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You may be seated.

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Grace, mercy, and peace, be unto you from God

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our Father from our Lord and Savior

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Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the first part of today's Gospel from Mark

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chapter 6.

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There's a congregation that didn't have a clear written policy regarding vacation

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time for the pastor.

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Call documents simply said negotiable.

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Don't ever accept the call where part of it is negotiable.

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Because you see

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every year it had to be brought up before the Voters Assembly. And every year it turned embarrassing for the pastor.

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And so he pleaded with them to begged them, he pestered them,

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he badgered them and finally he wore them down.

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He was convinced, they needed a written policy.

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And so at the next voters, meeting the chairman of the congregation

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went before the congregation and presented a resolution. He introduced

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it saying the Church Council

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now feels it's important that we give our pastor a permanent vacation.

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That was a joke, a permanent vacation, they were tired of him. Vacation seemed

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to be on everybodies

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mind right now.

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Some of us have just

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come back from vacation.

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And right Pastor Asburry, some of us are just going on vacation.

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Everybody's thinking about vacation except those of you who are in

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Hebrew and Greek.

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You don't get a vacation.

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Jesus and planned a little vacation for his disciples.

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They just returned from their first missionary journey on their own.

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They gladly reported Jesus to Jesus all that they had done.

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They were probably feeling a little bit entitled as though they had

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earned a few days of rest and recuperation.

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But there were so many people coming to Jesus and they were going to get any

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rest

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they were going to have to get away from the crowd by themselves.

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And so they all got into a boat, great place for vacation, they headed

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across the lake to the other side of a quiet desolate place.

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But when they arrived there, it wasn't meant to be

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because they were met by a crowd, a large crowd,  thousands of people

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have gotten there ahead of him.

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I wonder what those disciples thought as

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they saw that crowd waiting for them.

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I suspect that they were pretty disappointed and complained give us a

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break.

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We've been on this Mission journey.

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We've been working hard.

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We know

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we're supposed to love.

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We're supposed to care.

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We're supposed to keep to serve our neighbor.

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We've been doing all of that.

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What more do you people expect of us?

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I suspect, that's what the disciples thought.

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Because honestly, I've been there too.

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And with all of your vocations

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with all of the expectations the demands all of the assignments,

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all the hours that you spent studying Hebrew, Greek. All the pressure

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that's put on you

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you've go on there, too.

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There probably been times when you thought, that's it

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I'm done

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I've given all I've got to give, I can't spend another hour on this

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assignment.

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Just leave me alone.

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But in those times, you start feeling guilty.

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And then a brother or sister comes to you needing a little bit of

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help.

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You might grumble and complain and you might resent it and you might

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go about it with a bad attitude but you do it.

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I suspect Jesus was tired too.

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Remember at this point he was bearing the weight of the whole world.

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But see how Jesus loved.

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When he saw this crowd waiting for him, he saw more than all of the

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inconveniences all the demands that they were putting on him.

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He saw more than this faceless mass of people. He saw that

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each one of them had come to him with a specific need.

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There were some who came needing healing.

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There were some who were sorrowing needing comfort.

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There were those who are struggling with temptations and guilty consciences

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needing forgiveness.

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Some needed encouragement and hope, and to be lifted up, with his

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Word of Life.

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What do you see when all those people come to you?

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When you're at home with your spouse and kids? When you're walking

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around the campus? When you're working at Schnucks? When you're

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sitting down with a drink, with your friends, what do you see?

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Confess that we usually see what we want to see

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and we overlook the obvious.

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We filter out everything that threatens our peace and tranquility.

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We can live in the same home, sit in the same classroom work,

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side-by-side with the same people every day and never really see

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what's going on in their lives, or what it is, that they truly need.

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An so husbands and wives get caught up in a power struggle, for control

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of the marriage and they see their spouse as an opponent.

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Instead of has the god-given gift that they promised to love and

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cherish.

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Parents see their children acting out or talkin back and lose their

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patience with those little brats.

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Instead of seeing the precious gifts that God has given them.

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Every workplace, every classroom has an obnoxious colleague who always

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has to have his mouth open.

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Every community has an inconsiderate neighbor who's out there,

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disturbing our peace.

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When we see them, we get irritated.

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But do we need, do we see someone in need?

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Someone who is dearly loved and precious in the sight of God.

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When Jesus saw this crowd on the seashore

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he had compassion on them.

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He felt deeply moved by pity and mercy and sympathy and love.

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But the compassion is, is so much more than just this deep gut feeling

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compassion, literally means to suffer along with someone.

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It always moves you to do something to relieve that suffering.

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Remember how Jesus had compassion on the Widow at Nain as they were

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carrying her only son out to the cemetery.

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He had compassion on a group lepers who were dying, isolated from

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family and loved ones.

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He had compassion on beggars, blind beggars, sitting by the side of the

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road just seeking their daily sustenance.

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He had compassion on the city of Jerusalem, even after they had rejected

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him.

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On this day, he had compassion on the crowd by the seashore

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because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

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Those people need someone to lead them.

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Someone to protect them.

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Someone to care for them, someone to feed them with their bodies and

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souls hungered for.

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They had wandered away from God, like sheep without a shepherd with

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sinners like sinners without a savior.

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They were lost.

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Jesus wasn't irritated.

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He didn't grow impatient with them because of the poor spiritual

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condition that they let themselves fall into.

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He didn't bash them because of their stupidity, or their

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misunderstanding of what he was trying to say to them.

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He didn't send them away because they were so sinful.

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He had compassion on them.

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He'd come for people just like them.

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He'd come to seek and to save the lost.

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And so, when he looked at them, he didn't see, just another crowd, he

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didn't see the inconveniences.

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He didn't see how obnoxious they were.

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He didn't hear all the demands that they were placing on him.

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He saw a precious flock of lost Lambs, needing a shepherd.

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He had compassion on them.

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And so he taught them.

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That's what they all needed the most.

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They needed to hear God's word.

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They needed to know God's will for their lives.

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They needed to hear once again about a Father's love for them.

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And so we fed them with his word.

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And then he fed them

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with bread and fish.

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What their bodies needed as well.

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His compassion, always moved him to action.

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To cure the incurable.

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To give sight to the blind. To comfort the sorrowing, to raise the

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dead. And it was compassion that moved this

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Good Shepherd to go to a cross, to suffer and die to lay down his

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life, for his precious sheep.

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The good news today

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is that he also has compassion on you and me.

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Like the great crowd that had come to the seashore we've come today

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because we know, we know.

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We know, we too are like sheep without a shepherd.

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We've sinned and we've gone astray more than we could ever confess.

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Our faith isn't strong enough to meet all of our needs.

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We've tried so hard.

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We struggled and struggled and now we realized we're exhausted.

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We need rest, we need a shepherd.

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We need a savior.

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Oh what burdens you put on, Jesus.

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What inconveniences to say

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the least has your sin caused him.

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What a pain you've been. A pain in his hands and feet inside as he hung

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suffering and dying for you.

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Yes, he sees you today.

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He sees you today and all that you need and he has compassion on you.

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That compassion moves him to lead you where you need to go.

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Into his word.

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That compassion causes him to feed you what you hunger for is very body

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and blood.

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His compassion, moves him to give you his perfect rest. Today

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Jesus has compassion on you, and that compassion opens your eyes so

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that you can see.

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So that you can really see those who keep on

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coming to you.

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Your spouse, your children, your friends, your co-workers, your

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classmates.

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Even your enemies.

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To see them

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as he sees them.

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Not just all of that outward

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obvious obnoxious behavior.

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To see beyond all the inconvenience to see all see through all the

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pain and the hassles that they cause you.

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To see them as they truly are people for whom your lord, Jesus was

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willing to suffer and die for them.

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His compassion moves you to be compassionate too.

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And not just a feel sympathy into a walk right, past them.

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Carries you out of your comfort zone.

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To suffer right along with them.

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To do something to relieve that pain and suffering.

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To carry their burdens.

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To provide what they need.

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To help them find rest.

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To lead them to a Good Shepherd, who loves and cares for them.

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To lead them to a Savior who forgives them.

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To lead them to Jesus.

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In his name. Amen.

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And May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding

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keep your hearts and minds in Christ

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Jesus. Amen.