If we would become more compassionate and less judgmental, what happens?
Call on the LORD and HE will answer
Cry out to HIM for help and HIS answer will be this…
If you stop oppressing the weak, stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors. STOP Gossiping.
Feed the hungry. Help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine
It will rise out of darkness
Night will become like the noonday
The Lord will guide you continually, satisfying you with good things.
Keeping you healthy too
You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
You will rebuild the ancient ruins. The things that were broken down by those before who have turned away. You will raise up age old foundations. Foundations that have been started before, and need to be built upon.
You will be the repairer of Broken Walls.
You will fix the things that were once broken. Repairing, patching, replacing, rebuilding. This is what we are to do. This is what the LORD wants. This is a promise He has given us, if we will just do as He commands.
Isaiah 58:9-12
9"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ’Here I am ’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11"And the LORD will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
New King James Version (NKJV)
VS 9
CALL and HE will ANSWER
Psalm 50:15
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
Isaiah 55:6
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Isaiah 65:24
24 “ It shall come to pass
That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
REMOVE THE YOKE
Isaiah 58:6
6 “ Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Isaiah 1:17
17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
REMOVING THE YOKE - FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER
Releasing others from your stronghold on them, by not forgiving them.
Releasing yourself from your own stronghold, by holding grudges and not forgiving others
FORGIVING OTHERS – REMOVING THE YOKE - RELEASE
Mark 11:25-26
25 “…If you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
STOP POINTING FINGER – it stirs up mischief and wickedness
Proverbs 6:13
13 He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
14Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads strife.
STOP SPEAKING WRONGLY ABOUT OTHERS
Psalm 12:2
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
VS 10
HELP OTHERS
Deuteronomy 15:7
7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,
SEE THE BLESSING – Walking in Sunlight - SONLIGHT
Job 11:17
17 And your life would be brighter than noonday.
Though you were dark, you would be like the morning.
VS 11
LET THE LORD SUPPLY FOR YOUR NEEDS – Continually Guiding you
Isaiah 49:10
10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
THE LORD WILL SATISFY YOU
Psalm 107:9
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
HE WILL STRENGTHEN YOU
Isaiah 66:14
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
And your bones shall flourish like grass;
The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants,
And His indignation to His enemies.
YOU WILL BE LIKE A WATERED GARDEN
Have you ever been to a hydroponics house, or tropical green house?
The plants are full and vibrant in lush green foliage and radiant color. They almost soak up the entire area.
In a vegetable garden, the plants are heavy with the fruit on the vine.
They are ripe and ready to feed and supply for the needs of the gardener. To be used for the purpose the Gardener has grown it for…
You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 27:3 speaking about the vineyard…
3 I, the LORD, keep it,
I water it every moment;
Lest any hurt it,
I keep it night and day.
SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER
John 4:14
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
WATER THAT GIVES LIFE EVERLASTING
John 7:38
38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
VS 12
REBUILD, REPAIR AND RAISE UP
Isaiah 61:4
4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
REPAIR THE BROKEN WALLS
Isaiah 30:13
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.
ARE YOU A REPAIRER OF BROKEN WALLS?
Human nature can make us critical or judgmental of each other. We are told here that we must put this aside, and be compassionate. Seeing people as God sees them. Not as mans sees them.
When we become less judgmental, less critical, and see others the way God sees them.
Then realize their need for our compassion, and become considerate to the helping of others.
The Lord will use you.
He will make you strong
He will keep you fresh and renewed. Springs of living water. Like a well watered garden.
And HE will use you to repair broken hearts, broken lives, and help raise them up.
Up on the foundation laid over 2000 years ago. That foundation is Jesus. And these walls are the lives that have fallen off the foundation.
When we are less judgmental, and see people through the eyes of the LORD. We see that the LORD loves each and every one of us, and has compassion on us.
When we are compassionate and caring, concerned for each other, even as we are to our selves. The LORD will build us up, and strengthen us and guide us to do His work. He wants to use you to REPAIR the breach. The breach, the gap can only be filled by JESUS.
Perhaps there is a breach, a broken wall, a gap in your relationship with the LORD.
Why don’t you ask HIM, JESUS, into your life today, to FIX the emptiness, the separation, the hole or brokenness in your life.
And if you know HIM, if JESUS is in your life, as your LORD and SAVIOR,
Put aside your personal agenda. Put aside how things appear in your own eyes. Put on the mind of Christ. Be compassionate to one another. Your neighbors, your family, your friends. Even to those you don’t know, but are looking and watching you, to see how you act, and react, and how you live your life.
Is your life a testimony unto the LORD?
Perhaps, you need to begin rebuilding and repairing the breaches in your own life.
Let the LORD begin HEALING in your life, and in the lives of others around you, by you first getting right with the LORD.
Won’t you let the LORD use YOU to show others the way?
Let’s Pray.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be a Repairer of the Breach, Repairer of Broken Walls. And I want to be like a well watered garden, producing fruit, watered by the Springs of living water. And I want to walk in the light of the S-O-N Jesus.
SONG: Heavenly Sunlight
