it doesn't say anything about being critical or judging him or condemning him. It talks about quietly getting him back on track.

I'm reminded of the story Norvel Hayes told about his daughter Zona. Most of ya'll know Norvel. He's a minister and long-time friend of our family. But when Zona was in her late teens, she was very, very rebellious. She wasn't serving the Lord. She was living a really wild, crazy life. She loved to party. She'd stay out all hours of the night and this was driving Norvel nuts. He constantly preached to her every day. He preached at her. He would chew her out. He quoted her scriptures that showed how wrong she was. He threatened her. He tried to scare her even into straightening up her life. But none of this worked. Nothing he ever said even phased her. And one day he would pray and he said, God, why don't you help me? When are you going to ever save my daughter? And God spoke to him and said, Son, I'm going to save Zona as soon as you start loving her. And Norvel was insulted. He said, What do you mean, God? You know I love her more than the whole world. He said, Son, if you love her, then quit preaching to her…quit chewing her out, quit harping on her and start showing her that you love her. He said from that moment on, he never said another negative thing to her. When she came in at all hours of the night, he was there with his arms held open wide to hug her and love her and tuck her into bed. The next morning when he got up, the first thing he did was take her a cup of coffee. He encouraged her. He did all these kind things to her. He treated her like a queen. And you know, it was just no time until Zona totally and completely changed and gave her life back to the Lord. See, love never fails. And what Norvel couldn't do in months and months and months by criticizing and condemning and chewing her out, he was able to accomplish in no time when he just started showing the love and mercy of God.

You will never go wrong living a live of unconditional love. You say, Yeah, Joel, but I got some people in my life that I can't stand. Man, they're-(laughter)-well, it's true. They're not serving the Lord. They don't treat me right. They're disrespectful. God surely doesn't expect me to love them and treat them good. But friends, Jesus said that we are to even love our enemies. He said if your enemy's thirsty, give him something to drink. He said if he's hungry, give him a Big Mac. (Laughter) Wake ya'll up. He said if he wants your shirt, go ahead and give him your coat. He said, by doing this, you will heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord will reward you.

I'll close with one final story. During the South Korean war, a Christian father was arrested by the communists and ordered to be killed. But when this young communist leader heard that this man was a head of an orphanage and he was taking care of all of the children in that area, he decided to spare his life and instead kill his son. So they brought this man's teenage son out and right before his very eyes, they shot him at point blank range and executed this man.

Years later, the fortunes of war changed. And this same young communist leader was arrested and tried by the United Nations and sentenced to death for these horrible crimes. But before the sentence could be carried out, this same father whose son had been murdered by this man pleaded and pleaded with the courts to spare the life of this killer. He said he was too young. He didn't know what he was doing when he committed all those crimes. And he begged them. He said, Please just give him to me. Let me have him. I'll train him. I'll help him make something of his life. And strangely enough, the United Nations granted this man's unbelievable request. And he took the murderer of his own son into his own home and raised him and loved him and cared for him. And to make a long story short, that young communist, he gave his heart to the Lord. And now today, that former communist murderer is a spirit-filled pastor of a church in another nation. Love never fails. (Applause)

I challenge you again to let your lives overflow with God's love and God's mercy. Life is too short to get caught up in our petty differences. And these petty misunderstandings. No, give people the benefit of the doubt. Give them a little room to be the person God's called them to be. Nobody's perfect. Overlook their faults and let's be quick to see the best in everybody. And let's be quick to show God's mercy because we know we're going to need it one day. And my prayer is today that all of us from this day forth will make up our minds and determine in our hearts that we are going to live a life of unconditional love. How many of you are with me? Amen. Amen.

http://www.lakewood.cc/sermon_listing.htm#


Posted by: ANOINTED WARRIOR

Good word good word thank you Jesus..whoo hoo


Posted by: prayingwifeforhubby

AMEN to that!!JUst what this place needs! Thank you Lord! For You are Hly! I will strive please You and You only! I will watch my tongue and produce life giving words, not spirit killing words! Thank You, Father! For You are worhty to be praised!! Even when there is nothing to praise You for, I will, for I know that is pleasing to you!! When I suffer, let me quick to praise You for my suffering, that it may bless someone else!! Thank You Father!!! SATAN, GET THEE behind me!! For you are a liar!! WHOO HOO! AS we texans say, YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHAAAAAWWWWW! I'm gonna do a Holy Ghost dance now, look out every body!!


Posted by: jmss114

Joel,

Thank you very much for that sermon. I was raised Catholic practically from birth. After coming to America I heard so much criticism and question about the validity of the Catholics 'Christianity' that I started to fear for my own salvation. As a result I started visiting other churches hoping to find the 'tue church'. Unfortunately I became so disillusioned that I dropped out from going to church for many years. Finally I returned to the Catholic church where I was most comfortable. When my husband converted to Catholicism, I was able to review the teaching and found that they are indeed Christian teaching. I am now attending church regularily.
Needless to say your comment about God creating different methods of worship to suit different needs was vey heart warming.


Posted by: koppen

This sermon is exactly whatthe Lord had put on my heart last night! OH THANK YOU JESUS !!! You are so wondeful....The burden on my heart is GONE!!! OH how this has blessed my spirit....PRAISE YOU JESUS! My friends and I have been trying to get this across to people,but it has fell on deaf ears!...But thats ok..because it is laid out here..just exactly what is expected of God's children! Thank you Jesus!

I PRAISE YOUR HOLY NAME
Kelli

Prayingwife.... I second that

YYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


Posted by: sandpet

WOW! I AM SO GLAD I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE TRUE LIVING SAVIOR!!!JESUS CHRIST! HE LEAD ME TO DO THIS AND IM SOOOOO GLAD I OBEYED HIM....IM SO GLAD ITS MAKING A DIFFRENCE HERE WHHOOOHOOOO I THIRD THAT YYEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW

SINCE IM AN ADOPTED TEXAN!...LOL....

THANKS JESUS, KOPPEN, PRAYINGWIFEFORHUBBY! FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!! AND HAVE A YEHAW DAY!

MICHELLE,


Posted by: JeriRose12

Dear Lord, please, please, please help me not to be judgemental.... Oh, Lord help ME to go and sin no more. I want my speach to be filled with grace, seasoned with salt. Do not let me hinder Your cause. Your cause to save and to heal. To save people from hell, a place of which I want NO-ONE to go to.... Lord, whatever I can do to help people get to Heaven, to spend eternity with You, that is what I wish to do. Please give me wisdom and discernment in all areas. How do I tell the truth in love, just as You did, when You said, "Go and sin no more."? I am quick to say "Sin no more," but sometimes I do not come across loving. My heart is right. I fear for people who do not obey Your Word.... but the message is wasted if they see it as an attack. Lord, You must help me. You know the things I am working on, personally, the things You are dealing with me on. Continue to bring me to humility and repentence in all areas. Yes, I haved sinned, many times.... and I have asked forgiveness when You have pointed this out to me. And I know You are gracious to abundantly pardon. So I repent here and now. I literally bow down before You.... Place a mantle of humility on me now. If I have hurt any of Your children needlessly, fought battles that were not mine to fight.... I can only leave this now to You to straighten out eveything. Save each soul of all of us involved in this fracus.... Let all rightly devided the Word of Truth. I know tha You are Truth, You are The Living Word, and I love You, Jesus, and that is why I defend Your Word.... I love You, first. But, I pray, Lord, that all involoved will realize I pray for them and want them to have the VERY BEST possible in their lives. I may even be misunderstood in this prayer, but I pray it unto You, Lord, not to them. I am trying to not offend anyone, and even fear to post this prayer. But I feel that I must. I must try in some feelbe way to show that I am sorry if I have hurt the cause of Christ. I covet Your humilty to cover me as a cloack. I pray that I may burn with the pure fire of the Holy Ghost, that He may put upon me the fruit of the Spirit of kindness and goodness and gentleness and meekness, and most of all LOVE. Oh, Lord, I thank You for Your precious blood, do let me dishonor You by trampling it underfoot. I am sorry if I took You sword and tried to slice someone up. Oh, dear Lord, that was not my intent. But here, I repent, and to the best of my ability go on in You with uniterrupted fellowship. I humbly submit this to You, Lord, and ask for that mercy and grace that You so freely give to be extended to me.... that I may arise from knees forgiven.

I love You, Lord.

Amen.

~JeriRose~
Finding YOU in 2004


Posted by: alexx

i passed this by about 5 times because of how long it was.....but praise god...i read it and it has fed my soul......i have taken so much of this in my heart.


Posted by: Nessa

Wow thank you for posting this, it is much needed today.


Posted by: koppen

I am still being blessed by this post..AMEN.. I just thought I would add this... I love you ALL!

We Christians are to be the communicators of God's love...Let's start communicating that love...right where we are...in our homes first...the places where we work.. with the people we come in contact daily...2 Timothy 1:7 says, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power and of love, and of a sound mind . " . . . God tells us we are to love one another as He loved us...He loved us just as we are... It seems that the people we love never see this kind of love...You know what they see . . . the same old rut...picky...picky...picky...If you are a woman...it's like coming home taking your Sunday best off and putting on your old clothes...and now you're home... and your free to revert to the same old ways...or a man who takes his shoes off.. . and starts griping. . . picky . . picky . . . picky . . .Romans 12:10 tells us to be kindly affectioned one to another...The fruit of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering...Gentleness, Goodness... (Galatians 5:22)...The greatest of these is Love (Read Paul's treatise on love I Corinthians, Chapter 13.) We are not to just save these to spread on the outside...but these are to be evident... starting at home let this be our motto "LOVE SPOKEN HERE." and then let it overflow to the outside...you can not manifest one side to the outside world and another less lovely side at home...that is hypocrisy...We are to serve one another with love (Galatians 5:13)... Being in Christ Jesus...we are taught of God to love one another... Let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God (I John 4:7)...Once you form a habit downgrading someone...You get yourself in a deeper and deeper rut... call upon the Lord to break up the habit...confess your inability... trust God to help release you from this unlovely trait...ask God to put your house in scriptural order...trust Him to do just that...


Posted by: koppen

I reread and reread thi sthread... All I cn say is :

THANK YOU JESUS


This has blessed me immensely... Tears are flowing with love, humility and thanksgiving...JESUS JESUS JESUS youare so wonderful!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for leading my sister to post this thread... This is such a blessing and I pray that it touches everyones spirit when they read it.

Love you all in JESUS NAME
Kelli


Posted by: sandpet

YAW WANT MORE? HERE IT IS!

JOHN OSTEEN - JOEL OSTEEN

"THE COMPASSION OF JESUS"

SERMON: You may be seated. I want to read to you from the book of Psalms 145, verse 8: "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."
Then in Matthew, chapter 9, verse 36: "And when Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Then said He unto His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth His laborers into His harvest."
I want to preach today to you people here in Lakewood Church and also to the many, many, many who are viewing by television on this subject: "The compassion of Jesus."
You know, we know a lot about Jesus; but we need to know something about His compassion. So many times the devil has lied to us and people have taught us erroneously that God somehow is not on our side, that He does not really care about us individually. But I am ministering today to help you to understand that God is a compassionate God, that Jesus, like the Father, is full of compassion.
You know, the Bible says, "Jesus is not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but He was in all points tempted like as we and yet without sin." The Bible says: "Cast all your care upon Him for He careth for you."
Compassion; everybody say compassion three times. (Compassion. Compassion. Compassion) Now shout it out loud. (Compassion) Compassion means to suffer with. It's pity but more than pity. It is sympathy but more than sympathy. It is the capacity to suffer with. When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion. He suffered with their sufferings.
And I want you to know that God cares about you. People come in here sometime as the last resort with diseases in their bodies. The doctors have had to give them up. Many of them are lost, without God, in the world; and if they die lost, they'll be lost forever.
Many are struggling with their home problems. Many have deranged minds; and they are trying to find the sublimed peace of Jesus. And I know if they're here, they're are out there where you are. I want you to know that God has compassion. He suffers with and can deliver from.
You're not alone. God is your ally. God loves you individually. You see, the Bible says that Jesus was God in a human body. God came down here so no one would ever doubt. Of course God knew it beforehand, but He had to convince the human race. Jesus came to live in a human body: Emmanuel, God with us.
He wanted us to know that He dwelt in a human body that felt the infirmities of the body. He was totally God and totally human. He was God in a human body. He said, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." So, Jesus lives in a human body that was subject to all kind of temptations. It was good that He had a human body, but it was good that He was divine. You can find that in the Bible.
When Jesus sat there beside the well, weary, waiting for His disciples to go into town and get food, the Bible says He was weary and sat on the well and waited for them. And the Samaritan woman came, you know; but the main thing, His body got tired. As a human being, He suffered hunger there by that well; but as God, He created enough food out of five loaves and two fishes to feed a multitude of 5 to 10,000 people. So, He was human; and He was divine.
And, you know, when Jesus lay in that boat, He was a human being. He was tired. He was sleeping in the storm. As a human being, He laid down to sleep; but when the storm arose and they cried out, "We are perishing," as God, He arose and spoke to the storm and said, "Peace, be still."
And you know as a human being at the grave of Lazarus, He wept. He wept because He knew all the tears that would be shed by mothers and daddies and husbands and wives over diseases that destroy our bodies. He wept because He knew the sorrow that would come in the time of death. As a human being, He wept at the grave of Lazarus; but as the Son of God, He stood before that grave and cried, "Lazarus, come forth," and he arose from the dead. Hallelujah. Could I have an Amen? (Amen)
He is the Son of God, and He has compassion for you. He cares about you. I'm going to read you that passage that we had there out of the Amplified version. It says: "When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy and compassion for them," because -- why? What did He feel in His heart? What did He feel in His heart?
See, God has power, but He is love. I'd rather have what He is than have what He can do. He has power, but He is love. When you feel love, you feel God. I remember the first time I ever felt that flow of love after I got the baptism in the Holy Ghost. I felt it flowing out to a little crippled girl in our Baptist church, and it was that night that Jesus healed her instantly. That was God rising up in us. When compassion rises up in us, it's God rising up in us.
So, God rose up in Jesus. When He saw the throngs, He was moved with compassion, pity and sympathy because -- everybody say because. (Because) -- because they were bewildered. See, a lot of people today, you're bewildered, bewildered in life because they were harassed and dejected and distressed because they were helpless as sheep without a shepherd.
See, that great multitude, like people today, they were harassed. They were dejected. They were bewildered. They did not know what to do; and one translation said: Their problems were so great, they did not know where to turn.
What is the attitude of Jesus toward people like that, toward people like you? He is moved with compassion. He feels the heartbeat of somebody who has heart trouble. He feels the cancer in your body. He feels the pain that you're going through. He sees and feels the dejected spirit that's in your family because of that situation. He knows that He is moved with compassion. Thank God He is moved. You see, He cares. Everybody say, God cares. (God cares) Say, Jesus cares. (Jesus cares) He cannot only feel your infirmity, He can deliver you out of your infirmity.
I remember talking about somebody cares. I remember years ago God gave me a divine revelation. I could never doubt it. It's as real today as it was then. God took me out in the Spirit, and I saw in a night vision. I saw acres and acres and acres and acres of people, and they were so sick. They are so down. They were so dying.
They were dying here and dying there, and they were emaciated like a concentration camp, just sickness and sorrow and people everywhere, just everywhere. I was so astounded in this revelation. I was so shocked to see so many boys and girls and men and women, sick and suffering.
And I remember an old man was leaning against a tree, just like it was real and as I see you now. And he was leaning back on one of his arms against that tree and just holding himself up on the side, emaciated, just skin and bones.
And I said to this man: I said, What does this mean? What does all that suffering mean? And I never will forget it. His voice sounded like it came out of eternity and went into eternity. He cried out to me, It's because nobody cares. It's because nobody cares.
I remember in that visitation God let me see myself doing this. I stood up. I got mad at the devil; and I said with a loud voice, I care. I care. If nobody else cares. I care about sick, suffering, sighing, crying, dying humanity.
You know, I began to -- God began to minister to those people. Little boys and girls began to get healed and men and women began to get healed and I was having a high old time getting them healed and delivered, and three demons stood up right in front of me and tried to stop me. I won't go into all that I said and did to them, but I beat the living daylights out of them. I'll just give you that little insight on it.
But they stood there, they stood there, they stood there to stop me from helping suffering humanity. And I'll tell you, the devil will hinder anybody and try to keep you from helping suffering, sighing, crying, dying humanity. They'll tell pastors in churches, Don't pray for the sick like Jesus did. Don't cast out demons. Don't be so, down like that. You will lose your place in society. You'll become a fanatic. Don't minister to sick people. That's not the place for that in the church.
Listen, the devil will try to stop you. But thank God there's arisen a generation today that want to be like Jesus and we cry, We care. Cry out, we care. (We care) Cry, I care. (I care) I care. (I care) I care. (I care) I care. (I care)
That's why, people on television, we spend 30 to 45 minutes in every service praying for the sick people. The sick, the suffering, the sighing, the crying, the dying. You say, Do all of them get healed? Well, we're not the healer. We do our part. We try to help people.
Even today somebody from Spain standing here, given six months to live, we believe God to touch them and heal them. We believe we're going to get a good report.
God cares. You say, Well, if He cares, why doesn't He heal me? Well, call upon Him. Seek Him out. "You shall search for Me and find Me when you shall search for me all of your heart." God not only has the power, He has the desire to see you well and strong. And He can still the storm that's in your life. Could I have an Amen? (Amen)
Now, what will compassion do? I'm going to give you three illustrations. What will compassion do? There was a man full of leprosy. Mark chapter 1, verses 40 and 41.
Now, you understand leprosy, in Bible days, was a death sentence. They put him outside the camp. Had to wear something over their lips so the breath wouldn't blow. They had to get downwind. They were required by law to cry out if anybody got close to them, Unclean. Unclean. Unclean.
But this man, this leper, broke all the religious laws. He had heard about Jesus and His love, and he came rushing. The reason he had to run and rush in there, because if anybody had seen him, they'd have kicked him out of there because he wasn't supposed to be among those other people. But the Bible says: He ran to Jesus and fell down and worshipped Him. And said, Jesus, if you want to, You can make me whole. And Jesus, the Bible says, moved with compassion.
You know what He felt? He felt like it was to have leprosy. He felt like it was to be ostracized. He felt like it was to be kicked out by humanity. He felt like it was to be separated from your family. He felt his heart. The Greek says, He yearned over him with the bows of His compassion.
His compassion; filled with compassion, Jesus said, You ask me if I want to. I want you to know I want to. And Jesus, full of compassion, touched him; and instantly the leprosy departed. That's what compassion will do. That's what compassion -- that's what Jesus wants to do for you today. His compassion.
Then let's think about in the book of Luke about the good neighbor. Somebody said, Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? And Jesus told the story about the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. I've traveled that road. And as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, it says he fell among thieves. And no doubt they beat him. They robbed him, and they left him half dead beside the road.
That's the way it is with many of us. The devil has stolen our health, stolen our wife, stolen our husband, stolen our children, stolen our possessions, stolen everything and beat us down and left us half dead beside the road of life. The Bible says a priest came by, and he just passed by on the other side. He just went trucking along. You know, he didn't have any -- and then a scribe came by, and he did do more than the priest. He went over, crossed the road and looked at him. But then a Samaritan came by, and the Bible says he went where he was. And when he saw him, he poured in wine and oil into his wounds and he bound him up and he took him to the inn. And he said, Look, you take care of him. And when I come back, I will pay anything I owe.
But notice what the Bible says. When the Samaritan came and looked at him, he had compassion. Compassion. Compassion. He felt like it felt. He was feeling what that man was feeling. That's what Jesus did. He came. He didn't pass by you on the other side. He didn't come and look at you. He came where you are and looked at you, and He has compassion.
I remember when we were in India. We were stranded. A little old car that we had rented went out right in the middle of the wilds of India. I mean, here we were and a lot of people everywhere. People are everywhere in India. So, if you're in the wilds, you're where people are. And, so, they came up there, looking through the window at us, everybody gathering around and looking at our faces and all of that, you know, and just staring at us and standing there. We didn't have anyplace to go. The car had backslid. I mean, it wouldn't go anymore.
And we stood there and waited, got out of the car finally. And a man pulled up, an Indian man that had a car that had some room in it. And he came and he said, I'll give you a ride into the town. It was quite a few kilometers into the town. And, so, we sat there. We didn't know who he was. We prayed, Oh, God, maybe it's an angel.
But, you know -- and he noticed, you know, that we weren't very comfortable. And, you know, he said something wonderful. He said, Now, look. You don't have to be afraid. You don't know me, but I was in America once, way out in New Mexico, no town near, and I got in the same fix you were in and some good people picked me up and I was scared. I wondered if they were going to rob me and all of that, and said, I know how you feel. You don't have to worry. I am your friend. See, that's what compassion will do. And we need to stop criticizing people and have compassion on them. Could I have an Amen? (Amen)
Now, the last illustration is about the prodigal. You know that. Man had two sons. And one of them said, Well, give me my portion of my inheritance right now. I want it now. I don't want to wait until you die. I want it now.
So, the father divided them his living. And you know what the young man did? He went out and wasted all of his substance with riotous living. Wine, women, and song. I mean, he lived out there and spent it all up. And the Bible said: "When he had spent all, he came to himself."
I heard a black preacher preaching on this. He said, He came to himself. He said, When he got in there, he had an overcoat on. He took it off and sold it. And then he got hungry and took his coat off and sold it. Then he took his vest off and sold it. Then he took his shirt off and sold it. And then he took his undershirt off and sold it, and when he came to himself. I mean, when you're down to the bare skin, you know.
There he sits in a hog pen, dirty, smelly, feeding the hogs, starving. That's what the devil wants everybody to experience. But one day he began to wake up; and he said, "How many hired servants in my father's house have plenty and to spare?" He said, "I will arise, and I will go to my father."
You know, I'm sure he thought, Boy, my daddy is going to be mad. I mean, he's going to -- when I show him I don't have any money, when he sees how I look and when he smells how I smell, I mean, you know, he's not going to be happy at all.
That's the way we are out in life. We waste our substance and wonder about God. And the Bible says he said, I will arise and go to my father and I'll tell him I have sinned. So, he arose, the Bible says, "And while he was a great way off, the father saw him and had compassion." Compassion.
I have a man sitting right here in the congregation. Some time ago his son did wrong and they took him down there to jail. And he told me, he said, I'm so mad. I'm so mad at him. When I see him, I'm going to tongue lash him and I just feel like giving him a beating. He told me later, he said, When I came in there in my anger and when I saw him coming out of the jail cell toward me, my heart melted. Instead of tongue lashing him, I took him in my arms and wept. That's compassion. That's compassion.
While he was yet a great way off, the father saw him and had compassion on him and ran to him, embraced him. Said, Bring the best robe. Put it on him. Put a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet.
See, that's a picture of God. You may have wandered far away from God. You may have disappointed God in many ways like this son disappointed the father; but, you see, when God sees you look up from the hog pen, when God sees your eyes misty with the thought of home, when God sees your desire to serve Him, when God sees you get up and start on your way home like you came to church today and like you turned on the television today, when God sees that, God doesn't look with eyes critical and mean and want to give you a tongue lashing and say, Good enough for you? No, He has compassion. Compassion.
This is the only picture in the Bible showing God running. God runs to those who want to return to Him. God wants you well. He feels your suffering. He feels your back pain. He feels the cancer in you. He feels the distraught spirit that you have. He feels the darkness that's around you. He feels -- and He does not want you to maintain it and retain it. He wants to deliver you from it.
He is a mighty deliverer. He loves you with an everlasting love. And if you'll look to Him, His compassion is reaching out to you today. Respond to His love. Surrender your life to Jesus. Say, Come in, Lord Jesus, and be my Master, be my Savior, be my Lord. Let Your love fill me, heal me, deliver me; and I'll serve You all of my days.