See, sense, surrender

Pastor Ed Bordell, the missionary from Costa Rica who preached that morning, returned for the Friend Sunday evening service. Before the message, Pastor Devon Ortiz asked him a few questions about his years of ministry. Pastor Bordell then said he had prepared two messages, one on giving and one he thought would be more beneficial, and preached from Matthew 9:35-38. His outline was to see what Jesus saw, to sense what He sensed, and to surrender to what He asks.

Seeing what Jesus saw

Matthew 9:35 says Jesus "went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom." Pastor Bordell noted that "all the cities" is inclusive: no place is too small or too big, and Jesus influenced a whole city even through one man He met in a graveyard. Then comes verse 36: "But when he saw the multitudes." Pastor Bordell asked when we will see.

Jesus saw more than a crowd. He saw their condition: they were faint and scattered, like sheep with no shepherd. Pastor Bordell said that means weary and helpless, and confused, looking everywhere to fill their emptiness. Peace cannot be bought, only received from God, and people who live for pleasure are happy only while it lasts, and lose their joy when it is taken away. Looking at people means looking beyond the physical to the spiritual: someone dying without Christ is a lost soul or a broken life. He reminded the church to be grateful for the Shepherd who cares for us, knows the road ahead, guides us, and never leaves us, and he noted that no one has to leave the room to find people who need that peace.

Sensing what He sensed

Verse 36 says Jesus "was moved with compassion." Pastor Bordell asked when the last time was that anyone had a tear in their eye for someone else. He described seeing a girl of about seventeen sitting cold and wet on a sidewalk in Seattle and thinking, "that's somebody's daughter." He said it does not matter how she got there, because only by God's grace are any of us where we are, and Paul said "I am what I am by the grace of God." He told of a bus in Guatemala with straps holding the door together and broken windows, full of children happily going to church with Bibles, and a soul-winning partner whose shoes had been his grandfather's. The young man was happy because he was telling someone about Jesus. Pastor Bordell said compassion starts in the heart and works its way out, and that conviction means the message is getting through.

Surrendering to the harvest

Verses 37 and 38 say the harvest is plenteous and the laborers are few, so pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers. He pointed to Isaiah's "Here am I" and asked whether people are willing to surrender. He told how he grew up working a field with his family, planting corn and getting blisters. His father told him the blisters were part of the work and that he would see the harvest later. He said that when the corn finally came to the table, he forgot the blister and the sacrifice, because now he was enjoying the harvest. Christianity is like that, and you cannot harvest unless you plant.

He also told of working in the same factory as a deacon from the church, a man who never told him about Jesus and whose church membership he only learned of after he was saved. The point was: you and I know, but are we willing to tell? Pastor Bordell said that whether someone works for a big company or anywhere else, earning money to give to missions is a fine calling, and believers are meant to be channels, not holes where what God gives just pours out. He told of scraping together money to buy tracts for a pastor in Australia as seed he could plant. He said that to him the heart is the more important matter than finances, because if the heart is right, giving follows.

The invitation

He said he does not like emotional services but convicted ones. He repeated the kite illustration from the morning and asked whether God was pulling on anyone's heart to surrender. He asked people to step forward to the altar and tell the Lord what they would do, and then asked anyone unsure where they would spend eternity to raise a hand. He encouraged people to take tracts and to witness the way they gossip, simply sharing what they know: there was a man named Jesus who was crucified and rose again, and He is coming back. The service ended with a call to stay for the Baptist Cafe.