Amen so of course there in 1st Kings 17 we kind of went through the first
nine verses last week and then really just going to focus on the latter half there because
you kind of see these two different miracles that take place here in the beginning of course where
he's praying that it doesn't rain and then God miraculous and of course doesn't rain which is
a miracle in and of itself and then God sends him to the brook we preached about that we looked at
that last week and then the brook eventually dries up after he's you know fed there by the
ravens you know miraculously they're bringing him bread and meat every morning and evening
and then eventually it dries up and in verse 9 it says or verse 8 and the word of the Lord came
unto him saying rise get thee to zarephath and behold excuse me which belongeth to zidon and
dwell there behold i have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee and then we get into the
whole story about the widow woman the the the barrow of meal and of course the death and you
know the resurrection of her son or the bringing back of her son and what i really like about the
story and the reason why i kind of wanted to preach it separately from the rest of the chapter
is because you know when we think about the prophet Elijah we think about the fact that
you know he was a very powerful preacher he was a great man of God and he did you know some of the
more noteworthy or i guess famous well-known miracles that we might think of in the old
testament you know there's probably quite a few that you could think of but one that always comes
to mind for people is you know of course where he calls down fire upon the altar we're going to read
about that you know in the next chapter and then he slays the prophets of Baal which is just this
great miracle but what you see here with him in this chapter is that you know that doesn't mean
that Elijah was just this hardened you know just unfeeling cold calculating person because you know
if i you know when you think about it i mean what he does in in chapter in the next chapter where
he's slaying prophets and you know you could might get the wrong impression to think that he's just
you know this super zealous you know you know overbearing preacher or something like that we
might think of him you know in the wrong light okay now again i don't want to get ahead of myself
what he did in that chapter was right you know because those were false prophets and they were
commanded you know god commanded that false prophets should be killed okay i don't want to
get ahead of myself but the point is this is that what you see in this chapter with Elijah is the
fact that he is somebody who has compassion that he is not somebody that cannot you know be that
this is somebody that can be moved with compassion that can feel you know the the the other things
the things that other people are going through he's a very sympathetic or empathetic person okay
even as a preacher you know even as a man of god which is something that you know we should all
endeavor to have in our lives we should all be people of compassion and that should be ultimately
what motivates us to reach people you know with the gospel and to preach to them is compassion
and not to just you know uh you know just we don't just do things because well that's just what we do
you know there's a reason behind why we do what we do and it's in its compassion and there's this
great picture that i think that illustrates that in this in this chapter of salvation you know
first of all you have him being sent to you know this basically this gentile and i and i spoke
about this last week where this this widow woman you know she uh she was in a town called zarephath
which belongeth to zidane and if you would go over to luke chapter four i know we looked at this but
i want to bring it up again because i think it's an important detail you know when when you talk
about the prophet elijah you know whenever you have the lord jesus christ bringing him up you
know you should probably take note about what was mentioned you know there's there's probably
if you're going to preach about elijah you should probably see what the lord had to say about him
you know and and not try to just come up with your own thing you know i mean if jesus is going
to preach about elijah let's go see what he had to say about him and the first thing we could see
in this picture of salvation which you know uh is you know is what motivates us you know to to go out
is the compassion that that he was showing there but in this first this picture is that this was
a gentile widow this wasn't you know she was not of israel and that's something that jesus pointed
out very specifically uh to the to you know uh the israelites in his day to you know the people
of of of his day if you look there in luke chapter four and look down to verse 23 and he said unto
them you will surely say unto me this proverb of course he's saying this you know to the jews and
he's saying this uh to his own kindred you know people that are because if you look there um
you know he they're saying unto him you know isn't this isn't this uh the carpenter's son
isn't don't we know him and his brethren and he's saying to them um in verse 22 and they all bear
witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceed at his mouth they said is not this joseph
son right they're saying hey we know who this is so he's not just preaching this to strangers he's
bringing he's telling them you know people that uh these aren't gentiles that he's preaching to
and it says in verse 22 and he bared them and all bearing witness excuse me verse 23 and he
said unto them he will surely say unto me this proverb physician heal thyself whatsoever we have
heard done in capernaum doing also here in thy country and he said verily saying to you no prophet
is accepted in his own country but i tell you the truth many widows were in israel in the days of
elias he's saying look there was a lot of other widows that elijah could have gone to but when
the heaven was shut up three three years and six months and when great famine was throughout all
the land but none of them was elias sent save unto serepta right you know which is zarephath
which were you know a city of sidon okay so it's the same place it's just pronounced different
unto a woman that was a widow what is he saying there he's saying he's sent unto a gentile and
that's what he's driving home that's what he's that's what he's telling us about elijah and
of course you know he's as a result you know they heard when they heard those things verse 28 they
were filled with wrath right because they understood what he was saying that you know
because he goes on he talks about may have been the syrian right and he's talking about how you
know god is and and i'm not going to take the time to develop all of this but jesus over and
over again is talking about how the jews are going to be rejected of god repeatedly and it's a great
irony that you know today in baptist churches you have a lot of preachers get up and want to talk
about how the people over in israel are god's chosen people just because of you know the dirt
they're standing on apparently you know the soil underneath their feet is enough to make them god's
people okay where then you just have story after story parable after parable of jesus just saying
no the kingdom of heaven is gonna be taken unto you and given unto a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof that of course we are that spiritual nation we get that go to romans
chapter 10 you know this is a thing that's throughout scripture and it's something you
know when we look at elijah and we look at specifically about this story about the widow
jesus preached about it and what did he bring up about the fact that this woman that he was sent
to was a gentile she was not of the children of israel she was not even in the nation if you know
that this is tyre and sidon which is north of dan it's like it's not even anywhere in israel it's
north of it that's the point that he's making so you know that is a significant detail in our story
that he's being sent to a gentile widow you know and the picture of salvation is that is is this
is that you know salvation is for everybody salvation is for all and we should never be
a respecter of persons and we should never be somebody that's unwilling to preach the gospel
to somebody simply because of some bias that we might have you know we might say well i can't be
bothered to preach to this person or that person because you know they're just too this or that you
know and people come up might have all kinds of different reasons why they're unwilling to preach
the gospel to somebody or why they can't be bothered to preach the gospel to somebody and
the first thing you see about elijah is is you know not just that he was this hard preacher
not that he was just powerful man of god but that he was somebody that was willing to be obedient to
the command of god and and to preach to anybody and we see him preaching to this gentile widow
and that's something that you know we covered briefly on sunday when we were talking about
how to preach the gospel we talked about in romans one where paul said that he's not ashamed of the
power of the gospel he is not ashamed of the gospel of christ for his power of god and salvation
to everyone that believeth right to the jew first and also to the greek you know it's not just for
the jews it's not just for certain people it's for everybody and you know and the flip side too
he goes on in romans chapter two and says tribulation and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil to the jew first and also to the greek you know so it's it's tribulation
and anguished if you reject the gospel to anybody and it's it's you know honor and peace and glory
to everybody that believes it okay to the jew first and also the greek why because of romans
10 which we looked at verse 12 for there is no difference between the jew and the greek
for the same lord overall is rich unto all that call upon him you know god is not
a respecter of persons and that's the first thing you see in this picture of the i believe
of the gospel in this in the story of elijah is that you know god's preachers are not to be
respecters of of people you can't say well i'm not you know i can't go to zarephath i can't go
preach to a woman of side on i'm a jew you know we don't go there we don't have any dealings with
these people you know why can't i just stay in my own land and preach to my own kindred because
unfortunately for elijah his own kindred we're literally worshiping bale as you'll see in the
next chapter he actually takes those people and kills them so you know what what motivates him
is compassion for people and and true compassion for other people you know is is not uh selective
you know it's not something where oh i'm going to be compassionate on this person because of you
know x y and z but not upon this person because of whatever reason because there is no difference
between the jew and the greek that's the first picture the gentile widow represents the fact
that salvation is for everybody okay but notice also and keep something in romans chapter 10
we're going to come right back but if you look in first kings chapter 17 where we were in verse 12
is that you know why does she need salvation why does any of us need salvation because of her
imminent destruction because of the fact that she's going to perish and of course she's going
to perish you know you know physically but also there's a you know a spiritual application that
we need to be compassionate upon all people because all have sinned to come short of the
glory of god without christ everyone is going to go to hell there's no exception to that you know
so we can't have this this this this bias towards people or this unwillingness to preach to certain
people because of you know whatever because of some prejudice we might have some bias towards
them we might just look at them and say well they're they're not even capable of salvation
because you know just look at the way they dress or the way they behave the things they're involved
in we might you know that's that's not right you know that's that's a wrong attitude to have
and that's not a compassionate attitude he looked there in verse 12 and she said
and she said as the lord god like god liveth i have not a cake but an handful of meal in a
barrel and a little oil in a cruise and behold i am gathering two sticks that i may go in and dress
it for me and my son that we may eat it and die and you know whether they realize it or not that
last phrase there that we may eat it and die is really the slogan of every unsafe person that's
unsafe person that's out there eat drink be merry for tomorrow we die you know that's basically
what they're saying out there in the world we're going to eat and then we're going to die you know
but we know that if they die without christ they're going to hell so we need to understand
that that their their death is imminent that they are drawing their last breath so to speak that
their salvation is necessary because they are going to die as it says in romans chapter 10
i'll just read to you verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved you
know whosoever and whosoever it is anybody and everybody and everybody needs to get saved
everybody needs to uh hear the gospel you know and i know i ring this bell all the time but it's just
like whenever i read the bible and i study these for these sermons it's just it's just popping out
everywhere preach the gospel it just seems like it's a major theme in the bible that it's just
all throughout the gospel who'd have thunk who'd have figured that the gospel you know it's just
this huge theme all throughout scripture so you know if you get tired of hearing it you know take
it up with god because you know it's his book he wrote it you know i'm just up here preaching it
and i i can't help but see it just on all over the place you know you see it here with with
with elijah you know we want to get into verse we want to get a chapter 18 and start talking
about slaying the prophets of bale and look i'm all for that it's great but let's not just gloss
over you know chapter 17 where we see that he is a person who is obedient to god's word and is
willing to go and preach to others even that that you know others would would scoff at or
want nothing to do with to anybody right and he's a man of compassion he's like the lord
that he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities and he's not just this cold calculating
you know hard-hearted individual like some kind of spiritual drill sergeant or something that he's
he's a he's a man of like passions like as we are and notice also you know it's that they need
a preacher look it's great that salvation's for everybody and it's great that they need to hear
you know that they need to get saved because death is nigh because they're gonna eat this last little
cake on earth they're gonna have their short little life and then they're gonna die and go
to hell without christ it's you know it's great that they need that it's great that it's available
to them but you know what that's where you and i come in you know we're the elijah of the story
you know we are the preacher without the preacher they're not going to hear
and that's what you know he does here in this chapter he says in verse 13 elijah said unto her
you know fear not go and do as thou has said but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it
unto me and after make for thee and for thy son and look the widow woman was didn't just have
this blind faith okay because that's not all he said to her in verse 14 for thus saith the lord
god of israel the barrel of meal shall not waste neither shall the cruise of oil fail he's telling
go make the cake for me and then for your son because i'm telling you the lord god of israel
is going to make sure that none of that fails you're going to be taken care of through this
whole famine throughout the drought until the day that the lord sendeth rain upon the earth
so i mean i know it's not the gospel it's a picture of salvation it's a picture of the gospel
but what's he preaching to her the word of the lord he's saying what god has said to him
god told him hey go to this widow she's going to take care of you she's going to sustain you
and he gets there and says thus saith the lord i mean it's a picture of preaching
that's what i see and who is he preaching to anybody whoever the lord sends him to
doesn't matter what their nationality is what their background is what their economic status
is if they have anything to offer or not they're all in the same boat you want to talk about what
you know what demographic we're going to reach well it's just one giant demographic called
sinners on their way to hell that's that's the demographic we're trying to reach the sinful okay
sinners that need christ but again it's the preacher that has to go and preach the word
means why didn't god just you know keep feeding with the ravens and then just take care of the
widow himself you know well there's a great illustration here isn't there
you know why isn't it that god doesn't just come down here and just save all these people
and we can just you know not be bothered i don't know you know that wouldn't require much faith
you know without faith it is impossible to please him whatever is not a faith is sin you know and
it's not like god didn't do his part it's not like jesus didn't do his part to bring
salvation to mankind you know he did a whole lot more than than we'll ever do
when it comes to the gospel
but notice that you know it's there has to be this preacher and it says in Romans chapter 10 verse
15 how shall they preach except they be sent or excuse me verse 14 how then shall they call on
him and whom they have not believed how are they going to call on him who they not believed and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how should they hear without a
preacher look it's great that jesus died for everybody but that's not enough to get people
saved they need a preacher you know and it's not and it's not they they need to just receive a
gospel track you know they just need to you know what they need is a preacher you need someone to
come to them and preach them the gospel and that's where you and i fit in that equation
you know we have to make that connection you know we have to bring the sinner and christ together
through the preaching of god's word and that's what i think you see here with elijah that he's
somebody that's kind of what it represents he's going to anybody that's willing to somebody that
definitely needs help and is preaching them the word of god and they act on faith and god comes
through so it's you know that's my next point is that it's the word of god it's the gospel
that saves you know and and kind of what i want to kind of just take a minute and make this point
is that you know i don't want to undervalue underscore uh or why don't i say this i don't
want to devalue the importance of the preacher the soul winner obviously that's very important
you got to have it but we also don't want to fall into this trap that sometimes people can
fall into where we start to make our soul winning like some kind of badge of honor
okay now look of course it says in romans chapter 10 verse 15 how shall they preach
except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel so
you say hey you know when you go out and preach the gospel you know that's a very beautiful thing
that you're doing you have as it says here how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel that bring and and bring glad tidings of good things but what is it that makes the feet
beautiful is it the is it is it anything about us no it's the the gospel that we preach it's the glad
tidings that we bring so it's never really about us anyway is it and you know elijah in this story
and and really throughout his life you never really see it him making about about him like
well don't you know who i am like you know trying to be some kind of a big shot you know or making
it about himself some way or wearing his you know his duty that his god-given duty as some some kind
of bragging right or something and we don't want to fall into that trap of you know our soul winning
is something that we do so that we can just boast about how much soul winning we do because then
we're missing the point you know then we're not doing it out of compassion and it's only a matter
of time until you just don't do it at all you know if you're not doing it out of a place of
compassion a place of of of wanting to help other people it's just a matter of time before you're
just you'll get over it'll get old you know i don't care if you can buy the hat and the t-shirt
and all the stickers to go along with it and i'm not against any of those things but if you're just
soul winning so that you can tell make it let other people know what a great soul
one of you aren't look it's a matter of time until you're done
you know you what you what you got to make sure your motive is is is compassion for other people
that's what i see in elijah's life is he's a compassionate person you know before we get into
all the you know hardcore hairy things that he does in other chapters you read this story but
this isn't the one everyone talks about i remember and he went to that widow and and i mean i know it
gets preached about and he cared he fed her and then he and he revived her son you know that's
not really the one that everyone that's not probably the favorite story about elijah and
everybody they like the prophets of bale they like the fire being called down from heaven those are
the stories that people want to talk about don't gloss over this story and don't miss the fact that
elijah was a man of compassion and it really comes out in the land at the latter end of this chapter
you really start to see that elijah was somebody that was moved with compassion and that's really
what i i want to emphasize right now at this point is that it's not about us you know our
beautiful feet it's not because you of something that's you know intrinsically in us it's not
inherent in us it's the it's the gospel it's the the glad tidings that we bring that make us that
and that you know and that's for anybody could do that any born-again child of god could do that
that's why we don't want to start to make ourselves of the number you know that commend
themselves and compare themselves among themselves and say well i'm a better soul winner this person
that better a better soul winner than that person because it's not about that someone's better or
worse you know it's it's about you know whether or not those people are you know have compassion
or going out there with the gospel and doing the best that they can look i'd rather have you know
a dozen you know you know people who are not well spoken are not the most articulate not the most
charming not the most uh you know put together people that are are willing to go out and bring
the glad tidings of peace and preach the gospel than a bunch of you know you know super educated
well-spoken you know intelligent people who just want to sit around on their hands and pontificate
to one another i mean what good is it if we just sit around and just and show everybody how great
we are i'll tell you if we're not bringing the gospel to somebody you know i'd rather have a
bunch of people who are just humble simple people that want to go out and preach the gospel out of
compassion than have a bunch of people i just want to sit around and you know criticize those same
same people and tell them how they're doing it wrong or something
we should not be as paul said puffed up for one against another go over to
afeasians chapter four afeasians chapter number four you know we shouldn't think above men that
which is written if we're going to glory glory in the lord you know it's the gospel that gives us
those beautiful feet it's the glad tidings it's the compassion that we have it's not something in
and of a in and of a of us the bible says in first king 17 where we were it says and she went and
did according to saying of elijah going over to afeasians chapter four she did according saying
of elijah and she and her house did eat many days and the bearer of meal wasted not neither did the
cruise of oil fail according to which of the the word of the lord which he spake by elijah so the
bible is real careful to make sure it's giving credit to whom credit is due obviously elijah
had to do his part you know and he gets his you know he gets his 15 minutes of fame in the word
of god we're still talking about him today and he was obedient to what he was supposed to do but the
bible is careful to remind us that what he spake was what the lord told him you know and we go out
there and we preach the gospel and look that should give us great confidence in what we're
preaching maybe we're not the best spoken maybe we're not the the you know the the greatest people
person in the world look if we're speaking what the lord has told us to say if we're preaching
the gospel you know that should give us confidence that if we spake that which is spoken by the lord
we're just repeating what god said you know that should give us confidence
look at efusions chapter 4 i'll begin reading a verse chapter 3 verse 1 it says for this cause
i paul the prisoner of jesus christ uh for you gentiles if you have heard the dispensation of
the grace of god which is given me i mean we look at paul and say what a great man of god what a
powerful preacher and indeed he was but why was that it was because of the grace of god which
has given me to you word saying look and what is grace what you don't deserve he said where have
i made a minister according the gift gift of grace given of god given unto me he's not saying
of course i'm doing this because i'm paul the apostle you know i'm i'm you know this great
educated man that it's fitting that i should do this no one else can do it i'm this great man of
god i'm i'm perfect for this job and he's saying i'm doing this because the grace of god that was
given to me you know and it's it's something you know maybe maybe this isn't hitting home for you
but it hits home for me because of the fact that you know i'll be perfectly honest there's a lot
of times where i just think about this job and think i'm not the man for this job and i'm not
saying that to try to sound humble or i'm just being honest and i'm not and i'm not starting
to say it's because you know because i don't want to do it or it's because you know uh it's just
simply because i i sit there and think you know i'm not that good at it i honestly i don't think
that i'm a very great preacher i listen to a lot of other people preach and i'm like yeah i can see
why people want to listen to that person's preaching you know and i think to myself i'd
love to be able to preach like that someday and hopefully i'll get there you know before i die
you know but and i and i've expressed this to other people and you know i was told recently
yeah you know that might be true there might be other people out there that are better for this
job but where are they but where are they they're out there you know using those talents to make
money to be speakers in some university or running for some political campaign writing some book
making i don't know they're out doing whatever they're not lining up to do this job
you know and i just think to myself it's like well hey i guess i'm just doing it by the grace
of god then if this is anything's going to happen if anything's going to this is going to succeed
it's going to be because the grace of god which is given to me and it's it's certainly not going
to because as evidenced thus far by this sermon that i am some great speaker you know or my
sermons are just so powerful and so smooth and so well thought out and just so motivating and
just so moving that it's just you can't tell all the people that are just thronging to come and
hear me speak in this place it's like paul paul but that's not paul and paul's attitude and look
paul was a very well-spoken man paul was brought up at the feet of gamilio i mean he was brought
up in the jews religion he was a hebrew of the hebrews i mean he knew what he's talking about
he knew the scripture backward and forward if anybody had reason to boast of his ability it
was paul but is that what he did even paul as as as qualified as humanly speaking as he was still
understood that it was by the grace of god where you are in ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 this is
the point i want to make but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the
gift of christ you know the the gift of going out and preaching and being a preacher is something
that's given to every one of us every man woman boy and girl is given this grace verse eight
wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men
you know god has given us the gift of being able to go out and preach the gospel to people to have
those beautiful feet to go out and to bring those glad tidings but you know what we're not going to
do it if we aren't like elijah and we don't have if it's not coming from a place of compassion
i mean we might do it for a while even if we're doing it from a place of
vainglory or whatever some other ulterior motive to just try to you know be in a club or something
i don't know but you know it's that's it's going to peter out because i mean look where elijah's
doing it i mean is it you know elijah's not exactly living his best life now is he
and he's going from a dried up brook where he's being eaten you know he's being fed by birds
to a widow and everybody else around him is starving it's not exactly the lap of luxury
that he's living in but you know he was willing to endure all that because of the fact that he
was somebody that had compassion and cared about pleasing the lord and serving him
you know the bible says in romans chapter 12 be uh be of the same mind one toward another
mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate the bible says we ought to condescend
to men of low estate i mean isn't that what we see elijah doing in the story
i mean if you're a widow woman that's making your last cake to eat and die
you're not exactly a person of great affluence you know and a great power you're not a very
influential person in society are you she wasn't a mover and shaker there in zarephath i don't think
this wasn't you know the mayor that he went to this was a nobody as the world would call it
world would look at her and say well she's just a nobody you know no one of of great importance
just a widow right but you know we see the heart of compassion in elijah and the fact that he was
able to do what condescend to men of low estate man whose kid is that
oh it's fine
the only only crying that ever distracts me is my only my own job because i'm just thinking i'd
love to let you have it right now you guys mind if i just take a minute i'll be right back
you know that that's the point i'm trying to make tonight is that you know
we want to talk about all the gnarly things that elijah did and we will and we'll enjoy it and
we'll preach about that too and it's great i'm glad it all happened but let's not forget about
the fact that he was still a man of compassion who was obedient to the word of god who was
somebody who could condescend to men of low estate even to this widow it says there in
first kings chapter 17 if you want to go back there it says and it came to pass in verse 17
after these things that the son of the woman the mistress of the house fell sick
and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him and she said unto elijah what
have i to do with thee oh thou man of god art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance
and to slay my son you know and and i want to continue in this idea of being compassionate
people because you know obviously we make a big deal about preaching the gospel we preach about
that a lot something we do here and it's a very you know we and again the the the the main point
is look we got we got to do that out of a place of compassion but you know our compassion for
other people should extend beyond their salvation you know we shouldn't just want to get people
saved and then just kind of everybody else can take a hike you know we we're we care so much
about the loss but then we come in here and even amongst god's own people we're just kind of we
just kind of shrug people off to kind of give people the cold shoulder look i don't think we
do that here you know but let's not start either and let's not uh you know treat people poorly
especially you know people in church you know compassion for other people extends beyond just
preaching than the gospel and i think you see this here because of the way that elijah reacts
in the story okay you know when she comes to him with this problem you know he he has a very it
would appear emotional reaction you could tell he cared about this person but you know before we get
to that the other thing i want to point out is the reason why you have to have compassion for
people even beyond their salvation is that you know and this would apply more to us within the
church walls is that you know people have problems i don't know if you've noticed that or not
you know any we all have problems no one's not without their struggles and we can't have this
idea that you know people are going to come to church we're going to go to church and it's going
to look like an illustration at a saturday evening post or something like it's going to be 1950s
nuclear family in here that's just not the world we're living in and i you know that ideal i don't
know if that ever really existed you know leave it to beaver or whatever whatever 50s sitcom you want
to look at and say oh it was the great american dream like maybe that was all i was i don't know
i wasn't alive back then i just know about the way it is today you know today it's it's the
osborns is what we're dealing with or whatever you know it's it's it's not the brady bunch or
whatever you know it's it's some other sitcom family and it's not exactly the most godly thing
in the world is it you know but that's that's where we are you know so we can't have these these
these preconceived ideas or these false notions of what people are going to be like when we come
to church you know and this is something that and please don't take this the wrong way this
is something that i've kind of had to remind myself as someone who's starting out in ministry
because you know when you start out in ministry and think well you know we're going to start this
church and everybody that comes is just going to be so put together they're going to have their
life in perfect order and it's just going to be just row after row after row of just the most
godly god-fearing people who just don't have any issues that are just you know on fire for god and
are just firing on all cylinders but that's not reality no offense to you look we have great
godly people in our church we do but you know what even great godly people who love the lord
have struggles don't they they have problems they have issues they have trials they have things that
they go through and if we just come to church expecting everybody to just be perfect in every
little way you know then then you know where's the need for compassion where's the need for patience
you know everyone's thinking he's preaching about me right now it's like i'm preaching about
everybody okay because we all have problems you know we all have issues we all have struggles
and again if we come to church and we just think well that's the way it ought to be
then the temptation is going to be well then i we're just going to be short with anybody that
doesn't meet up live up to that standard you know that's not you know this widow woman she comes
in with this problem and says are you calling my sins to remembrance are you punishing me for
you know apparently there's something that she's still feeling guilty about
she has some kind of a sinful past you know she has some kind of an issue you know people have
problems even after they get saved even after they get saved and get in church and start living for
the lord people still have problems whether they're problems that are are occurring you know
arising there in the moment or they're things from the past you know our past doesn't just stop is
that what she says i mean she's you're calling my sin to remembrance you know the past when we
get saved doesn't just disappear as much as we would like it to now if you would go over to
galatian six keep something there first king 17 and go to galatian six people are still going to
have problems their past is still going to be an issue for them in some instances something new is
going to arise in their life something else is going to come up and you know and i'm not saying
that to to fault people i'm saying this so that we'll understand that what we need to have as a
church body is compassion and patience is that we had we need to i'm not saying that so because
you know as some kind of a critique on people what i'm saying is we we need to understand this
so that will be people of prayer people that are willing to come up alongside that these people
and help them and and and care about them that's why i'm preaching this i mean that's what you see
with elijah he doesn't say oh your son died get out of me i don't have time for this go eat some
more go eat another cake just be glad for the for the cake that i brought just be glad for the oil
of cruise it's not going to fail just be glad that i came here and preached you you know that's not
that's not how we need to we can be as christians we don't want to be lopsided well i preach the
gospel you know i go out soloing every week and i preach the gospel i mean how much more loving
do i have to be well you have to be compassionate with everybody i mean i mean look at galatians
chapter 6 verse 7 be not deceived god is not mocked for whatsoever man soweth that shall he
also reap for he that soweth through his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that
soweth to the spirit shall have the spirit reap life everlasting in verse 9 and let us not be
weary in well doing for a new season we shall reap if we faint not he's saying look keep doing right
but look at verse 10 as therefore as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men
well i do good unto all men i mean i preach the gospel i go out there and i preach these people
i preach to people that you know nobody else wants to preach to you know we go to these
reservations we go to the poor part of town we go to the ghettos we go to mexico these obscure
villages that nobody else wants to reach we take i mean we're we're just so loving here and look
that it obviously that's something we're supposed to do we're you know that's part of the compassion
that we have we're supposed to be like elijah in that way to preach to everybody you know
that was the first half of the sermon but it doesn't stop there does it you know that's a
pretty short-sighted view of compassion if you just think well it's just about preaching the
gospel you know it's the whole deal it's the whole package that's what he says in galatians
chapter 6 verse 10 as we therefore have opportunity to let us do good unto all men
but what's to say especially unto them who are the household of faith
look we should be especially good to the people that that are brothers and sisters in christ
because they're going to remember for all eternity how you treated them on earth
no probably not but you know as we therefore have opportunity let's do a good amen but especially
them in the household of faith i mean how compassionate can you really be towards people
you know if if if you can't even help a brother and sister in christ
i mean to me you could say to me you could sit there and say well i preach the gospel but like
that's kind of a given you know i mean that's you'd have to be pretty cold-hearted to say well
i don't want to preach the gospel i just you know i just let everybody go to hell
i mean that's isn't that kind of a low standard of compassion well i wouldn't want anyone to go
to hell you know if i could prevent somebody from going to hell i'm going to do that
well i would hope so you know i mean but to me that's not like the pinnacle of
you know of of compassion that's not the the end all be all that's not the you know the the zenith
the the zenith of of uh you know love of your fellow man you will preach them the
gospel so then what else you know that's pretty basic honestly you know but if you can't do that
how are you going to even have compassion against amongst your own brothers and sisters in christ
so you know compassion can't just stop at those doors where we're out there you know we're going
out we're we're with a tear in the eye you know we're going out there just preaching the gospel
we're brought to filled with emotion filled the holy spirit we're burdened for the lost
and i hope we are and i'm not making light of it but then as soon as we come through the door
it's just like talk to me i can't be bothered with you hey i need help with this or i need
help with that or pray for me or can i it's like that's not elijah that's not the story
that's not what we see in the story he you know he goes and he preaches to her right we go out
we preach we get him saved that doesn't stop there he goes and preaches to her gives her the bread
right she gives her the oil it doesn't fail kind of like we go out we give people the bread of life
they get the holy spirit which is represented by oil often in scripture but then you know he
understands that people have pasts people are getting saved later in life people have problems
people have issues people have sins that are called to remembrance you know and and that's
where we still have to continue to have compassion on people especially if they're the household of
faith we're called to have compassion i may say you know so what's the sermon about tonight what
are you getting at that we're called to have compassion on people everyone the lost and the
saved the people that are out there and the people that are in this room you know you know compassion
is a major uh character trait in scripture that's that's lifted up and and and we're told to have
you know and compassion is what's gonna make it possible for you to to put up with and do a lot
of things that you might not be otherwise motivated to do you know why is it i'm willing
to take it up here and you know struggle through these sermons because someone needs to preach the
word of god someone has to to preach to the people in tucson someone has to help someone's got to say
thus saith the lord it's compassion why do any of us go out there in this weather in you know
button downs or whatever we're wearing on a saturday or a or whenever we go a sunday afternoon
the middle of the week why do we go out and do that compassion that's why that's that's what
we're called to do i mean go home and just look up compassion in the bible let's do a word study
on compassion and you'll notice is how many times jesus has moved with compassion how he had
compassion upon he healed this person i mean it's a word that's associated with christ just
over and over again paul talks about it multiple times having compassion on other people it's a
major part of our christian life and it's something that i believe elijah is exhibiting here in his own
life and i want to take the time tonight to point it out because it had been real easy to just well
let's just go to chapter 18 and talk about all that because that's awesome that's the exciting
stuff and and it's june now there's a lot of things i could say about these reprobates in june
and we will it's coming you just keep coming back it's next june no i'm just kidding right but it
wouldn't you know isn't this important and i mean to me it seems like compassion is like a major
theme in scripture it's like a major thing that we're supposed to have and it's something that
elijah here is is exhibiting because she comes to him right in verse uh where were we verse 17
17 verse 18 and she's coming to him although man of god you know and she's she's she said my son's
dead in verse 19 and he said unto her give me thy son get out of here come back with some more cake
go make me a cake woman no he said give me thy son and he took her out of her heart of her bosom
and carried him up into a loft where he bowed and he laid upon him in his own bed
and you know i and it's like he's like it's like he's throwing himself on him because the child's
dead you know and if you think about that sometimes you know i thank god i've never
been through anything like that but you know i'd imagine if anything that ever happened you know
one of the things you do if you came upon your own child who died is you probably grab them in
your arms and lay upon them and weep so this isn't just like you read the story it's not like he's
just going through some kind of ritual this isn't some playbook he's like oh the child died widow
woman okay throw yourself upon the child weep okay okay and then cry out and say these words
and then god will heal him this is all just coming out of his heart this is just this is just coming
out of him naturally where he's going and he took him out of her bosom and he carried him
into law for a boat and laid him upon his own bed and he cried on the lord
and he crying he's he's crying out there's you could the emotion that's in his voice
because he cares about this kid this child this woman the grief that she's suffering
and he said oh lord my god hasta also brought evil upon the widow with whom i soldiered by
slaying her son say whoa elijah that's god you're talking to i mean look at the way he's
praying to god what are you doing god you know i don't think that upsets god
you know we could go to james 5 where it talks about elijah it says the fervent
effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much and this is a fervent prayer that he's praying
and the bible says that his fervent prayer availed much i know in james 5 it speaks
specifically about the rain but you know he was a man of fervent prayer i don't think elijah ever
prayed lame prayers he probably prayed every prayer he probably prayed was pretty fervent
and this is a great example of where he's crying out to god and in his
fervency he's saying oh lord my god hasta also brought evil upon the widow with whom i soldiered
by slaying your son and he stretched and if god was upset i mean don't you think god would say well
don't talk to me like that no he answers his prayer you know and there's a great lesson on
prayer that sometimes we need to just go to god and just if you feel this way about god
then you know god already knows that about you god already knows what we're thinking we can't
it's not like we go to our prayer closet and that's the only time god hears what we're saying
so we're real we're real careful about our words when we're praying to god
you know if you already feel like god what are you doing why are you doing this
you know it'd be better to just go out and pray that
you know and and god would probably appreciate the fact that you pray to him
with some real feeling that you have some actual emotion
it actually shows that you you believe that you have some real faith when you're praying to god
in this manner god you know why are you doing this hasta also brought evil upon the widow
with whom i soldiered by slaying your son and he stretched himself upon the child three times
and cried in the lord and said oh lord my god i pray thee that this child's soul come unto him
again so you see he's this very compassionate person he's crying out he didn't just dismiss
this lady and just say well i've done enough for you you got you know i i i gave i fed you
i sustained you and that's not how we should be as people as god's people either well i've
preached you the gospel but don't bother me beyond that you know i you know i don't want
to be bothered by anything i go out i do my soul wing don't anybody bother me about anything else
you know he elijah was somebody that that cared and it's and he's crying unto god it's not just
oh god why are you doing this please god help this child i mean that's that's not god's not
going to answer that prayer as it's not coming it's not a fervent effectual prayer why is god
going to answer a prayer that you don't feel you know we want god to answer our prayers but it's
like how bad do we really want god to answer our prayers i mean how bad do you really want
i think sometimes god doesn't answer prayer the way we want to answer just because
he's like well it doesn't seem to me like you really want it
you know we just expect well you know if i just do you know the minimum amount of prayer you know
i kind of put in my request for god so you know you should answer it you know maybe god's not
going to answer that prayer so you can get a prayer like this out of you because a prayer
like this is is not just you know this isn't just a prayer this isn't just let's bless the meal
before we eat this is a prayer that he's praying with with with feeling and compassion he's
motivated he's trying to get hold of god and he's not just you know he's trying to get it over with
so he could say well i did what i was supposed to do he's really praying hard here you know i think
sometimes that's why god doesn't answer our prayers one is maybe we haven't prayed or two
you know we just treat prayer like like it's like we're just putting a coin in a parking meter
well i just you know i paid my time i don't understand why why i'm getting this ticket
why god isn't answering my prayer i'm not allowed to park here
it's like well maybe god wants you to actually cry out to him and actually really fervently pray
and actually try to get something from him it's all worth considering i mean
that's the prayer that elijah had here and he's praying out of a place of compassion for somebody
else and it says in verse 20 the lord heard the voice of elijah and why did he hear him because
he's crying unto god and the soul of the child came into him again and he revived so you know
compassion is what we're called to you know you're never going to pray a prayer like this
for yourself or anybody else especially if you don't have compassion for other people
you know we're never going to find ourselves on our knees crying out to god on the behalf of
somebody else if we're if we're people that don't have compassion for other people someone's going
to come to edison church tell about a situation they're going through a prayer request that they
have you know whatever it's all the time it's constantly you know if we're paying attention
people are constantly going through things and have prayer requests and have difficulties
you know we're never going to pray let alone pray fervently if we don't have compassion for people
we're to the point where we're crying out to god for somebody else you know often when we pray
we're only worried about what we need and look i'm not saying don't pray for your needs by all means
do that but you know sometimes the most fervent prayers we'll pray are the prayers that we pray
for other people and other people's situations and we're not going to pray for other people
and other people's situations if we're people that have a genuine compassion for others like elijah
elijah the slayer the prophets of bale the man who brought down fire from heaven and
turned a nation back to god who caused a great drought to come upon all israel
was a man of great compassion and was willing to pray for some obscure widow's dead son
and prayed fervently not just like well i'm a man of god it's my job i guess i have to you know
he really meant it you know we're called to be people of compassion and let me just close by
making this last point is that compassion for other people makes a difference in how we are
perceived people can tell whether or not we really care about them people can tell that
people can tell that
he says in verse 23 after he prays his prayer and he's revived and elijah took the child and
brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother and elijah said
see thy son liveth and the woman said to elijah now by this i know thou art a man of god by this
it's like well wait a minute don't you remember that the cruise of oil and the barrel of meal
that didn't fail but it took this to for him for you to know that of a surety that he is a man of
god to me is you're you might read that and think well the fact that elijah you know your first clue
that elijah's a man of god should have been that miracle he performed when he showed up
but she said no by this i know thou art a man of god that you know you're somebody that that
represents god that you're somebody that is in god's service by this not by this miracle that
you did because that's what you're supposed to do you know don't let this person starve to death
okay you you just you're someone put a gold star on you
don't let this person go to hell preaching the gospel i mean come on folks at the end of the day
we've done that which is our duty to do you know and and by all means do that and do it
with compassion but you know what when we have a real sincere love for people we have a real
compassion where we're going to pray for their needs and their problems and their issues with
real fervency and take those things to god to where when people tell us things that are going
their lives and we actually feel it like the bible said you know tells us that we ought to
weep with them that weep until and to rejoice with them that rejoice we should be able to do
that and we're people of compassion we can do that look we're able to do that when we're able to
be a compassionate people that's when people start to understand and and their perception of us
changes and they're saying you know what you are a man of god by this i know that a man of god
not because you showed up and and did this miracle alijah but because when i came to you with the
problem when i came to you in my darkest hour not only did you care but you prayed for me
and in a miracle and look i'm not saying this obviously this is a very unique story but it's
it represents to us and shows us the the compassionate nature of a man of god you know
and it's not just for the preacher well of course the preacher shouldn't be a cold-hearted jerk
you know he's a minister and of course he shouldn't but here's the thing you know that's
this is for all of us you know someone else might say that to you by this i know thou art
you know a man or woman of god by this i know thou art a child of god because you know you
actually care about my problems and you actually pray for me and go to god on my behalf you know
and the bible says and i'll remind us we probably already thought of it maybe jude chapter one of
some have compassion making a difference of some half we like the other we like the latter half you
know another save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the
flesh yeah pulling out of the fire save them with fear me like that i'm gonna warn them if i don't
win them and i'm all for it but don't forget the other part too it's just as important and of some
having compassion some people that's what's going to win them over that's what's going to you know
bring them around to god is the fact that they understand that god's people are a compassionate
people you know that's what's going to keep some people in this church you know some people are
going to come out and visit this church i don't know who they are but when they show up people
are going to come through those doors and you know what they're going to have problems and they're
going to have issues and they're going to need somebody to help they're coming to and a lot of
times that's why people come to church by the way you know people come to church when they're when
when they have problems is usually when they're looking for help in some area. There's a lot
of times when they decide, well let me try church. And God bless them for that. That's
a great time to show up. I think you should come to church anyway regardless of how good
life is going or isn't. But you know what the fact is that people show up here because
they're looking for some help. And they ought to walk into this church and say, by this
I know thou art a man of God. This church is a people of God here. Because of what?
Because of the fact that you had compassion on me. That when I came here with problems
you cared. And you prayed. And you know we might not, we might pray, we might pray fervently
and things don't improve. Maybe things don't go the way they're supposed to go. But you
know what, is that really the point? God always has a greater purpose in everything that he
does. But you know we should still pray fervently for people. You know we should still have
a compassionate heart for them. That's what we're here to do. You know and I challenge
you again and if this just seems like this sermon is just kind of falling flat for you.
Like this just isn't doing it for you tonight. You know you need to go home and you need
to look up compassion in the Bible. And you need to look up and read about that and let
God work on your cold heart if that's you tonight. And I don't know if anybody is. I'm
just saying if you just can't wait for this to get over and you're not hearing what I'm
saying and this isn't getting through to you. You know you need to work on that because
compassion is something that you know that we need to have as God's people. And not just
out there. Not just out there when we're knocking the doors. But in here amongst the people
that we know and love. The people that we see week in and week out. You know what and
the people that are gonna come that we haven't even met yet. And you know that's what's gonna
make the difference. And they're gonna come here with their problems and they're gonna
see a compassionate people that pray and care for others. They're gonna say you know what
this is this is the house of the Lord. This is God's people because of the compassion
they have towards me. Let's go and pray.