Hillsong Church - The Sigh of Compassion

come on can you send you three with us would you put your hands come on we see you [Music] your freedom [Music] bue for [Music] walking [Music] you [Music] [Music] you [Music] you [Music] [Music] keep your heads together we sing [Music] you [Music] first [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music] in the crashing in the facing you are making in this soil [Music] you [Music] Oh [Music] you are okay [Music] in you are making [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] whatever you want [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] okay oh Jesus [Music] Jesus [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] me of this [Music] me you balmy okay me Jesus [Music] Jesus me oh Jesus fing new [Music] [Music] Here I am to worship Here I am to bow down here and to say that you're my god you're altogether lovely what you get in the worthy wall together for Julie come on see here I am still a yeah [Music] your [Music] Oh [Music] to see [Music] how much it cost to see [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] for to me so wonderful yes you are [Music] [Music] come on show choice a father in heaven holy is your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [Music] our Father in Heaven she let us know [Music] the caddy is the key the power [Music] [Music] [Music] yours is the G [Music] that you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] come on let's applause Oh Lord Shiva [Music] let's pray together father we're just so grateful we're so grateful that we get to meet together like this we're so grateful that we can come and we can do church together to give you praise that we can do church together to open your word and have it change us and we're so grateful Jesus that you laid your life down for us and sometimes god we don't know what to say to say thank you and so god today that's all we can do we just want to say thank you thank you that you sent Jesus thank you Jesus that you laid your life down for us and we lift up all these prayer requests to noon we lift up every person in Darwin today you Church to the air on the hill some channel and inside this auditorium here today need you to do something supernatural and we know you are a supernatural garden and who us to have breakthrough so we say thank you to you today Jesus very personal come and gather today you would bless the York we give you praise Jesus amen amen come on let's give him one more round of praise yes sir they men you are ever have a need and you want us to pray for you as a church then in the foyers just before you come into church and Darwin and you can send them through with Church of the air and on Hillsong channel but in our foyers here at Hills we also have an information desk and/or a next step stand and you can just go and pick up one of these prayer requests and we'd love to pray for you and and don't worry if you don't get or managed to fill one of these in we still want to pray for you and that's why we take the time at the beginning of the service to do so and know that Jesus can do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we could ask think or imagine amen well welcome to Hillsong Church it's really cool that you made it to church today are you happy that you made it to church okay so I don't know if you have taken note who you're sitting next to but I reckon they could be pretty cool so why don't you I should take your seat just say a big get a to them and then you can take your seats which would be great [Music] so go in so good to be in church together we are family I like you I like you a lot I like you there in Darwin so Pastor Brian and our entire teams that have done 18 cities across the United States of America on that there is more tour had finally finished so why don't we give them a big round of applause what a huge effort huge effort and to commemorate the finish of this first tour there's another one at the end of the year I thought we should give away this book there is more pasta Brian's book that'll be amazing well we're going to continue our worship right now and our amazing campus pastor Sam Dimauro is going to come and share with us around our giving thank you Sam thanks Jules how good is the 9:00 a.m. service here at hills and everywhere where we're watching it's so great hey look I wanna encourage us around out giving okay on the screens there's different ways in which people give for Colley and I we just take that straight out of our pay that's what we do but one of the things I love over the last 20-something years of being a Christian especially when people hear I'm a pastor is hearing everyone's opinion on giving on tithing and so what I want to do is I'm going to talk about why why this moments a big deal to God and why it's a big deal for us you know in proverbs chapter 3 verse 9 the Bible says honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruit of your increase in Bible times honoring the Lord with your firstfruits and a once crop was all about expressing your gratitude for God's provision okay your gratitude for God's provision okay and so it got me thinking tithing is not charity tithing taking the first 10% of what you earn so if you earn a thousand dollars in that week the first hundred dollars belongs to God it's not even a donation we're the strongest helping the weaker or the richest helping the poor Oh our giving helps people but that's not the primary purpose why the Bible teaches us to give our giving is not about us helping God [Music] our giving is about us being obedient to God and acknowledging that God is helping us and tithing this is the power of it as we give this morning whether you're in good times or whether you'll find yourself in hard times as we give whatever that 10% looks like we're acknowledging that God is our source not the economy not man not our boss not what's happening around the corner but God and that's why we this morning can have confidence and I want to pray as we give and I want to believe God with you that as you honor him put him first that he truly will be your help and he will be your source amen so come I want you to take what you give maybe like me you're given during the week why don't you hold it up to the Lord in your heart so father I thank you this morning we acknowledge you you're our help you're our source and father I thank you that you will be faithful to your people and to your promise in Jesus name Amen amen amen hey look we've got our church is filled with heroes heroes and and they're just people normal people in our church and we've got a great story of one of our church heroes on the screen so check it out [Music] we recently got to chat with an incredible husband and father from Sydney after a tragedy in his family he stepped away from worship leading a church life for nearly five years we got to hear about his battles with grief loss and his faith journey along the way this is toll le from our Hills campus do you remember this tell Ellie have you never seen this I have but I don't really I only watch it when like my nephews and my nieces or my wife plays it to my kids it was a pretty special moment I was is how did you feel now watching it he's later I always still feel like really honored and privileged that I had a part to play and and encouraging somebody through the singing of them I was one of those people we're over you encouraged me different [Music] [Music] we had a tragedy my family might my oldest brother took his life and and I I just something in me snapped mi I went through a really bad depression I had suicidal thoughts every day and it was just I thought I was going crazy I don't know what to do so I just stopped coming mister I stopped coming to church for about five years I was just dead inside and so I stopped I just stopped yeah it was a tough time man so what was the turning point I felt like God was speaking to me one time when I was drunk off my face and he just said to me hey come on come on come home and I'm like yeah you know what deep down if I'm being honest deep down I really really want to because I'm not I'm not happy so you lose your brother 2005 heartbreaking 2010 this five year period this is just dark silent period then you make your way back it's a struggle when you look back now at those dark years where you were just not here but struggling what would you say to yourself me out man I mean I tell everybody all the time look there that's a struggle in the house where this hope with this help then out there where you've got nothing it's so funny like even though because I've always been a loner but that's so not how God designed us to be and even though I am naturally what I think I'm a loner being in the church community for whatever reason I always feel more alive doing that even though that's not my go-to but it's because we're designed that way so I just try and catch people just keep on doing it even if you don't feel like it keep on doing that because the alternative is too hard you know what this man it's like a lot of people out there when they hear camera zero that kind of roll their eyes but I'm not man that's not a slogan to me no this year you know that we it's real for me no I don't know what you've experienced but I've always been loved here even though I just don't make a lot of mistakes man but people always used to kick me on the butt and say Come on B better be better and that's what I've always every time I look in the mirror come on I want to be better than I was yesterday [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wow well that was that was pretty special Hey and I tell Elly and Susanna they'll be you now 11:15 service they're a great part of our Hills campus and our church as you see up on the screen by having a look at ttle Ellie's story our church is full of amazing people and Joel and I want to take you on a journey between now and the end of the year getting to meet some of those amazing people we have 31 locations across Australia and they're all incredible locations found in all kinds of places around this great Southland and then even into Bali and what we realized was all of you here maybe don't get to meet some of them there and they don't meet need to they don't necessarily get to meet you people and so we want to introduce our church to our church and so that's what we're going to be doing for the rest of the year and isn't to Lille stunning is a stunning man well we've got lots of things happening in church life Mother's Day two weeks away give a big cheer for all the mums all the girls in the house we've got Sheila Walsh coming in two weeks time she's gonna be bringing the word we've got Sunday visits Friday there's lots of things happening in church life and I reckon the best place to see where everything's happening is the best news of the week Church news so have a look at the screens [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh hi there welcome to church news well that's your first time or your one millionth time there's a next step free right oh maybe I'd like to get involved in a team like this gentlemen maybe like to meet people in the service you attend g'day guys you look amazing thanks for intimidating me every single day of my life or maybe you'd like to join a connect group maybe you'd even like to run a connect group and make it also for others well engage is for you engage is a four-week experience helping you get involved in the life of Hillsong Church and let me tell you it's for everyone even you young fellah oh thank you for reminding me we actually have a next steps app which you can download right now it's full of great resources and studies to help you run it connect group or even growing your personal faith on your own time and as always we'll see in the hallways enjoy your next step [Music] [Applause] what is something that mom always says she's like I love you Lacey she says you can't what's your shame yet everything that's mine is yours don't chase of mothers around my mom is telling me what to do Tibbals mommy's movie making me happy taking care of me cooking can you draw a picture of your mom [Music] [Music] [Music] you gotta love the kids in our church and our kids ministry that are looking after them right now how good our Hillsong kids team amazing well why don't we stand to our feet church hey be praying for pastor Bobby won't you she's still on the color journey and an absolute champion she's got this week ahead of a color la color Phoenix and color New York so she's doing all right for 61 don't you reckon yeah that's it I would give her a round of applause she's pretty amazing be praying for her well we've been engaged in an incredible series around the topic of love in fact real love and Robert Ferguson here at our Hills campus he kicked it off so fine on the first week here in April and we thought it would be an incredible way to finish it off with Pastor Robert Ferguson tying a knife knee bow around the series so why don't we keep applauding the Word of God the Lord Jesus Christ and brother Ferguson thank you very graces hello wonderful people good to see you thanks team did a brilliant job I assumed I wasn't here so how would I know but I'm sure they did great did they do good give him a clap then thank you very much you can all sit down well I have the privilege this morning and I often say this but it's always a privilege to speak I have the privilege to speak especially on this platform at this time not only to you wonderful people at heels but to you great people in Hobart and also Church on the air and the channel so good torture well a couple of weeks ago I started this series on love I didn't know that I was going to be the starter of the series in fact I didn't know I was going to be the finisher of it either but I rather like top and tailing a subject why because Jesus is the author and the finisher and three weeks ago I was able to talk about Jesus and what true love is this time I want to finish the subject by talking about feelings number of weeks ago when I introduced the idea of what true love is I suggested that true love is a choice Jesus didn't feel like going to the cross thank God he chose to do it are you with me we think that love is a feeling and so we can fall in and out of love but Jesus didn't fall in and out of love he chose to love us he died for us the Bible says while we were still sinners so that's where love starts but if it doesn't affect our feelings it isn't true love Jesus saw us and chose to love us and the feelings followed so think of it like this when the Bible says love God in Deuteronomy chapter 6 with all your heart soul mind and strength we choose with our mind with our spirit of our heart to love God but we also choose to love him with our soul we choose to love him with our emotions and we choose to love our neighbor with our emotions when you've got a tough neighbour it's difficult to choose to love them but it's even more difficult to feel like loving them today we're going to talk about those feelings it's on the subject of compassion and then so let's pray and let's get into this subject and I'm going to see if I can provoke you to thought father God thank you very much for these wonderful people thank you for their passion their enthusiasm both here at heals and those watching on the channel people in different remote communities around Australia those wonderful people in Hobart I pray that every single person wherever they are listening to this message will feel inspired will feel motivated will feel provoked and will feel challenged so that we walk away different people we ask it in the precious and the most wonderful name of Jesus and everybody said amen Smith Wigglesworth it's a great evangelist in the first part of the 20th century known as the apostle of faith is one of my heroes I can tell you exactly when I read his biography 4 o'clock in the morning on the 17th of March 17th of February sir it said untinted February 1979 I knew that because my wife was in labor she gave birth to our first daughter a couple of hours later and I came at 4 o'clock in the morning to a chapter called in Labor's more abundant I thought it was appropriate shared it with her she wasn't amused Smith Wigglesworth was rough in Australia he'd be described as rough as guts his methodology in manner is well known when he was praying for people who had stomach pains he was known to kit and so hard that they catapulted across the room please do not do that thankfully they ended up healed but he would do outrageous things a friend of mine was in a meeting once where he didn't like a group of people in the meeting because they had come in from a spiritualist Church and they were there to disrupt the meeting he didn't know that but by the spirit he walked down the aisle lifted up the Pew on which they were sitting tipped them all out into the aisle and shouted at the top of his voice get out of here you gavels which they did so just a little warning if you don't look enthusiastic or passionate or in any way disrupt the meeting I might just come down off the platform just thought I'd warn you but I want to tell you how he died three weeks before he died he prayed for a relative of a friend of mine she had cancer then three weeks later he was at a funeral service and he was taken into the vestry where the father of the sick woman stood and he turned to the father and he said this well how is she and the father wasn't able to say that she had been miraculously and completely healed said that she was feeling a little better and Smith Wigglesworth gave a sigh dropped his chin and died on the spot in the vestry I was told that story because I was asked to be the pastor of that church in the 80s glad-tidings tavern cackle in Wakefield and I was standing on the very spot that he died so they thought that tell me that story I felt a little uncomfortable 15 years previously had told a friend that he had asked God for 15 more years of life and to the week he died 15 years later at the age of 87 but I want to talk about that sigh of compassion that's the title of the message the sigh of compassion or if you want to subtitle the guts of the matter we make judgments about people's external appearance and external methodology I'm sure that you and I would have called Smith Wigglesworth rough but God looked on the inside of that man 1 Samuel chapter 16 and verse 7 when Samuel is choosing David who's a rough farmer God said to Samuel don't look on the outward appearance look on the inside Jesus made the same comment he wasn't looking at people's rough appearances but he was saying you judge people by their righteous appearance in Matthew chapter 23 and verse 28 he challenged the Pharisees and said you look good on the outside but it's on the inside that matters how quick we are to make judgments about someone who is rough or someone who looks righteous I would like to look into our hearts and not look at whether we act in love but whether we feel loved but of course it's not good enough to feel loved and then not act in it we've got to be motivated by compassion then act in love so 1 John chapter 3 and verse 18 says this dear children let us not love with words or speech only but with actions and in truth so first what I want to do in order to understand compassion is to show you where compassion comes from show you what's actually inside of you and then in the second half of the message I'm gonna look at what compassion does is that okay so there's a key verse here in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and it says this praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receives from God I don't know about you but I've never felt very compassionate when I see people who are crying over broken people and seen the injustice in the world and moved with compassion I think sometimes I didn't get that chip when I was made so over the years I've said to God I'm really sorry that I don't seem to be very compassion compassion and as a result our brains are really really dumb prayers at the beginning of my ministry I prayed this prayer I said since I don't seem to be able to feel with anybody in their challenges please give me a really really bad experience and then I'll have so much empathy for the people in this broken world that I'll be a better pastor thankfully God did not answer my prayer what he did was point me to that scripture and then he rebuked me he said are you genuinely and empowering because it was a little stronger than this are you genuinely thinking that you can help anybody as though your experience or your empathy or your sympathy or your love or lack of it is gonna help anyone at all no you can't do a thing I'm the one that can help you it says in that passage when you go through tough times God who is God of compassion and comfort will comfort you in your trouble and then when he you've received his comfort you share his comfort with the world not your comfort some people think that if you're a drug addict you're better equipped to help drug addicts what a load of rubbish that is excuse me that's not true if that were the case Jesus would be the worst comforter on earth he was never a murderer he was never a drug addict but he was able to help those because he was tempted in those areas and yet overcome it look we're not sharing our own sympathy our own compassion we're sharing his and I want to tell you that all of us have messed up we're all recipients of his comfort and therefore we all can allow his comfort to overflow from our life not ours in this passage it talks about Father Son and spirit so let me make three statements that we need to establish about the source of compassion and then we're going to look at what it does number one compassion is generated in the womb of the father if you think that's a mistake no it is not a mistake I did it on purpose it's generated in the womb of the father Exodus chapter 34 verse 6 as he passed in front of Moses God said the Lord he proclaimed the Lord the Lord the compassionate and gracious God slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness notice this is the first of his attributes I am the father of compassion the word for compassion in the Hebrew is taken from the root word for womb God is saying that out of his woo out of his inner being he feels for the broken condition of the world this is like the tender compassion of a mother if you're a mum and you've seen your sick child you don't just say are there there you go ah even this morning my wife received a text from our daughter in South Africa she didn't say who she said uh and I said what's wrong she said she's missing us what was happening was that this compassion the compassion of a mother present in the father was moving her to act are you with me that's where we get compassion from we've got the God of all comfort living within us he has made his home within us I can't help you but God who lives in me can my comfort can't help you but the God who lives in me will I my experience can't help you at all but his empathy his sympathy his compassion can change your life that's what it's all about number two compassion is incarnated in the sufferings of the son incarnate it in the sufferings this is what I call courageous compassion Matthew 14 verse 13 when Jesus heard what had happened he withdrew privately to a solitary place hearing of this the crowds followed him on foot from the towns when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd he had compassion on them and healed their sick it says when he heard this attacked what had happened his cousin John the Baptist had just been beheaded now when you hear news like that you've got every right to go into a solitary place and I have a little chat with God are you are you getting this so here he is praying on his own grieving but the crowd Fanta and something inside of him moved him to heal the sick just fight his own tragedy despite his own feelings despite his own self-interest he was moved to help people the Greek word for compassionate the Hebrew word for compassion is womb the Greek word for compassion is bowels intestines the Greek word is Flint no mitzi taken from the other Greek word splain tossed in castings so what God was saying was that or Jesus was saying out of his inner being his guts he felt this that's why I'm talking about the guts of the matter 1 John 3:17 says this if anyone has material possessions and sees this brother in need but has no pity there's the word compassion sprang on it see on them how can the love of God be in them true love is a choice but if it doesn't affect your feelings if it doesn't get you in the gizzard if it doesn't make you feel something that it ain't true love so I don't necessarily recommend the authorized the old King James Version of the Bible because it really doesn't make sense today and you'll see why but every now and again it gets it right this time it got it right 1 John 3:17 but whoso hath this world's good and sees his brother has need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him that's what it literally says he's talking about spiritual constipation and many of us have it we see brokenness we see the destruction of the world we see damaged and sick people and we shut up our bowels we don't feel a thing we flicked channels Jesus didn't flick channels are you with me so number one compassion is generated in the womb of the father tender compassion secondly it's incarnated in the sufferings of Christ that is courageous compassion and then the third one compassion is empowered by the sympathy of the Spirit the sympathy of the Spirit John chapter 14 and verse 15 tells us that when Jesus left he left us with the comforter the counselor the Advocate if you love me keep my commands and I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate sometimes translated counselor to help you and be with you forever the Spirit of Truth the Greek word for counselor or advocate is pericle adopts it literally means the one who is called along side so in Romans chapter 12 and verse 8 when it talks about the gift of encouragement that's a similar root word power Colossus so think of it like this when your neighbor is difficult and broken the Holy Spirit comes within you the one who is called alongside you despite a broken condition and he empowers us to encourage others I can't love my difficult neighbor or as it happens I've got some very good neighbors but I'm talking about yours I I can't love your difficult neighbor but the Holy Spirit within me can loves them look at what it says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5 it says that God has shared abroad his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit his blood has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit have any of you had not understood how to pray you just think well I don't know what to pray for Harry how do I pray for my family you just don't know what to pray how any great that you've got the Holy Spirit Romans 8:22 look at this we know that the whole creation has been as in the pains of childbirth just like in Labor's more abundant right up to the present time not only so but we ourselves who've been had the first purge of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship the redemption of our bodies then a few verses later the verse 26 in the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness we don't know how we ought to pray but the Spirit Himself intercedes with us with thee with wordless groans so I've talked about their tender compassion of a mother the courageous compassion or the courageous compassion of her father over a lost son but now I'm talking about the empathic compassion that groans have you ever been in that situation a number of years ago I mandarin gone to bed this is when we were back in England she'd gone to bed and I was just sitting watching television I was just flicking channels and I just happened to come across a documentary on the hydrogen bomb and it's testing in Bikini Atoll back in the fifties and it was so shocking so appalling so file I don't know quite what happened to me but I just let out this groan that came deep from within and when oh god what have we done and I fell to my knees and groaned in prayer for the broken world's whenever we sing that song Valentine this world is yours I'm reminded of that moment and I burst into tears every time because that's how God feels about this broken world he sees the lack of the lack of fruit he sees the brokenness he sees our lack of stewardship he sees our pollution he sees our violence he sees her immorality he sees every manner of ill that we are party to and he groans inside and he expects us to do the same we can't allow the Krauts and the awful lack of water and lack of food to kill others while we are fine somehow we've got to allow the Spirit of God within us to groan we need to feel it like he feels it and he said well I can't do that that's the point that's why I'm telling you this don't pray O God may bad things happen to me so I can help people it's way bigger than that are you with me but what does this actually look like well 1 John let's look at it again 1 John 3:16 this is how we know what love is Jesus Christ lay down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no compassion on them how can the love of God be in that person dear children let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth can I just quickly say that Jesus has loved perfectly he has all the gifts of the Spirit and all the ministry gifts he he is an apostle a prophet and evangelist a pastor and a teacher and has all the attributes of all of those things we're not the church does but you individually don't but if you want to have the fullness of Christ we need to at least understand each of those areas are you with me so if he's in chapter 4 and verse 11 says God has given apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers to equip the church why so that we can come to the fullness of Christ so there's always going to be people in your world that are more loving in certain areas than you but we're all called to be like Jesus is that okay so I'm gonna tell you five things that compassion does and I'm gonna illustrate it with the five gifts or the ministry gifts of the Spirit is that okay number one compassion heals the sick Apostles need guts to perform miracles Matthew 24:34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately they received their light and set their sight and followed him it takes guts to pray for the sick it takes guts to lay hands on someone and not sure quite what's gonna happen knowing that you can't help them at all that God has commissioned you to do it anyway I've been laying hands on the sick for the last forty or so years I can't tell you how many mistakes I've made or failures I've had but I'm not gonna stop doing it and I remember going to Lourdes in the South of France where all the sick Catholic sick had taken to go through the then on pilgrimage there to get healed and I remember being on the station and seeing all the sick people coming from the shrine still slick and getting back on the train standing there on the platform early in my ministry I went oh and I made a decision there in there that I was gonna lay hands on the sick at every opportunity I was just going to lay hands on the sick even if nobody gets healed I'm gonna lay hands on the sick it takes guts to do it it's what compassion does number two compassion feeds the hungry Matthew 15:30 to Jesus called his disciples and said I've compassion for these people they've already been with me for three days they've got nothing to eat I don't want to send them away hungry we're so concerned about our own food that we don't think about other people who have no food but prophets need guts to see beyond themselves who went color this year where we heard about pre-emptive love in Iraq we heard a prophetic statement about how we should help the hungry and a broken you don't have to do it yourself but you need to have guts to see beyond yourself don't just flick channels get on your knees compassionately heals for sick compassion please the hungry number three compassion embraces the lust Luke 15 verse 20 so he got up went to his father this is the prodigal while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion he felt it in his guts when he ran to his son and thromes threw his arms around him and kissed him evangelist take guts to sleep with sinners and make friends with him how many of you I'm certainly done this have made a friend with someone who looks like a sinner and then when you with them you're thinking I wonder what other people think of me I've sat in a cafe with a seriously broken person and I spent my whole conversation looking around hoping none of my friends were here what a horrible way to live Jesus didn't do that he was quite happy to sit in a cafe with me and he didn't mind if the world criticized him for it I'm here with my friend the ratbag Robert I love him taste gets to do this taste gets to be like Jesus compassion heals the sick feeds the hungry embraces the lost number for compassion tends to flock matthew 9:36 when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd pastors need guts to help the grieving to go into hospitals and sit by hospital beds Serge here I take my hat's off to him if I had a hat I hate hospitals I hate hospitals I always get into trouble when as an elder I go in to pray for people because I just laugh all the time I've had patients and beds in pain saying please stop making me laugh well laughter does good like a medicine that's my theory but one of the reasons I do it is because I hate it it's difficult it's full of deaths and disease I think these people are honorable they've got takes guts to see someone go through pain it takes guts to take funerals are you with me what about this one this is I'm more comfortable here compassion plea trees are bound mark 634 Christine shared this color I loved it when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd so he began teaching them many things he began teaching them it takes guts to tell the truth somebody will say Robert you're a bit feisty today you've taken your angry pills why is so passionate I'm not passionate I'm compassionate I hate it when people are banned I want to see them liberated and truth can set you free so you can criticize me as much as you want I'm gonna be passionate this is my area this is where I do have compassion that's why I rebuke people that's why I challenge people that's why I'm tough why because I'm compassionate it takes guts to do this and some people don't like it I was in Coles the other day someone wandered up to me and just rebuked me I'd never met them before in my life rebuked me for being a heretic rebuked made for the church for a beaut made for my leadership and then just wound it off thanks for the encouragement Jesus is the beginning and the end on the cross he hung there because he trow to demonstrate AGGA pay for you and me but as he died the Bible says Matthew 27 verse 15 and when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice he gave up his spirit curious choosing to hang their choosing out of obedient love but at the last minute he gave up a sigh of compassion Oh dropped his chin and died on time as predicted that's what we should be like I'm in y'all bless you God bless you God bless you let's all stand team's gonna come back I taken a bit of time at the end to pray because I'm gonna get Sam up in a minute and he's gonna come and talk to you about your personal walk with Jesus but I want to do what I did a few weeks ago I I want to really pray that God would equip you and me to be compassionate who feels just a little short on the compassion states this has challenged you think I'm not very compassionate well join the club but God is our Father is in us we've got Jesus in his example the Holy Spirit is in us we can be those people who would like to be those people why don't you raise your hand let me pray for you father God you see every single one of these people not only at heels but in different communities around Australia in hobo hands raised people watching on the channel hands raised father god each one of us recognizes that we can't possibly love like you've asked us to love and we certainly don't feel this love in the way that we're meant to feel it but thank you that you Father have shown us tender compassion courageous compassion empathetic compassion and you've sent our comfort of the Advocate to be alongside us who's gonna grown on our behalf you're gonna help us heal a sick loved the unlovable embrace the lost teach the bound father we are gonna be those people you said in your word that you will shed your love abroad in our heart by the spirit and I pray that that would be our experience right now we receive your love we receive your spirit and everybody said why don't we sing this song let's worship Jesus he is the beginning in the end the author and the finisher the start of love and have finished her Robin amen god bless you [Music] this world [Music] my god this world is [Music] you may to be [Music] you [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] you're a you forever you write for [Music] you fine [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ona pray for some people and we're still got plenty of time in the service so whether you're in here or maybe you watch you're gonna ask you please please stay right through to the end because this is such an important moment you know the bow I want to ask people to get their lives right with God to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ the Bible actually describes this moment as if God Himself was pleading through us through me this morning to you God pleading through me to you to be reconciled to him I want to pray for you why why do you need to accept Jesus in dear life because you know what you're not an accident the world is not an accident you're not even here by accident you're not listening by accident the fact is that God made you God loves you God's for you he's not against you but the Bible teaches us clearly that we've all sinned we've all sinned the heart of sin is not what you've done but who you are because the nature of sin is this is independence from God it's happy to have God in its life but not happy to surrender its life to God and there are people here and maybe have added God to your life you come to church but you're not surrendered your life to God and until that moment of surrender the Bible says that because of sin we're separated from God not just now but for all eternity and there's nothing that we can do to change that God loves you God's for you God wants you in heaven God wants to be with you now but because we've sinned we've separated and there's nothing that you and I can do to change that nothing you can't go to church enough you can't be good enough religion will tell you that you can get there if you'd but if you're good but that won't do it so then what makes us right with God there's only one thing that can make you right with God and it's Jesus he like Robert said went to the cross and took your sin your guilt your shame upon himself so that this morning if you say yes to Jesus he forgives you he makes you right with God and the God who's up there somewhere now becomes the God in here he becomes real and I want to pray for you I want to pray specially for people who've added God to their life but they've never actually surrendered their life to God and I want to pray for people who've maybe never ever ever prayed this prayer and I'm gonna ask everyone to close their eyes and bow their heads jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except by me and on the other side of accepting him there's abundant life there's what you're looking for there's the life that you were created to live and it's found in him well every eyes closed every head bowed here and through the screens I'm gonna ask you to do something for me I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand in a moment say Sam I want you to pray for me and when you raise your hand it's actually an act of surrender to God saying Jesus I'm surrendering my life to you I'm asking you to forgive me and in that moment when we pray you will be forgiven you will be made whole and God Himself will come and fill that gap that hole in your heart I'm gonna count the three that you want you to raise your hand nice and high people raising the hand already in this room through the screens Church of the air maybe you're watching online TV wherever you find yourself just raise your hand now one two come on right across this building everywhere where we're watching three nice and high raise your hand say Sam that's me that's me I'm surrendering my life to Jesus fantastic awesome wonderful wonderful wonderful let's all pray this prayer together it's actually a prayer of surrender to God what do we pray out loud dear Jesus I thank you that you died on the cross for my sin I ask that you will forgive me and I surrender my life to you I thank you I'm now forgiven and I'm now a child of God in Jesus name Amen amen amen come on church hey look if you prayed that prayer if you prayed that prayer this is what you need to know it's not just us in here that are clapping but all of heavens stopped and the Bible says that every angel began to rejoice because today you'll come home you'll come home you're reconciled with God and what we want to do what we want to do is we want to give you one of these Bibles as a gift so please please please all the exits everywhere at every location there's going to be people waving these Bibles around gather them say how I prayed that prayer I prayed that free even if you didn't raise your hand but you pray that prayer gummer go up to say hey I prayed that prayer we want to give you this as a gift and we want to help you so the best way to do that if we can just grab just some few details we'd love to help you in this next step and I reckon one more time we should match heavens of course and we should begin to thank God for everyone I swear should small come on Shh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we noticed that the Lord Jesus Christ he reigns he reigns over our marriages he reigns over our families he reigns over our health you know if you're here this morning and for whatever reason doesn't matter what other people think about this moment it's just about you but I believe that God wants to show that he reigns in your marriage and you put it whatever reason you need that to be the truth in your marriage father I just pray right now for every marriage that is struggling right now for whatever reason and we know that you can reign in this relationship we know that you can reign in their lives so we speak health into those marriages in Jesus name we speak your love we speak real love we speak agape love over marriages father I pray that you would fill hearts with wisdom that you would fill hearts with peace and forgiveness today that where there is a sense of being unsettled in their marriage father you would just settle that marriage as they fix their eyes back on you we thank you Father that you are our healer you know if you're here today and and you you need the healing power of God in your life [Music] just start to thank him that he is your healer he is your healer just this this young guy here with a sling on it's obviously that you've got something wrong with your arm right now but as I looked over at you from over that side just felt like the Lord said I want to speed up the healing in his arm so I wonder Church if we could just all stretch our arms towards this young man in faith and let's believe that God is going to do what he says he wants to do father I thank you that you are our healer and if you say you want to speed up a healing in a person's body then God you can do it so we believe for that for this young man in the name of Jesus we thank you that you are his hila we speak healing over the ligaments over the phones over the muscles in his arms we thank you that by your stripes Jesus we are made well we are made whole in Jesus name there's other people here and and there's an unsettling it's like a pain just right here in your stomach God wants to just bring healing to that whoever that is in this auditorium or maybe it's someone in Darwin but there's an unsettling and it's like right here in your guts and Jesus just wants to heal that I'm not sure what kind of disease it is but it's a disease and I wonder church if we could just begin to pray in faith that God will do what he said he's gonna do for that person or people in Jesus name you are our he love God and you can heal any part of our body you can heal our mind you can hear our heart and you can heal any part of our bodies so god I pray that you would bring healing even to people's eyes those who are struggling we a disease in their eyes or Jesus I pray that you would bring healing to their eyes so you would bring clarity to their sight in Jesus name Jesus you brought sight to the blind so we proclaim that sight to the blind in Jesus name nothing is impossible with you God nothing is impossible with you in Jesus name can we say in Jesus name say it one more time in Jesus name Amen amen well why don't we put our heads together and thank pastor Robert Ferguson thank you Robert amazing you know tonight in church is going to be pretty special pasta Rick Godwin is going to be here at Hills and he's going to be preaching from here to the rest of Australia and he's got a word in his heart for our church were so excited that he's here who knows that when Rick comes to town Rick comes to town and he brings a word from the Lord and no doubt tonight is going to be exactly that he's going to come on fire he's so excited he said he cannot wait he preached at our city campus last night he preached at Brisbane on Friday night and then right across Australia from here tonight five o'clock and six o'clock and listen we're going to be praying for the sick and so if you are sick I know we've spent some time praying this morning but we're going to spend some more time tonight but if you know people that are sick can you bring them to church tonight and in faith we're gonna believe that God is going to do something so powerful in their lives and if you're sick in your body we're gonna be believing for the same thing for you bring the lost bring the sick bring whoever who thinks that's how church should be amen so it's gonna be good turn to someone say it's been good sitting next to you [Music] and tone to the other person and say it's been really good sitting next to you father we thank you for today we thank you that you've given us today our daily bread and we're so grateful for that we are so grateful for your word we're so grateful that it's become alive on the inside of us and lord I pray that you would bless people as they leave church today that they would know and understand your smile in a greater way we love you Jesus and we thank you for the opportunity to worship you today in Jesus name and everybody said amen thanks for being in church we love your stacks [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] his skies [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] and then hope to see you back here tonight be blessed

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 21,029

Rating: 4.873199 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, hillsong, praise, worship, Robert Fergusson

Id: NUfoi_C8Lys

Length: 89min 34sec (5374 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 28 2018