...everything. Why?
So we could share it.
You'll read through the Gospels.
You'll find this time and time again.
And so Paul goes on, in chapter 9
of 2 Corinthians, Now he who supplies seed
to the sower and bread for food will
also supply and increase your store of seed
and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
You will be made rich in every way
so that you can be generous on every
occasion.
And through us, your generosity will result in
thanksgiving to God.
This service that you perform is not only
supplying the needs of God's people, but it
is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks
to God.
Because of the service by which you have
proved yourselves, men will praise God for the
obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel
of Christ.
And for your generosity in sharing with them
and with everyone else.
And in their prayers for you, their hearts
will go up to you because of the
surpassing grace God has given to you.
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.
Now that's what St. Paul says, obedience.
There is a difference between pity and compassion.
And I have the new international version and
I'm sorry because in 1 John chapter 3
it's got the word pity.
And I don't think it says it right.
In the old Bible it says bowels of
compassion.
And that is what Jesus had for us,
not pity.
You can hear stories about the people in
Hong Kong.
You can see things on television which will
move you to what?
It will move you to emotion.
And you maybe want to give some money,
but it's pity.
And I want to tell you that if
you'll carry it a step further to obedience,
then you'll know bowels of compassion.
Because Jesus, you see, never came and said,
I love you.
He didn't say it.
He showed it.
He didn't just bless us.
He died for us.
He wept for us.
It was a terrible death.
But he scorned it.
He scorned the shame for the joy that
was set before him.
So let's get it right.
These bowels of compassion that he asks you
to have is your privilege.
Because it's sharing his heart.
It's not your burden.
It's not an awful thing you have to
go through.
He's asking you, will you?
It's sharing his heart.
And it's a privilege.
You haven't got to give up things for
God.
God gave his life for you.
And he's asking you to share what you
have with others in whatever way.
It may be Luke 14.
Anyone who does not give up everything he
has cannot be my disciple.
And if anyone loves me, he will keep
my commandments.
Do you love God?
Do you really love him?
In 1 John 3.
We know we have passed from death to
life because we love our brothers.
Who's your brother?
Who's your neighbor?
You know.
Anyone who does not love remains in death.
This is how we know what love is.
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers.
Listen.
If anyone, if anyone has material possessions and
sees his brother in need, but does not
open the bowels of compassion for him, how
can the love of God be in him?
Dear children, let us not love with words
or tongue, but with actions and in truth.
This then is how we know that we
belong to the truth and how we set
our hearts at rest in his presence whenever
our hearts condemn us.
This is the command to believe in the
name of his son Jesus Christ and to
love one another as he commanded us.
You know, I'm sure you've read when Jesus
was talking about the end times, when the
king would return and his people would come
before him and he would commend some of
the people.
Come, you who are blessed by my father.
Take your inheritance.
The kingdom prepared for you before the creation
of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat and I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you invited me
in.
I needed clothes and you clothed me.
I was sick and you looked after me.
I was in prison and you came to
visit me.
And then the righteous will answer, well you
know how they answered, Lord, when did we
see you hungry?
When did we see you thirsty?
When were you in prison and we visited
you?
And he said, in so much as you
did it unto the least, you did it
unto me.
And to the others he said, depart from
me.
You who are cursed into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you did not
feed me.
I was thirsty and you did not give
me anything to drink.
I was naked and you did not clothe
me.
And I was in prison and you did
not visit me.
And they will say to him, but Lord,
when were we in prison?
When were you in prison and we did
not visit you?
When were you hungry and we did not
feed you?
And he said, in as much as you
did not do it to the least of
these, you did not do it to me.
You are a rich church.
You are rich in every way.
You are rich in spiritual things.
You are rich in your ministers and those
that share with you.
You are rich in space.
You are rich in time.
You are rich in possessions.
And I believe that God is calling you
to share these riches.
I'm not talking about money.
I'm talking about everything.
Your resources, yourself.
You know, there are some children here.
I can't quite see them, but there are
some children here who pray for us nearly
every day.
I really thank God because it was He
who put that upon their hearts.
And we're really grateful.
We're terribly tired in Hong Kong.
Last year, there were a few months where
we were sleeping for four hours a night
on average.
There are just so many.
Because God has blessed us, more and more
and more and more people come.
And we just don't have enough people to
help.
Sometimes mothers come up to me and they
kneel in front of me.
And I'm so embarrassed when they kneel in
front of me.
And they say, Please take my son in.
Please, when is it his turn?
And I say, We've got no room now.
It may be in a month or two.
And they have to come every other week.
Twice a week to see us.
And they kneel before us.
They're sleeping in the streets, most of them.
They don't know where their next meal is
coming from.
They've accepted Jesus.
They have to pray for each meal.
They pray for blankets to keep them warm
if it's a cold night.
And when they come, and I'm dreading going
back next Sunday because they'll come and they'll
say, Is it me?
Now you're back.
Is it me?
Can I come in yet?
And we have this power.
I have the power to say, You can
come into my house next.
Or you wait a few days.
I hate that.
In the years to come, after that time,
many times I thought, Why was I so
quick to say it cost nothing?
Because we did have hard times.
We do have hard times.
We live really hard.
You know, even now, Nicole, who gave the
interpretation to the song, we're still sleeping on
a double bunk.
We're living in a little house with six
people.
We can't even have half a room to
pray by ourselves.
We've got twenty-something people to sit down
to every meal.
We never have any peace.
Never any time to ourselves.
Never a ranch that we can go and
have a retreat on.
We live really hard.
So I was thinking, Why was I so
quick to say it cost nothing?
There is a cost.
Do you know now the way around that
the cost is?
I understood that before you've paid the price,
there's a cost.
And when you've paid the price, you know
it cost nothing.