Dr. Tony Evans

Tony Evans - Releasing God's Compassion

May 3, 2026 | 27:29

Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.

#WordofGod #LoveyourNeighbor #Faithfulness #Grace #Belief #Pastors #Compassion #Healing #TonyEvans

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - Releasing God's Compassion | May 3, 2026

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Tony evans: don't come to church just to be blessed.
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It's okay to come to be blessed, but not only to be blessed.
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You ask god, "god, how do you want me to be a blessing?"
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And so it is absolutely critical that if you and i
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Want to see god move in our circumstance,
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We must be tools he can use for the benefit of others.
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♪♪♪
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Tony: in our passage today in isaiah 58, the people
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Are giving it their best shot.
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They are engaged in major religious activity.
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They're going to church.
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They're singing their songs.
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They're praying their prayers.
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They are engaged, but they have a concern.
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They have something that's bothering them
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Because even though they're doing all of this,
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Nothing is happening.
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It's not producing any results.
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In fact, in isaiah 58, he recites--
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The prophet recites some of the frustration of the folks there
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Who are going through all of this.
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He says, "why," verse 3, "have we fasted
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And you do not see?
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Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice?
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Behold, on the day of your fast,
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You find your desire.
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You drive hard your workers."
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He says, "we're crying out to you, but you don't hear.
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We're talking to you, but you don't see."
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I'm certain that many of us knows what it is
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To try to find god and he be un-locatable.
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We can't find him,
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We can't hear from him, and we need him to intervene
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In our situation.
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They wanted him to intervene in their circumstances.
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They wanted him to guide their directions.
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They wanted his compassion on their issues,
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And they couldn't locate him.
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That's why he raises a question twice,
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Front of first--verse 5 and the front of verse 6.
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He says in verse 5, "is it a fast like this which i choose?"
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Verse 6, "is this not the fast which i choose?"
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In other words, "what you chose and what i choose
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Is not the same thing.
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What you're doing and what i asked for
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Is not the same thing."
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Now, we talking about church folk.
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We're talking about folk who are praying,
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Reading their bibles, fasting.
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He says, "but this is not what i chose.
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This is not the assignment i asked for,
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And because you're not doing the assignment i asked for,
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I can't hear you.
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So you need to know what i want,
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And what i want is not merely your religious activity.
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I don't--i'm not focused not because i'm against it,
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But i'm asking for something different."
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Let me talk a little bit about religion.
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Religion is like donuts.
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It tastes good, but you're no better off for it.
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Like cotton candy it's sweet, but it just don't last.
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It masquerades as godliness.
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What is religion that god doesn't want?
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It is a religion that is not tied to relationship.
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It is going through the rituals
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Where there is no spiritual reality.
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It is going to facilitate a program
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Without connecting with a person.
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Whenever there was religion, there would be rules;
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But rules without relationship
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Will always lead to rebellion
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'cause after a while, you get tired of the rules.
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They were going through the religious motions
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Without the relational connection
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And wondering why god was not paying attention,
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Wondering why they weren't hearing from heaven,
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Why--wondering why nothing was changing.
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Religion is like putting bengay on a broken leg.
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It may make it feel better, but you haven't fixed anything.
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Perhaps you're here today or you've been here
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And you know what it is to come to church
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And be involved and pray and read your bible
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And go through the program of religion
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Without connecting with the relationship
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That god is asking for.
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God looks at relationship on two levels.
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We've talked about this quite a bit.
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Vertically with him, and horizontally with others.
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So he goes in and he tells them, "the fast that i choose--"
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This is my assignment.
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So i'm gonna give you the assignment
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That god gave them, and then i'm gonna tell you
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What you can expect to receive if you do the assignment.
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In other words, what god will release
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If the assignment is met that he is giving us.
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He says, "is this not the fast which i choose,"
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Verse 6, "to loosen the bonds of wickedness,
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To undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,
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To break every yoke?
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Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry,
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To bring the homeless poor into the house,
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When you see the naked to cover him,
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And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?"
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He says, "my assignment that i'm giving you
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In order to satisfy me in what i'm requesting
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Is that you improve the lives of others,
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That i want you to be in the business
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Of improving the lives of others
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And not just asking me to improve your life.
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I don't want you-- i don't mind you asking me
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To have compassion on you and to deliver you
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And to work with you and to provide for you
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And to meet you in your crisis and meet you in your confusion.
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I don't mind you asking me that as long as i know
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You are equally concerned about improving the lot
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Of other people outside of you,
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Other people who are being oppressed,
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Other people who are being treated unjustly,
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Other people who are being misused,
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Other people who are being totally destroyed.
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If you only are concerned for me for you,
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That's not the fast that i choose.
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You must be concerned for me for you
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And then through you for somebody other than you.
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Because if it's only about you, you're not being like me."
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We live in a day of, as i stated earlier,
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Selfish christianity.
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People are always looking to god for their blessing.
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But how many people have you met who say,
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"i'm coming to church so i can find out
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Where god wants me to be a blessing,
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Whose life he wants me to improve
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Because i need him to improve mine"?
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The more you need god to do something for you,
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The more you better let god use you
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To do something for someone else.
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We live in a day of social oppression,
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Political oppression, economic oppression,
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Racial oppression, environmental oppression,
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And all--it comes in all shapes and sizes,
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In crime and all of the things, but it comes because people
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Have forgotten the god that we serve
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Is interested in us being tools he can use
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And not only people he can benefit.
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He does not simply want to be used.
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He wants to use us.
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And the more you and i seek to be the blessing
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That we want to receive, the more god is open to hearing
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What you need.
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The less we are concerned about being a blessing
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And improving somebody else's life,
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The less we will hear from heaven about our own lives.
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He says, "that is the fast that i choose.
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That is the relationship that i want."
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Justice is really the equal and impartial application
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Of god's moral law,
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And it's simply saying god has a standard.
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We're going to meet that standard
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And we're gonna use that standard
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To set other people free.
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Now, that comes in all shapes and sizes.
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In luke chapter 4, jesus is going into his public ministry.
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And when he goes into his public ministry,
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He says, "i've got good news for the poor
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And i've got good news for the captives,
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And i come to set people free."
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And that was the year of jubilee,
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Where god says, "i'm going to improve people's lives."
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We are to be involved in the life-improvement business,
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And we are to seek opportunities
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Because you're gonna want god to do something in your life
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To improve your situation--
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If not today, one day-- that there will be a time
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When you're gonna need god to invade
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The negative realities of your life
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And to turn it around, to have compassion on you,
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To have deliverance for you,
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To have a new set of circumstances
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To invade your situation.
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And the question on the floor is
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"did you pass the test that i choose?
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When i needed you for somebody else,
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Were you available or were you so self-consumed
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It was just about three people: me, myself, and i?"
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He says, "this is the fast that i choose."
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And what jesus has done is he says that
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"your connection with me is intricately tied
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To your care for somebody other than you."
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In matthew chapter 25, verses 31 to 46,
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He separates the sheep and the goat and he says,
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"now, when i was hungry, you fed me.
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When i was naked, you clothed me.
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When i was homeless, you gave me a place to stay."
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And they say, "when did we do this?"
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He says, "when you did it to my little ones,
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You did it to me."
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There is a lawyer, and he wanted to trick jesus.
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Says he put jesus to the test and he asked jesus,
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"how can i inherit eternal life?"
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No, he didn't ask jesus, "how can i enter eternal life?
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How do i get saved, become a christian,
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Get converted?"
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That wasn't the question in luke 10.
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It was, "how can i inherit eternal life?"
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Now, inherit eternal life is like inheriting a blessing,
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Is "how can i get the benefits of god's life for me?"
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It's "whatever god has in my will, how can i get it?
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How can i inherit, get the benefits of eternal life?"
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So he says, "what's the greatest commandment?"
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Jesus said, "to love the lord your god
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With all your heart, mind."
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That's the vertical part.
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To love god with all you got.
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Then jesus ask--answered something he didn't ask.
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He didn't ask what was number two,
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But god told him number two anyway.
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"you're to love the lord your god,
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And you're to love the neighbor as yourself."
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So a guy asked a question.
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He said, "but who's my neighbor?"
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He said, "because i--you know, all these people,
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All these problems, the whole world.
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My neighbor, the person who lives next door?
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Who exactly is my neighbor?"
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So that's when jesus tells him a story.
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He says there was a man going down the jericho road,
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Going--leaving jerusalem,
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Going down the jericho road, and he fell on robbers
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And he was beaten and he was half past dead,
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Didn't know whether he was gonna live or die.
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He says the preacher rode by.
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And when the preacher was on his horse and rode by,
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He saw the problem after coming from worship in jerusalem
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At the temple, after he said, "amen, praise the lord.
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Hallelujah.
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Ain't god good all the time, all the time god is good."
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He passed by the problem and ignored it
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'cause he didn't wanna get unclean by it.
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So he said the preacher didn't do anything.
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He says then came the deacon, the levite.
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The deacon came by and he saw the situation,
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And he didn't wanna mess with it either.
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But then he said then the samaritan came by.
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This is a person of a whole another race,
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And he came by and he saw the need
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And he says he addressed the need.
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So jesus said, "now you tell me who the neighbor is.
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You tell me who's the good neighbor.
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Is it the preacher who preached a good sermon
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But didn't address the need?
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Was it the leader in the church?
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Good leader, good reputation,
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Had a sign on, deacon, but he didn't meet the need.
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Or was it this person of another race
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Who stopped and who addressed the need?
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You tell me who the neighbor is."
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So you can always know when god is giving you
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A situation he wants you to speak into
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Because he wants you to pass the test.
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It will always involve three things: a need you see,
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A need you feel, and a need you can meet.
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He will bring it before you so you see it,
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He will make your heart beat for it
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So that you have compassion on it,
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And then you will have a capacity to do something
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To improve it.
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Every need you see, you don't feel,
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And every need you see and feel, you're not able to meet;
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But when you see it, feel it, and meet it,
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That's god telling you, "handle that.
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I want you to take care of that.
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I want you to speak into that.
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I want you to improve that situation."
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When you see it, feel it, and can do something with it,
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That is god telling you he's giving you
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An opportunity to pass a test.
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But just like the preacher failed the test,
00:15:10.592 --> 00:15:13.963
The levite failed the test,
00:15:13.963 --> 00:15:16.165
Christians are failing the test every day
00:15:16.165 --> 00:15:18.067
While they're looking for their blessing,
00:15:18.067 --> 00:15:20.069
And they wonder why they're not hearing from heaven,
00:15:20.069 --> 00:15:22.905
Because heaven can't use them to touch somebody else.
00:15:22.905 --> 00:15:26.775
And when god can't use you to touch somebody else,
00:15:26.775 --> 00:15:29.912
That means that he is closing his hearing to you.
00:15:29.912 --> 00:15:33.415
See, you need to understand something.
00:15:33.415 --> 00:15:34.850
I need to understand something.
00:15:34.850 --> 00:15:36.352
We need to understand something.
00:15:36.352 --> 00:15:37.786
We can limit god.
00:15:37.786 --> 00:15:39.822
Now, y'all know we talk about god being omnipotent,
00:15:39.822 --> 00:15:41.757
All-powerful, okay?
00:15:41.757 --> 00:15:43.792
But he can be limited.
00:15:43.792 --> 00:15:45.127
Jesus said, "i would have done many miracles,
00:15:45.127 --> 00:15:48.564
But i couldn't do it, because of their unbelief."
00:15:48.564 --> 00:15:52.101
He says, "their unbelief limited me."
00:15:52.101 --> 00:15:54.203
When we don't operate the way god wants us to operate,
00:15:54.203 --> 00:15:57.539
We limit him.
00:15:57.539 --> 00:15:58.874
We don't limit his power; we limit his choice.
00:15:58.874 --> 00:16:01.877
In other words, he decides he can't work
00:16:01.877 --> 00:16:05.347
With a cul-de-sac.
00:16:05.347 --> 00:16:07.716
He needs a conduit.
00:16:07.716 --> 00:16:09.985
Cul-de-sac, you can go to, but you can't go through.
00:16:09.985 --> 00:16:12.921
He always wants his people to be vehicles of blessing
00:16:12.921 --> 00:16:16.358
If in fact they want to receive
00:16:16.358 --> 00:16:18.394
The inheritance of the blessing he has for them.
00:16:18.394 --> 00:16:21.830
And so it is absolutely critical that if you and i
00:16:21.830 --> 00:16:25.067
Want to see god move in our circumstance,
00:16:25.067 --> 00:16:28.637
We must be tools he can use for the benefit of others.
00:16:28.637 --> 00:16:35.210
There's a set of verses--
00:16:35.210 --> 00:16:40.549
Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 to 12--
00:16:40.549 --> 00:16:44.720
And it says ask, seek, and knock.
00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:49.892
In other words, "call on me."
00:16:49.892 --> 00:16:52.428
Ask, seek, and knock.
00:16:52.428 --> 00:16:54.897
We love those verses, but some people say,
00:16:54.897 --> 00:16:58.367
"i asked, i sought, and i knocked,
00:16:58.367 --> 00:17:01.837
And ain't nothing happened."
00:17:01.837 --> 00:17:04.106
Okay?
00:17:04.106 --> 00:17:05.474
It says ask, seek, and knock
00:17:05.474 --> 00:17:07.209
And it says it will be done for you,
00:17:07.209 --> 00:17:09.378
But yet when we ask, seek, and knock, and nothing happens.
00:17:09.378 --> 00:17:12.614
That's 'cause we don't read verse 12.
00:17:12.614 --> 00:17:16.151
See, all them other verses, those are sweet,
00:17:16.151 --> 00:17:19.354
But at verse 12 he says "therefore."
00:17:19.354 --> 00:17:22.624
Now, whenever he says "therefore,"
00:17:22.624 --> 00:17:24.626
You gotta know what it's there for.
00:17:24.626 --> 00:17:26.929
He says in verse 12 treat others like you want to be treated
00:17:26.929 --> 00:17:31.834
If you were in the same situation.
00:17:31.834 --> 00:17:34.636
So he says ask, seek, knock, and treat,
00:17:34.636 --> 00:17:38.440
Meaning if you skip verse 12, you've jeopardized
00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:42.077
Ask, seek, and knock.
00:17:42.077 --> 00:17:43.879
See, a lot of people wanna ask god, seek god,
00:17:43.879 --> 00:17:46.248
And knock but not treat.
00:17:46.248 --> 00:17:49.318
They don't wanna treat.
00:17:49.318 --> 00:17:50.786
They don't wanna minister to somebody else
00:17:50.786 --> 00:17:53.122
Like they would want to be ministered to
00:17:53.122 --> 00:17:54.990
If they were in the same situation,
00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:57.226
Which stifles your ask, seek, and knock
00:17:57.226 --> 00:18:00.329
Because god says, "that person that's asking,
00:18:00.329 --> 00:18:02.498
Seeking, and knocking, i put you in a position to see it,
00:18:02.498 --> 00:18:05.567
To feel it, and be able to meet it.
00:18:05.567 --> 00:18:07.803
You said no to them.
00:18:07.803 --> 00:18:09.138
I'm saying no to you
00:18:09.138 --> 00:18:12.141
Because you're not doing to them
00:18:12.141 --> 00:18:13.976
What you want me to do for you
00:18:13.976 --> 00:18:15.744
If you were in the same situation."
00:18:15.744 --> 00:18:17.779
And trust me, you may not be in that situation today,
00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.482
But just keep living.
00:18:20.482 --> 00:18:24.920
There will be a time in your life, my life,
00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.256
Our life when we will need compassion,
00:18:27.256 --> 00:18:29.858
When we will need god to break through for us
00:18:29.858 --> 00:18:32.961
Because our world is crashing.
00:18:32.961 --> 00:18:36.398
That man on the jericho road, he was injured.
00:18:36.398 --> 00:18:39.601
We have structures that injure people,
00:18:39.601 --> 00:18:41.637
Crime that injures people,
00:18:41.637 --> 00:18:43.805
Family disintegration that injures people,
00:18:43.805 --> 00:18:45.974
Our own sin that injures our people.
00:18:45.974 --> 00:18:48.644
We have a world that is falling apart.
00:18:48.644 --> 00:18:53.715
You say, "but--okay, but what about me?
00:18:53.715 --> 00:18:55.417
What about me?
00:18:55.417 --> 00:18:56.752
You telling me god wants to use me to--
00:18:56.752 --> 00:18:58.253
Them, but i'm calling on god 'cause i got troubles of my own.
00:18:58.253 --> 00:19:01.390
I got--i need god to do something in my situation."
00:19:01.390 --> 00:19:04.927
Okay, let me help you out.
00:19:04.927 --> 00:19:07.529
Verse 8, "then--" somebody say, "then."
00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:12.935
Meaning after you're willing to do something
00:19:12.935 --> 00:19:15.170
To improve somebody else, "then, your light
00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:19.107
Will break out like the dawn,
00:19:19.107 --> 00:19:21.977
And your recovery will speedily spring forth,
00:19:21.977 --> 00:19:25.614
And your righteousness will go before you.
00:19:25.614 --> 00:19:28.951
The glory of the lord will be your rear guard."
00:19:28.951 --> 00:19:32.554
Verse 9, "then you will call and the lord will answer.
00:19:32.554 --> 00:19:38.393
You will cry and he will say, 'here i am.'
00:19:38.393 --> 00:19:42.731
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
00:19:42.731 --> 00:19:45.968
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness--"
00:19:45.968 --> 00:19:49.204
He says, "if i can get you to do the assignment
00:19:49.204 --> 00:19:53.642
That i'm asking you to do vertically with me,
00:19:53.642 --> 00:19:56.445
Horizontally with others,
00:19:56.445 --> 00:19:58.013
Now i'm paying you and giving you
00:19:58.013 --> 00:20:00.115
My undivided attention
00:20:00.115 --> 00:20:01.883
And i can release to you guidance,
00:20:01.883 --> 00:20:03.852
I can release to you direction, i can release to you provision.
00:20:03.852 --> 00:20:07.623
I can take the yoke off of your neck,
00:20:07.623 --> 00:20:09.725
Whatever is holding you down."
00:20:09.725 --> 00:20:11.693
And here's what i like in verse 10.
00:20:11.693 --> 00:20:14.229
"and if you give yourself to the hungry
00:20:14.229 --> 00:20:16.465
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
00:20:16.465 --> 00:20:19.268
Then your light will rise in darkness
00:20:19.268 --> 00:20:21.937
And your gloom will become like midday."
00:20:21.937 --> 00:20:24.706
He says, "i will shift the circumstances of your reality."
00:20:24.706 --> 00:20:28.677
So please don't come to church just to be blessed.
00:20:28.677 --> 00:20:33.315
It's okay to come to be blessed, but not only to be blessed.
00:20:33.315 --> 00:20:37.185
You ask god, "god, how do you want me to be a blessing?
00:20:37.185 --> 00:20:41.323
All week long, what do you want me to see,
00:20:41.323 --> 00:20:44.126
To feel, and to do?"
00:20:44.126 --> 00:20:46.194
And when god sees you pass that test,
00:20:46.194 --> 00:20:48.997
He knows that you are now doing the kind of religion he chooses,
00:20:48.997 --> 00:20:55.470
Not the kind of prosperity theology,
00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.573
Not the kind that only wants god to pay your bills
00:20:58.573 --> 00:21:01.476
And to bless you and to give you a new car,
00:21:01.476 --> 00:21:04.012
New house, new clothes, new job, new this, new that,
00:21:04.012 --> 00:21:07.816
Take away the problem, heal the family,
00:21:07.816 --> 00:21:09.851
"bring my son back home."
00:21:09.851 --> 00:21:11.386
All of those things are-- totally have their place,
00:21:11.386 --> 00:21:14.189
But he says, "if i can't use you,
00:21:14.189 --> 00:21:16.558
I don't want you to use me."
00:21:16.558 --> 00:21:22.731
He talks about physical strength,
00:21:22.731 --> 00:21:24.466
He talks about repairing things,
00:21:24.466 --> 00:21:26.668
He talks about a fresh experience with me,
00:21:26.668 --> 00:21:31.673
And he talks about something else.
00:21:31.673 --> 00:21:33.008
James 1:13, he says, "if i can get you to do
00:21:33.008 --> 00:21:38.447
What i'm asking for-- not just what you want,
00:21:38.447 --> 00:21:42.084
But what i'm asking for--"
00:21:42.084 --> 00:21:45.420
He says mercy overrides judgment in james 1:13--2:13.
00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:54.863
There are very few people here who at some point in your life
00:21:54.863 --> 00:21:57.499
Won't need mercy--
00:21:57.499 --> 00:22:00.168
Mercy is getting--not getting what you do deserve--
00:22:00.168 --> 00:22:05.941
Who won't need god to reduce the sentence,
00:22:05.941 --> 00:22:12.147
To give you community service rather than jail,
00:22:12.147 --> 00:22:15.784
Who won't need god to come through and deliver you
00:22:15.784 --> 00:22:19.921
From something you got yourself into.
00:22:19.921 --> 00:22:24.760
He says when god sees that you have touched
00:22:24.760 --> 00:22:27.429
The lives of others and shown mercy to others,
00:22:27.429 --> 00:22:31.500
He says it overrides judgment.
00:22:31.500 --> 00:22:35.036
It pushes an override button in the heart and hand of god
00:22:35.036 --> 00:22:39.708
Where he says, "well, i know you weren't all good there,
00:22:39.708 --> 00:22:42.177
I know you weren't all right there,
00:22:42.177 --> 00:22:43.512
But you cared for somebody else who was in that same situation
00:22:43.512 --> 00:22:47.182
So i'm gonna release to you--"
00:22:47.182 --> 00:22:48.750
Do you know what they do to have--
00:22:48.750 --> 00:22:50.519
In court they offer-- what do they call it?
00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:52.687
Character witnesses.
00:22:52.687 --> 00:22:54.456
And those character witnesses come in and tell them
00:22:54.456 --> 00:22:56.725
Even though you did a bad thing how good a person you were,
00:22:56.725 --> 00:22:59.694
And they take in consideration character witnesses
00:22:59.694 --> 00:23:02.063
Of what you did for them
00:23:02.063 --> 00:23:04.299
To determine what they're gonna do
00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:05.801
About your sentence.
00:23:05.801 --> 00:23:07.469
And the more character witnesses,
00:23:07.469 --> 00:23:09.070
The better it is for you.
00:23:09.070 --> 00:23:11.239
Some of us need to go looking for character witnesses.
00:23:11.239 --> 00:23:13.475
We just need to go out in the street
00:23:13.475 --> 00:23:15.076
And find some character witnesses,
00:23:15.076 --> 00:23:16.945
Say, "god, look at him.
00:23:16.945 --> 00:23:18.313
Look at her. look at them.
00:23:18.313 --> 00:23:19.948
I met them. i helped them, so i need you."
00:23:19.948 --> 00:23:23.051
God's gonna calculate all of that when you cry for him
00:23:23.051 --> 00:23:28.256
Because he wants to know that we are conduits
00:23:28.256 --> 00:23:31.927
And not merely "con-de-sacs."
00:23:31.927 --> 00:23:34.763
And so he says in verse 12, the last verse,
00:23:34.763 --> 00:23:40.268
"those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins.
00:23:40.268 --> 00:23:44.473
You will raise up the old-age foundations,
00:23:44.473 --> 00:23:48.677
And you will be called repairers of the breach,
00:23:48.677 --> 00:23:51.813
The restorers of the streets in which to dwell."
00:23:51.813 --> 00:23:58.920
Our culture is breached.
00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:01.990
There is division everywhere. there is division everywhere.
00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:07.062
There are breaches everywhere: racial breaches,
00:24:07.062 --> 00:24:10.866
Cultural breaches, gender breaches.
00:24:10.866 --> 00:24:12.834
There is mass chaos,
00:24:12.834 --> 00:24:17.005
And the legal system can't fix it,
00:24:17.005 --> 00:24:20.475
The social structures can't fix it,
00:24:20.475 --> 00:24:23.979
Taxing us more can't fix it.
00:24:23.979 --> 00:24:26.481
They're trying to do all this stuff to fixing it
00:24:26.481 --> 00:24:29.384
When the problem is that god is not fixing it.
00:24:29.384 --> 00:24:34.022
And if god is not fixing it, it doesn't matter who you elect.
00:24:34.022 --> 00:24:39.728
That won't matter, because they're trying to do it
00:24:39.728 --> 00:24:43.899
Their way and they're excluding god's methodology.
00:24:43.899 --> 00:24:48.103
And when you're not doing what he chooses
00:24:48.103 --> 00:24:50.739
But doing what you think you choose,
00:24:50.739 --> 00:24:52.974
Then you're not gonna get his help
00:24:52.974 --> 00:24:54.876
No matter how much you sing "god bless america."
00:24:54.876 --> 00:24:58.446
It doesn't work that way.
00:24:58.446 --> 00:25:01.016
It works when you do what he chooses
00:25:01.016 --> 00:25:04.185
And you are responding the way he wants you to respond,
00:25:04.185 --> 00:25:07.389
And it starts with you.
00:25:07.389 --> 00:25:09.858
All of us have a realm of sphere of responsibility.
00:25:09.858 --> 00:25:13.862
Can you imagine if thousands of us
00:25:13.862 --> 00:25:16.264
Every week are doing something for somebody?
00:25:16.264 --> 00:25:19.634
We're bringing healing.
00:25:19.634 --> 00:25:21.069
And if you spread that out, the healing spreads out.
00:25:21.069 --> 00:25:25.907
You say, "but the world is so messed up.
00:25:25.907 --> 00:25:29.010
The world is so bad. what little can i do?"
00:25:29.010 --> 00:25:31.580
A father was walking on a beach one day
00:25:31.580 --> 00:25:33.982
And a bunch of starfish were all washed up on the beach,
00:25:33.982 --> 00:25:37.652
A bunch of starfish washed up on the beach,
00:25:37.652 --> 00:25:39.854
And every now and then, the father would pick up one
00:25:39.854 --> 00:25:41.590
And throw it back in the water.
00:25:41.590 --> 00:25:42.924
He'd walk and pick up another and throw it back in the water.
00:25:42.924 --> 00:25:45.493
The little boy looked at his father and said,
00:25:45.493 --> 00:25:46.861
"daddy, daddy, what does that mean when there are
00:25:46.861 --> 00:25:52.567
So many that have washed up on the beach?
00:25:52.567 --> 00:25:55.670
How do--why does it matter that every now and then
00:25:55.670 --> 00:25:58.139
You pick up one and throw it back?"
00:25:58.139 --> 00:26:00.709
He says, "it matters to the one i threw back."
00:26:00.709 --> 00:26:04.546
So, yeah, you can't solve all the problems,
00:26:04.546 --> 00:26:06.648
But pick up the starfish you can
00:26:06.648 --> 00:26:08.817
'cause it matters to the one you throw back
00:26:08.817 --> 00:26:11.786
And it matters to you
00:26:11.786 --> 00:26:14.422
When you want somebody to pick you up
00:26:14.422 --> 00:26:16.191
And throw you back
00:26:16.191 --> 00:26:17.559
Because god will remember what you did.
00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:20.528
That's why i love the book of nehemiah
00:26:20.528 --> 00:26:22.397
'cause nehemiah rebuilds the whole city of jerusalem,
00:26:22.397 --> 00:26:25.166
And yet peppered throughout the book of nehemiah,
00:26:25.166 --> 00:26:28.737
You'll see this phrase.
00:26:28.737 --> 00:26:30.839
Nehemiah says, "god, as i do all of these things
00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.475
For these people, remember me, remember me, remember me.
00:26:33.475 --> 00:26:38.913
When i need you, remember me of what i'm doing for them."
00:26:38.913 --> 00:26:42.584
Does anybody in here need god to remember you?
00:26:42.584 --> 00:26:45.687
Does anybody in here need god to hear you, to respond to you?
00:26:45.687 --> 00:26:50.592
Then make sure you are a vehicle through whom he can touch others
00:26:50.592 --> 00:26:56.431
And our church becomes a vehicle to touch others
00:26:56.431 --> 00:27:00.735
And not just be here for ourselves.
00:27:00.735 --> 00:27:04.639
And when we are serving and giving and ministering
00:27:04.639 --> 00:27:08.476
With others in mind, then we have positioned ourselves
00:27:08.476 --> 00:27:13.682
For a blessing.
00:27:13.682 --> 00:27:16.785
Receive what god has for you, vertically with him
00:27:16.785 --> 00:27:20.755
And horizontally with others,
00:27:20.755 --> 00:27:22.757
And now you'll see what answered prayer looks like.
00:27:22.757 --> 00:27:22.757

Tony Evans - Releasing God's Compassion

May 3, 2026 | 27:29

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