A Compassion That Conquers Complacency | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Turn with me in your Bibles to First Corinthians 6 and9. And this is going to be the most odd scripture ever to open up with as a text, but it's what the Lord told me to read. So, we're just going to go with that. Amen. Oh, I do want to say it's the Garnet family. I love you all so much. and the memories I have of working in the youth department with you and just uh oh the fun we've had and and God has absolutely done so many great things and if I go back down memory lane hanging out at NYC and just trying to corral I don't know 3 4 thousand young people and trying to have a move of God at the same time and just so many great memories and love you all so much and just to to be friends with you means the world means the world to me. Didn't we enjoy Nate Roberts this past Wednesday at Kids Quest Camp? And I know our children did, but I know the adults did too. And it's good to have Sister Brianna with us, his wife tonight. And uh so thankful. And of course, Nate told us, but they got a a brand new baby born on the way, and we're so excited for them. And congratulations, and we can't wait, can't wait to spoil him big. Looking forward to that. Well, first Corinthians 6:9 says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolattors, nor adulterers, nor effeminant, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkard, nor revilers, extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now, I like this right here. And such were some of you, but you are washed. You're sanctified. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Anybody thankful for that? Are you thankful you got a testimony tonight? Not what I used to be. Thank God. Thank God. Then second Peter 3:9, I'm going to read just a couple more verses in your hearing. You could read them on the screen. Second Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some mount men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." And then one more verse just just very quickly. Jonah 1 and1 simply says, "Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Aati." The word of the Lord came unto Jonah. My title today is simply this. I I I wish it was a message of faith. I wish it was a message that was going to lift you up. But I I I pray this this message will open eyes and bring the church to compassion. Title is simply this. Compassion that conquers complacency. A compassion that conquers complacency. Put your Bibles down. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We're so thankful, Lord. Thank you for the choir, the the worship team, Lord God, that led us so wonderfully in worship. And I felt your presence, God. Your Holy Ghost has been here all night, God. We're leaving burdens here, God. We're leaving issues and problems and things, Lord God, that we can't handle anyway. So, we're just going to leave them right here at the altar tonight. And Lord, we're going to know you're going to take care of them, Lord, because some things are God problems. And only God, you can take care of them. But oh God, as we leave this place tonight, I believe you're going to raise up a church like never before that's going to have compassion for lost souls, for for those that are dying. those Lord God who have no hope except you step into their life and you change things and you rearrange things and you give them joy and you give peace and you give them your spirit, you give them deliverance. Lord, that's what we're looking for, Lord God, as they have compassion upon those people in Jesus' name we pray. If that could be your prayer today, won't you clap your hands and come on, just say, "Lord, give me compassion. Give me compassion like never before. Oh, a compassion that conquers complacency. You may be seated in this place. It would be easy for the church to sit back and enjoy the blessings of God. It's not like this really anywhere else in the world, even in the Christian church, the apostolic church around the world. It feels different than it feels here in the USA church. It's it's a temptation we have that's greater than any temptation to become lukewarm in our worship or a temptation would cause us to fall away from holiness or a temptation that would change our doctrine. Our greatest temptation is to settle into complacency. We have a temptation to become selfsatisfied and unaware of potential danger that often leads to the lack of effort and a lack of concern. And that is the definition of complacency. It's simply this is when you sit back and think that everything's okay, everything's all right, and I'm comfortable where I am. But God, help us. God, give us a compassion tonight. I want to preach I first want to preach about somebody who had no compassion. Uh I want to study his life for just a few minutes and then we're going to preach about somebody who had a whole lot of compassion. And I don't know about you, but God, when I leave this place, help me. God, let there be something that burns inside of me. Every lost person I see in the community, every every school bus is filled with children who have never felt the Holy Ghost, who have have never been to an apostolic service, who's never been to our Kids Quest camp or or our day camp, who've never felt what it feels like to be in the presence of God. I want that young person to be on my heart. I I want to see Brother Josel's little kids as they wave out the side of that window. I want to say, God, somehow, someway, give me enough compassion to see them as a lost soul, not just as a child on a school bus, but as a lost soul that needs to hear the word of God. I pray that every person I meet at a public school, every person I meet at a grocery store, every person I meet in the mall, God, let me see them as more than just a number, but let me see them as a soul. >> We've been given a call very similar to the call of Jonah. Jonah 1:1 says, "Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amiti, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me." Jesus Jesus gave a very similar call to his disciples in Mark 16:15. And he said unto them, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." >> And Jonah, we know the story. And I I don't want to get too much into the story because we we learn of the story in Sunday school. We we heard about Jonah and the great fish. We we we we saw the the the pictures that the murals painted on the walls in our Sunday school departments growing up. We we had the flannel boards. Anybody remember the flannel boards? Believe it or not, those are coming back with all the technology that we have with all the computers and all the technology. I'm starting to see where flannel boards are making a comeback. But but you remember Jonah, you remember the fish and it was such a cute story and it it made a great mural on the wall. But sadly, the whole book of Jonah is about a prophet who ran from his calling. He was he was far too convenient. He he was set in his ways and he did not want to do what God asked him to do. He did not want to do what he was called to do. And we can throw off on Jonah's decision to run from his calling. But we have the same calling here tonight in the New Testament in Mark chapter 16. Jonah's great commission has become our great commission. And that is simply to go. >> Go to Nineveh. That's what was commanded to Jonah. Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. For their wickedness has come up before me, their wickedness. Well, you got to know a little bit about Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It was a it was a gentile nation and not just a gentile nation but it was a very pagan nation. They believed in many gods and they had many idols and and they were Jehovah haters. They were barbaric in their ways. They were wicked. They were heartless. And and in Jo Jonah's day, the Hebrews could not stand the Ninevites. despised the Assyrian Empire, not just for being cruel, but because the Assyrians were a big threat to Israel's freedom, and they worshiped many gods. And this was against the Hebrew faith, which was a one god faith. Anybody thankful that the Hebrew faith is a one god faith. It's always been and always will be a one god faith. >> Jonah, he did not want to preach mercy unto these wicked pagan people. In his opinion, he he felt they didn't deserve the mercy of God. They didn't deserve to be saved. And it was insulting to him that God would call him to preach to the unsavable. Our commission is simply this. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And I think the verse says it right. To every creature. Have you Have you looked out in the world today and seen the creatures that are walking around? And preacher, you read that verse and you're wondering to yourself, what what does it mean by a creature? Well, the world is filled with them. It's it's a pagan world out there. There's a lot of gods. And we may not look at it as idols. We may not look at it as as they did back in the Bible days in Jonas's in Jonah's time. But we got to see our world view. Our worldview is going to have to change just a little bit if our opinion of the world is going to change. And again, we're to live in the world and not be of the world. I understand that. I'm not preaching about being like the world to win the world. I I I can't stand that philosophy. I I can't stand to go and and see churches who are trying to look worldly in order to somehow try to attract the world. The world already knows how to be worldly. We don't have to teach them or or try to look like them in order for them to accept us. They're trying to get out of the world. They sure don't want to come into a church that looks like them. They want to come into a church that has peace and has joy. >> They want to feel a liberated spirit. They They already feel what it feels like to be bound. They sure don't want to come into a church that looks like a bunch of people looking like them. >> All right. >> But I preach that to preach this. At the same time, we got to be careful because our paradigm has got to shift because although we don't love the world, we do love the sinner. >> Hate the sin, but we got to love the sinner. And I I see here in verse two that God called Nineveh that great city. And I know some of you might think he's referring to size, and maybe he is, but maybe not. I just believe that he saw the great city after they repented. He He saw them not for what they were, >> but about what they're going to be very shortly. >> It's a great It's a great story about Nineveh. It's not a great story about Jonah, but it is a great story about Nineveh. And I just believe that God saw them. And God saw some 120,000 in a population, a a large city of that day. And God saw what was going to take place. And he said to Jonah, "I want you to go to Nineveh, that great city." And as long as our view of the world is despicable and deplorable, we will never see them how God sees them. We'll never see them in a way that we're going to want to reach them. Listen. I can't help and and again I I don't want I want to preface this because I don't want you to think that I'm preaching again. I it's not that we have a love for the world in worldliness, but we have to have a love for the people of the world. And we can't get prejudice when it comes to those that are in the world because that spirit when that spirit gets a hold of you, you're going to get this Jonah spirit. You're going to get the spirit where you say, "I'm too good. I'm too righteous. I'm too holy to be amongst them. I don't want to I don't want to get dirty among those Nvites. Uh but oh I know in this world I know they've got serious issues but oh God if we could ever see them the way you see them. The Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave. God is a giver and God's just not a giver to anything but he sees a world of the lost and the dying. He says I am the great physician. I'm trying to find somebody who's sick. I've not come to the righteous. I've not come to the ones who think they've got it all together. I've come to find somebody who has a need in their life. Uh I come to find somebody who has trouble brewing in their marriage. I I've come to find somebody who has issues in their families and I want to be their great physician. He says, I've come to this world they might have life and life more abundantly. >> I believe this world is worth saving. God believes this world is worth saving. >> And Jonas's prejudice mind, it caused him to feel like souls were worthless. >> And prejudice is far more than just racial bias. And and we got to understand this. I know when I when I preach about Jonah's uh uh prejudices, we we can check our hearts and say, "Hey, I got no problem with other races. I got no problem with other cultures and other skin colors. I I love everyone and I hope you do. >> But prejudism goes so much further than that because the prejudice mindset it goes beyond race and ethnicity and nationality and skin color. It also includes religion and gender >> and age >> and disabilities. >> It includes economic status and education level. I just want to slow down a little bit right here because sometimes we can talk about how I don't have a prejudice bone in my body. But I tell you what, I I'm sure not going to hang out with anybody who's less of an education than I have. >> People people that weigh more than me or or have more tattoos than I have on my body or you you can you can start you can start discriminating a whole lot more ways than just race and color, >> political All right. >> Affiliation. >> What about criminal history? >> What about mental health issues or physical health issues or or people with addictions or people have made bad lifestyle choices? All all of these biases and prejudices breed division through stereotypes. Come on. Now, I know I told you we're not preaching about faith. And I wish I could have you swinging off the chandeliers if we had them. We quite we try to swing off of my we don't we don't have that tonight. But I do want us to leave with one thing in our minds. God, help me to look at the world differently. I don't look at sin differently, but God, help me to look at people around me differently. Help me to see people for who they are. >> Too many times, oh, I I found myself I caught myself. Just the other night, I went through a line at Walmart. I was buying some things at Walmart and I was walking out of the aisle and out of the line where I just uh the cashier had had taken my credit card and the cashier had just rang me up and I'm walking out and it hit me that I didn't even look at them and even acknowledge them. Oh, I said hello. I I said how are you doing? But I walked out. And I said, "If that same person tapped me on their shoulder and I turned around, I wouldn't even recognize them as the person that checked me out." Lord, God have mercy. I've got I need to see people. I need to realize people around me. God, help me see people for who they are. They're lost and dying souls that need a savior and they need somebody to bring them the gospel. They need somebody to go into all the world and preach. Amen. >> Verse three says, "But Jonah rose up to flee Tarses from the presence of the Lord and went down to Japa, and he found a ship going to Tarses." So he paid the fair thereof, and went down into it. I I like it keeps on saying down to go with them under Tarses from the presence of the Lord. Look, look how crazy it is to run from the will of God. Nineveh, Nineveh is full of pagans. And Jonah's like, "I ain't going to Nineveh. It's full of pagans." However, he'll board a ship going to Tarsus is full of pagans. >> And not only will he board a ship, he'll pay a fair. >> Come on, think about that, people. And that's like, God, I I just don't know. I know you've called me to do this, and God, you're leading me to do that, but God, I I'm just not ready yet. I don't feel like this is the right timing in my life, and and I'm just I'm just not I'm a little too good for that. I'm a little too complacent for that. I I'm too set in my ways. I'm too comfortable where I'm living now to go do what you're asking me to do. But instead, I'm going to go the opposite direction. And when I go the opposite direction, I'm going to have to pay for it. >> Here we go. Woo. The ship is bound for Tarses, full of pagans. And and here we have Jonah. But the Lord sent out I like this right here. The Lord prepared a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty temptest in the sea, so that the ship was light to be broken. And for time's sake, let me tell you the rest of the story. Jonah, he's down in the boat. He's probably by himself cuz he's not going to hang out with any of the pagans. So, he's down, he's sleeping all by himself. And and the the boat, you know, the storm begins to rock to and fro. And there's a storm coming through. There's a hurricane type storm coming through. God sent the wind. God put them in the storm. The sailors, man, they're they're throwing stuff overboard. They're praying under their guides. They come to they come to Jonah. And Jonah says, "Hold on, hold on, hold on." He said, "I am the issue." Walks the gang plank. And the Bible says that God once again prepared prepared a great fish. >> Swallows this this prophet. For three days and for three nights, he's in the belly of this great fish. this this fish that God has prepared. And after realizing that he's not going to die, I got to believe after three days and three nights, that had to be one of the most had to be one of the craziest situations to be in this fish. This fish is starting to digest Jonah. Come on, somebody. He's in this fish for three days. The the ashes are starting to If he was if he was pasty, pale before, he's really pasty pale now. And he's began to he's began to realize, "Oh my God, the Lord has prepared me a prayer closet. >> He's prepared me. He's he's not going to let me out of this. I I thought that I could just I could just, if you will, I could just take my life and walk off this gang plank. I I thought everything would be over, but God's not going to let it be over because God's got a will. And the wheel's not about me, Jonah. It ain't about you. It's about 120,000 souls that are about going to about to die in Assyria. It's about 120,000 souls that are going to that are going to be wiped off the face of the earth. Jonah is not about you. Jonah 2 and 1. Then Jonah prayed, "Oh, okay. Uh, three days or three nights. I guess we're going to pray unto the Lord." He said, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest me." And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land. I want you to see right here. This is not repentance. This is simply Jonah giving up and saying, "By reason that I'm in this fish, and you're not going to let me out of this fish, brother Alter. I might as well let you know I'm going to go to Nineveh and I'm going to preach what you told me to preach." So this great fish that God had prepared woo became a little a personal submarine and for 3 days it took a three-day journey and it threw him up out onto dry ground. The Bible says right to where his calling was. It transported him. It wasn't random. This great fish. This was God's mercy hauling this prejudice this this this prophet with prejudice in his heart back to a place of compassion. >> All right. So here we go. Jonah 3:4 picks up the story. And Jonah began to enter in the city a day's journey and cried and said, "Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Eight words right here. He's began to cry those eight words. Yet 40 days. Hey, listen up y'all. 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So watch this right here. The very next verse, I don't understand it. These people were cruel. These people tortured foreigners. These people hated the Hebrews. But here, right here in verse number five, it says, "So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them." They put sackcloth upon their animals, their pets, uh, upon their cattle. They on a donkey. They put it upon their cow. They put sackcloth and ashes upon every animal they owned, upon their children, from the youngest to the oldest. And the king, he said, "Hey, we're going to fast. Uh we're going to fast because hey, whatever we have to do, we don't want God to destroy this city. The God of this prophet who only preached an eightword message." And I see where God looked down upon them just as he knew what happened. And when he saw them repent, >> he turned. >> But here we go. Jonah chapter 4 and 1. Here it is. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. Listen, I wish to God, brother Garnet, Pastor Garnet, I wish we could have ended in Jonah chapter 3. That would have been a great place to end. Man, Jonah could have walked out of that city with his head held high and thought to himself, I've done some bad stuff and I've run from God and I've run from my calling, but look at me, Brother Bruce. Look at me. 120 were saved because of my ministry. >> All right. >> But that's not what happened. And that's not why the book of Jonah is in the Bible. >> Because God wanted us to see what somebody who lacks compassion looks like. It's ugly. >> But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was very angry. Why? Why were you angry, Jonah? >> What were you angry? And he prayed unto the Lord and said, "I I pray thee, oh Lord." Now, he didn't preach but eight words. But he's got a long prayer of disgust to God. I pray thee, oh Lord, was not this my same when I was yet in my country. Therefore, I fled before unto Tarsus? For I knew that thou art a gracious God, a merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentste of the evil. Therefore, now, here we He's still praying. He didn't preach this long. Therefore, now, oh Lord, take I beseech thee, my life from me. I I already tried to give him my life in the in in the water in the sea, but he's saying, why don't you just take my life from me? For it is better for me to die than to live. What? This guy's a jerk. The Lord said, "Doest thou will to be angry? You think you're justified to be angry that 120,000 people weren't annihilated, weren't put to death because of sin? Jonah went out of the city, sat on the east side of the city. He there made a booth, sat under it in the shadow. Watch this right here. Till he might see what would become of the city. Brother Darren, he was just sitting there to see if it would burn. And the Lord God prepared a gourd. It was a bush, a tree of some sort and made it to cover over Jonah >> that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. Watch this right here. So Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd and God saw how messed up his misplaced joy was. That's good. >> Verse seven. So God, okay, I'm going to prepare shade for you. You're going to show joy and gladness over a dumb gourd. God said, I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to prepare a worm. >> I'm going to prepare a devourer. When the morning rose the next day and it smoked the gourd and it wither, it ate the tree caused the tree to die to wither. He said, "Maybe I maybe I could get Jonah to come back to his senses." Verse 8 says, "And it came to pass when the sun did rise that God," Here we go again, "prepared of a east wind, and the sunbeat upon the head of Jonah. He fainted and wished in himself to die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." And God said to Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?" And he said, "I I I do well to be angry even unto death." Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither mstest it grow, which came up in the night, and perished in the night. And should not I spare Nineveh that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons? They cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. Yes. >> But Jonah did not return to his senses. This this was not the prodical son in the pig pin. Jonah did not return. It instead exposed him for who he really was. He was a racist and it was exposed. He was biased and it blocked the mercy that God would have had towards him. He had misplaced sympathy. He cried over a dead gourd while he fumed over a city that did not die. God prepared a storm. God prepared a fish. God prepared a gourd. God prepared a wormh. God even prepared of a henaman east wind to try to draw the prophet into a state out of a state of complacency and into a state of compassion. But Jonah refused. Do y'all see this? This is how the book ends. >> What a horrible book. This book is worse than the book of Job. >> At least Job ended with good news. >> Here we got a prophet. His whole book ends with him being discouraged >> that a whole city repented and came to God. >> But I sure don't want to end there. I sure don't want to end with a prophet. A prophet who had no compassion. But I want to preach about a man named Abraham. A man that was a friend of God. A man that showed compassion even to one of the worst societies to ever live on planet earth. God told Abraham, he said, "Hey, I'm going to go in and I'm going to wipe out the cities of the valley. I'm going to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the earth." >> That's right. He said, talking to his angels, he said, "Should we should we even say anything to Abraham?" Because we know what kind of man Abraham is. Abraham Abraham's a man of compassion. Abraham just took his own men and went out and saved all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. All their wives, all their children have been taken over. They have been pillaged. They have been stolen from. They have been taken captive. And Abraham said, "I'm willing to go fight for a nation of people who are wicked, beyond wicked." We know in the Bible, the Bible tells us how wicked they were. The the Bible talks about how they were horrible men. How the men from young to old, they were they were horrible. Ezekiel described the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as prideful, full of bread, abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They had everything, but they didn't help the poor. They were hardty. He said they were committed to abomination before God. >> But here we have in Genesis chapter 18:22. I I got to read this for you cuz I just I just read to you about Jonah. I just read to you about a man who had no compassion, who was complacent in everything he did. Uh but now I want to read to you about Abraham because here's Abraham. And the men turned their faces from then and went towards Sodom. The angels began to go towards Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. I I believe he kind of stood between the Lord and between Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham got near and said, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked per adventure?" He said, "There's 50 righteous within the city. Are you going to destroy and not spare the place for 50 righteous that are therein? Come on. He's pleading for souls. That be far from thee to do after this man are to slay the righteous with the wicked and the the righteous should be as the wicked. And oh, he said you surely you can't slay the righteous with the wicked. The Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered, "Behold, now I have taken unto thee. I have spoken of thee, which I'm dust to ashes. I'm nothing, but per adventure there shall lack five." Okay, let's talk about what if there's just 45 righteous. Will you destroy the whole city for 45 righteous? He goes from 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 to 20 to 10. For the master, he keeps on pleading. He keeps on saying 40. Come on. What about 40? What about what about 30? Come on. What about God? What about Lord? What about 30? Come on. And cuz even Abraham, listen to me. Even Abraham knew those people. He got to think to himself, "Brother Dean, 40's probably stretching it. 30 is probably stretching. What about 20? What if there's 20 righteous in in the cities of Sodom and Gomorra?" And God said, "If there's if there's 20," he said, "I I'll spare them." He said, "Okay, okay, come on. What about 10? What if there's just 10? could you spare the cities for just 10? And oh, I don't like the story because we know there wasn't even 10. But what I see here is I see a man filled with compassion who is willing to do whatever it took, who is willing to plead with God and to barter with God, even knowing, listen, if anybody could have been prejudic against a people, it was Abraham in his nomadic values. He could have thought to himself, you know what? If those in the valley, the well-watered plains of Sodom and Gomorrah, if they're taken, if God takes their life, if God destroys and annihilates them, that'll give all my flock somewhere to graze. I'll be able to take over the valleys of of Sodom and Gomorrah. But he had such compassion, he thought, "Oh, God, surely you won't destroy these cities if there's righteous here." I got to think to myself, God, I want to be like Abraham. I want to plead for souls. Uh, Lord, I want you to look over Blunt County. God, we got to find the hungry. Lord, I know they're not righteous yet, but I can see they're going to be righteous. Uh, in my mind's eye, in my eyes full of faith. Uh, Lord, I just got to believe, Lord God, that there's righteous here in Blunt County. And I want to be like Abraham. I don't want to be like Jonah. I want to have compassion. God, give me compassion for the lost. >> You may be seated because compassion ignites the commission and compassion conquers complacency. >> It's not someone else's responsibility to go. Church family, it's our responsibility to go. It's not somebody else's responsibility to minister. It's our responsibility to minister. It's not only the pastor's job uh to make disciples. Uh it's our responsibility to make disciples. And when I say make disciples, I'm talking about soulwinning. >> Soulwinning is so much more. Oh, brother Snitcher, you teach so many sessions on this. Oh, soul-winning disciple making is so much more than just inviting somebody to church. It's so much more than just connecting them to the church, >> right? >> And it's also so much more than just educating them with doctrine. There's so much that goes with disciple making. That's why we have the church. >> Look around. This is beautiful. We have people with all kinds of different talents and abilities and skill sets that help us draw people. M matter of fact, we're there's a new initiative that that we're about to we're about to begin and I'm very excited about this because I I'm all about disciplehip. I'm all about matter of fact movement conference, we're going to be rolling it out more and more as as movement conference gets closer. But but I'm excited because if we truly understand why we win souls and why we disciple people, I believe God sees our motive and God blesses our motive and God adds to the church daily such as should be saved. >> Our motive is not to fill a sanctuary. >> If our motive if if the only thing we we're reaching out to people and bringing people to church is so we can somehow beat our attendance record. If that's the only If we just see people as a number on an attendance sheet, >> right? >> All right. >> That's not soulwinning. >> And that's not compassion. That's just trying to fill up pews. That's trying to fill up a choir loft. That's trying to fill up a Spanish sanctuary. That that's trying to fill up a a Sunday school classroom. And listen, I understand the numbers represent souls, but our motive has got to be correct. >> Why we do what we do. >> God help us. I it's it's not about being the largest church in the community so the mayor takes notice so the city council takes notice. >> We didn't build this building so people would say, "Oh, look at the apostolic." That's not why we built this building. This is a soul savings station. This is a hospital. This is an emergency room. This is an intensive care unit. Uh the reason why we built this was not because of beauty. You're not going to We could have borrowed all kinds of money. We could have had stained glass windows all across all across these walls. We We could have had the best of the best. We could have had marble floors. >> But it wasn't about a place of beauty as much as it represents the name of the Lord. It represents in a community. There's a lighthouse. There's a beacon in this community. It's a church that sits up on the hill where everybody can see it. Oh my god. The darker the world gets, uh, the brighter the church must get. Uh, people got to see us for who we are. It's not about being a big church. Uh, we're not trying to be a mega church. We're trying to have compassion for lost souls who are dying and going to a devil's hell. I don't want to see one more person die in their sin. But God, I plead like Abraham pleaded. Lord, please uh Lord, please I beg you. Uh let them come into this house. Uh let us disciple them. You maybe said, "I had the honor. Oh, I had the honor of being invited and being asked by our missions America. We got a new Missions America director. He called me. He said, I want you to be our church growth director for for for the department in the organization." And oh, I love that because that's what the movement conference is all about. It's all about the local church. It's all about giving the local church tools. But sometimes we got to be careful because with church growth, a lot of people think, "Oh, that's just breaking number barriers. I can get on X or I I can get on my favorite social media and I can talk about this record we broke and this." My God, help us to have compassion for souls in a way. It's not a number on social media. >> That's right. >> It's a living. It's a soul. >> It's a soul >> who's going to go to a very bad place in eternity unless we can somehow get them in the church and somehow connect them to the church and and somehow disciple them and educate them and teach them, give them a Bible study, put them through disciplehip class. But we've got we've got a new we've got a new initiative we're about to begin. It's simply called everyone a disciplemaker because for far too long I I've heard excuses and listen there's a lot of condemnation that can take take place. A lot of people can start feeling bad. A lot of people I would I would invite people to church but everybody I've ever invited have never come. I used to invite my co-workers but I couldn't get them to come. every Bible study I've ever tried to teach. Nobody ever Nobody ever went to the water. Nobody ever repented. No one none of them ever got the Holy Ghost. And so I gave up on giving Bible studies. And oh, I I just I don't have a purpose. I'm just sitting on a pew and I'm just going to come and enjoy the choir. I'm going to I'm going to just Lord, I guess I'm just going to come and worship. But God didn't call us just to be worshippers. God didn't call us just to sit on a church pew. God called us to go uh into the world into what people consider deplorable and despicable and make disciples uh of every nation of every race, the very people that are being discriminated against. Uh God said, "I want you to go into those neighborhoods. Uh I want you to go into those complexes. Uh I want you to walk into those schools and I want you to reach for them and preach to them. I want you to preach repentance uh and baptize them. I want you to baptize them for the remission of their sins. Uh I want them to feel what it feels like to have all their sins washed away. Uh and then the Lord I believe if you're obedient if you'll repent Peter said if you'll repent if you'll get baptized in the name of the one that died for you and shed his blood for you. If you get your sins remitted, he said ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Uh for the promise is unto you. Uh it's to your children. Uh all those that are author even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And he's still calling today. Somebody are you excited that the Lord is still calling today. He's still reaching today. He's still saving today. He's still delivering today. I want to go through this very quickly. The disciple making initiative. It defines three essential roles. These essential roles, number one, you have the gatherer, you have the connector, and you have the educator. >> The gatherer, >> connector, educator. The gatherer is an individual who naturally invites, who gathers, welcomes others. They create a warm and inviting environment. The key element of a gather is you've got to be soul conscious. >> What I was preaching about earlier, you got to see people. You got you got to you got to see faces. You got to see you got to you got to be able to look into people's eyes and read their eyes. >> You got to see people you can see hurt. >> You got to see people that my God, we walked out of the hospital. We we we're visiting uh Lauren and the baby. Walked out of the hospital and there was a woman. She was shaking. You could tell, man, she was on. She was either coming on something, coming off something. I don't even know the right terms, but but man, she was Oh, man. You could tell she was in trouble. And she she was there. I walked in. We tried tried to greet her. And my there wasn't much communication going on. Come on. About an hour, hour and a half later, she was still there. And I thought to myself, I got to be able to read people. >> I got to be able to take notice in people. And listen, you say, I'm I'm a little bit backward. I'm not I'm not I'm not outgoing. I'm a little bit to myself. I I'm just not that type of person. And listen, everybody is not going to be a gather. And everybody said, "Amen." That's not my personality. I'm a forced extrovert. It's not my personality. I got to force myself to be that type of person. Last Sunday night, we had a waiter. We're at Ruby Tuesdays and we're eating. And I could tell this young man, I read him. I I I read him. I I thought, "This boy's hungry. Keeps on coming up." Man, we were talking uh we're out with an evangelist and we we were we were talking God things and Bible things and every time he'd walk up, I could tell he was listening. I could tell he was paying attention. And the next thing I know, he brings he brings a million dollar bill. He said, "Look, I got this tip earlier today. It was it was a million dollar bill." I said, "Man, that's pretty cool." I said, "What is that?" I said, "I need one of those." He put it he turned it over and he said, 'Well, it looks like it's some sort of a Bible track. And I said, 'Oh, gotcha. As soon as he said Bible track, I said, 'Oh, okay. Where? I said, 'Where do you go to church?' He's, "Oh, man. I don't go to church, man." That opened up the door. That opened up the door. And and that that that's that's what somebody a gather's doing. A a gather's just just listening in conversations and trying to find any opportunity they can. But but I realize that everybody's not a gather. I I I realize everybody everybody's not a Kenny. Kenny Hurst, man. He got somebody new come with him every time I see him. >> He's a gather. Said, "Man, come on. Come on. Come, come check out check out what changed my life." Cuz because a gather's got to have a testimony. >> Gather's got to be somebody that can say, "I used to be where you are, >> but thank God I'm not what I used to be." Again, there's got to be something when I look back over my life >> and I think things over. I can truly say he's brought me all the way. He brought me and got me off the same drug that you're on. He got me off the same bar stool that you're on. He br he brought me such a long long way. That's a gather. But then there's also connectors. And everybody's not gonna be a connector. But let me tell you what a connector does. A connector is a person who creates friendships and and strengthens bonds within the church, >> helping new members connect with people who can guide them and support them in their faith journey. A connector is also someone who's good at nurturing new members. You might not be a gather. You might not be a type of person who invites that lady that checks you out at Walmart, but once they're here in the house, you see this family's been sitting by themselves for the last three weeks. I'm going to go I'm going to plant my family next to them. Now listen, it's inconvenient cuz I'm used to sitting over here and I like sitting over here with these people cuz that's the only people I ever sit with. But I'm going to I'm going to park myself over here because these people don't have a friend and my family could be their friend. That's what a connector does. A connector says, "I see where the need is. I see that there's a I'll go a step further. A connector is a choir member, is a musician, is a singer. You say, "Well, how is that a connector?" I'll tell you how it's a connector. There's people that start coming to this church for no other reason than the sanctuary choir. >> They ain't never heard anything like that. They never felt anything like that. And when you're up in that sanctuary choir and you you come here ear an hour early for service, you come here sometimes inconvenient yourself on a Saturday to learn a choir song. What you're doing is you're saying, "I want to help connect people to the body. I want people to stick. I want people to be attracted to this place. I've never told a Bible study. Maybe I've never invited anybody to church. But all I can do, if all I can do is get in the choir and somebody comes back next Sunday because they enjoyed what they heard, you're a connector. >> Gathers connectors." And then there's the educators. It's a member who imparts knowledge and wisdom by teaching, by training, guiding others in their spiritual growth. Let me tell you something. Everyone is not a Bible study teacher. I've heard it. Listen, I've been to Bible study seminars before. They said, "Everybody should be a Bible study teacher." No, they shouldn't. That's okay. Everybody's not going to be a Sunday school teacher. Everybody's not going to be a youth pastor, Kids Quest pastor. Everybody's not going to do those things, but there are those that God has anointed to handle the word of God. And they're educators and they're instructors. They're the people that that the the gatherers are bringing them into church. The connected the connectors are keeping them in the church and then the educators are preaching the word and teaching the word. It's disciplehip class upstairs in our midweek university. Oh my god. That's one of the greatest disciple making tools that we have. It's an educator's tool >> because we're getting people. If you've never been to our disciplemakers class, it's the education arm of the church. It goes along with our pulpit. It's training and teaching. It's it's giving you Christian values. It's showing you it's making you to understand theology and what the word of God says and how we ought to live our life in Christian living. Oh my God. So again, we have gathers, we have connectors, and we have the educator. And together, we're going to disciple our community. Together, if we have the right motive, and this is we're going to kind of roll this out slowly but surely. But I believe in movement conference this year. I I believe there's going to be some light bulbs that go on with pastors and ministry leaders and and people are going to come over from all across this nation. People are going to come to movement conference and they're going to see themselves. Maybe maybe they didn't think that they were a disciplemaker, but now they're starting to realize, hey, I work in the media department. Uh I work in the social media. I am a disciplemaker because I am drawing people to the church. Uh I'm drawing them. I'm gathering them to the church through social media. There's going to be other people that they wonder themselves, I don't think I could be a disciplemaker. Yes, you can. Because it takes the whole body. It takes everybody. It takes the fit team. It takes the coffee shop worker. It takes the bookstore worker. It takes the daycare worker, the school teacher. It takes everybody. And I just believe because of it, God's going to see the compassion we have for souls. Oh, God, help me to be an Abraham. I don't want to be a Jonah. >> Stand with me. I'm almost done. I've gone too long already. >> Here. This this this Texas flood, I want you to think about this right here. this Texas flood July 4th last week. It caused widpread devastation with a confirmed death toll. I believe right now somewhere around 129 people across the state of Texas. 166 people are still missing. Y'all can't find them. Got so much just debris piled up. You've seen you've seen it on the news. You You know what I'm talking about. 166 people they can't even find. And then we have it at Camp Mystic. You know the story. I'm just going to retell it just in case somebody watches this in a couple years. All Girls Christian Summer Camp in Kirk County, Texas. Flash floods swept through the area resulting in 29 confirmed deaths among campers and counselors. victims were primarily young girls and the staff. The youngest campers, and then this this right here broke my heart. They said that they said the youngest campers were were down next to the river. And as they would get older, as a seven-year-old become an 8-year-old, and come back to camp the next year, they put them the next dormatory was a little bit up the hill. And it kept on rising until the 15, 16, 17 year olds were at the top of the hill. There was one cabin closest to the river. Cabin's name was Bubble in where all the occupants, 13 girls and two counselors, every one of them was lost. The disaster has been described as turning a place of joy into a sight of profound loss. Can you imagine the parents grief? And listen, I'm a father of daughters. I guess I guess what really drew me in is I can relate. I've got daughters. I sending them to camp and brother Fuller them not coming home. Send them on a yellow bus to camp and they didn't come back home on a yellow bus. Unimaginable grief, no doubt. And I take nothing away from that. Yet daily across this planet, at least 150,000 souls enter eternity every single day. The vast majority of the 99.999% are lost in sin. You think about Nineveh. Nineveh was a city of 120,000. Yet every single day, 150,000 people on planet Earth don't wake up the next day. Matthew 9:35, Jesus went out about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness, every disease among the people. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted. This is not talking about health. This is he said they were as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he Jesus turns to his disciples. He says, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few." He said, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest." My God. Just like Abraham pleaded with God to hold off and not destroy Sodom. Oh my God. Listen, all my life, Bishop Carpenter, Pastor Carpenter, all my life, I've heard people say, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." I've heard people who got into financial issues or maybe a spouse was sick Anniah to death and they would make the statement, they would say, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Uh, I believe he's going to come back tomorrow. I believe he's going to come back soon. And I don't want to give the wrong message. I want to see my Jesus. But I just want to be like Abraham and say, "Lord, if you could give us just a little bit longer. If you could hold off destruction of this earth just a little bit longer, I believe there's enough souls in Blunt County that's going to fill this building."Uh, I believe we're going to have to build risersh because souls, I didn't say numbers, I said because souls are going to be gathered into the house, uh, are going to be connected to the church. Uh they're going to be educated with the word of God. Uh their lives are going to be changed. Uh they're going to make decisions. Uh they're going to improve their life forever because they're going to be born again of the water and the spirit. I can see already in my mind's eye, I already see another sanctuary building this field over here. I Oh my god, thousands of people. Oh, is it about being the largest church? Is it about attendance record? No. No, it's about compassion for the lost. We can't have any more dieh while we're on the watch. God, help us, Lord God, to see people for who they are. I wish tonight I wish I could open this altar. And I wish people could come here, not with a dry eye, not to come and stand and look around, not to sing a song that the singers are going to sing, but I wish there would be people with hearts of compassion who could begin to tremble and say, "God, let me see, Lord God, the need." Uh, let me hear the call. Let me hear the cry that goes forth. Uh, Lord, I'm so tired of seeing people that don't even know. They don't know. They don't even realize they're lost. They've been told they're saved. They've shook a preacher's hand. They've been told they're safe. They don't even know they're lost. How are they going to know unless a preacher, unless a saint of God will get out in the community and say, "There's so much more." I want to connect you to something that'll absolutely change your life. Come on, somebody. Whatever you do, don't be a Jonah. I pray you're not just up here saying, "Oh, whatever." Uh, this is just another altar service. Uh, in 10 10 minutes, we'll be out of here. Uh, in 10 minutes, we'll be on our way to Aubry's. In 10 minutes, we'll be on our way to Ruby Tuesdays. But God, I pray that you would give me compassion. Uh, I don't want to cry and whine over a gourd when you have people that need to hear the doctrine of Jesus Christ. And I don't want to cheerlead you. I just wish there was some interceding that would go on. Abraham interceded with God. He interceded with God for Sodom and Gomorrah. That wicked, wicked, wicked cities. Oh God. Lord God, I got people that live all around me. God, I got neighbors, God. I got people I work with, Lord God. I got people I see at the park when I take my kids out to the playground. God, there's people in our school, Lord God. There's people in our daycare, Lord God, who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Uh they don't even know what the death, the burial, and the resurrection mean. God, give me compassion to reach for them. Uh give me compassion, oh God, to share with them. Lord, this is lifechanging, God. And not only life changing, it's eternal changing. Oh God, give me compassion. Come on, pray that. Say, "Give me compassion, God. Give me compassion. Oh God, I'm sick of whining about things in my life. It's not about me. I'm sick about complaining about places I wish I was and wish I could go. It's not about me. God, I'm so sorry, Lord God. Whenever I felt inconvenience because it's not about me. I'm not going to complain. Uh I'm not going to allow thoughts to trap in my mind. Uh thoughts are saying giving up uh and giving and I refuse to have Jonah thoughts. Woo. But God, send me somewhere where people are hungry. Send me to a Nineveh. Send me to a Nineveh where in one verse uh they start to repent. Uh in one verse uh they start to say, "God, we're sorry. Change us. Rearrange us. God, make us what you want us to be." Come on, pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. God, give me compassion. Give me compassion. Give me comp. Come on, disciplemakers. There's going to be a cry that goes forth. There's going to be a cry that goes forth of the disciplemaker that says, "God, I'll do whatever I can do. You've given me talent. I'm going to do whatever I can do. You've given me skills. I'm going to do whatever I can do." Come on. Let that be your prayer. Cry. Cry. Here. Send me. Here. Send me here am I. Send me. I'll go. I'll go. I'll do. I'll be. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me. Take my hands, Lord. Take my feet. Touch my heart, Lord. Speak through me. If you can use Jonah, if you could use a prophet with a bad attitude, if you could use a prophet who was self-centered, Lord, I know you can use me. God, use me to change my world. I want to be a world changer. I want to turn my city upside down. Come on. I preached for way too long, but I wish somebody in this place, oh, you get to say, God, but I want to be that soul winner. He's preaching about uh God. I want to be that disciple maker he's preaching about. Uh God, I'm going to start talking it up. Uh God, I'm going to start telling everybody about you. God, I'm going to start telling about the mercy that I feel. I'm going to start telling about the grace that I feel Lord God that you've been so longsuffering to me a sinner. Lord God, you've been so longsuffering to me. Your goodness, your kindness, oh God, is everlasting. Your love Oh, I refuse to sit around. I refuse to sit around and watch this world die. I refuse to sit around and watch this world go out into eternity. I refuse to sit around. But oh God, every one of my prejudisms, oh God, those issues I have with people, Lord, the issues I have with different societies and social society, God help me, Lord God, to overcome it. Come on, somebody pray. Say, God, renew my mind. God help me. I can't think those thoughts about people just cuz they don't vote the same way I vote just because they don't think the same way I think. I can't think those thoughts about those people. I got to see them as lost souls just because they don't look like me. Just because they don't weigh what I weigh just because their skin color is not the same color as my skin. I've got to look at them as a lost soul. And I've got to reach toward them. And I've got to have compassion. Shut up. God, God give me Come on. We got to get sick and tired about always praying for ourselves in the altar and always praying for our needs in the altar and what I got to have. And God, I need this blessing. And God, I need you to work this out for me. Come on. This altar call is about souls. It's about saying, "God, it's not about me. Oh God, it's about my neighbor. It's about my brother. It's about my cousin. is about my aunt. Lord, it's about my grandmother. God, come on. If you got somebody in your family that's not who hasn't been born again, I wish right now you just begin to cry out their name and say, "God, God, help me. God, I can disciple them. God, I can teach them. God, I can train them. God, I can show them your word. And if I can't do it, I can find a Bible study teacher that can. I just got to get them in the house.