Your best Pathway to Health 2016: His Transforming Love

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Your best Pathway to Health

Heidi Carpenter

His Heart Was Different


Good morning. Good morning. It's wonderful to see your faces this morning, knowing that we all were a part of a beautiful event this past week, amen? God has worked in powerful ways. This was my first pathways to health, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

I, too, have extremely tired legs. Is anyone in the same boat with me? And yet, I could not be more happy for the reason that my legs are tired. It's a blessing to be a part of the ministry of healing and to see God at work through each and every 1 of us. I'm sure you have had your testimonies.

I'm sure you've had your experiences this week that you wish you could come up and share. And I believe that by God's grace as we share them with our friends and our family, that the same effect will be seen as we continue to do this ministry in our everyday life. I believe that Pathways to Health is not an event. I believe it's a lifestyle. Do you?

I believe it's a lifestyle. And I know that God has called each and every 1 of us to the ministry of healing. It was a blessing as I was in there serving, connected with a lady who ended up receiving the healing that she had been needing for years. It would have cost her thousands of dollars to do the work that she needed to get done. And as she told me about her experience, I was realizing that the physical healing that she was experiencing was bringing into her life emotional healing and spiritual healing.

As we were talking, I could tell that this health issue that she had been dealing with for so long was something that had burdened her emotionally. She wouldn't even leave her house because of it. And now she was finding healing. What a beautiful thing. What a beautiful thing.

And that was simply 1. That was simply 1. Growing up in Kansas, I grew up in the country. At 1 time I had 21 cats and at least 3 or 5 dogs. I thoroughly enjoyed growing up out of the city, out of the mess of a metropolis, and yet somehow, someway, through many courses of events, I have now been positioned by God to work in Southern California Conference in the middle of a city that I would rather not live in, and yet it's something that I believe that God has called me to, and it's something I believe he's called many of us to that are sitting here today.

I'm thankful for the vision to reach out to people here, and it has personally blessed my life to have Pathways to Health in our conference. It has changed my life and I know it's changed our conference forever. This morning we're having a simple Bible study for Sabbath school. I've been studying through the book of Matthew and have been blessed by looking at the life of Jesus and the way that he did ministry. I believe that it was God ordained for Elder Enobly to mention so often this morning that quote in Ministry of Healing where it says that Christ's method alone will give us true success because as we look at Christ's method today, we will see why.

We'll be looking at his life through the book of Matthew and we will be seeing why Jesus' ministry was different. As we look at the Bible this morning, I just pray that your hearts are open. I know we have already prayed, but please bow your heads with me as we open God's Word to study it. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to read from your Word. We never want to open its pages without asking for your Holy Spirit specifically.

And we pray that you would guide us. We love you, Jesus. Amen. Jesus' ministry always astounds me. And truly His love for others has transformed my life.

I'm going to strive to not cry this morning. Anyone who knows me in this audience knows that as I speak about what Jesus has done, it brings tears to my eyes. But I'm thankful. Let's begin in Matthew chapter 8. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8 this morning.

Matthew chapter 8, the context is Jesus just finished speaking to the multitudes on the Sermon on the Mount. And as he is coming down the Mount, he's coming headed towards Capernaum. If any of you were here on Thursday evening, I believe it was, Taj Pocklib spoke about this very story where Jesus heals a leper who was wondering if he was willing to heal him. It's amazing to see. I call this Jesus' longest day.

When I think about everything that he did in this 1 day specifically, it blows my mind away and my life is literally transformed as I behold his loving ministry for people. Matthew chapter 8, chapter 8 verses 1 through 4 talks about the leper that Jesus cleansed. And I think about leprosy. I think about how it takes away your ability to really feel and your ability to, when you touch things, to feel it. When others touch you, to feel it.

And of course, we know because they were unclean, they were never touched. No 1 wanted to touch someone who had leprosy. And yet Jesus did and all of a sudden his ability to feel comes back. How beautiful, Jesus healing the leper. We pick it up in Matthew 8 and verse 5.

It says, now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Satorian came to him, pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home, paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. I love Jesus' readiness to heal, don't you? His readiness to heal, always willing to heal. And then of course we know the centurion says, oh, I am a man under authority, I have soldiers under me, I speak the word, and they obey.

I know that you can only speak the word, and my servant will be healed." He was commended for his great faith, and that very hour his servant was healed. Praise the Lord. As he went on into Capernaum, Jesus picking up in verse 14 of Matthew chapter 8, it says, now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and served them. Thinking about it, you know, why was he going into that house?

He was probably going in to relax, you know, with friends and family that he knows in the area to spend time with them, mentoring them, but what is the first thing that he chooses to do? The first thing he chooses to do is to minister to someone else. And then in verse 16 it says, when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon possessed. And he cast out the spirits with word and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. You know what it's like at the end of the day, right?

At the end of your day of work, what are you looking forward to? I'm looking forward to rest. I'm looking forward to being comfortable and being able to relax a little bit. But here at the end of Jesus' day when evening had come, They brought to him many who needed to be healed. And it says in verse 16, and he healed all who were sick.

His day isn't over yet. Verse 18, when Jesus saw a great multitudes about him, he gave a command to do what? To depart to the other side. So there they get in a boat, and they're departing to the other side. In verse 23, his disciples followed them, And this is when that stormy tempest comes up.

Jesus is asleep. His disciples have lack of faith in him. And they get to the other side and we pick up the story in verse 28. Jesus is sleeping through the night. Praise God, he did take care of his health, right?

He's following the 8 natural laws of health and he's getting sleep here on the boat. And here he comes across in verse 28, when he had come to the other side, the country of the Gergenzis, there met him 2 demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce so that no 1 could pass that way." He leaves 2 demon-possessed men with freedom, and he leaves them with a sound mind. Desire of Ages says from his earliest years, speaking of Christ, he was possessed with 1 purpose. He lived to bless others. Isn't that beautiful?

He lived to bless others. That's why I believe that Pathways is not an event, but a lifestyle. And I believe that Jesus' ministry was different for a very specific reason. When you look at Jesus' ministry in his life and you continue on in Matthew, He's in full swing of his ministry. In Matthew chapter 14, we're going to pick up a little part of his ministry in verse 13 of chapter 14 of Matthew.

He's in full swing. Jesus hears that John, his cousin, has been beheaded. And he is tired. His disciples need rest. So they depart to a secluded place.

In Matthew chapter 14 and verse 13 it says, when Jesus heard it, when he heard that his cousin had been beheaded, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities." There was a long line for Jesus, wasn't there? There was a long line for Jesus, wasn't there? There was a long line for Jesus. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion for them, and he healed their sick.

You know, this is kind of like us still being in there serving, right? That's what it would be like for us in our context. We're taking that time to depart and rest a while right now. We're talking with 1 another. We're finding encouragement.

And yet when we look at the life of Jesus, what did he do in the same scenario? He was still healing the sick. I'm blown away by a God like that. That is His transforming love. You know, I believe Jesus' ministry was different because His heart was different.

And when I look at my own heart in comparison to His, I struggle to say that I'm anything close to it. I struggle to say that I'm anything close to it. I struggle to say that I'm anything close to it. But I believe that Jesus' ministry was different because His heart was different. Jesus had compassion.

Compassion literally means, when you look at it, the definition, it's a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with a desire to relieve it. There's actual movement. There's something that goes on. It's not just, oh, I'm sorry that you're hungry and I'm sorry that you don't feel well. I'll pray for you.

You know? Compassion moves us to do something. And when you compare it with the hearts of the disciples, it's very interesting. It's obvious that Jesus had a different heart. In Matthew chapter 14, picking it up in the very next verse, 14 verse 15, it says, When it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a deserted place.

Hint, hint, we came out here to rest and be away. And the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.' But Jesus said to them, they do not need to go away, you give them something to eat." I see Christ challenging His disciples to the same heart that He has. I see Jesus challenging them to that same type of compassion. We won't look at it, but in Matthew chapter 15, again, there's a Canaanite woman that is following Jesus, desiring healing, desiring help, and what do we know that his disciples did there?

Again, they were trying to send her away. Their heart is always saying, no, send them away, send them away. We want to be with Jesus. You know, Jesus is too busy for you. I'm sorry.

And in Matthew chapter 19, we see it again. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 13. Powerful little snippets in the life of Christ where we see the difference between Christ's heart and the way he did ministry, and the hearts of the disciples. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 13, it says, then little children were brought to him, that he might put his hands upon them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus always wants the people to come to him, amen? I wish we wouldn't have had to turn some people away. Jesus didn't have to. What a beautiful, what a beautiful God. I'm thankful, I'm thankful for his way of ministering to people.

He truly did mingle among them as 1 who desired their good. When we look back at Matthew chapter 9, it's interesting. I want to highlight 1 thing in this Bible study this morning on why was Jesus' ministry different? Matthew chapter 9, we're looking at verse 35. Why was Jesus' ministry different?

Because his heart was different. His heart was different from yours and mine. And that transforming love is what can transform our hearts into being just like his. Do you desire a heart like Jesus this morning? Do you desire as you go into a lifestyle of pathways to health, to have his love and his compassion flowing through you to the people that you meet?

I know I do. Matthew chapter 9, verse 35, it says, "'Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, 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 for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd." Again, here Jesus is moved with compassion. That movement happens where? It happens in the heart.

He was moved with compassion. And it's interesting because the very next verses, I believe, are connected with the fact that Jesus was moved with compassion. In verse 37 and 38 it says, Then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." We've heard and repeated this verse how many times in our lives? How many times have we read over this and thought through it?

And I think about it today, you know, there's hundreds and thousands of powerful Christians, powerful Seventh-day Adventists, and yet here Jesus is saying the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. What do you think Jesus is saying? I believe that Jesus is saying the labors with a heart like mine are few. May we have His heart of compassion. When I was studying at Souls West in Arizona, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 years there, and I learned so much about Jesus and about his word and about how I could be a minister to others.

While I was there in my second year, we went to Nicaragua on a share him trip. I was able to go and preach my own evangelistic series in Nicaragua, and I truly enjoyed the opportunity of ministering in another country, ministering to people who I had never met before, and sharing with them of the love of Jesus. It was a very life-impacting experience, similar to Pathways to Health. And as I was there, I cannot help but express the selflessness that I saw. The man who took me from my hotel every day to the church, he had his own car and it was a taxi car.

I found out towards the end of my Evangelistic series there that he had given up his job for the month that I was there To become a taxi driver so that he could have a car to take me to the church You know I look at it, and I say what What kind of selfless love is that? Willing to give up your job so that you could have another job so that you could have a car so that he could take me to the Evangelistic series. I remember in the evenings, after the meetings, there would be all of these special ladies in the church who would be cutting out letters because they wanted to put up the title of the next evening's presentation on the wall. And they were cutting out all these letters so that they could put up that representation of what we were going to speak on for the next night. They were willing to stay up so late.

And tireless, tireless love on the part of the volunteers. And I am so blessed because I can say that that same tireless love and unconditional love was exhibited by every 1 of you in these past few days. I saw it over and over and over again, and I believe that it is only because our hearts are being changed by the transforming love of Jesus. The only way that you were able to find patience in the midst of provocation is because of the changed heart that God has given. And I believe that that heart and that face is what was shown to the world.

1 of my favorite parts of the ministry of Jesus Christ was on the cross of Calvary. I cannot step down from the stage without highlighting the ultimate sacrifice of his life. And I believe that truly spending an hour a day beholding the life of Christ is something that would change us more completely than we could ever imagine. Sometimes we get so busy, myself included, we don't take that time to behold his transforming love and because of it, sometimes our hearts can become indifferent. Sometimes we can become those 8 to 5 workers that only care while we're on the job, but we can't wait until we're done.

And I believe that the more we behold his life and His transforming love, the more we will truly be changed as a result. It is my prayer that each and every 1 of us will leave today with a renewed commitment to behold His life, to behold His heart, and to allow our hearts to be changed, to become like His. Desire of Ages speaks of Jesus on the cross. And I've read this quote so many times, I'm sure you have as well. But it always, it always gets me.

Because it speaks of the ministry of Jesus in connection with the cross. It speaks of his healing ministry in connection with the healing ministry that was done on the cross of Calvary. Desire of Ages, page 755 says, the spotless Son of God hung upon the cross. His flesh lacerated with stripes. Those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars.

Those feet so tireless on missions of love, spiked to the tree. And all that he endured, the blood drops that flowed from his head, his hands, his feet, the agony that wracked his frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled his soul at the hiding of his father's face, speaks to each child of humanity, saying, It is for you the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt. For you he spoils the domain of death and opens the gates of paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils Tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called for the dead to live. He offers himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, And this from love for you.

I believe that Jesus' ministry was different because His heart was different. And my prayer is that ours will be the same. Is that your desire this morning? Family, as we go into our life, as we go into our lifestyle of pathways to health, May His transforming love be our focus and may it truly be our transformation. Let us pray.

Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for giving us a beautiful picture of the heart of Jesus this morning. Lord, we thank you for the way in which you have worked in our lives. We know that you are doing more as we go from here. We know that we are not done, but that this is possibly a continuation or just the beginning of our experience of healing the lives of those around us. Lord, we pray that our hearts would be changed to be more and more like you.

Lord, we pray that we would have the heart of Jesus. We know that a change in our mindset towards people comes from a change in the heart. So Lord, we pray for that. We pray for your Holy Spirit to pour down love into our hearts. And we thank you for hearing and for answering this prayer, for we pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about AudioVerse, or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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