Aug 23, 2023
Web Description: We can say, “We need miracles! We need to make disciples of the nations!” But Yeshua (Jesus) performed miracles and made disciples because of the compassion in His heart toward people. And we cannot expect the same results if our love has grown cold, and we are restrained in our emotions. Our focus should not be on the works themselves but on receiving and expressing, by the Holy Spirit, the Father’s compassion that is in Christ.
Show Notes: When describing the end times, Yeshua said that people’s love will grow cold because of the abounding iniquity, or increasing lawlessness, in the world. This is not something He said will happen to some people. He said it will happen to most people. We need to recognize that one of the greatest battles we face today is the war against the heart, that is, against the feelings and expressions that come from our hearts.
In the Gospels we read again and again that Christ brought teachings and performed miracles and made disciples because He was moved by a heart of compassion. His actions were directed by His emotions. And that is true of us. What we feel we act out. If our hearts are filled with compassion, we will move in acts of compassion. On the other hand, if we feel that being emotional is not appropriate for Christians or our love is cold because we are affected by the world, we will not have the same expression that Christ had.
How do we counter this trend toward less and less love? We counter it by opening our hearts, especially by receiving the Holy Spirit and allowing the fruit of the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. If our hearts are filled with these emotions, the fruit of the Spirit, then we will minister to the earth in these days with the same compassion that moved Him. This is the only way that people will see the heart of the Father.
Key Verses:
• Matthew 24:6–13. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”
• Matthew 9:35–36. “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them.”
• Matthew 14:14. “He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”
• Matthew 15:32. “Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people.’”
• Matthew 20:29–31. “The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more.”
• Matthew 20:32–34. “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes.”
• Psalm 51:10–12. “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”
• Mark 1:40–42. “Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.”
• Mark 9:22. “Take pity on us and help us!”
• Luke 7:12–15. “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her.”
• John 5:19. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.”
• Luke 15:17–24. “His father saw him and felt compassion for him.”
• 1 Peter 4:8. “Love covers a multitude of sins.”
• Romans 5:10. “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”
• Galatians 5:22–24. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
• Luke 23:34. “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Quotes:
• “God is love. That is an emotion. So if it's not too emotional for God to be love, then it's not too emotional for us to feel and express His love.”
• “It amazes me how in Scripture after Scripture after Scripture, event after event, healing after healing were all triggered by the heart of compassion that Christ had in Him.”
• “We become very unaware of God, His love for us, and we violate all that He is and all that He's given for us. At some point, we come to our senses. And we hope that for the world at large today. Father, let this age come to its senses and wake up from its “woke” mentality and come to You.”
Takeaways:
1. God's heart and the emotions of His heart were planted in you like a seed. And like fruit they are to grow on the tree of your life, and they are to manifest themselves in your heart. The only thing we have that manifests emotion is the heart. And everything Christ did, including going to the cross, was motivated by the love and compassion in His heart.
2. We know that Christ walked by the Spirit. We know that He was led by the Spirit. What does that really mean? It means He was led by emotions, the fruit of the Spirit. We likewise are told by the Scriptures to be filled with the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, and to walk by the Spirit. That means that we, just like Christ, must be driven by a heart filled with the emotional fruit of the Spirit.
3. The Father ministered His compassion to His Son, and His Son ministered it to the world as a representative of the Father. That is who we are to be in this age. But if we let the love in our hearts grow cold because of the iniquity around us, and if we let ourselves in our emotions be affected by this world and come into agreement with this world, then there will be nothing in this world to be a reflection of the love and compassion that the Father has for all mankind.