chapter 9 and we're going to begin in verse number 35 and I'd like to invite you if you are able to stand with me as we look into God's Word tonight. Matthew chapter 9 and verse number 35. The Bible says, and 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. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Father, we thank you once again for allowing us the privilege of worshiping together, to be gathered together around your word. We pray that your Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts tonight. I just pray that you would use this preacher to be a blessing to these dear folks who have gathered themselves together this evening. And we pray through it all that you would receive all of the honor and glory, for we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. In Philippians chapter two, verse five, the Bible tells us, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then Philippians chapter two goes on to describe the mind of Christ in relation to humility. We know how Christ humbled himself, and how we ought to humble ourselves as well, just as Jesus Christ did. You know, God wants us to have the mind of Christ, not just in the area of humility, but in every area of life. God wants us to have the mind of Christ when it comes to our marriages and how we treat our spouses. He wants us to have the mind of Christ in how we raise our children. He wants us to have the mind of Christ in our attitude toward church and service and ministry. He wants us to have the mind of Christ when it comes to our giving. But he also wants us to have the mind of Christ when it comes to the multitudes of people, the multitudes of lost men, women, and children. And tonight I want you to think about how you think about the lost. So often sometimes we don't think about that. And we don't think about our attitude toward those who are lost, how we view them. Tonight I want us to look at what I call the multitude mindset. Because God wants us to have a mindset toward those that are unsaved like he has. God wants us to see them the way he does. God wants us to think about them the way he thinks about them. And tonight we're gonna learn from this passage how you and I can have the mind of Christ when it comes to the multitudes, how we can develop a multitude mindset. So how do we do this? In verse number 35, We learn that we need to make time for the multitudes of unsaved. In verse 35, it says, and 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. You see here from this passage just how busy Jesus Christ was in the work of the ministry. He went about all the cities and villages. He was teaching and preaching and healing and ministering to people. He was busy in the work of the ministry. And we understand that the ministry is work. If you serve in any capacity in the ministry and you ask your pastor, he'll tell you it's work. It takes work to do the ministry. But we cannot let that, we cannot let that be an excuse for why we don't reach the lost. Sometimes we use that, we think, well, I'm serving in church in a capacity, so it's okay if I don't participate in soloing, and it's okay if I'm not sharing the gospel with people or passing out gospel tracts. You notice how busy Jesus was here in this passage? He was doing the work of the ministry, but he was never too busy for the lost. Never ever was he too busy to reach the unsaved. And we have to have that same mindset. We have to make sure that we make time for the multitudes of lost. We need to make it a part of our schedules. Because if we don't, if we fail to do that, we'll let everything else in life, overshadow our responsibility to those out there. Because if they're not gonna hear it from us, they're not gonna hear it at all. We have to remember that. We are the ones who have been given the ministry of reconciliation. It's our responsibility. And we have been blessed by God with time. God has gifted us with time, but only so much time. Our time on this earth is short, remember that. What is your life? It is even a vapor. which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. Again, our time here on earth is short, and God wants us to be a good steward of the time that he has blessed us with. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 4.2, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And we often think of that verse in the context of finances, and that's absolutely a correct application. But it's also true when it comes to our time. Are you a good steward of the time that God has blessed you with? Because we say, well, I don't have time to reach people. I don't have time to go soul winning. You really do. You have as much time as you'll take. We always have as much time as we're willing to make for ourselves to do the things we want to do. If it's something that you have your heart set on, you'll make the time to do it. Whatever it might be, if it's a hobby, if it's an interest, if it's an activity, whatever it is that you want to do, you will make the time to do that thing. You'll sacrifice other things. You'll remove things from your schedule to get that thing done that you want to do. Let me encourage you and challenge you tonight to make the lost that kind of a priority in your life. That you schedule it, say, I'm going to participate in soul winning. I'm going to make time, I'm gonna schedule time in my life, and I'm gonna talk to people about the Lord. I'm gonna make sure that I take the time to talk to people about Christ. Because there is going to be a time when there is no time. Eternity, and once we're in eternity, that's it. Once you and I are in eternity, and once the lost are in eternity, that's it. The opportunities for the gospel, it's over. When you and I are in heaven, we're not gonna be sharing the gospel with people. And when those lost, when they're in hell, they're not gonna be able to hear the gospel anymore. The time is now. Just as important as it is for a person who's unsaved to understand that the time of salvation is now. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. It's just as important for you and I to understand that now is a time for soul winning. Now is a time for gospel preaching, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year. Because as pastor was preaching this morning, maybe there won't be a tomorrow. There might not be a tomorrow. The time to work, the time to do the work of soul winning is now the time to think about the lost and to make time for them is right now. One of the For me personally, one of the hardest things that I am still working on, I'm not there yet, but for me it's procrastination. I'm a terrible procrastinator. That's one thing that sometimes can hinder a church or hinder a Christian is procrastination, to put off what needs to be done today. We live in Southern California, of course we have a lot of Hispanics that live there. Obviously. And there is a thing in Hispanic culture, mañana, mañana, meaning tomorrow, tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow, tomorrow. And sadly, that is so true sometimes of us, especially things we don't prioritize. Sometimes that's soul winning. Well, tomorrow, tomorrow. Next time, next time I'll talk to somebody. We have to take advantage of the opportunities we have now. Because there's gonna be a time when we're not gonna have any opportunities anymore. And when we're in eternity, and we view the events at the end of Revelation, the great white throne judgments, and we see death and hell cast into the lake of fire, we're gonna see people that we knew that are gonna stand and face God's judgment. It may be people that we had a chance to talk to and we never did. In the next chapter, Revelation 20, I forget whether it's 21 or 22, I think 21, God says he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Think about what kind of tears, what's the reason for those tears? Maybe some of those tears are because of missed opportunities, people that we knew we had a chance to talk to and we never did. And then we see them face the eternal punishment for their decision to reject Christ as their Savior. And maybe we might've been the ones that would've been able to lead them to the Lord, but we were too busy. It's one of the easiest excuses to make. I'm just too busy. We have to follow the example of Christ. He was never too busy to talk to someone about their need of salvation. He wasn't too busy for Nicodemus. He wasn't too busy for the woman at the well. He was never too busy. He wasn't too busy to go to those disciples and call them. It wasn't too busy for them. And we, we who are saved, have the greatest thing that any person could ever possess. We have eternal life. And it's to our shame if we do not share that with others, to tell someone how they can receive the gift that we have, the greatest gift that any person could ever receive. So let's make sure that we make time, because we do have to make time. It doesn't happen by accident. We have to do it with a purpose. That leads to the next point, is that we have to see the multitudes. We have to purposefully look at them. Because as we're going through life and as we're busy with our schedules, it can be easy to just not see them at all as we go through our lives. And verse 36 says, as he is doing these things, as the Lord Jesus is ministering and doing the work of the ministry, it says, but when he saw the multitudes, it says he was moved with compassion on them. Now sometimes when you and I see the multitudes, we're moved with something, but it's not compassion. We see what governments are doing. We see what Hollywood is doing. We see what corporations are doing. We see what they're doing. And we're not moved with compassion sometimes. Sometimes we're moved with anger. And we're moved with bitterness and we get frustrated. When Jesus saw this multitude of people, and when it talks about a multitude, we're talking about thousands and thousands of people, a lot of people. And no doubt in a group that size, there are gonna be some very wicked people, extremely wicked. And Jesus knew every one of their sins. You know, we look at the multitudes of the lost, we look at the lost in the world, and we think we know them, but we don't, we don't know what they're doing. We see what they're doing on the outside. But Jesus saw even more of their wickedness than what we see. He knew every sinful thought. He knew everything they did behind closed doors. He knew it all. But still, he was moved. Not with anger, not with wrath, not with bitterness. Not with envy. Sometimes we get envious, don't we, at the lost, because we see a lost person and they have it better than us and we think, well, that's not fair. Lord, why would you give them those blessings? Why would you give them a better job, a better house? Why would you do that, Lord, when I'm serving you? And you bless them with these things and they're not living for you. They're living in sin and wickedness and they mock God, they hate God, and they're blessed. We're not, and then we think, well, what's going on here? I don't have what they have. That's not fair. So sometimes we're even moved with envy. But Jesus Christ was moved with one thing. That was compassion. Why? Because he saw them for who they really were. And that's what we need to do. We need to see them for who they really are. It says he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted. and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He understood they were totally lost. All the sinful things they did, the consequences they faced, the wrecks that their lives were, he saw that and he understood why that was happening and he had compassion on them. And we've got to approach the lost the same way. And one thing I, have tried to emphasize more in my witness, is to tell people that God loves them. Because I think that it's a message that they're not getting anymore. They're certainly not getting it from the world. Because the lost spend all their time beating up on each other, don't they? Mocking and ridiculing one another, bad-mouthing each other. fighting with each other to get ahead. If they have to put someone else down to raise themselves up, they'll do that. And they just beat each other up all the time. And it is a dog-eat-dog world out there. But how refreshing it is for them to have someone come along and tell them, hey, you know, God loves you. And God knows your suffering. And God wants to save you. And God made a way for you to be saved. What a great message to give to people. But Jesus saw beyond the physical to see the spiritual condition of these people. And we have to do the same thing. Because when we see them, all we can see is the physical. We have to move beyond that to see them as Jesus did, to make it a point in our lives to look beyond the outward. And they might appear very harsh on the outside and very cold. but if you talk to them, and let them know that you genuinely care, that you're not just there out of a sense of duty. Well, I gotta be here to talk to you about the Lord, because I'm supposed to do that. I don't really care about you, but I'm supposed to. Genuinely care about what they're going through. Why are they dealing with what they're dealing with? It's because of their lost sinful state. And they're dealing with the consequences of a fallen world. You and I deal with the same kind of consequences of a fallen world. We live in this sin-cursed world. The difference is that we have an eternal hope. We know where our eternity lies. It lies in heaven. If you're saved tonight, you know you're going to heaven. You know you have that hope, that blessed hope. You know where you're gonna spend eternity, but they don't know that. And we need to share that with them. We need to see their physical condition. We need to be like Jeremiah. We need to be a Jeremiah. Let's turn to Lamentations very briefly. Lamentations chapter number three. The prophet Jeremiah, who we know as what kind of prophet? Weeping prophet. Jeremiah preached in times very similar to our own. He was preaching to a nation that had turned its back on God. A people that had totally rejected the God of their fathers. And don't we live in the same kind of nation today? And we need to love the people of this country as Jeremiah did. Jeremiah And when we're in Lamentations here, chapter three, Jeremiah has witnessed the consequences, the punishment that the nation of Israel, that the people of Jerusalem had experienced because of their rejection of God. And Jeremiah could have had the reaction, well, I told you so. Now you're getting what you deserve. You wouldn't listen to me, now look what you're dealing with. You know, he could have basically said, well, I did my part. You know, they're getting what's theirs. But look at Lamentations chapter three and verse number 48. His mind, I run it down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. You notice that he is witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem. In fact, in Lamentations 1.1, it talks about Jerusalem. It says, how doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people? How is she become as a widow? She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary? Jerusalem facing the consequences for their sin. And Jeremiah is viewing this, and he says it causes him to weep bitterly over what he has seen. He's crying, shedding tears. He says in verse 49, mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not without any intermission. He's not gloating or rejoicing or saying I told you so or He's weeping, he's crying because of what he has seen taking place. Verse 50, till the Lord looked down and behold from heaven, mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. I want you to really key in on that phrase, mine eye affecteth my heart. Jeremiah was shedding tears over what he was witnessing. In our flesh, we kind of want to see sinful people face the consequences. That's in our flesh. We want to see, especially if it's someone in a position of authority or power or celebrity, in our flesh, we love it when they fall, when they face judgment. We have to be like Jeremiah. We need to let our eye affect our heart. Christian, when was the last time you let your eye truly affect what was going on in your heart? When was the last time you saw a lost person the way that Jesus does? Because Jesus loves that lost person. Christ died for them, and Christ died for you. Remember that. There's nothing better about you or me because we're saved. It's only by God's grace and His glory that we're saved. And where they are now is where you and I once were. We cannot forget that. We cannot forget that. The important thing to remember is if we're gonna see them the way Jesus did, we're only gonna be able to see them by looking up at them. Because sometimes we just get our eyes focused on what we're doing. and we're looking down on the things that we have in front of us, and there's a whole world out there lost and dying and going to hell, if we would just look up and see what's out there. Jesus told the disciples in John chapter four, he's preaching to that woman at the well. He took the time for her. When the disciples went off and were more concerned about the physical, Jesus recognized the greatest need of all is the spiritual. And he preached to that woman at the well, a lost woman. She was living in sin. She was with a man who was not her husband. And Jesus, he didn't rail against her. He did call out her sin, but he had compassion on her. He preached to her and she got saved. And many people there got saved because of the testimony of that woman and the preaching of Jesus Christ. And the disciples still, when they return, they still don't get it. So in John chapter four, verse 35, he says, say not ye, there are yet four months, then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. That's exactly the same message that he has for us today. He wants us to lift up our eyes and look out onto the fields. because they're white, all ready to harvest. There are people, there are thousands of people, especially in California, where there are, you know, throughout Southern California, you have tens of millions of people, most of who don't know the gospel, or they've heard it and they have not yet believed the gospel. Those fields are white, all ready to harvest. And we don't know yet who's ready to be saved. You know, people don't walk around with a sign on their forehead saying, I'm ready to believe, or I'm ready to hear. We don't know. That's why we need to talk to everybody we can and cast out that gospel seed. Sow in the seed of the word of God, because you don't know what kind of ground it's going to fall on. Again, that harvest field is ready right now. We need to be out in that harvest field. The reason why so many Christians do not participate in this ministry is because they choose not to see the multitudes. They don't want to view the lost the way Jesus does, to see them in their lost condition. You know, when I see someone and their marriage has fallen apart, The relationships have broken, they're struggling. It makes me think, it breaks my heart to see that. A family broken apart, a person who has fallen into bondage to drugs or alcohol. And you see it a lot in California. The homeless problem there is as bad as what you read about or hear about, it's dreadful. Los Angeles alone has, I think, 50 or 60,000 homeless people. I mean, that's a whole city right there just of homeless people. These are people whose lives have been wrecked by sinful choices and sinful behavior. And it's easy to be angry sometimes when they do something. And I've been guilty of that myself. We need to have compassion on them. to see them as Jesus does. To just, to weep sometimes for them. And not to think, well, I'm glad it's not me. Better them than me. No, we cannot have that attitude. We have to have compassion on them. The next thing is we've got to pray. We have to pray. We have to pray for laborers. Back there in Matthew chapter nine, After Jesus, he sees the multitudes of people, thousands of people, unsaved masses of people. And no doubt, many of those people, very wicked people. Again, Jesus knew every one of their sins. After that, so he's moved with compassion, but then, look at verse 37, and then saith he unto his disciples, he's gonna use this moment to teach them something that they need to learn. He says, the harvest truly is plenteous. Remember that harvest field we were talking about, white already to harvest? The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. You know, Jesus had a prayer request. He asked them to pray for something. What was it? He asked them to pray for more laborers. I cannot tell you the number of missionaries who have come through our church. And we ask them, you know, what do you need? And they say, we need laborers. We need workers. People to come alongside and help us get the work done. Laborers. Any pastor will tell you the same thing. What do you need in your church? We need laborers. We need workers to be involved in the work of the ministry out there in that harvest field. This cannot be done without prayer. I cannot overstate it. Without prayer, this work of witnessing and spreading the gospel and reaching the world for Christ. Without prayer, it is impossible to do. I don't care how much money you have. You can raise a billion dollars, but without prayer, you'll never get it done, because that's where the power is. In James 5.16, the Bible tells us, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We need to be people of prayer. Now, if we ask anything according to God's will, we know that He heareth us. 1 John 5, 14 and 15. And this is a confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, and don't you think that people getting saved is God's will? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's God's will. God's will is for every person to be saved. God does not choose people who to be saved and who to go to hell. He does not choose that. God's will is that every single person would repent of their sins and come to Christ. That if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. So if we pray for more laborers, God will send more laborers. He will answer that prayer because that's his will. And we know that. And of course, one of the most important verses on prayer, and one of the easiest to memorize is 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. Couldn't be any more clear than that. We need to be people of prayer. But, this is important, there's a caveat to that. For your prayer to mean something, you must include yourself in that prayer. Praying for laborers, it can't be, Lord, I pray for laborers, but not me. Lord, you can send whoever you want, but just don't send me. Well, God's not gonna answer that prayer, because that comes from a heart of rebellion and sin, comes from a heart of You know, your heart's not in it. You don't really believe the prayer you're praying. It can't be, you know, as Isaiah said, here am I, send me. We'd sometimes say, here are they, send them. We have to be willing to not just pray for laborers, but offer ourselves up as a laborer in that harvest. That's what God is looking for. Someone to offer themselves up as a laborer. And that's the last point, is that we need to be willing to be a part of the work, the labor in God's harvests. This harvest field is large. In this country, we are the third largest country in the world. There's only two larger, and that's China and India. We're number three. Over 300 million people. Most of them, the majority, are unsaved. So that's at least 150 million, probably closer to 200, maybe 250 million, at least, unsaved people. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. And the work happens through a local church like this. That's why it's not getting done, because there's fewer and fewer churches like this. That's why we need to be planting more churches, so that the work, this most important work gets done. Because if we're not going to be planting churches here, then we're never going to be able to reach the whole world with the gospel. In fact, the need is so great here that there are countries who send missionaries back into this country. I know the Philippines, because there's a great work being done in the Philippines, many people, many churches, many people coming to Christ, and the churches there are having a burden for missions and a burden for this country. churches in the Philippines sending missionaries back to this country to start churches again. Because they understand the importance of that. Because it was through missionaries sent from the United States that many of those people got saved. And many of those churches were started in the Philippines. And they don't want to see the churches fall apart here in this country. Churches closed their doors in America. If we're going to reach the world, then we have to make sure that we have what we need here in this country. But we have to be a part of that harvest. We have to be willing to be laborers ourselves in that harvest. The problem is, is that there just aren't enough Christians working in the fields. That's just a fact. There just aren't enough. There just aren't enough laborers out there to do the work that needs to be done. You know, in California, we have, part of California, the Central Valley. and it's been described as the breadbasket of the world. And you have farms there that are thousands of acres, maybe tens of thousands of acres in size. Huge crops, industrial-sized crops, massive, they go on for miles. Can you imagine trying to harvest one of those crops by yourself? Then I'll think about it in terms of the lost. That's an even larger field. We need even more laborers. And the reason why sometimes we don't have enough Christians is because too many Christians use excuses like, I don't have enough time. Or another one is, well, I'm kind of scared to witness. I'm kind of scared to be involved in it. We cannot let fear prevent us from doing the work that God has called us to do. Remember this, the Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare. It's a trap to let the fear of man dictate to you what you're gonna do for God. Turn very briefly to 2 Timothy chapter one. Because this issue of fear is what prevents many believers excuse me, many believers from doing what they know they should. You know, they're afraid to witness because they're really putting themselves out there. And they're kind of vulnerable to ridicule, to mocking. Someone asking a question and you don't know the answer, then you feel like an idiot. Nobody likes to feel like an idiot. It's one of the most embarrassing things. You're talking to somebody, they ask a question and you're like, I don't know. They think I'm stupid now. We let fear dictate it, but let's look at that issue of fear. Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. You know, so often we are made to feel ashamed for what we believe by the world around us. As I said again, we cannot let the fear of man dictate what we do or don't do for the Lord. And the reason we allow fear to dictate to us sometimes our actions and we allow fear to take over, because love has not taken over. love of God, and also love for the lost. Because the Bible says in 1 John 4.18, there is no fear in love. But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. So when you and I are afraid to witness, it's because we don't love that person enough to witness to them. Because if we really loved them enough, we would do what we could. to make sure they knew how to be saved. We wouldn't let excuses get in the way. We wouldn't let the fear of man dictate to us what we are gonna do for the Lord. We would just do it. We wouldn't care what people say or think. We wouldn't care if we look like an idiot. We would just do it, why? Because love overrides fear. When fear has taken over, it's because love isn't there. We have to learn to love the lost more. We have to learn to love them the way Jesus loves them. Because we are here as his representatives, his ambassadors, remember that, that we are ambassadors for Christ. Do we love them the way that Jesus wants us to? Do we show them that love and compassion? We need to do that. Because when you do that, when you really show someone compassion, and you show them something different than what they get from everybody else in the world, they're a lot more likely to listen to what you have to say. I can remember a few times, I remember one instance, I was at Walmart during Christmas time. You can imagine what that's like. It's crazy. I worked at Toys R Us during Christmas. That was insane. That was a nightmare. I mean, that's, you know, you don't want to work there. Of course, you can't because they're all closed now, but they don't exist anymore. Walmart at Christmas time, so everybody's just, you know, fighting to get what they want, lines are busy, people are just, you know, they're hectic, they're stressed, everything's just a mess, and so there's a cashier here, and things aren't going well with the, she's checking someone out and it's not working, and they're getting mad, and other people are getting mad because it's taking too long, you know, and I, And I wasn't enjoying it. I mean, it's not fun to stand there and wait in line when you're trying to get somewhere and do something. And I've got other things to do. I don't want to sit here and wait all day in this line at Walmart. But I wasn't mad at her or anything. And she knew that I was having compassion on her. Because everyone else was just mad at her. I wasn't going to be mad at her. It's not her fault that everyone comes to Walmart shop at Christmastime. She didn't do anything. She didn't do that. That's not her fault. And I was able to give her a gospel tract, and she was so thankful for it. She said, thank you so much. And I could tell it really meant something to her, because I had compassion. When everyone else was mad at her for something that wasn't even her fault, to just have a little patience and a little compassion. Sometimes you think, I just gotta say something about this, or say something to them about that. Sometimes it's best just to not say anything, and then have compassion. And then when you witness to them, but you give them a gospel track, they're a lot more likely to listen, to listen to what you have to say. Because then they know, hey, this person wasn't like all these other people. They were different. Something's different about them. I'll take the time to listen. And that's the kind of compassion that we need to have. We need to have that love, because that love will override any fear that you and I have. I wanna finish with something extremely important. Let's turn very briefly to Jude, the book of Jude. Jude in verse number 22. I'm talking about love and fear and how love overcomes fear. Look at verse 22 of Jude. It says, and of some have compassion making a difference. That's what God wants us to do toward the lost. Have compassion and make a difference. Be different to them than everything else that they get in the world. And then the next verse, and others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. God wants us to pull people out of the fire, because everybody who's lost is destined Remember, destined for that lake of fire. If they die without Christ, they're gonna be cast into that lake of fire. I read one time the story of a woman in Texas. And she got up and she got in her vehicle and she drove to work. She was on her way to work. And while on her way to work, she saw a car burning on the side of the road. just engulfed in flames. Because anytime you see that, you're just, oh my, oh no, what's going on? This is terrible. She pulled over. And as she pulled over, she noticed it wasn't just any car. She recognized that car. That was her daughter's car. Her own daughter was in that fiery wreck. And she pulled over, and she got out of that car, and she ran toward that vehicle. And there were others who were there. who had stopped as well, and they were trying to keep her out of the fire, because they didn't want her to get burned as well. They didn't want her to die. But she kept going. And she said afterwards, she said, it didn't matter what I had to do. She wasn't going to go that way. Why would she do that? Why would she? She didn't care what anybody else said. She didn't care what anybody else thought or did. Her goal was to save that person out of that fire. Why? Because she loved the person that was in that fire. She loved the person that was in danger. So she was willing to risk anything, and she ignored the people around her. to save that person. Why? Love. Love overcame fear. Because normally we don't go into a, no, we're not motivated to go into a fire. Or to ignore the people around us when people say, no, it's too dangerous. No, you shouldn't do that. It's not wise to do that. If we love someone enough, we'll ignore all of that. And we'll just do what we know we need to do to save that person. That's the kind of love that we need to have. for the lost. We need to love them enough, have enough compassion to see them the way Jesus did, to save them from the fire. Even if, no matter what they say or what others say about us, no matter how much we are ridiculed or threatened or made fun of or called stupid or crazy or weird or whatever it might be, we have to love them enough to do everything that we can to see them saved from that fire. So again, tonight, we need to have this multitude mindset of viewing the multitudes the way Jesus did. We need to think about how we think about the lost. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. Lord, we thank you for the challenge of it tonight, Lord, and for the compassion that you had on us For those of us who are saved, Lord, you loved us enough to save us, not because of us, but in spite of us. We thank you, Lord, for the truth of Romans 5.8, that God commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We thank you, Lord, for that. And Father, help us to share that with as many people as we can. Help us, Lord, to have compassion on the multitudes, to view them the way you do, to see them as you see them, to pray for them, to weep for them, and to love them. Father, we know it will be difficult, but we know that with you, nothing shall be impossible. We pray for your help tonight. We ask you to bless us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.