A Compassion That Conquers Complacency
Pastor Erickson preaches from the book of Jonah and from Abraham's plea for Sodom in Genesis 18, setting a prophet who had no compassion beside a friend of God who pleaded for souls. He calls the church to leave complacency behind, see every person as a lost soul, and help make disciples as gatherers, connectors and educators.
The message in 6 points
The greatest temptation is complacency
Pastor Erickson says the church's greatest temptation is not lukewarm worship but settling into complacency, sitting back comfortable while everything seems fine. He prays to see every child on a school bus and every person at the store as a soul who needs the word of God.
1:09:45Jonah's call has become our call
God sent Jonah to Nineveh, a cruel pagan city he felt did not deserve mercy, and Jesus gives the church the same commission in Mark 16:15. He says we hate the sin but love the sinner, and that prejudice reaches far beyond race to education, addiction, health and past mistakes.
1:12:06A prophet who ran and stayed angry
Jonah paid his fare to run the other way, and God prepared a storm and a great fish to carry him back to his calling. Nineveh repented at an eight word message, yet Jonah sat angry, glad of a gourd and grieved that the city was spared.
1:22:18Abraham, a man of compassion
Abraham stood before the Lord and pleaded for Sodom, from fifty righteous down to ten. Pastor Erickson says he wants to be like Abraham and plead for the souls of his own county, not like Jonah.
1:34:21Everyone has a part in making disciples
Compassion ignites the commission, and making disciples is every member's responsibility, not only the pastor's. The motive is souls, not attendance records, and he describes three roles: gatherers who invite, connectors who build friendships, and educators who teach the word.
1:39:26Pray for compassion for the lost
Every day souls enter eternity, and Jesus was moved with compassion and told his disciples to pray for laborers. He asks the church to pray for compassion, cry out for lost family members, and say, here am I, send me.
1:57:40
In his words
“And as long as our view of the world is despicable and deplorable, we will never see them how God sees them. We'll never see them in a way that we're going to want to reach them.”
“Compassion ignites the commission and compassion conquers complacency. It's not someone else's responsibility to go. Church family, it's our responsibility to go.”
“But God didn't call us just to be worshippers. God didn't call us just to sit on a church pew.”
Taken word for word from the video, with punctuation added.
Scripture
He reads
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
King James Version.
2 Peter 3:9
9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
King James Version.
Jonah 1:1-4
1Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
King James Version.
Mark 16:15
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
King James Version.
Jonah 2:2
2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
King James Version.
Jonah 2:10
10And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
King James Version.
Jonah 3:4-5
4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
King James Version.
Jonah 4:1-11
1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? 5So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
King James Version.
Genesis 18:22-27
22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
King James Version.
Matthew 9:35-38
35And 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. 36But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
King James Version.
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