Mary led group in worship…
Pastor Ray shared…
Way back in North Hennepin when we were meeting there, there were maybe 100 people. They always talked about “afterglow.” I didn’t know what that was. Afterglow? What is glowing? After a while, I began to understand what that meant. There was a sense of His presence after the service was finished. It felt disrespectful to get up and leave. It was more respectful to stay and spend that time in the afterglow. We’re changed in that manifestation of His presence.
Pastor Folu noticed that there are times he sees people leave before the end of the service and miss out on what it was the Holy Spirit wanted to bring to them. He was in a service recently. It was long. In the last 30 minutes, some people left. The people remaining began to worship the Lord. The presence was so intense that he looked around and said he thought it was raining. He looked up at the ceiling to be sure it wasn’t leaking. In the natural, it wasn’t raining. But in the spirit, His glory was manifesting. He didn’t just sense it. He saw it. I know we don’t go by sight but it’s senseless not to spend time in Him or with Him when He manifests Himself in that way.
Do we want more of that? Yes. I want more. I want to come in on Monday morning after weekend services and see people still in the sanctuary where some are on the floor. If we get away from His presence, we’re missing the change and the internal rearranging we need. We’ll never arrive to a place where we do not need it. What if we got so undone, that we couldn’t leave? Think about Azusa where John G. Lake and all the people we read about today where the glory of God manifested as a mist. It would come and the children would play in it.
Matthew 9:3 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them…” The Amplified says He was moved with pity and sympathy for them. Most other translations say, “seeing the people, He felt compassion for them.” That’s the word that stood out to me. Compassion. He was moved by that compassion because He could see they were bewildered, harassed, distressed, dejected, helpless like sheep without a shepherd. That’s where the scripture is in 37, “Then He said to his disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful but the laborers are few, so pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust out the laborers.”
Let me read a couple others. Matthew 14:14, “When he went ashore, He saw a large crowd and He felt compassion for them and He healed their sick.”
It would have been easy for Him in Matthew 14:14 right before that, John was beheaded and his disciples got his body. When Jesus heard that, He withdrew from there and went privately in a boat to a solitary place. But when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him by land on foot from the towns. When he went ashore and saw the great throng of people, He had compassion, pity, and deep sympathy for them. And He cured their sick. He could have gone further into solitude. He could have seen the throngs and said to the disciples, “Let’s get out of here.” John just had his head taken off. But, instead, He was moved with compassion.
Matthew 20:34, “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they regained their sight and they followed Him.”
Mark 6:34, “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and He began to teach them many things.”
Mark 8:2–3, “I feel compassion for the people because they remain with me now three days and they have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance.”
Erika shared…
I like what it says in my study Bible about compassion. “Christ likeness, truest compassion is only found in the nature of God because only God knows the full depth of an individual’s pain, need, or suffering. Jesus is seen in the essence of His feeling human weakness, fully sensing the ravaged condition of human brokenness. Christ-likeness calls us to learn Jesus’ heart of compassion, a depth of sensitivity that can be worked in us through the Holy Spirit, reconditioning our hearts to be able to sense the pain of human bondage and to weep with those who weep. Jesus’ tears over the city of Jerusalem and His tears at the tomb of Lazarus reveal more than either a sense of rejection by the people of one city or grief over the death of a personal friend. His compassion brought tears for the hardness of hearts that were blinded by their sin and for the tragedy of all mankind, His vulnerability to death. Love sees beyond the immediate and the personal and compassionately relates to the lost, the hurting, the needy, the distressed. It moves more and more into the dimension of discipleship that discovers the compassion of Christ flowing through a person to care for and serve others.
Prayed…
That’s the compassion that we want, Father
We don’t want these words to fall on deaf ears
The compassion moved Jesus, that’s what we want, Father
In spite of how the world treats us, our compassion moves us to be Christ like
Bringing salvation to the lost
That the church would be moved with compassion like Jesus
Empowered by the same Spirit
We ask that when we are in Your presence, that you would change and touch our hearts
To be moved with compassion to speak and pray and say… compassion to lay hands on
That the Church would take that glory and touch the world… to be dispensers of Your glory
Let it begin here and then go out to every part of the church
Pastor Ray continued…
As we pray about compassion for the lost, I’m not talking to you or for you, I’m talking to me. I want that. I want that compassion. Just like Jesus had, that He would not go past even though He had bad news—John’s head was cut off. He wanted to retreat. But He was so moved by the needs of others, that He began to minister to them.
Prayed…
Father, we want that… more of your presence
Your compassion in us will help us do what we would never ever do otherwise
We’ll minister even though we’re tired
We’ll minister even though we want to be somewhere else
We’ll do what you want us to do because of Your compassion that would move us to be the Church
United together, even the streams of ministry that have disagreed… that we would have compassion for others
Mary sang about the light of the Gospel…
Prayer continued…
Let us be aware that multitudes are on the brink of eternity
Let us be doing something… doing Your work
Erika shared…
We stand breathlessly on the eve of Christ’s return. Every moment draws us nearer. The darkness of the earth’s midnight hour is overspreading. The coming of the bridegroom is at hand. The bride is putting on her robes. The fig tree is budding. The spirit of Antichrist is abroad. Tribulation is casting imminent shadows before the arrival. Christians look up, be ready, the Lord is at the door. An almost imperceptible spiritual movement is at work in the hearts of all true believers, separating the gold from the dross. The real from the unreal. The precious from the vial, sifting, separating, calling out those who will go all the way with Him. It is felt like a solemn, sacred hush upon the soul. The overshadowing of the presence drawing nigh. It may well be the first distant sounding of the voice of the archangel and the trump of God that will at the final moment to cause the living and the dead to rise. Christ is coming. Be ready when He comes. Separate yourself now from the world’s indulgence. Disentangle yourselves from unnecessary immersion of the affairs of life. Watch and pray always that you may be counted worthy. We can only watch as we keep wide awake. The word watch is used in the context means to be aroused, to be alert, to be wide awake spiritually. The deeper the midnight hour, the more urgent the vigil. The fruit of the vigil is such as to make the loss of the thousand worlds as dust in the balance. Build upon this fact, for to build upon anything else is faithlessness to Him and folly to yourself. He is coming when we think not. There will be no warning. Does lightning give a warning? As the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. One quick blinding sudden flash and the watchful will be with the Lord. The unwatchful according to the Lord’s own warning will be left to the earth’s last judgments.
Let us be aware, Father
Let us be watchful
Let us be filled with You
Pastor Ray shared…
Years ago, Pastor Lynne read some things about Justice Du Plessis; he had been to Eagle Mountain. He was speaking to them about Jesus coming back. He said every day he was in expectation that this could be the day. I like that. Having an expectation and being ready and watchful. Not taken by surprise.
Prayer for the President and the nation…
Father, in the name of Jesus and according to your Word, we pray for those in authority in our nation. We lift up President Donald Trump, his family, his staff, and cabinet members. Let Your Word cling to them, and let them not depart from Your plan. Strengthen them with mighty power by Your Spirit to stand against wickedness, lies, and deception. Guide President Trump’s decisions; let Your light shine upon his path and show him the path of reversal for every evil way. Continually surround him with godly men and women who impart wise counsel to him. Cause the way of the wicked to be set to confusion and come to nothing. Deliver us from the traps and snares the enemy has laid for us, and let the wicked be caught in their own devises and be brought to shame. We take authority over the plots and plans of the enemy against this nation. Let prideful and lying lips be silenced in Jesus’ name. Slanderers will not be established in America. We pray for our congress, our supreme court, our military leaders, and our intelligence agencies. Let the wisdom that is from above reign in this nation and be constantly speaking to our leaders. We exercise the authority You have given us to tread down all the power of the enemy. We cast down and demolish imaginations and arguments that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We bind spirits of strife and division, civil wars and tumults, spirits of hostility, lawlessness and blasphemy, and fires from hell that have burned in our cities.
We speak grace and peace over America. We pray and believe for the voice of truth, salvation, revival, and restoration to be proclaimed and heard across our land. Grant unto your servants everywhere that with all boldness we may speak your Word. We pray for a mighty outpouring of your Spirit with signs, wonders, and miracles. We expect the wisdom of this world that is earthly, sensual, and devilish to depart and vanish until Your mighty work in America becomes a beacon of hope for all people everywhere. We expect the voice of rejoicing to be heard in our nation for your goodness, mercy, and prosperity in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayed…
Father, our hearts are expectant and our eyes see and look forward to the future with joy
There is a great shaking and a great shaping taking on the glorious church
By Your Spirit, by Your Word… conformed to Your image
Your Word is working in and through us
We look for and see every moment and opportunity because we understand the time
Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel
The church rising up in the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ
Going into the highways and byways
Going into new and unchartered territories
Ministering angels go to assist them
Increase on every side… financially… influence
Continue to birth that dream in the hearts of Your people
We occupy till You come
Laborers into the harvest fields
