Spiritual Doctors

**Warning: long blog but important!!**

I believe compassionate churches (people) are built on broken (hurting) people.

Brokenness means a willingness to abandon our pride, our pretensions, and our self-righteous posturing. This is a pre-requisite to God's blessing on our lives and His church. So many of His children in His church are playing the "mask game". They cover themselves up with hypocrisy and say, "I love God! I am serving the Living Lord!" They have, not only overlooked their own destruction, but the destruction of others in the world without Christ.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Mt. 5:3 (niv) When we reach the end of the rope, we give up our self-sufficiency then God moves into our lives with healing and growth, eventually moving into other people's lives for the same blessings!

How can anyone praise and glorify God if we're not leading them to the blessings of God over their hurts, anger, poverty, and abandonment. We're challenged with a very difficult task. Finding deaf people that are hurting in the world is like finding a "needle in a haystack"!! We want to reach out but don't know where they are. We want to help but struggled to find those who need it. Not one of us is untainted, and because of sin, we've all hurt ourselves and hurt others and others have hurt us. So where are these deaf people that are hurting:

Drug addicts
Alcoholics
People whose lives are out of control
Addiction to gambling
Divorcees
Abused
Abandoned

Each of us need repentance and recovery in order to live the lives the way God intended. There are people out there with incredible hurts, habits and hang-ups from 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago! Now, my question is, are we taking the "realization that there are hurting people out there" seriously? What are we doing to open the door leading the hurting to God at Fairfax or in His church in your community? We need faithful and compassionate men and women to oversee this important matter! I have heard, over and over, that when hurting people come to one of our members, they say, "Go and make an appointment with Mark (preacher)!" "I don't have time but Mark is available to see you." "I am sorry, I don't know anything about this but I am sure Mark has resources." These people are missing the grandest point! These hurting people want your eyes, your hands, your compassion, your empathy! They're not looking for words of wisdom in how to deal with their issues, they're looking for the Jesus touch a member may have on them. They may want a hug. They desire company. They want us to lead a "listening eyes".

We should consider taking this seriously and pray about this. Perhaps, we have too many events within the church that is keeping our lives away from those who are hurting. Consider this, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17 Is our focus on those without Christ, those hurting, those without a purpose in their lives. We shouldn't be attracting other "so-called believers" (whether they're lukewarm or inactive) to His church but reaching out to the unbelievers, those hurting.

Of course!!! What do you expect when His church makes a major transformation in their plans and visions when we, instead of focusing on the internal, but begin on those outside of God's blessedness? If we're serious about dealing with broken people, then we're going to bring in a lot of problems with us when they come to church. I keep thinking of the classic 12-step program for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). They'll come in completely broken but as time goes and the Word of God is fed into their precious and fragile souls, the saving power of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit will be evident!

A couple of things:

Are we bringing the Word of God to those who are hurting?
Are we helping them focus on the future instead of dwelling on the past?
Instead of playing the "accuse & excuse" game of victimization, are we helping them avoid poor choices and transition into making right choices?
Are we emphasizing spiritual commitment to Christ? (Are you a perfect example of commitment?)
What kind of a community (church) are you?
Are we, as a church (not limiting only to the minister), addressing all types of habits, hurts and hang-ups?
Are we servants of the Most High Living God in our community? (Christlike!!)

If we allow God to help us be transformed into being "spiritual doctors" for the hurting in our community, we're going to see lives changed in dramatic ways that we cannot help but talk about what Jesus has done and still does and what the church is doing to them! We'll see hopeless marriages restored and people set free from all kinds of sinful habits, hang-ups and hurts. Read the Beattitudes (Mt. 5-7)!!