steadfast Baptist Church, once you've found a seat, go ahead and find a hymnal.
We'll start this morning in song number 209.
The thing we're all longing for more of this morning, sunshine in the soul.
Song number 209, sunshine in the soul.
Song 209, sing it out in the verse.
There is sunshine in my soul today.
I'm going to ask that you fill this service with your church in Jesus' name.
Let's go to song number 172.
172.
It's excelling.
Thank you for being here this morning.
At this time, we're going to go ahead and go through our announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hands, and an usher will bring
you one.
We've got a great picture on the front there that explains how it feels today, so I'm sure
that relates to everyone.
We've got our Bible memory passage of the week, Proverbs 31-17.
If you can quote that after the Wednesday service to myself, Pastor Shelley, or an usher
if you're 18 or younger, you'll get an ice cream for that.
On the left side we have our service times, 10.30 a.m. every Sunday, Spanish services
at 4.30 p.m., 5.30 is our evening service, and then every Wednesday we've been going
through the book of Revelation.
That should continue this week when Pastor Shelley gets back.
Our church-wide soul winning times are listed there.
This afternoon we'll go soul winning at 2 p.m. meeting here at the building.
And then those regional times meet various locations throughout DFW.
Just as a reminder, make sure to turn in your soul winning maps, whether they're completed
or not to that bin, so we can keep track of that.
We do have our salvations listed for January there.
I know Brother Jason's time had a great day yesterday with nine salvations, right?
Yeah, so definitely the Arlington soul winning time is a great receptive time, especially
if you speak Spanish.
If you speak Spanish, the Saturday time is a great one you want to go to for sure.
Let's keep our ladies that are pregnant in prayer.
They're all listed there on the top right there.
As well we have our regular church prayer list.
Looks like it's pretty much the same as last week so just keep all those people in prayer
and if you have anything new you'd like to add please email that to us.
As always for our upcoming events we have our preaching class starting on January 20th.
I just got some material shipped to us for that class just today so looking forward to
that coming up.
And then February 3rd all ladies are invited to attend a baby shower in honor of Katherine
Praker and her baby girl on Saturday.
February 3rd from 1230 to 230 at the church, nurselings only preferred.
Please RSVP to Lauren Milstead and bring a side dish or dessert to share.
That's it for announcements this morning.
Let's go ahead and go to our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 67.
Psalm 67.
That was Psalm chapter 67 in your King James Bible or your laminated handout.
Psalm 67.
Everybody sing it out on the 1st.
God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause this space to shine upon us, that thy
way may be known upon thy saving health among all nations.
Let the people praise thee, O God, be glad and sing, or shall judge the people graciously,
and govern nations upon earth.
The nations upon earth see thou that the people praise thee, O God, God shall bless us, God
shall bless us, and all the air of the earth shall hear him that the people praise thee.
Singing everybody, now as the offering plates are being passed around, go ahead and turn
in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4, that's the book of Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews 4 the Bible reads, "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if
they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of
the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works; and in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing
therefore it remaineth, that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in, because of unbelief.
Then he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it
is said, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did
from his.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall from the same example
of unbelief.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest at his sight, but all things are
naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
Bar heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we just thank you for brother Ross and his family, and I pray that you would
fill brother Ross with your spirit now, Lord, and enable him to preach the sermon that you've
laid on his heart with clarity of mind.
Help us to listen.
Help us to learn, Lord.
And also, Father God, I pray that you would just enable us to apply the message to our
lives and to glorify you in everything we do.
We love you in Jesus' name, I pray.
Amen.
Well, thank you, Pastor Shelley, for another opportunity to preach.
And we're here in Hebrews chapter number four, and the verse I want to read to start off
is verse number 15.
The Bible reads, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
It's important to understand that when Jesus Christ came to this earth, He was 100% God
in the flesh, but He was also 100% man.
And the Bible says that we don't have an high priest, referring to Jesus, which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, meaning Jesus understands what it's like to
be man.
Jesus understands the things that we feel and the experiences that we have, not just
because He has some sort of just head knowledge of it, because He actually experienced it.
Jesus Christ was fully man, and so He understands what it's like to be us.
And the title of my sermon is "The Emotions of Jesus Christ."
The emotions of Jesus Christ.
Now, let me give you the dictionary definition of the word "emotion."
The first definition I found, it says this, "An effective state of consciousness in which
joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like is experienced."
Or number two, "Any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc."
And so, when I'm talking about the emotions of Jesus Christ, I'm talking about the things
that He felt on this earth.
And there's many times in the Bible where even the narrator of the New Testament will
tell us what Jesus was feeling.
And I think that's pretty cool because that gives us an insight to how He was thinking
about things, how He was feeling about things in different situations.
Now, before I get into the emotions of Jesus Christ, I want to give you a couple introductory
statements regarding just emotions in general, okay?
Number one, go ahead and go to Deuteronomy chapter 19.
What we have to understand is that not all emotions are valid and correct.
We live in a time where people are constantly being told your emotions are valid, and let's
just be honest, this is especially affecting women.
There's all these women gurus on the internet that want to tell you, "Girl, your feelings
are valid.
Whatever you feel, it's just that's okay.
You should be allowed to feel that way," but that is not biblical.
The Bible does not teach that all your feelings are valid, and any emotion that you're having
it's okay for you to have.
That is not biblical.
Let me show that to you in Deuteronomy 19, look at verse 11.
It says, "But if any man hate his neighbor and lie in wait for him and rise up against
him and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeeth into one of these cities."
So what's this talking about?
It's talking about someone that premeditatedly first degree murders someone.
Look at verse 12, it says, "Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence
and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die."
Saying, hey, you can't hide this guy from justice.
You can't just keep him in the city of refuge.
You have to give this guy to the avenger of blood because he committed first degree murder.
Notice this, verse 13, "Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt
of innocent blood from Israel, that it might go well with thee."
What is pity?
It's when you're sympathetic or when you're experiencing sorrow for someone.
It's an emotion.
And the Bible says, "Hey, someone commits first degree murder.
You can't keep him locked up in the city of refuge.
You have to deliver him unto justice.
Thine eye shall not pity him."
So you say, "Well, you know, I just feel bad for this guy.
You know, he's had a rough life and yeah, he made a mistake, but I just feel bad for
him."
Guess what?
That emotion's not valid.
That's a wrong emotion to have because the Bible says in that type of a situation, you're
not allowed to pity him.
And to pity him would be a sin.
To have the wrong emotion would be to sin.
Go to Matthew chapter number five, Matthew chapter number five.
Matthew chapter five, known as the Beatitudes.
This is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter five, verse 22.
He says, "But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause
shall be in danger of the judgment."
Do you notice that Jesus Christ is condemning someone for having the wrong emotion towards
someone?
He says, "Look, if you're angry with your brother for no reason or probably for a stupid
reason as well, that's a sin."
And so you say, "Well, you know, you don't understand why I'm upset and you don't understand
all the things this person's done to me."
But Jesus said, "Look, if you're angry at your brother without a cause, you're in danger
of the judgment."
So it would be wrong to have that attitude.
I'll read for you 1 John 4, go to Philippians 4, I'll read for you 1 John 4, verse 20 it
says this, "If a man say, 'I love God,' and hateth his brother, he is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath
not seen?"
Again, here the Bible is condemning, saying, "Look, if you hate your brother, that is a
sin."
You don't get to just justify in your heart why you feel the emotions that you feel.
It doesn't matter why you feel that.
If you hate your brother in your heart, that's a sin.
If you don't love your brother, that's a sin.
And here's the thing, sometimes loving your brother can look kind of ugly.
Sometimes the loving thing to do to your brother is to rebuke your brother, but that is still
loving your brother.
You know, what would be wrong is to like wish for a curse upon a brother in Christ or a
sister in Christ.
That would be wrong, but look, sometimes loving your brother is not giving him money when
he asks for it.
You know, sometimes loving your brother is the pastor kicking someone out of church for
committing fornication because that's what the Bible says to do.
But here's the thing, it's always right to love your brother, and it's always wrong
to hate your brother.
And so any other emotion that you would have other than what the Bible says, that's not
a valid emotion.
That's not a correct emotion.
Number two, we can control our emotions.
If God commands us to have a certain emotion, that means that you can control your emotion.
I mean, I know this might be hard for some people to understand in 2024, but you can
control your emotions, okay?
Philippians 4, look at verse number four, it says, "Rejoice."
What is that?
That's an emotion of joy, of happiness.
"Rejoice in the Lord always."
And again, I say, "Rejoice."
That's a command of God, meaning, hey, we can control our emotions.
We can obey the commands to have the correct emotions.
Go to Ephesians chapter five, I'll read for you 1 Thessalonians 5 16, it says, "Rejoice
evermore."
Again, very similar to Philippians chapter number four.
I told you to go to Ephesians five, look at verse 25, it says, "Husbands, love your wives."
You know that you can love your wife?
That's a command of God.
It's like, oh, I just kind of don't feel like it right now.
Well, you know what?
Change your emotion then, because God commanded you to love your wife.
I'll read for you, 1 John 2.15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
Again, the Bible commanding us, don't have the emotion of love towards the world.
So the opposite of that would be what?
It would be wrong.
It would be a sin.
It would not be a valid emotion, okay?
Go to Isaiah chapter number 55.
The third statement by way of introduction here is that Jesus' emotions are always correct.
Jesus never had the wrong attitude about anything.
He never had the wrong emotion about anything.
Anytime the Bible tells us a certain way Jesus was feeling, that was the correct way to feel.
And if we find ourselves in that same situation or are faced with that same topic, we should
strive to have the same emotions that Jesus had.
Isaiah chapter 55, look at verse number 7.
It says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him.
And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Notice verse 8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and
my thoughts than your thoughts."
Here is just the truth, here is just the reality, is that there are going to be times where
you and where I view things differently than the way that God does, feel differently about
things than the way that God does, and you know who is right in that situation?
God is.
And I don't care how long you've been saved, I don't care how long you've read the Bible,
I don't care how long you've been in church, there's going to be times when you hear something
and in your flesh, because we're all sinners, we're going to not necessarily like what we
hear.
We're going to not necessarily like something that the Bible is teaching in our flesh.
Of course our spirit always loves it, right?
But in our flesh sometimes we're like, "Man, that sounds hard," or "Man, that sounds kind
of harsh."
But look, anytime God has a different thought than us, He's right, we're wrong.
Anytime God has a certain emotion about a topic or an issue, His emotion is correct,
ours is wrong, okay?
So just if you have that attitude, then when we go through the emotions of Jesus Christ,
you're going to be able to apply this to your life and say, "Hey, how should I be thinking
about things?
How should I be feeling about certain situations in life?"
So go to Matthew chapter number nine.
So now we're going to talk about the emotions of Jesus Christ.
The New Testament records a lot of the things that Jesus Christ was thinking and feeling.
And of course, we're not going to be able to go to every single reference this morning
where the Bible tells us how Jesus was feeling, but we're going to cover the highlights.
So number one, the first emotion I want to talk about is that of compassion, compassion.
Now, when you read the New Testament, you constantly hear this phrase, "Jesus was moved
with compassion."
Who's read that in their New Testament just over and over?
You constantly see Him being moved with compassion, moved with compassion.
And what is compassion?
It's basically sympathy that leads to action, okay?
So Matthew chapter 9 verse 35, it says this, "And Jesus went about all the cities and
villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing
every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenious, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest."
Notice, compassion caused Jesus to see a problem and to provide a solution.
Jesus sees a multitude, and he has compassion on them.
He says they're like sheep having no shepherd, and that caused him to tell his disciples,
"Hey, we need to pray for more laborers."
Because if we truly have compassion on people, if we truly love people, and we feel bad for
the fact that they're like sheep with no shepherd, we feel bad for the fact that they're unsaved,
the only normal response to that would be to be a soul winner.
That's what Jesus is telling his disciples to do is to, "Hey, we need to pray that God
would send more laborers into his harvest because the harvest is plenious," he says
here, "but the laborers are few."
And sometimes you can hear people kind of get a holier-than-now attitude with the unsaved.
And sometimes Christians, you know, they'll make fun of unsaved people because they're
stupid, they don't have the Word of God, they don't have wisdom from the Bible and they're
just walking according to the course of this world, they're just complete blind sheep following
the course of the devil for their life.
And sometimes Christians that are holier than thou will look down on people that are
unsaved or will make fun of people that are unsaved.
And I'm not talking about reprobates, I'm just talking about Joe Plummer that's unsaved,
but you know what the right attitude God would have you for that person is to have compassion
on that person, to love that person, to have pity that leads to action.
How do you know if you truly have compassion on them?
If you preach them the gospel.
You can't say that you are a compassionate person if you are not a soul winner, okay?
And so here's a really easy way to check your life.
To check if you have the same emotions that Jesus Christ has towards the loss.
Do you preach the gospel?
Don't tell me that you are a loving person.
Don't tell me that you have pity or compassion on anyone if you do not preach the gospel.
You have the wrong emotion.
You need to change your emotion.
You need to change your feeling.
How do you know if you have the right feeling?
Well, if it's pity that leads to action.
Go to Matthew chapter number 15, Matthew chapter 15.
Let's read a couple stories, a couple different stories, where the Bible talks about him being
moved with compassion.
Verse 32, Matthew 15, "Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, 'I have compassion
on the multitude.'"
I think it's cool that he told his disciples that because he could just have these inner
emotions, but if he didn't tell us, we wouldn't know it in the word of God, right?
So the reason he told them that is so that we can be benefited.
I don't recommend you going around and saying, "I have compassion on people."
Just let your actions speak louder than words, okay?
But for Jesus' sake, I'm glad he did because it lets us know what he was feeling.
It says, "Because they continue now, with me now, three days and have nothing to eat.
And I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way."
And he doesn't want these people who have been following him for three days just to
go away hungry, right?
So what does he do?
Verse 33, "And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the
wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?"
And Jesus sayeth unto them, How many loaves have ye?
And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves
and the fishes and gave thanks and break them, and gave to his disciples and the disciples
to the multitude.
And they did all eat and were filled, and they took up of the broken meat that was left
seven baskets full.
And they that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children."
You know, what is this story symbolizing?
Well first of all, it tells us that he had compassion on the multitude.
I think that this symbolizes basically the compassion that Jesus had for the whole world,
right?
And what did Jesus do?
He provided salvation to the whole world, and it's in limitless supply.
I mean, he could just keep multiplying that salvation, keep multiplying that salvation.
And notice, does Jesus go and give salvation personally to every single person in the
multitude?
Well, what he does is he gives the food to his disciples to hand out to the multitude,
symbolizing preaching the gospel, symbolizing being a soul winner.
And that salvation was sufficient for everyone, right?
And it goes to show that anyone can believe on Jesus Christ and be saved.
But here's the thing, even today, God is showing compassion on people every time you knock
on someone's door.
God is still loving the world.
God is still showing mercy and compassion to the world by what, sending His disciples
to feed the 5,000, as it were, right?
And so we see Jesus is still being compassionate today.
Go to Matthew chapter number 20, Matthew chapter number 20, Matthew chapter number 20, look
at verse 29.
It says, "And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.
And behold, two blind men, sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, 'Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.'"
And notice this, "And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace.
But they cried the more, saying, 'Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.'"
So notice the attitude of the multitude, okay?
These blind men are crying out for Jesus to have mercy on them.
What's the emotion that the multitude is having?
Well, they're kind of angry about it, right?
They're mad about it.
It says that they rebuked him.
Was that the right answer, the attitude?
Look at verse 32.
"And Jesus stood still and called them and said, 'What will ye that I shall do unto
you?'
And they say unto him, 'Lord, that our eyes may be opened.'
So Jesus," notice, "had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, and immediately
their eyes received sight, and they followed him."
So notice, Jesus had a completely different attitude than the multitude, didn't he?
So are all attitudes, are all emotions valid?
No, it is not.
When these men are crying out for Jesus to have mercy on them, Jesus was moved with compassion
and he healed them, causing them to see.
And of course, a lot of the miracles that Jesus performed are symbolizing salvation,
just like this.
I mean, of course, what could symbolize salvation more than being blind and now being able to
see, being healed by Jesus Christ, right?
And people were kind of angry that these people wanted to be healed.
That's a weird attitude to have.
That's a bad attitude to have, but Jesus, of course, had compassion on them.
Go to Mark chapter number one, Mark chapter number one, Mark chapter one verse 40, "And
there came a leper to him," so another sick person with ailments, "beseeching him and
kneeling down to him and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him and saith unto him,
I will be thou clean.
And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed."
Notice how much Jesus cared about people.
It didn't matter what Jesus was doing, it didn't matter what he had planned for that
day, someone asked for mercy from him and he was moved with compassion and he was ready
to help them.
What a great savior that we serve.
Allah isn't like this, the false gods of this world isn't like this, but hey, Jesus Christ
cares about his creation.
We have such a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He knows what it's like to be us and he cares about us.
Mark chapter number six, flip over a few pages, Mark chapter number six, go to verse 30 of
Mark chapter number six, it says this, "And the apostles gathered themselves together
unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.
And he said unto them, 'Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest for a while,
for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat.'"
Notice, Jesus is telling his disciples, he's like, "Hey, let's have a little vacation
real quick. Let's have a little rest." The Bible says that his disciples were working
so hard, they didn't even have leisure to eat. And put yourself in this situation. Put
yourself at work. You've been working super, super hard for months and months and months.
You haven't even been eating. You've been working so hard and your boss says, "Hey,
let's go on a quick vacation." You'd be looking forward to that, right? You'd be happy. You'd
be excited. You'd want to partake in that vacation and get some rest. But notice what
happens in verse 32. It says, "And they departed into a desert place by ship privately." So
they're alone. They're camping. Who doesn't love camping, right? Verse 33, it says, "And
the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities,
and outwent them, and came together unto him." Notice, the people's burdens, the people's
problems don't really care that you wanted a day off, right? And that's kind of how it
is in the ministry sometimes, and verse 34 says this, "And Jesus, when he came out, saw
much people, and was he angry by this, was he annoyed by this? Notice his emotion, and
was moved with compassion toward them." Is that how you would feel if you were bothered
on your day off? Let's be honest, is that how you would feel when you go on vacation,
and all of a sudden, more work comes your way? Probably not for most of us. That is
how we should feel, but is that how we would feel necessarily? Maybe not. But notice he
had compassion towards them because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd, and he began
to teach them many things. So you know what? Jesus is like, "Forget the vacation. I'm
preaching a sermon." Here we go. He's getting to work, right? Verse 35, "And when the day
was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, 'This is a desert place.'"
He's like, "Yeah, we are alone." And now the time is far past. You can tell they're
kind of annoyed, right? They're kind of upset that their day off was ruined, their vacation
was ruined. But, you know, a lot of people would say, "Well, their feelings are valid.
Of course, their emotions are valid. They've been working hard. They're hungry." But really,
they should have had compassion on people. And sometimes your emotions are going to cause
you to do things that are difficult. Having the right attitude sometimes will cause you
to do things that are hard, that you don't want to do, but it's still right. And having
compassion on the multitude, that was the right thing to do. Notice what they said
to Jesus, verse 36, "Send them away, that they may go into the country round about,
and into the villages, and buy themselves bread. For they have nothing to eat. He answered
and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two
hundred penny worth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves
have ye? Go and see. And when they knew they say five and two fishes, and he commanded
them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass, and they sat down in ranks
by hundreds, and by fifties. When he had taken the five loaves, and the two fishes, he looked
up to heaven, and blessed, and break the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before
them. And the two fishes divided he among them all, and they did all eat, and were filled."
So notice, by Jesus having compassion on this multitude, all these people were blessed by
Jesus Christ and his disciples. All these people had good done unto them by being fed
by Jesus Christ. Why? Because of Jesus having the right emotion. Because of Jesus having
the right attitude. And if everyone would have been like the disciples, all these people
would have gone away hungry. And of course, you know, we could apply this spiritually
to soul winning, is that look, I get it. Some of us, Lord willing, we go out soul winning
every single week of our lives, and there might be a time in life where you get tired
of that. I hope not. I hope everyone's excited to go soul winning. I hope everyone's disciplined
and they're just going to do it no matter what. There might be a time though that you're
not feeling motivated, that you're having kind of this bad attitude that the disciples
have, but realize that if you don't go soul winning, it will affect other people. And
there's going to be people that aren't going to be fed. There's going to be people that
aren't going to be saved that are going to spend eternity in hell if you have the wrong
emotion, if you have the wrong attitude towards soul winning. And so look, if everyone was
like Jesus Christ and had the right attitude, this world would be a way better place. If
everyone was like Jesus Christ and had compassion on other people, man, this world would be
a way better place. Go ahead and turn to Romans, or I'm sorry, go ahead and turn to Luke chapter
number 10. Let me read for you Jude. Verse 22 says, "And if some have compassion, making
a difference." You know, compassion makes a difference. I hope you've seen that in
the ministry of Jesus Christ, that every time he had compassion, it made a difference in
people's lives. I want to read this quote from Pastor Jack Hiles. He wrote a book called
Teaching on Preaching, and he has a whole chapter about compassion. And I want to read
this excerpt from his book. He said, "Several years ago, a lady came to our church to visit.
She did not like me, and she voiced her displeasure at my preaching. However, to my surprise,
she came back the next Sunday. She returned that night, and the next Sunday, and that
night, I couldn't believe that she kept coming. Finally, one day, I saw her in the line outside
my door after the Sunday morning service. She had a harsh look on her face. I found
out later that she had come to rebuke me and to criticize me to my face. That's pretty
funny. Finally, it was her time to enter my office. She walked into the office. Her lips
began to quiver, and she said, "Reverend, I came this morning to tell you all the bad
things I could think of that I think about you. But I've been watching the people who
come into your office. I saw you as you wept when you said goodbye to a college couple
who was leaving to go out into full-time work. I saw your lips quiver and your eyes fill
with tears as you talked to another one who had a burden. And then it dawned on me why
I keep coming to your church. I don't like your preaching. I never have. But something
draws me back Sunday after Sunday. It just came to me what that something is. Reverend,
it's that moist spot in the corner of your eye. It's always there. That's the reason
I keep coming. Ladies and gentlemen, that moist spot is a sign of compassion. Oh, for
preaching that is strong, hard, straight, and spirit-filled. Oh, for preaching that
challenges, scolds, rebukes, chastens, and reproves. Oh, for preaching that is warning
against sin. Oh, for preaching about judgment, heaven, hell, righteousness, and holiness.
But may God help us to always have that moist spot in the corner of the eye. Oh, men of
God, have compassion that makes a difference. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? And when
we read the stories of Jesus Christ, was He the hard preacher? Yes, He was. Did He rip
face on sin? Did He call out the false prophets? Did He warn people about hell? Yes, He did.
But was He moved with compassion? Yes, He was. All the time in the Bible you see Him
moved with compassion. So look, let us be people of compassion and preachers that preach
the Word of God. Let us be balanced and also have compassion on people. Let's talk about
another emotion Jesus had, joy. Romans 12-15, stay there in Luke 10. Romans 12-15 says,
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice." That's a command of God. So that should tell us that
we should be able to follow that command, right? Luke 10-21 says, "In that hour Jesus
rejoiced in spirit and said, 'I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.'" Now here's what's interesting. I'm sure that
there was many times in Jesus' life that he was happy, that he was joyous, okay? But
this is the one instance in the New Testament that I could find, and if there's more, please
tell me. But this is the one instance in the New Testament that I could find where the
narrator tells us that Jesus Christ was rejoicing. And what was it that made our Savior happy?
This is pretty interesting to me. Was it a new car? Was it a new house? Was it money?
No, it was people understanding the Word of God. How cool is that? You know, he says
he's rejoicing in spirit, and he says, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent." He's happy it's
being hid from false prophets and reprobates, and he's happy that God has revealed the
unto babes. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Jesus rejoiced
at people learning the Bible. How cool is that? Does that make you happy? When
Pastor Shelley preaches a basic sermon on salvation or on baptism, are you
thinking, "Oh, I already know this," or are you excited for the visitor that's
going to learn something? Are you excited for the young Christian, for the
baby in Christ that's going to learn something today? Hey, that should make you
rejoice in spirit. Don't get upset if something's preached that you already
know. Hey, rejoice that the Word of God is going to be revealed to someone
today. Hey, when you go out soul hunting and someone gets saved, rejoice that
the Word of God has been revealed to someone, that people are learning things.
That's what made our Savior happy. Go to Matthew chapter number five, Matthew
chapter number five. So like I said, that's the only time I could find in the
New Testament where the narrator says that Jesus was happy, that Jesus was
rejoicing. But there's other instances where Jesus is telling us to be happy
about things. Matthew chapter number five, verse 11, it says, "Blessed are
ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake." We know about that as a church,
don't we? But notice what his command is, "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for
great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you." Remember, not all emotions are valid, not all emotions are correct.
If you're getting persecuted and you're sad and you're down in the dumps, yeah,
in the flesh, we may be able to sympathize with you and understand why
you're feeling that way, but it's the wrong emotion to have. When you're
persecuted and you're sad and you're scared and you're down, that is not a
valid emotion. You know what the only right option is? Rejoice. I'm not saying
that's easy. I'm not saying that in your flesh you're going to want to do that
every time. I'm just telling you what Jesus told us to do, to rejoice, not just
to rejoice, to be exceeding glad. I mean, he's just bubbling out happiness
and joy. When you're persecuted, when you're persecuted, it doesn't make
sense in the flesh. Yeah, but think about the eternal. He says, "Great is
your reward in heaven." When you put things in perspective like that, when
you realize, "Oh, yes, someone lied about me," cha-ching, more rewards in
heaven. Oh, sweet, more protesters, cha-ching, more rewards in heaven. Oh,
look, people are suing us and stealing from us, cha-ching, more rewards in
heaven when we're being persecuted for righteousness' sake. That's the spirit
we should have. That's the attitude that we should have. Go to John,
chapter number 11, John, chapter number 11. Let's talk about another
emotion that Jesus experienced, and that is grief, sadness, sorrow. I'll
read for you Romans 12, 15. It says, "Rejoice with them that you rejoice."
We talked about that, but it says, "And weep with them that weep." Again,
a command, and let's see if Jesus followed that. Look at John 11, verse
one. It says, "Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the
town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus
was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, 'Lord, behold, the
notice he whom thou lovest is sick.'" So Jesus is presumably
good friends with Lazarus and Martha and Mary here.
But let's skip down for sake of time to verse 32. Most of you probably
know the story. Of course, what happens to Lazarus is he dies. He passes away.
Look at verse 32. It says, "Then when Mary was come,
where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto
him, 'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping," what does the Bible say? Weep with those that weep?
"And the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned
in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, 'Where have you laid him?'
And they said unto him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept.
Then said the Jews, 'Behold how he loved him.'"
So notice, our Savior, the creator of heaven and earth,
the almighty, powerful God, loved His friends so much
that when He saw her weeping, when He saw the Jews weeping,
Jesus Christ was groaning in His Spirit, He was troubled,
and He Himself wept. Strong crying,
strong sorrow and grief, strong emotion. Again,
Jesus Christ truly cares about us. And you know,
whatever problems that you're going through, whatever trials you're going through,
Jesus knows exactly what you feel, and not only does He know what you feel,
He cares about it. He truly, deeply cares about it. We're not just
His pawns, just His robots that He created. No, rather, He literally
cares about our problems. You know, that should cause us to love
our Savior even more, right? And to know that no matter what issues you have,
no matter how bad of a family life you have, or people forsaking
you, or people feel like they have no friends, you've got the best friend, the only
friend you really need, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, and when you weep, He weeps.
He cares. It's pretty amazing to think about. And, you know, we don't want to
live in a society, of course, where men are just cry babies, right? It's really
annoying when a man is constantly crying. It's weird. But we don't also want to
get to an extreme that says that it's wrong for a man ever to cry. That's not
biblical. That's not biblical. The Bible says to weep with those that weep. You
know, there's been situations over the years in our church where someone's gone
through an extreme tragedy. And you know what I saw? A bunch of men in our church
weeping. I've seen that. We've been through it together, right? And you know
what? That's the correct attitude to have. It's not correct attitude when someone
you love is going through something really hard and you're just callous and
cold and you don't care. Oh, your emotions are valid. No, they're not.
That's the wrong attitude to have. Fix your attitude. Fix your emotions. If your
brother and sister in Christ is weeping, weep with them. Care with them. Love
them. We don't want to have this weird extreme. Now, of course, girls don't need
this preaching because as I've learned by having three daughters, girls cry every
single day of their life. So they've got it figured out. But us men, we need to
figure this out sometimes that sometimes it is the appropriate thing to do to have
grief, to have sorrow, to even weep at times. Matthew chapter number 26. Go to
Matthew 26. Matthew chapter 26, look at verse 36. This is Jesus in the garden of
Zemini before his crucifixion. It says, "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and
pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to
be," notice, "sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Carry ye here, and watch with me. And he
went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt. And so again, we see an extreme emotion that Jesus Christ is
having here, extreme grief, extreme sorrow. In parallel passages in this story, we
read that Jesus is sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, meaning he's just
sweating so profusely that the amount of liquid that's coming off his body, it's
like as if he were bleeding. You know, he's just an extreme amount of sorrow, extreme
amount of pain. Why? Because there's something that he has to do that he
doesn't want to do. And the lesson we should take from this is that
sometimes we're gonna be sad, sometimes we're gonna be grieving, sometimes we're
gonna be sorrowful, sometimes we're gonna be depressed, but you know what? We should
be like Jesus Christ and still do the things that we need to do anyways. Stop
letting motivation run your life. Oh, I'm just waiting for motivation to do
something. I'm just waiting for motivation to go to work. Oh, I'm just
waiting for motivation to clean my kitchen. Just do what you need to do.
That's called discipline. That's called having the correct emotions about things.
Hey, be sad. Jesus was sad. And by the way, Jesus cares that you're sad. And being
sad sometimes is a valid emotion. But you know what it's not? It's not an excuse to
stop doing the work that God has called you to do. So, it's like, "Oh, I'm sad. Go to
church anyways. Oh, I'm sad. I'm struggling. I'm depressed. Go soul-winning anyways. It'll
probably make you feel way better anyways." But don't just wait for motivation to do things
that you're supposed to do. If Jesus waited until he was motivated to die for our sins,
he would have never done it. And we would all go to hell. So, look, discipline succeeds when
motivation fails you. And let me tell you something. The difference between people
that are successful or not are people that are disciplined, because you will not always be
motivated to read your Bible. You will not always be motivated to go to church. What's the difference?
Hey, having discipline. Doing it anyways, regardless of how you feel. Let's talk about
another emotion that Jesus had, and that is anger. Go to Mark chapter number three. Now, anger is
something that's attacked by a lot of Christians. And a lot of Christians get the idea that anger
is always wrong or it's always sinful. But go to Mark three. I'll read for you Ephesians 4.26.
The Bible says, "Be ye angry and sin not." Okay, so there is a way to be angry and not to sin.
And of course, every single time in the Bible that we see Jesus angry, that was the right emotion. We
know that that was correct of Him to be angry. Jesus, of course, never sinned. And like being
moved with compassion, another emotion you frequently see Jesus have in the New Testament
is Him getting mad, Him getting upset. So it's not like, Jesus is not like this smiling Jesus
that the movies make it out to be. Jesus is just always happy. He's just like, "Woe unto you,"
and warning people of hell. Like that's no, that's not how Jesus is, okay? Let's read Mark chapter
three, verse one. It says, "And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there
which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day,
that they might accuse him." So notice the Jews, they're watching Jesus. They're going to analyze
Him. And are you about to do something wrong here? Verse three, "And he saith unto the man which had
the withered hand, 'Stand forth.' And he saith unto them, 'Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath
days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill?' But they held their peace." So Jesus knows their
thoughts. Man, He had to have been an intimidating person to be around. You know, you're thinking
like, "Oh, I'm watching you." He just calls you out on it right there on the spot. That's pretty
cool. But look at verse five, "And when he had looked round about them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, 'Stretch forth thine hand.'" He said,
"I'm gonna heal you anyways." Forget these Jews. "And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored
whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians
against him, how they might destroy him." So notice, Jesus was angry with this self-righteous,
holier-than-thou attitude that the Jews always have, always making the law of God of none effect,
trying to catch Jesus, trying to falsely accuse him of something. For what? For doing good to
someone, for healing someone. I mean, could you imagine getting angry at someone for healing
someone's infirmity? Can you imagine getting angry at someone for getting someone saved,
or angry at someone for blessing them financially, or anything like that? I mean, it's just a weird
attitude that these Jews had, and you know what? It made Jesus angry. Go to Matthew chapter number
11. Matthew chapter number 11. Let's see something else that makes God mad. Matthew 11.20, "Then began
he to abrade, to rebuke harshly, the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done,
because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Corazon! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works
which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought
down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. So what is Jesus mad at? Let me tell you,
Jesus is mad at the neighborhood, at the city, at the state, at the nation that rejects him.
God's angry at that. God's angry when Jesus comes down in the flesh and performs miracles in front
of people's eyes and heals people and raises people from the dead and walks on water and heals
leprous people and causes the blind to see and they still don't believe on him. God gets angry
when he preserved his perfect word of God, when he gave us pastors, teachers, deacons, evangelists,
soul winners, and he sends those people out into the neighborhoods of Hearst or of Watauga or of
Cedar Hill or wherever in the world, and people reject the message of Jesus Christ. God gets mad
at that. And of course, you know, God has long suffering and he gives people lots of chances,
but at some times their chances run out. And God's saying, "Look, it would have just been
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you." Okay, because last time I checked,
Sodom and Gomorrah didn't have a King James Bible in every store like we do. Last time I checked,
Lot wasn't the best soul winner. Lot probably didn't knock every single door in Sodom and
Gomorrah, right? But here in America, when we have millions and millions and millions of Christians,
great preachers, Bibles everywhere, when people continually reject the word of God,
Jesus is angry at those people. Jesus is mad at those people. And guess what? That is the correct
emotion to have. Jesus is merciful. Jesus is compassionate. But that compassion and mercy is
not just endless. There comes a point where it's over, and now he's angry, and now he's mad. And
when he comes back to judge the world, he's going to be upset. And when people are cast into hell,
he's going to be angry. Go to John chapter number two, John chapter number two. John chapter two,
let's look at verse number 12. John 2-12, "After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother
and his brethren and his disciples, and they continued there not many days. And the Jew's
Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And found in the temple those that
sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting, when he had made a scourge of
small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the
changers' money, and overthrew the tables, and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things
hence; make not my father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that
it was written, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Really visualize this story. I mean,
this is intense. Jesus goes into the temple. He sees people buying and selling. So what does he
do? He leaves. He probably, you know, goes and finds some good reeds in the river or whatever,
sits down, and he just starts braiding a whip. Why? Because then he's going to go physically
assault people. Not spiritually, physically. He's literally going to go into the temple and start
beating people with a whip, okay? In modern-day America, this would be even against the law.
I'm sure it wasn't for him. But, I mean, this is crazy to think about. Our Savior, the God of
heaven and earth, just starts beating people. Not only that, he starts destroying people's property.
He starts flipping stuff upside down. He pours out the money that these Jews had, and he scurries them
out of the temple, and they probably ran into their tunnels or something. I don't know, right?
That's what he did. I mean, that's crazy to think about. How mad would you have to be to go into a
synagogue and start beating people and throwing over their money, their tables and everything?
You'd have to be pretty upset to do something like that. But that's how angry God got when people
were taking God's house and turning it into a house of merchandise. I mean, a place where people
are supposed to pray, worship God, hear the Bible preached, get saved, get trained for the ministry.
What are they doing instead? Buying and selling things. What a shock coming from the Jews, right?
They're more interested in money than they are of God. Some things never change. Go to Matthew
chapter number 18, Matthew chapter number 18. Let's look at another thing that made Jesus mad.
Matthew 18 verse 4 says, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child
in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the
depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come,
but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. You know what else makes Jesus extremely mad?
Saying that it was better for these people to just be killed in the depths of the sea,
people that would hurt children. Let me give you an example of this and just wake you up to the
world that we're living in. Just yesterday we were out soul winning right by the Dallas Cowboy Stadium
in Arlington. I was with brother Jason and when we got done soul winning we came back and we see
like seven police units at the apartment complex that we're at and I'm like this wasn't a call for
soul winners. I mean you're not getting seven different units when you're getting called on
for soul winners. Something weird happened here whatever. Well once we left the Spurgeons let us
know that there was this weird guy walking around and Mrs. Spurgeon was being vigilant and good on
her for doing that and kind of saw this guy and like kind of put her kids up the stairs and kind
of stood between them and the guy moved on but later on he went and tried to abduct another
random little girl. An attempted kidnapping happened right while we were soul winning
right next to where the Spurgeons were and we see this guy get arrested by police
thank god this guy got arrested a lot of times these people don't get caught but look Jesus is
mad at sick freaks like that and sick freaks that would want to take a kid Jesus says you know what
it'd be better for you just to be killed it better be for you to just implode your skull in the
bottom of the sea and have a millstone hanged about your neck and just to be plunged to the
depths of the sea than for what I'm gonna do to you because hell is gonna be way worse hell is
gonna be way worse and God is disgusted by these type of people I mean and here's the thing you've
got to watch your kids hey when you're out soul winning don't just like let your kids run around
go around the corner and play in the park while you're knocking doors that's a terrible idea
you have to keep them within eyesight of you because it could just happen like that they just
get snatched up this creeper just covers their mouth so they can't scream runs away and you
never see your daughter again you never see your son again you want that to happen to you
of course not pay attention to your kids take it seriously this actually happened just yesterday
in where we live take it seriously but i'm telling you right now that person is going to burn in the
lowest hell and god is angry at that person and jesus is angry at anyone that would want to harm
a child and if you ever see a child getting harmed or if you ever see someone abducting a child
kill them physically put a bullet in their brain and kill them on the spot it's legal i don't even
care if it is legal you try to take one of my kids i will kill you physically and you should
do the same you know another thing that makes jesus mad of course is false prophets you read
matthew chapter 23 he's angry when people would cause other people to go to hell of course right
and so we also should be angry at false prophets we should preach against false doctrine we should
preach against false pastors okay go to hebrews chapter number one let's talk about the last
emotion that we're going to go over this morning and that is hatred you say hatred jesus jesus
doesn't hate anyone jesus never experienced hatred wrong he did experience hatred and that's a good
emotion to have sometimes i'll read for you romans 12 9 this is a command it says let love be without
dissimulation abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good if you're going to have a true
love a love that's not dissimulated a love that's not fake you have to hate evil you have to cleave
to the good uh hebrew chapter 1 verse 8 but unto the son that's jesus he saith thy throne oh god
is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom thou hast loved
righteousness and notice this and hated iniquity therefore god even thy god hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows god the father is saying look look son i really love that
you've loved righteousness and i really love that you have hated iniquity and because you love
righteousness jesus because you hate iniquity jesus i've anointed you with the oil of gladness
above your fellows so jesus christ was more filled with the holy spirit than anyone else
who's ever lived why because he always loved righteousness and he always hated iniquity and
so for us that's of course the attitude we should have we should always love that which is right
we should always hate that which is evil today christians want to only talk about the first
part of that but the problem with that is you cannot properly love righteousness without hating
wickedness it's impossible and so what ends up happening is you end up just loving no one
you end up not warning about the pedophiles you end up not warning about the kidnappers and so do
you really love kids does the pastor or the preacher that doesn't tell people you must watch your kids
because there's these disgusting pedophiles out there does he really love children no he doesn't
and so he's not anointed with the holy spirit like he should be go to revelation chapter number two
and we'll see jesus christ experiencing hatred revelation chapter two now he had said some good
things about the church at ephesus he had commended them for a lot of good things but notice verse
four he says nevertheless so even though i've told you some good things that you're doing well
nevertheless i have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else i will come unto thee quickly
and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent but this thou hast he's saying
but here's something again that you're doing really well that thou hatest the deeds of the
nicolaitans which i also hate which i also hate people would not believe you if you told them hey
did you know that there's something that jesus says that he hates i don't know what the deeds
of the nicolaitans are it doesn't matter because it just proves that there's things that jesus hates
okay and so hatred is an is emotion that jesus christ felt and it goes a lot of times along with
anger but guess what you can have a righteous anger and a righteous hatred just like you can
have an unrighteous anger and unrighteous hatred hey don't be angry at your brother don't hate your
brother in your heart but please be angry at pedophiles and please hate them in your heart
please be angry at whatever the deeds of the Nicolaitans are and please hate those things
because that's what Jesus did okay now here is just the most common sense obvious way to prove
that Jesus Christ hates people it's called hell the the fact that people are going to go to hell
proves that there are people that Jesus Christ hates now pastor Shelley we went to a college
and he had this sign that said God hates people and he was talking to college students and he said
like God hates people prove me wrong and he was just trying to talk to college students hey do
you think that there's anyone that God hates and of course they all say no and then pastor Shelley
goes well what about the people in hell and one after one after one they just kept saying I think
God still loves those people too it's like what God loves the people that are on fire for all of
eternity that will never get a drink of water that are in darkness that are screaming that are trapped
there for all of eternity that's love no that is hatred and because of this stupid doctrine that
hate is always wrong God doesn't hate anyone people are willing to go through these mental
gymnastics to where they even look at hell and say that's loving too why because God always loves
Jesus loves everyone so now hell is loving it's like do words that even mean anything anymore
Jesus hates some people does Jesus hate all people of course not does Jesus hate the majority of the
people not even close okay but there are people that God hates there are people that Jesus hates
and we should hate those same people okay go to second Corinthians chapter number 10 so you know
we've talked a lot about the emotions of Jesus Christ we've made some application throughout the
way but let's conclude this let's think about some ways that just in general we could apply
this sermon to our life so number one we need to feel about things the way that God feels about
things second Corinthians 10 verse 5 says this casting down imaginations and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity notice every thought
every thought to the obedience of Christ like I said at the beginning of the sermon there's going
to be times where you hear something the Bible says and you think differently you know what the
right response is is to take that thought captive and bring it into the obedience of Christ and I
don't care if you're a young man or a gray head in here there are things that you are wrong about
there's things that I am wrong about and when the word of God shows us differently we need to bring
that thought into captivity and we read in the Bible oh here's how Jesus reacted to this situation
that's also how you should react to this situation and so you know maybe today you just need to go
through a checklist and just check yourself like how do I feel in my heart about such and such you
know I wish that every American would just check their heart and say you know how do I feel about
abortion okay take that feeling write that feeling down now let's check it with what the Bible says
does it match what God says okay because if you have the same emotion that God has about abortion
then you would hate the sacrifice of children you would despise it you would think it's disgusting
you think it's an abomination you know someone that excuses abortion you know what you've got
the wrong attitude to say the least and just apply this to anything you know christians what do they
love to do they love to justify alcohol hey what are your thoughts on alcohol does it match the
bible if not change your thoughts you know what is your emotional reaction when i say that God hates
some people does that offend you does that make your emotions sensitive change your emotions
right there's going to be times that we have the wrong emotions or hey when i said don't wait for
motivation to do things people in here sometimes people are are more of like a type b personality
and they just like to do things on the fly look don't wait for motivation be disciplined change
your attitude change your emotion how do you feel about divorce because it seems to me like the
majority of christians can't understand what the bible teaches on divorce i get so sick and tired
of reading these books by christian authors and they have a whole chapter on why you should never
divorce and why divorce is bad and then they end it by saying well in the case of abandonment or
infidelity it's totally okay it's like just rip the stupid chapter out of your book you know
because you don't think about things god the way that god does you don't have the attitude that god
has okay what a meaningless statement to just get up and say oh yeah i'm totally against divorce
except here's all the times that you can do it it's like that's not the way that god thinks about
things think about this what's your attitude at work when your boss commands you to do something
bible says to obey your masters right our attitude should be to want to please them to do what they
say is that your emotion that you feel or do you cringe at that you get upset you know wives
how do you emotionally react when your husband corrects you do you hold him in a position of
authority where he is allowed to correct your attitudes he should be you should have the
correct attitude on that and and that brings me to our second application people in authority
need to correct bad emotions people in authority need to correct bad attitudes we need anyone
that's in a position of authority if you're a father if your husband if you're a boss at work
if you're a pastor you must correct bad emotions why because not all emotions are valid and you
know what sometimes that means sometimes that means telling even your emotional wife in a loving way
that her emotions are not valid and you know what that might sometimes get you in trouble
but you know god forbid that you'd be more concerned about what god thinks about you in
your home than what your wife thinks about you right or you know maybe you're a boss and you
really like your employees and sometimes you have to correct attitude hey it doesn't really matter
if you're friends with that person can be more concerned about what god thinks than what that
person thinks and so whenever you're in any position of authority hey moms correct the bad
attitude of your children know their emotions are not valid no it's not okay for them to throw a
fit no it's not okay for them to back talk mom and to whine and complain those are bad attitudes
that should be corrected and so look study the bible i didn't go through everything this morning
but look you need to be studying the bible and study how we should feel about things change your
attitude and change those that are under you change their attitude too don't be afraid to
tell people the way they should feel about things sometimes sometimes your friend might tell you
a story and say oh well this person did this to me and you might have to say the person wasn't
wrong that person was right it might not score points with your friend or with your wife or with
your employee or with church members or with anyone but you know what we should tell people
the truth we should show people what the bible says regarding emotions let's change our emotions
and let's command other people to do likewise let's have a word of prayer lord thank you so
much for this day and thank you for your word that could just guide us through life that we
just have such a wonderful book that could not only tell us what to do but even tell us what to
feel, how to feel. And thank you, Lord, that you gave your son who was touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, that he cares about us deeply, that he cares about all the issues that we have,
and just pray that we'd be more like Christ every day. We love you, Jesus. Amen. In closing,
let's go to song number 228. Song number 228, "I Love to Tell the Story."
Song number 228, "I Love the Story." Everybody sing it out together on the first.