Compassion In Crisis

Introduction & Background:

Today it a wonderful day for many of us here in Grenada and elsewhere in the world, while many over are suffering and are going through trials and time of testing.

We look at the Haiti situation where just a some time ago, that 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the Capital, city Port-Aux-Prince, with tens of thousands ending dead.

The suffering is just heart rendering. From the old to the young; from the blacks to the not so black; from the powerful and influential; to the poor and seemingly insignificant, this crisis has touch almost every sector of their population.

Yet in reality many countries are no different from Haiti, because while Haiti would have gone through a natural (physical) disaster, these countries are experiencing spiritual disasters.

It therefore goes to show that we are living in crisis times and these crises requires compassion to help alleviate same.

Our true spiritual state:

Today like so many countries, Grenada appears to be Christian nation, but instead it’s a nation of religious people.

In essence we are fill of lively church goers, but spiritual oppressed, blind, wounded and dead people.Consequently for such a time like this, we need compassion more than ever-because both here in (Grenada), and all over the world, crises are being experienced. The word of God tells us in Luke 4:18-18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Definition: Crisis

What exactly is a crisis? A crisis can be defined as an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty; from the Greek κρίσις) it may occurs on a personal or societal level. It may be a traumatic or stressful change, yet it may come slow and unknowingly.

Works and Faith:

Brothers and Sisters, as we look at the scripture passage before us, James tell us that one can claim to have faith, and doesn’t have works (works of righteousness) to show for it.

Just what is works? Works is the grace and privileged to carry out the gospel in a practical Biblical way (Ephesians 2:10).

Like in Haiti, we too have many brothers and sisters who are spiritually naked and destitute of the spiritual food, and we say to them depart in peace, be warmed and filled.What a tragedy! What a disaster!

Friends,I am here to tell you that there are still many spiritual victims around us, and if the people of Grenada,are dying for lack of spiritual food, the people of St.Vincent,Cuba,United Stated,Canada,Brazil,Denmark and China, if this people have not made a decision to serve God, they are truly in crisis and we must handle this crisis.

So let me reiterate, if these people are hungry and depending on us for spiritual food, we cannot, we must not- tell them “depart in peace, be warmed and filled.”

Because friends, giving them food for their body is good, but what they really need is food for their soul. "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4

Friends,when we pass persons on the street, when we visit persons, and we donot share the gospel with them, because of our own selfish ways, lack of, ignorance or hard-hearted, basically what we really saying to them “depart in peace, be warmed and filled”.

But I want to tell someone today,that persons who depart this life without Christ, will neither be warmed, nor be filled, for hell is a not a warm place in any sense of the word, but instead a fiery furnace that will torment those who end up there. Luke 16:23, Mark 9:43,47

Think for a minute therefore. What kind of faith do you have? Do you really want to sit back and watch your love ones remain victorious in this life,but spend their eternity in hell?

Or do you want them to spend their eternity in the presence of God, their maker?

Friends, when we looked at Jesus life/ministry, it was a life/ministry of compassion. As he dealt with all the personal crises, he dealt with them from a heart experience. More so he dealt with them with a sense of “now”/urgency.

He dealt with the leper-the woman at the well

References : Mark 1:40 And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." New Living Translation (©2007)

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!"