Empathy - Can You Relate?

Within this week's 'Words of Life' broadcast / podcast, we examine why empathy is not a mood; it is a 'mandate' woven through Scripture and proven in history. 

The opening scriptural text (Deuteronomy 10: 18-19) commands care for the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigner (wanderer, immigrant, refugee, oppressed, marginalized), grounding love in God’s character and Israel’s memory as former wandering slaves. Thus, empathy differs from sympathy by sharing another’s burden as one who remembers. The call is practical—feed, clothe, welcome—and theological, because every act toward “the least of these” is rendered unto Christ. When we forget mercy, we forget the mercy shown to us, and God’s will not ignore such willing oversight.

We are to empathize with refugees and immigrants because they rarely move for comfort; they flee harm and hope for dignity accompanied by a better life. Jesus sharpens the stakes with a parable (Matthew 25), where nations are weighed by hospitality’s ordinary actions—water, bread, a visit, a welcome. Neglect is not neutral; it is a verdict against love. The church cannot baptize indifference with rhetoric. A tree is known by its fruit borne, and empathy bears such that strangers can taste.

With nothing new under the sun, history echoes GOD's warning to those who have ears to hear. Revisited is a nation born by protesting distant rule with their denied rights soon displacing Native peoples and enslaved Africans. And yet, the same cycle of oppression and enslavement is repeated. Yet, the one who loves with mercy and compassion remembers our own deliverance and relies upon the same God who feeds us in our desert wanderings.

We are therefore challenged by the symbolic fork in the road to preach what pierces: Jesus crucified and risen, the only way to the Father, the model of mercy expected to be extended to neighbors and nations. 

Love because GOD first loved us. When we feed a family, when we visit the sick, when we welcome the stranger, we touch Christ. 

Does our gospel message (or platform) choose mercy, practice empathy, and  preach a gospel that brings strangers home or are we indifferent to the plight of those GOD loves and will execute judgment concerning?

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And Purpose Of The Message
• 3:06 Empathy Versus Sympathy Defined
• 6:40 God’s Compassion And Our Weakness
• 10:03 Christ Our Sympathetic High Priest
• 13:50 Deuteronomy Context And Call To Love
• 19:45 From Israel’s Failures To Our Duties
• 24:10 Loving The Foreigner As Witness
• 27:24 Sheep And Goats: Judgment Criteria
• 33:00 Welcoming Strangers On The Journey
• 36:35 Mercy, Justice, And National Memory
• 42:10 Warnings To The Unmerciful
• 46:45 Life As Pilgrims With Tents
• 52:05 Who Holds Your Eternal Keys
• 58:10 Stay Focused On The Word
• 1:04:40 The Gospel Veiled And Revealed

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast or podcast where our mission is making God known for extolling Jesus the Christ as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life Message.

SPEAKER_00: 0:17

Hey there again to you, Words of Life listeners and viewers. I am Pastor Mark D. Ingram, and I am so grateful that God has allowed me to speak a word of life from his words of life, the word of God into your heart. And the truth of the matter is, you could have been doing anything else, you could have been watching anybody else. But again, my wife and I, we're grateful that you've taken your time to listen to God's word through this ministry. I am jumping right into scripture, not much ad-libbing today, because we have a lot going on in this world, but God is faithful with the world the way it is. God had a word for his people then, and that same word of God, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Deuteronomy. I'm going to begin reading at chapter 10. I'm going to read verses 18 and 19. And my version is the Berean Standard Bible, but yours should sound somewhat the same. Last time, Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 18 and 19, in which God is talking to his people, Israel, in regards to a call to obedience. Verse 18 reads, He, he being God, God executes justice for the fatherless and widow. And he, God, loves the foreigner, i.e., stranger, alien, immigrant, refugee, sojourner. God loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. And verse 19, so you also must love. And I'm going to say that again because God is reiterating this. I love the foreigner. Verse 19, he says, So you also must love the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, the immigrant, the sojourner, the refugee. You must love the foreigner since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. May the Lord add a blessing to the hearers, the readers, but most importantly, those that intend to do with God help his holy word. The title of this week's message is simply one word, empathy. Empathy. As we get started, my initial thought, my initial thoughts as God gave me this message to administer to his people. When I think about empathy, I think it's important to distinguish between empathy and sympathy. To sympathize is to feel or to express sympathy, compassion. But to empathize is to understand and it is to share the feelings of another because one has experienced the same thing. One can relate to because of that shared experience. And so here's a mental note for all empathy mandates compassion. It is a mandate that one cannot truly be empathetic without having compassion towards the affected individual or persons. And so it's important to note here God sympathizes with us. And God knows our frailty because he made us. The book of Psalm, the 103rd Psalm, verses 13 and 14, the Berean Standard Bible, God says in the Word of God, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. Verse 14, for he knows our frame. And so God knows how weak and how frail we are. God knows that we're only dust. God's compassion towards us understands human frailty and mortality. God knows our limitations. He knows our traumas. He knows our proclivities. He knows our issues, our weaknesses in our frame. Thus, God offers us grace instead of condemnation. Humanity, we are limited in strength, limited in understanding and lifespan. God is intimately aware of every one of our struggles. And so he shows us compassionate responses to our weaknesses. God acts with mercy and sympathy rather than harsh judgment. So understand, God, he sympathizes with us. But understand this. In sympathizing with us, feeling our sinful condition, let's insert here, let's not use empathize because God has never sinned. So God doesn't know what that is, uh personally. God has never sinned. He's holy, he's perfect. So he sympathizes with our state, but feeling for our sinful condition, he's done something about that, and we're going to talk about that later. Yet, in his feelings, in his love for us, our sinful state, God did something about it by sending Jesus to reconcile us back to him. Notice what the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 15 and 16 state about Jesus, the hope of our confession and relationship with God. Verse 15 for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize, to be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Verse 16, let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. So we have God, we have His Son, our Savior Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit now living within us, those that are born again in Christ, reconciled to God, they sympathize with our condition and they did something about it, i.e., Calvary. And we talked about compassion is a mandate of empathy. And since that act of compassion and love for our depraved, sinful, eternally lost condition, since we are inherently sinful, God expects us to go forth since he is so sympathetic with us and he acted in love. Well, he expects us to sympathize with others that we encounter. God expects us to empathize with them as well, because every human being, we are acquainted with sin and we understand the impact that it has on others. So, with my initial thoughts out of the way, let's go ahead and jump into our exegesis. Uh, let's read the text in context because as we consider our first couple of verses in Deuteronomy, in which God is calling Israel to obedience, I want you to execute justice for the father and the widow. And this is as they are traveling towards the promised land. God says, execute justice for the fatherless and the widow. I love the foreigner, I love the stranger, the alien, the sojourner among you, the immigrant, the refugee. I love him. I give him food, I give her clothing. Verse 19. So here's the action he calls Israel too. So you also must love the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, the sojourner, the immigrant, the refugee. You must also love the foreigner since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. They were on the way to the promised land because God saved and delivered them from oppression. And so on this journey to the promised land, exegeting that text in context, what happened around that particular text, understand God's chosen nation, Israel. They really angered God by doing what you just do not do. They made an idol unto themselves to replace who God was to them. I mean, why would you do that if God had done so much for them and the miracles were right there in their faces to see? But it's as if they wanted to believe something else, even though the evidence was right in front of them. Does that sound familiar? Within the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 9, Israel then has battles ahead of them. But again, in his faithfulness, God goes before them and he's with his people. Although victory is theirs just because of who God is, he warns them to avoid pride after their victories and their war. Does this sound familiar? Going forward, God then calls Israel, Remember your previous failures, remember your rebellions against me. And this called for God's appointed leader at that time, Moses, to pray for the people when they previously rebelled against God. Is this sounding familiar to anybody? And so what God does is he gives his expectation of his people, Israel, return to the word of God by way of the new tablets of the law that God gives the people through Moses. And this would deal with Israel's sin issue, and it would establish the priesthood required to make intercession before God. And so, with that quick exegesis of what's happening around that time in Deuteronomy, we can now make that transition from God's second administration of the law to Israel. We can start making that transition to our here and now because God had expectations and requirements from Israel as they resume their journey to Canaan, the promised land. God's basic expectation of Israel and now to us is spelled out right there in scripture in the text. Fear him, fear God with reverential honor, walk in his ways, emulate God with his help, empathy, compassion, sympathy, love, being able to share with, look out for, feed the hunt, protect, look, walk in his ways. Love him above all else. Serve him with all that we are, all that we have. People should be able to look at us and see, I see God, I see Jesus, I see God's spirit over this person just because of the way they act towards people. It should just be evident. We shouldn't have to explain who we are to people. It should just be light in a dark world. It should just be salt in a world without flavor. God's basic expectation again, as we make this transition, he says, I want you all to keep my statutes and my expectations. And if you go back and look at all of this that I just kind of went over, fear God with reverential honor, walk in his way, love him above all, serve him with everything that we are, keep his statutes and expectation. We begin to understand that the law that God gave, every command, whether it was the Ten Commandments or the second administration of more specific laws, every command would benefit humanity, whom God loves dearly. I'm gonna repeat that again. Every command, the Ten Commandments, as well as the commands of the law that he gave more specifically to God's people, his people, it would benefit humanity, whom God loves dearly. And so let's backtrack God says, I want you to love the foreigner. I want you to look out for them, look out for the fatherless, the widow, the foreigner. And better yet, my people, Israel, you can relate. You were mistreated, you were oppressed slaves, and I, God, delivered you, and that's why we're out here in this desert on this journey. I'm guiding you to a better land that I promised you. And so when you encounter a stranger, a sojourner, an alien, an immigrant, a refugee, one that is not inherently an Israelite back then within the exegesis of the text, I want you to sympathize and I want you to empathize with their journey. You accept them by treating them the loving way that I have treated you. Now, although God chose Israel, guess what? These expectations are still required from those of us who have been grafted into God's family because of Jesus. We are to model for those, emulate for those who just will not treat strangers among us the way God expects us to. There is absolutely no reason for a blood-bought Christian to be siding with anything or anybody that does not emulate the compassion, the empathy, the sympathy that God has already told us. This is what I want you to do. And understand, God don't lie. We're gonna get to the judgment in just a bit, but God don't lie. We are to emulate for those who will not treat foreigners, strangers, immigrants, refugees among us. God wants us to treat them the way He has treated us. Jesus described the judgment of nations and people, separating symbolic sheep and goats within this parable in the book of Matthew, chapter 25. And I'm gonna read all of it in its entirety, verses 31 through 46, starting at verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty? And when did we give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Watch this. Then he will say to those on the left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, there's that word again: stranger, foreigner, immigrant, refugee. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. And they too will reply, Lord, when do we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick in prison and did not minister to you? As if if they realized that that was Jesus for real, for real, they would have done it. They killed him. Verse 45. Then the king will answer, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Everybody does not belong to God that wears a cross or says, I'm a Christian, I'm a preacher. A tree is known by the fruit it bears. And again, God had already given his people instructions as they were on this journey, as we're journeying, and I'm leading you on this journey towards your promised land that I promised to your forefathers. Along the way, you are going to have some strangers, some sojourners, some nomads, some refugees, some immigrants, some fatherless, some widow. They're gonna join you on this journey. They're just gonna, you're gonna look up and they're there with you. I don't want you to mistreat them. I want you to take them in. I want you to love them. I want you to treat them with empathy, sympathy, compassion, feed them if you have to, clothe them, give them drink. I want you to do all of that for them because I did it for you. I'm still doing it for you while you're out here in the middle of the desert. You don't turn them away, you welcome them. That's what I expect of you because I did it for you. And here's another thing you need to remember, Israel. Um, y'all can relate. You can relate because you too were once foreigners, immigrants, refugees, before I delivered you from oppression. So I want us to, I want to leave no doubt here. God requires specific action regarding the treatment of the marginalized, the oppressed, the stranger, the nomad, displaced, sojourner, alien, immigrant, refugee among us. God requires specific action. He requires the same love, hospitality, care, and kindness that he grants to us. That is to be given to all people. That he places within our sphere of influence, no matter their race, their creed, or their color. Doing so is the equivalent of serving Jesus as if we are doing it or we did it for him. It will matter. Neglecting to do so is like we're all we're personally mistreating Jesus as well. There will be consequences. And so now we can complete our full circle overview from my initial thoughts through exegesis to the transition up to now. We put that parable in there where Jesus even talked about this is how you need to treat the stranger. Because how you treat him, you're basically treating me the same way. Now we can get back to our opening scripture for context and clarity. Because again, Israel is on this journey. They're being led by God. God doesn't like symbolically throw the baby out with the bath water because Israel had made God angry. All this I'm doing for you, and you got the nerve to build an eye, Moses. You better get on down that hill because they're down there, and I'm liable to. They made God angry. And so, in still keeping his promise to protect, to look over, to lead and guide them to a better land, he tells them in verse 18, our opening text God, I will execute justice for the fatherless and the widow. And God, I love the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, the sojourner, the immigrant, the refugee. I give them food and clothing just like I give it to you. Verse 19. So this is what I want you to do. Here's that call to obedience to God's people, Israel, then us, those of us right now. It hasn't changed. So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. And so, lest we get it twisted, thinking, well, he was talking about Israel, and that's the Old Testament, and he delivered them. And so I don't need to love the foreigner, and I've never been a foreigner. Yes, you have. Yes, I have. Yes, we all have. It's called sin. You don't want to leave this planet going to meet God eternally without recognizing, Lord, yeah, I'm a wretch. I'm enslaved to sin. I'm oppressed by it too. I need a deliverer. Just like you saved and delivered Israel, you will do the same for me if I just simply humble myself and say, Lord, wow, what you did for me, you didn't have to. But it shows your mercy, you showed your grace, you did it for your children way back then. I'm reading about it, and here I am with the same opportunity. You'll do it for me too. And as you do it for me, you save me from myself because I too have been oppressed by sin. And even if you're saved right now, you're still battling daily, and it's God's help picking us back up. So if God does all of that for us, he said, understand, I love the fatherless, I love the widow, I love that foreigner, I love the stranger, alien, sojourner, immigrant, refugee that doesn't have any place to go. They don't have any, so they're gonna join you on this journey. And as they join you, you must also love them because you can relate. Here's application point number one that I want us to consider this week. To lack empathy or sympathy fails to realize God's mercy unto us. I'll repeat that again. To lack empathy or sympathy to the plight or suffering of another fails to realize God's mercy unto us. Here's where I want to interject, and it's not funny, but it's it's it's stunning. And I think you'll be stunned as well. Uh, my wife and I, God has given us the privilege to be able to minister to the next generation. We're both educators, and my wife is a history major. Um, and so this history lesson, we've talked about it, keeping in mind, application point number one, to lack empathy and sympathy fails to realize God's mercy unto us. Consider this history lesson. The United States left England 250 years ago, starting in that range of 1775 to 1776. They left or detached from England primarily due to taxation without representation. As Britain imposed taxes without allowing the right. Y'all ain't gonna even vote about it. The American colonies wanted self-oversight. They protested, I mean, they protested how troops, their troops were being governed. They protested that our trade is being restricted, and the Englishmen basically felt like their basic rights were being violated. Britain even closed the port of Boston, and they even told the Englishmen, y'all can't even do trials by jury. And so, in so many words, the United States back then, 1775, 1776, the U.S. basically felt like, wait a minute, how y'all gonna govern? And I want to go, let me clear this up because I do, I I realize with all of the uh podcasts and sermon downloads, uh reports that we get. Let me clarify for those that you keep hearing me say y'all. It's just a you all. In Texas, we kind of combine the two. You all. So when you hear me say y'all, um, I'm just saying you all. That's just uh a vernacular that we use down here in Texas. And so, back to the message. The U.S. basically felt like how y'all gonna govern us way around the world. We we want our freedom. I'm gonna pause right here. Does that sound familiar? After that, here has here we have the American Revolution. And the American Revolution leads to what's called Independence Day in 1776. And let's turn this corner real quick because it's stunning that 250 years later, there are those that have been elected to govern, to lead, to serve God's people righteously, there are those treating foreigners, sojourners, aliens, refugees, immigrants in ways that our country despised two hundred and fifty years ago. Pause. Does this sound familiar? Now, consider this. Said country then establishes once they break from Britain, and this is our Independence Day, said country then establishes a system which again is contrary to God's expectation by get this, taking from Native Americans by coercion, violations, violence, and outright force. Get this. Then said nation has the nerve to travel abroad to export another nation of African descent, to be enslaved and to be treated exactly the way they resented by Britain. Pause. Does any of this sound like anybody you know? This sound familiar? Understand that God will never be mocked. Ever, ever, ever, ever. So let's go back to our opening text. Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 18 through 19. Again, he's calling his people to obedience. God executes justice. I'm gonna pause right there for that stress. Execute justice for the fatherless and the widow. God loves the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, the immigrant, the refugee, the sojourner. God gives him or her food and clothing. Verse 19 So, my people, you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Guess what? We can relate, we can sympathize, we can empathize, be it personally to sin we were oppressed and enslaved, or as a nation, because we've only been the U.S. for 250 years and broke from Britain for that same oppression, detachment. We want to be our own, and then we're gonna have the nerve to go take somebody else's land and then travel abroad to export another nationality to enslave those of African descent and then to treat them exactly the way they didn't like the way Britain was treating them. I I don't understand sometimes, but I know God is sovereign. And we've got to understand that people arrive as foreigners, sojourners, aliens, refugees, and immigrants generally because they are seeking a better life. They are fleeing from oppression, violence, or mistreatment. Again, Israel could relate. They called out to God, Lord, this is what they're doing. God heard their cry and delivered them from Egypt. Our nation can relate. And then we turn right around in that that you wanted to be detached from to get your freedom in 1775, 1776. You then come around and take somebody else's land and then go to another nation, get those of African descent, enslave them, and you treat them exactly the way you, since you're free now, but you weren't free all the time. Then the United States, you can relate. But here's the warning I have for us corporately, nationally, and independently. Woe be it unto those who lack mercy. I'm going back to this word I said or this phrase I said, God don't lie. Everything in his word, if he said it, book it is happening. James 2 and 13. For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Sound familiar? Mercy triumphs over judgment. The one that lacks mercy is the one that just doesn't understand the mercy that God has given unto us. Again, James 2 and 13, I gotta reiterate it. Judgment without mercy. That is what will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Luke chapter 6, verse 36. Be merciful. Again, there's that emulation. Be merciful just as your father is merciful to you, to me, to us. I mean, God has the right to cancel our lives at any moment. And if we're lacking mercy, compassion, and empathy, we just don't understand how merciful and empathetic and sympathetic God is to us. The book of Micah, chapter 6, verse 8. He has shown you, God has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? He requires of us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. So understand point number one. Those that lack mercy, they are those that don't have a clue of how merciful God has been to us. That's personally, corporately, or even as a nation. Hear me clearly, God don't lie. God will execute justice for those that lack mercy, love, sympathy, and empathy for those who are oppressed. He promised it, and he's going to do it because if you don't give mercy, love, sympathy, and empathy, you're you're easy, you're prideful, you mistreat people, you use your position of authority and abuse it. When you're especially talking about the oppressed, God is going to execute justice and do to you, do to the guilty. Because he says, you can relate to them. You too were oppressed, you too were enslaved, whether it's individually by sin, and I gave you Jesus and set you free, or if it was by a nation, Israel from Egypt and the United States from Britain, we can relate. So God expects sympathy, mercy, and love. Because if it's not given, God said He is going to execute justice, whether it's personal, personally or nationally. Here's application point number two. All of us, we are strangers traveling toward eternal addresses. Let's get that understand. We understood. We are all strangers traveling toward eternal addresses. Israel, along with the strangers seeking community and a better life, together they were like a wandering, homeless nation traveling to the promised land of Canaan, their new home. And first, again, let's remember God reminds his people how they must feed, clothe, and then love the strangers, foreigners, the oppressed, the refugee, the alien, the immigrant on this same pilgrimage with them. And so God says, I administer justice for the fatherless, the orphan, and the widow, and that I love the stranger, giving him food and clothing. And then God tells his people why they must love them. Therefore, love the stranger. I'm gonna repeat that just in case we missed it earlier. He tells the people, This is what I want you to do, but this is why I want you to do it. You were strangers in Egypt. Feed them because I fed you, clothe them because I clothed you. And here's the best part love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. God's people, you were strangers in that land. Oppressed, homeless, nomads. Egypt wasn't your home. You were mistreated, you were enslaved. You weren't natural-born citizens of Egypt, you were refugees, you were strangers in Egypt, but I fed, I took care of you, I clothed, I loved, I delivered, and now I even got you on a journey towards the promised land to give you a better life. And so many words, God says again, saying, Show compassion to them. Because you can relate to being a stranger, a foreigner. Be empathetic because not too long ago we might be out here in the desert, and I'm leading you, fire by night and cloud by day, but be empathetic because that wasn't too long ago. And it gets even better because God's expectation of us now is still the same. They may have been oppressed then and God led and delivered them then, but now let's bring that up to now and let's think about where we're on the way to since we too are headed toward an eternal address. Right now, we're just strangers in a land that's not even our home. God didn't put us on earth to stay. We just pass we are passing through earth and the lives that we live. Understand, this is not our eternal home. Whether you believe it or not, once you were created, you will never have another moment that you do not exist and be well aware of it. We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. We're not earthly beings having this spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings, eternal beings having an earthly experience. God has just given us time on earth and given us the choice to determine our eternal addresses. Earth is not home, and the brevity of our years here compared to where all of us are journeying to eternity, the time that we have here is tenuous at best. I'm an army veteran, and there were times during our mission in the field or the desert that we had to put up our tent to cover us with temporary shelter, then early in the morning, take it down to continue on our journey. Well, God describes our frail bodies on this earthly pilgrimage towards eternity the same way. The book of Isaiah, chapter 38, verse 12, NIV version. Like a shepherd's tent, my house has been pulled down and taken from me. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 14, the King James Version. Knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, my tent, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. As nomads, with earth not being our final destination, we travel in frail, temporary bodies, tents. But guess what? Know that death is not the end of that journey. Death is our beginning into eternity. All of us, we are traveling as nomads, foreigners in this world with a temporary earth suit. And we are moving from this temporary home earth to move into an eternal realm where we will face judgment for the lives God gave us. And so God could have symbolically warned us as well. He is, in a sense. Be good to those you encounter on this same tenuous temporary journey that humanity is on. Show compassion to those you meet on this same tenuous journey that humanity is on. Empathize with those in your circle of influence because truly we are all strangers in a foreign land, and everybody is traveling towards an eternal home and an address that will last forever. So now the question that has to be answered by every human being who knows right and wrong, it is this, the only reason that we preach a tea. Know this application point number three. Jesus or Satan possesses the key to your eternal dwelling place. So who's your realtor? That's a question that I'd like for you to consider. Jesus or Satan, they possess the keys to your eternal dwelling place. Who is your realtor? A realtor is a person who acts as an agent for the sale and the purchase of buildings, land, or property. A good realtor will always tell you the truth. They're concerned about the facts, and they're going to give you the facts that will help you because they are in your best interest, those facts. That sounds like Jesus. He's just going to always give you the truth. Whether you like it, believe it or not, these are the facts. There is only one way to the Father. This is in your best interest to believe. That's Jesus all day. Now a bad realtor, a lying one, they won't give you the facts. They'll deceive, they're just trying to get whatever or whoever that benefits them. Even if it uses you or costs you something. That sounds exactly like Satan. The church is fighting for just, I'm sorry, stupid reasons. If you just scroll social media nowadays, if you're a Christian, it can be depressing. We're not to be fighting at each other. We've got a job to do. And people are so easily distracted. The word of God is clear. If you are a pastor or a preacher, our mission is clear. Don't be sidetracked. Don't get up in a platform talking about nothing but Jesus because eternity is knocking for everybody. Everything else that happens, yeah, if you're going to address it, don't address it as this is what's happening, because there is nothing new under the sun. But you can address the same thing that goes on in this world all you have to do is go right to the word of God and he will line it up because that word of God cuts like a two-edged sword dividing all into the marrow into places that a surgical nice can't can't get to only God can convict the human heart. So although we are witnessing an autocratic desire, a dictator style of leadership and a government that seems like they don't care, I don't have time to be calling anybody's name, but I know what will work the word of God. There's nothing new under the sun. And this sermon sounds just like everything that's going on today. But God doesn't want us distracted because once we get distracted, I see preachers fighting against each other. I see churches going back and forth. It's about denomination and I believe in my heart it ain't about none of that. God's going to hold us accountable. Since the world is going to hell in a handbasket, how will they know that they need to get themselves together before eternity if there's not a preacher that sticks to give them the word of God. I can't change anybody's heart. Nobody's going to hear or listen or watch me and say I just got to do better. And then their hearts are going to change that is the work of the Holy Spirit. But again as you're listening if you're listening right now watching you can determine you can discern who's holding the keys to my eternal dwelling place am I easily distracted? Do I even have I accepted Jesus at any point to absolve me of my oppression and enslavement to sin and if I haven't and I get sidetracked yeah Satan is kind of doing what he does but if you can just focus not only am I talking to everybody but I am particularly at this moment speaking to preachers pastors the word of God is enough. That's all we need I can't change a human heart. None of us can the word of God by itself is enough put the word of God out there and it will convict it will change it will judge we don't have to get distracted by ignorance and hatred and evil that then causes us to be fighting and then the world is looking at us like why would I want that I'm always open to emails I'm always open to but the one thing that I haven't done in 24 years of preaching the gospel is argue with anybody about what God's word says who has the keys who's your realtor eternally with his body and his blood Jesus purchased us first delivered us from the enslavement and the oppression of sin saved us purchased us now prepares our new home realtor secured how to safely reach our final destination Jesus may as well say he may as well say I'm the key here you go here are your keys take me and God sealed his contract with us with a down payment after the blood transaction at Calvary he installed his his Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who have accepted these symbolic keys to their eternal home with God. God has placed his seal of redemption upon us and only one can represent God and conduct acceptable eternal transactions on his behalf. His name is Jesus there will come a day when our earthly journey and traveling will end. We will be wanderers no more when we take our final breaths on earth we will receive our eternal addresses immutable unchanging permanent is ours forever but we've got to make something crystal clear as I prepare to conclude this week's message if you have not acknowledged Jesus as the only way to appease God to communicate with God to have a relationship with God or to obtain eternal salvation deliverance from enslavement to sin oppression to sin if you have not done that at any time of your life God is having empathy on you at this very moment sympathizing with you but love is calling you God has never sinned we are sin personified. God is showing right now his mercy if you're listening or watching this broadcast or listening to the podcast and you must realize that if you have not and will not accept Jesus understand there are no ifs ands or buts about it. Satan right now is keeping you he's acting on your behalf that's your eternal realtor but you have a chance to act right now to change that you got a chance to change those locks because once Satan gets you off of this planet that lock is locked and it cannot be changed. But when Jesus sets a door to open it nobody can close it but once that door shuts it can't be opened maybe you think I'm being dogmatic or you simply I just don't believe nothing you preaching. Well know this God don't lie 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 and 5 even if our gospel is veiled if it's hidden it is veiled to those who are perishing verse 4 the God of this age while we yet live earth time he has blinded the eyes of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God for we do not proclaim ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. The word is the same yesterday today and forever for those that say God has called us to preach and teach we need to give ourselves as servants to the world giving them Jesus I don't have anything else to give you I don't ask for money I'm not I don't have a bit I'm just giving you Jesus because eternity is knocking for us all 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 the natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned the book of Matthew chapter 13 verse 19 when anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in this in his heart don't be the person listening to an invitation to secure your eternity you go about it like eh maybe tomorrow's the day or let me think about it. Because Satan does what he does and he comes away and he snatches away what's being sown today in your heart. I'm not giving you church I'm not giving you the things of the church I am giving you what will prepare you for eternity from oppression to sin, enslavement to sin. It is empathy in a sense this is why God has called preachers to preach Jesus period and it's like God is saying yeah you preach Jesus and preach him crucified risen and able to save to the utmost and you do so Mark because you can empathize with those who were who are in eternal danger because Mark you too were once in the same predicament until I touched your heart and I saved you from yourself, sin, others and eternal damnation you were going to be separated from me but I saved you Mark and you can empathize with those who are still lost. Give them Jesus just like I gave him to you yes Lord it's easy I might want to take that back. It might not be easy my uncle and my aunt I had dinner with them the other day and they basically reminded me love them dearly Reverend K.P. Williams and my aunt Gildish like my second mom and they basically said well nephew what you're doing is not easy. You expect other pastors and preachers to do da-da-da-da. No, if you've been truly called it's easy to you because the Lord is working through you and that that made a lot of sense that's so maybe I am being too hard on preachers that espouse everything but what will save the world but then again Jesus did say everybody that calls me Lord Lord it's not of me they won't enter heaven if you're listening or watching you don't have to be that person who is your eternal realtor if you haven't made your decision yet I understand I can relate I can empathize because that was me as well I'm a PK I grew up in the church. I have no excuse my brothers my sister we have no excuse we were taught by my mom and my dad that was me as well I said I would never that's the one thing I ain't gonna never do preach and it's been 24 25 years now so I can empathize I can relate empathy though requires again we said it earlier empathy mandates compassion in action and that's exactly what I'm doing at this very moment inviting you please to pray sincerely Lord do in the listener or the the viewer's heart what only you alone can do if you would like to accept Jesus Lord you spoke to my heart today I'm not listening to this because I was bored I'm not tuning in because no you led me here and I need Jesus just like you delivered Israel from Egypt's oppression and slavery just like you delivered the United States from Britain's taxation without representation and they broke off and then did the fool and treated people immigrants and another nation exactly the same way that they despised Lord I don't want to be all of that. Right now please have mercy on me Lord if what this preacher is saying is true have compassion and sympathize with my condition Lord have empathy to save me right now Lord let me know that I need you and if I draw near to you right now you will draw near to me and you will save me to the utmost and I'm no longer lost eternally if you desire to make that decision right now let's pray together a simple prayer I want you to repeat after me we call these the ABCs of salvation a Lord I acknowledge I admit that I'm a wretch before you I don't have to guess about that that's what you said but Lord you're giving me a chance right now so I admit my condition I'm enslaved to sin I'm oppressed by sin but Lord I want to change that right now and I can do so by doing this second second part B. I believe I believe that Jesus did that just for me and he designed this moment if I don't know Jesus I know him today because you said if I draw nigh to you you would draw nigh to me and you're gonna do the rest. I believe that Lord and since I believe it I will finally see I will confess with my mouth that only you can save to the utmost only you can take me safely to God after I leave here but while you leave me on this earth you will help me to emulate you by showing empathy and compassion love doing whatever that you have done for me showing mercy I will now go forth and can confess that I do so now because of your power in me. And I will purpose to start telling everybody else that I know with however you gifted me the exact same message. It's in the name of Jesus Christ that we do pray. It is so we close by saying amen. Well listener viewer I want to thank you for hanging in there with me today uh the message entitled Empathy I just feel like uh the anointing I I don't even want to share anything about um the book I'm not gonna say anything about the music project I'm gonna get ready to get on out of here just because I want God's word to stand on its own today. It might be a gift but he doesn't he doesn't need my book to resonate in anybody's heart. He doesn't need my music to resonate in anybody's heart. So I'm not gonna even reference any of that like I do as I close each broadcast but I do thank God for giving me the ability to write music that will fit a particular sermon. And so as I close I want to give you God's promise.

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He's faithful and that's the name of the song I pray that you get his word and the song ministers to you and I do believe it is entitled simply You promise and until next time and to the next words of life God's word coming through this ministry this pastor I say go forth today and if God puts a stranger a sojourner an immigrant a refugee within your circle of influence for the day treat them the exact same way he has treated us with love mercy and compassion empathy we pray that you have listened you put this message Lord please endow me so that I walk forth and understand the mercy that I give that's the same mercy I'm gonna receive I'm out of here for real for real y'all love y'all dearly until next time we'll see you next week okay bye bye we are the work of your hands from the just we stand we fall into sand like a paint a bacon like canvas me to put that with you everything Trust in it. The world for you coming. You can, you can us, you got us, you can us, you can't, you can