Episode 65: Enduring Empathy: Take Up The Bed

When four friends tear open a roof to lower their paralyzed companion to Jesus, they demonstrate what truly matters in our faith journey – enduring empathy that refuses to give up on people. Pastor Grantley Martelly unpacks this powerful story from Mark 2, revealing how these determined friends teach us about walking alongside others until they can encounter Jesus for themselves.

In a world reeling from wars, persecution, natural disasters, and even a "loneliness epidemic," we're called not to retreat into our comfortable spiritual bubbles but to bring the world's pain to the throne of grace. While we can't control global turmoil, we absolutely can control who we bring people to meet. That's the heart of enduring empathy – demonstrating such a deep understanding of God's goodness that we're compelled to lend our faith to others until they develop their own.

The paralytic's friends didn't tell him about Jesus – they physically carried him there. Their determination reveals what true discipleship requires: persisting through barriers, causing necessary disruption, and believing that an encounter with Jesus changes everything.

Most striking is Jesus' response: "When he saw their faith" – not the paralyzed man's. Sometimes people need to borrow our faith until they find their own. Jesus first addressed the man's spiritual needs before his physical condition, showing that true transformation happens from inside out. 

Are we willing to walk alongside the messy, the broken, the difficult? Or have we become "too holy to be Christ-like," forgetting that Jesus met us in our own mess? Salvation without discipleship is just cheap grace. The Christian walk was never meant to be solitary but about journeying together through the unexpected. Will you tear up some roofs to bring others to the One who transforms?

#empathy     #discipleship

Chapters

• 0:00 Living In A World In Turmoil
• 5:04 Defining Enduring Empathy
• 10:43 Journey With Others Until They Meet Jesus
• 16:52 Lending Our Faith To Others
• 27:18 Take The Return Journey Through Discipleship
• 39:05 Get Up And Walk Into Transformation
• 44:24 The Cost Of Walking With Others

Transcript

Grantley Martelly: 0:08

This is a message that was given at Hillside Church in Kent, washington, where Grantley serves as an associate pastor. So keep your Bibles open to Mark, chapter 2. We're going to be going through that scripture today, that verse. My topic is continuing the topic that we've been discussing becoming a missional church, and the topic today is enduring empathy, enduring empathy. Take up the bed Not your bed, but take up the bed. But before we begin, I want to talk to you about something. I want to begin today with a recognition that we live in a world that is in turmoil. We don't have the luxury of coming to the house of God without recognizing that we live in a world that can be hurtful and hostile, devastating to our families, to our neighbors, to our children, to the world around us. This past year we've seen, and we continue to see, wars in Israel and Gaza, wars in Ukraine, wars in Sudan and South Sudan and other parts of the world. We see persecution of believers and Christ followers in many places. We've seen devastating floods and devastating fires. We have seen political rage posturing selfishness. We've seen protectionism. We've seen nationalism. We've seen hostility towards the poor and the immigrant. There are more people today displaced from their homes in this country and around the world than at any other time in human history. We live in a world that can be unbelievably hostile at times. We have an opioid epidemic. We have more people being human trafficked today than at any time in human history, even during the European slavery. We live on one of the largest human trafficking corridors in the nation, interstate 5. We even have a loneliness epidemic. We have more friends than we've ever had clicking on our phones and stuff and more people are lonely today than at any time that we've recorded.

Grantley Martelly: 2:34

We don't have the privilege of coming into the house of God without being concerned about what's going on in the world. We are the people who need to bring the world to the throne of grace. We don't have the privilege of pretending of coming in and not being concerned about our world. I'm not talking about watching the news. I am talking about being concerned about our world to bring it to Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 3:02

As followers of Christ, we're called to be his kingdom people, God's people, peacemakers, not warriors. We're called to serve rather than to be served. We're not called to be a political persuasion or social and economic philosophy, a racial or ethnic preference. We are called to be kingdom people, Kingdom people, that kingdom people, we are called to pursue justice and love mercy, to walk humbly with God, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to carry the message of hope of Jesus Christ to the world around us. We are called to put some skin in the game. We are called to tear some holes in some roofs. Our message, our testimony, our effectiveness, our charity become meaningless and irrelevant to the world. That can be hostile at times if we allow our witness to be tainted by any other philosophy, doctrine, portent, profit, cultural or nationalistic bias.

Grantley Martelly: 4:22

Our call is to be representatives of Jesus Christ and I am calling us as people, as a church that's talking about becoming missional again to remember we may not be able to control in the world what's going on in the world. We're going to talk about that today, right, the paralyzed man. But we surely can control who we take the world to. We surely can control who we take the world to. We surely can control whose kingdom we promote. That's our choice and I'm calling you to join me in being promoters of the kingdom of God and let him lead us wherever he wants to lead us. Now to our message. That was a preliminary to the message, but it's tied to the message, because what we see is enduring empathy, is demonstrating a deep understanding of the goodness of God to such an extent that it drives us to lend our faith to others until they get to the point where they can meet Jesus for themselves and develop their own faith. That's my definition of enjoying empathy. It's not on the screen, so you've got to listen to my accent right. Demonstrating a deep understanding of the goodness of God to the point that it drives us to lend our faith to another until they can meet Jesus for themselves and demonstrate their own faith. We're going to see that today we're talking about the missional church. Remember the definition that we're using the resurgence of the missional church.

Grantley Martelly: 6:17

Developing a robust theology, which means an understanding of God with radical vulnerability, with enduring empathy through prevailing prayers in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God. Oh, we have it, thank you, see. Our technical team is even ahead of me, you know. I appreciate that very much. A robust theology, understanding of God with radical vulnerability, with enduring empathy through prevailing prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God. So today we're going to talk about enduring empathy. Are we willing to journey with the lost and with others until they come into this transformational relationship with God and be transformed by the goodness of God? Right, what we sang about the evidence of your goodness. That's what it is right the evidence of God's goodness become real in their lives. That caused them to be transformed into the people God created them to be, so that they can go out. You can go out and be the evidence of God's goodness in somebody else's life until they become transformed, and then that person goes and does it over and over again. Are we so overcome with the goodness of God in our lives that we are willing to see it expressed in others around us? Does the goodness of God in your life move you to action on behalf of others, or is it all about me and getting to heaven? We'll see that, demonstrated today by these friends who brought their friend to Jesus. So the first point we have is journey with others until they meet Jesus. Journey with others until they meet Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 8:27

In this passage in Mark, chapter 2, we see Jesus returning to his home base of ministry in Capernaum for the second time. If you read chapter 1, he went home and as soon as he got to Capernaum by the way, capernaum was not the place where he was raised, it wasn't even where he was born. Remember, right Bible trivia when was Jesus born? Where was he raised? Nazareth and where was his ministry based? Capernaum, all right, good. So he's in Capernaum where he went to base his ministry. And I believe he went to base his ministry there because it put him right at the point where he was in contact with Jews and Gentiles from the very beginning. Remember, on the western side was Jerusalem, with Judea and Jerusalem and Samaria, and on the eastern side of those mountains was Decapolis. And he put himself right on the edge. If he goes left, he goes to his people, if he goes right, he goes to the Gentiles, and he went back and forth between them. So now he returned to his hometown, but the first time he returned the word had spread so much that he got crowded.

Grantley Martelly: 9:34

Everybody brought their people, their friends, to Peter's house and Jesus was healing people all night and he got tired, went to bed and it says that he got up early in the morning and went to prayer. That is a really good point for us when we seem to be overcome by the cares of the world when things seem to be pressing in on us. When so many things are pressing in on us, it is a good thing to get up early in the morning, find that solitude place and meet with Jesus. It will change your day, it will change your life. If Jesus could do it, we can do it. If Jesus can do it, we can do it. There's no excuse for not getting into the Word of God. Get up early and do it, because if our boss told us to show up half an hour for work tomorrow, 99% of us would show up half an hour early for work. So Jesus is telling you show up half an hour early to meet to me, meet with me and spend some time with me.

Grantley Martelly: 10:38

That's what the scripture said. I'm not making this up. It says he got up early after doing that and he went to prayer. And then it says the disciples got up. It says he got up early after doing that and he went to prayer. And then it says the disciples got up. They didn't see him. So they came and found out where he was and he said what did they say? The people are looking for you. And what did Jesus say let's go somewhere else and preach. So he took him out to the city to preach. So now in chapter two he's coming back into the city and he's trying to sneak in. He's trying to sneak in so he can get some rest.

Grantley Martelly: 11:09

Some of the scripture says and when the word got out, that he was there again when people heard that he had come home. Other version says when the word got out that he was home. So somebody talked. That should have been quiet. And the next thing, you know, another crowd of people shows up and the house is full again, people can't get in. And what the scripture said they brought their people to be healed and to be raised. But what did Jesus do? Jesus preached the word. You see, if we just receive miracles and healing without the word, it's just a demonstration, it's just talk right. That's why Jesus always had his priorities first, you want to be healed, your sins are forgiven. Let's start with first things first. So he started to preach the word and before he started to heal people. So here's where we come into this. Now he began to do, he began to teach the people and the people were all gathered around listening to him.

Grantley Martelly: 12:19

So in the Bible, empathy is the ability to understand and share our feelings of others. It is closely linked to love and compassion and is considered a Christian virtue. What does the scripture say? Jesus was moved with compassion. So some of the verses in the Bible that talks about empathy. If you look at Proverbs 21, verse 13, it says Whoever shuts his ear to the cries of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard. Wow, that's pretty direct. We've been talking in our Sunday school class with Rick about how direct Jesus can be, about some of the things he said. And whoever shuts his ears to the poor, the cries of the poor, will also himself cry and not be heard.

Grantley Martelly: 13:05

Galatians, chapter 2, says bear one another's burdens First. Peter, chapter 3, verse 8, says have compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tender-hearted and be courteous. Romans 12 15 says rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Matthew, chapter 9, verse 36, says seeing the people, he felt compassion on them because they were distressed and dispirited, like sheep without a shepherd. Luke, chapter 7, verse 13, says when the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her do not weep. See, it's more than pity, it's more than I'm sorry for you More than I'm sorry, but I'll see you later.

Grantley Martelly: 13:50

Empathy in the Bible is a central part of Christ-like living. It involves being concerned enough with the well-being of others that it involves us being willing to support them in their times of need. It involves relating to the vulnerable. It involves seeking justice for those who cannot do so for themselves Psalm 150. It mirrors the compassion God has shown to humanity, to Jesus Christ. So the first thing is understanding this need to journey with others until they get to the point of meeting Jesus. And that takes us to the second point, which is lend our faith to others until they find their own. Lend our faith to others.

Grantley Martelly: 14:40

So these people, the word got out and these friends decided to bring their friend to Jesus, who was crippled. Now listen to the words here. They didn't say to him well, we're going to see Jesus. If you can make it, we'll see you over there. My car's got four seats in it, but I can't pick you up for church. What the scripture said. They picked up their friend and said we are going to see Jesus together, together, even though it was inconvenient, even though it was hard. Can you imagine carrying a person on a stretcher all that distance. We don't know how long it was. The scripture doesn't say how long it was. You know why? Because God doesn't want some people who are strong to say well, that's easy, I can do that. He just leaves it open.

Grantley Martelly: 15:39

And they picked him up and they carried him. They committed to carry him as long as it took to get him there, no matter what it took. Are we willing to get alongside the people around us? Are we willing to get alongside our friends and our family, and are we willing to pick them up and carry them until they can carry themselves? Or are we just going to say you need Jesus and walk to church Like the Good Samaritan? They just walk by, them right, say yeah, I got to get to church, I got to get to do this, I got to get to Bible study, I got to get here, I got to get there. No, they said we will pick you up and we will carry you to Jesus. Now here's the funny thing about it is they didn't know if Jesus was going to heal him or not. They were lending him their faith, saying if we can get you there, there's a good chance that he's going to heal you. So we're going to act on faith. We're going to pick you up and we're going to carry you to see Jesus, to meet Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 16:45

When they got there, the place was so crowded they said they couldn't even get to the door. Now most people would quit and say, man, we tried hard, maybe next time. But no, they said we brought him to see Jesus, we are not deterred, he is going to see Jesus, period. We are staying here until he does. So they couldn't get around that. So then they decided to go up on the roof right, and it seemed insurmountable. Could you imagine that you carry your friend all of this distance? And now you've got to carry him up this? Most of the houses had a ladder on the outside, because people would get up on their roof to eat and to sleep, sometimes when it got too hot, or sometimes even the trash to eat and stuff like that. So according to the script, according to the historic text, there was probably a ladder there, but now they got to carry him up the ladder onto the roof and then they get up on the roof and it's like, how are we going to get him in there? But think about it. Why would you carry somebody up on the roof if you can't get into the house. Well, they figured it out. They figured it out.

Grantley Martelly: 18:03

You see, the question is are we in it for the long haul to see our friends and family come to meet Jesus? How far are we willing to go? How much disturbance are we willing to cause? How much disturbance are we willing to cause? How much empathy are we willing to have? You see, philip said to Nathaniel, he said we have found this one. We think he's the one. Come and see. He went and he got him and he didn't say go down there and see Jesus. He said come and see, I am carrying you to meet this Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 18:33

The woman at the well, when Jesus talked to her, she went back to her family. What did she say? Come and see this man who told me everything about me. I think he is the one. That is radical vulnerability, because Jesus told her everything about her, what she wanted to know and what she didn't want to know. He told her no, and she goes back to her family and the friends and says come and see this man, not being deterred by her past, not being deterred by what they were going to think, not being deterred about anything. They said we are going to get this man to Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 19:08

So they began tearing apart the roof. Now that is a bold move by anybody roof Now that is a bold move by anybody's measure. That's a bold move, right? And this was not a hut, this was a house. So in those days the house had lateral things just like ours, and then they would put catch on it and mud and stuff like that to harden it. But it was hard enough, like we said, that people could go up there and sleep, they could eat, they could talk, so it wasn't just a little thing. So they had to dismantle the entire roof, a section, to get him in. Could you imagine that? Could you imagine Peter in the house saying what is going on? What are you guys doing up there? What are you trying to do? It's not your house. So that's like you showing up at my house and he's telling me you want to get in and you're just going to knock out the window at the back door and come in. That was the first bold move. The second bold move the first bold move was to bring him. The first bold move was to bring him. The second bold move was to take him up on the roof. Now they're opening it. And now that's what they're doing.

Grantley Martelly: 20:19

Can you imagine the commotion and the disturbance this caused in the meeting? Jesus is there preaching and this is teaching and, you know, the dust began to come down and it's like, okay, what's going on up there, you know? And then a little bit of mud begin to come down. You see the light, you know, begin to open up and open up. You know, I mean, this is real stuff. It wasn't just magic. He didn't just say abracadabra and he landed in the middle. This was a commotion. They were taking the whole thing apart and Jesus is preaching.

Grantley Martelly: 20:49

Now the scripture said Jesus didn't start preaching. He probably wasn't surprised. He probably knew they were out there and what they were going to do. But could you imagine the boldness? And now Peter looks up and there's a big hole in his roof and Jesus is preaching and he's like, well, who's going to fix that when this is all done? But the friends wasn't deterred.

Grantley Martelly: 21:14

In fact, one commentator says their desperate desire to get their friend to the person who could help him is more important than the awkwardness of the narrative of the situation or the damage to the property. How much disturbance are you willing to cause to see people come to Jesus. There's no way in the scripture that they apologize for any of this. Not a word about apology. It's like we. Our friend is going to meet Jesus now we don't know if he's going to get healed or not, but what we control is that we can take him to Jesus and let Jesus take over from there. You see, our goal is just to get them there. We don't have to save them. We can't save anybody. We can't give anybody eternal life. But if we can just get them in front of Jesus, if we can just get them in front of Jesus and have enough faith that he can do what he says he will do, he doesn't need our help to save them. He just needs our help to get them there. So they got them there.

Grantley Martelly: 22:25

So empathy is not pity. It's not feeling sorry, it's not passing somebody on to somebody else. Well, I brought you to church, so now I'm going to let the pastor tell you about Jesus. Well, if you know Jesus, why don't you tell him about the Jesus who saved you? Why don't you start the story? Let the pastor continue it. You know it's compassion that draws us to action. It's getting our hands in the mud and being willing to skin our fingers and do whatever it takes to get them to Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 22:59

You see, people don't need our pity. They don't need us feeling sorry for them. They don't need us to beat them down and tell us how wrong they are and how bad they are. They don't need to be beaten down by our Western Christian philosophies that many times have nothing to do with what the Bible has to say. Right, they want to do. All they need is for us to get them to the place where they can encounter the enduring goodness of God and experience His love and His grace and His mercy. And he can do all the rest, and his mercy and he can do all the rest. Are we willing not to give up on our friends and family, our community and our neighbors? Are we going to say the Bible says well, in the last days, there's going to be hard times, so I guess the hard times are here. Why bother? In the last days there's going to be hard times, so I guess the hard times are here. Why bother? Are we going to continue to believe that Jesus can still save, jesus can still heal, jesus can still restore broken hearts, he can still heal broken wounds. He can still find our children who may be away off in a foreign land. He can still save them if we lend them our faith until they find their faith of their own.

Grantley Martelly: 24:27

Empathy is one of the enduring qualities that God demands of those who are called to be his servants. Anthony Salvaggio said that it's one of the enduring qualities that God demands of those who are called to be his servants. Empathy is communicated by entering into another person's world, both the thinking, the thoughts and feeling, the emotions that they feel, enough to drive us to action. So then the third point. Third point take the return journey into transformation through discipleship.

Grantley Martelly: 25:05

So now we get down to the verse and all the commotion has settled down because he's in there. They've lowered him down right to the verse and all the commotion to settle down because he's in there. They have lowered him down right. And did you wonder where they get the ropes from? They didn't know that they were going to have to go up on the roof. How'd they get him down there? You know you think about all of these things how much effort these friends had to put forth to make this thing happen. You know, to make this thing happen. So he gets before Jesus and everything settles down. The room is a lot brighter now because there's probably a six-foot-by-four-foot hole in the roof than there was before. A lot cooler because it's now air-conditioned, right, the temperature dropped. I mean, could you imagine a house that's full with all those people to the door In that part of the world? It was probably pretty hot in there.

Grantley Martelly: 26:04

So he gets in front of Jesus and what's the first thing that Jesus says? It says the scripture says when Jesus saw their faith, whose faith did he see? The friends, not the mans. When Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus sees your faith, how far you're willing to go to bring people to him, he's going to recognize it. He's going to recognize it and he's going to recognize it. He's going to recognize it and he's going to look at them and he's going to say it your sins are forgiven you. And isn't that why we went through all the effort in the first place? Isn't that why we go through all the effort in the first place? So where they can get to that point and see your sins are forgiven you.

Grantley Martelly: 26:54

Now, to some of us we say, well, he didn't bring them there. They didn't bring him there to get his sins forgiven. They brought him there to get him healed. But you see, jesus always begins with first things first. What's the sense of meeting Jesus and getting healed and walking away with a new person and walk away with all your sins and all your burdens? What's the sense of meeting Jesus and getting healed and walking away with a new person and walk away with all your sins and all your burdens? What's the sense of that? You're just walking around, now different, but you're not any different on the inside. It's just all outside.

Grantley Martelly: 27:28

You see, if you're going to bring people to meet Jesus, we've got to believe that they're going to meet Jesus first and then he's going to change their life. It happens in that sequence he changed them first and then he changes their lives. He changes them on the inside first and then he changes them on the outside. But his friends didn't argue because they got their mission accomplished. Their mission was to introduce him to Jesus. They did that. Now Jesus took over. He said seeing their faith, he was moved with compassion and he said your sins are forgiven. You being able to walk and still carrying your sins around is just walking around, but being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit is a complete new life. It's newness to life, it's transformation, it's eternal life. It's a new way of thinking, a new way of talking, a new way of acting, because now you're not just able to walk, now you're able to walk with Jesus.

Grantley Martelly: 28:22

You guys are so quiet. So the good old Christians, the church board, the board of deacons and the board of superintendents are in the room and they see this stuff. And what do they say? Instead of rejoicing with the man, instead of having empathy, instead of rejoicing, what do man? Instead of having empathy, instead of rejoicing, what do they say? Who is this man? Who can forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins.

Grantley Martelly: 29:00

You see, sometimes we can become so churchy that we don't even recognize when Jesus shows up. We are more worried about the rules and the regulations and how we do all of this stuff. And he's standing right there and says you call me and I am here. His Shekinah glory is filling the house and we're worried about what time we're going to get out. It says who can forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins. And what dawned on me when I read this the other day? And I'm not this brilliant, so it's got to be from God. I'm not this smart. God is smart and it says sometimes the answers to the questions that we have are right in the questions themselves.

Grantley Martelly: 29:44

Sometimes the questions we are asking, the answer is in the question. Because we know what the answer is. We just don't want to accept it. So we ask the question, hoping we're going to get a different answer. And Jesus said the answer is in the question. I am Jesus, I am the Son of God, I have authority to forgive sins. So when you ask who is this man who has authority to forgive sins, he says I have authority to forgive sins. So when you ask who is this man who has authority to forgive sins, he says I have authority to forgive sins. I answered your question for you. You knew that. You just didn't want to accept it because you're too holy to be Christ-like.

Grantley Martelly: 30:25

Sometimes we can be so holy we stop being Christ-like. You guys know what I'm talking about. When we fail to empathize with people, to walk with people to give them the same grace that was given to us before we came to meet Jesus. We are being too holy to be Christ-like Because at one time our life was a mess too. So why do we want them to fix their life up before they come to Jesus. When Jesus took us in our mess and our brokenness and all the crap that we brought to him, all the fifth that we laid on the altar, and now we want people to get right before they come to Jesus, where's the same grace and mercy that was offered to us at the foot of the cross? It's not there. That's becoming too holy to be Christ like, because we forget where we came from. We forget what Jesus saved us from and we forgot what he saved us to.

Grantley Martelly: 31:29

So Jesus says just to show you and to demonstrate to these people that the answer that you want is right here, he says I'm not just going to heal him, I'm going to give them what they came to get. And he said to the man get up and walk, get up and walk, get up and walk. You see, since I don't only have the power to forgive sins, I can restore what was broken. You came in here broken. You came in here unable to walk. You came in here on this stretcher. Your friends were carrying you, but when you walk out of here, you're going to be walking. You're going to be carrying that stretcher. Your friends were carrying you. But when you walk out of here, you're going to be walking. You're going to be carrying that stretcher. You're not going to be carrying you anymore. Now you can go out and be transformed. You've been transformed by my power, so now you can go to work.

Grantley Martelly: 32:23

You see, jesus said to get up and walk. Get up and walk. Get up and walk into forgiveness. Get up and walk into newness of life. Get up and walk into hope. Get up and walk into newness of life. Get up and walk into hope. Get up and walk into a brand new life with transformed possibilities. Get up and walk into your future. Get up and walk with someone else until they too come to Jesus, to meet Jesus. Get up and walk with boldness. Get up and walk in the authority that God has given you. Forget what people said you were, because he was an outcast. Jesus says I have healed you. Now get up and walk.

Grantley Martelly: 32:55

Walk away from church people and walk to Jesus people. Walk to the people who are going to help you, to take you to Jesus Christ. Get up and walk where you've never walked before. Come on church, get up and walk until you become a full disciple of Jesus Christ. Get up out of your seats and walk. Walk to the places where you've never been before. Walk with the outcasts. Walk with those who need Jesus Christ. Walk to reach your heights that you've never reached before. Walk with somebody else and disciple them in the ways of Jesus Christ. Get up and walk. Get up. I'm wrong. Too many times Jesus gives us what we want or we just sit down there and nobody to get up and walk in it. We got to get up and walk. What does the scripture say? He did he get up and walk. He got up and he walked into the fullness of that thing. What does it say? Read it. It says he got up and walked. He walked out in front of all the people. Jesus is calling you to get up and walk. Get up and walk. Get up and walk. Don't stay where you are. He's called you to something new. Get up and walk. Get up and walk. Don't stay where you are. He's called you to something new. Get up and walk. Somebody needs to get up and walk. Don't just sit there and clap. Get up and walk, because God has called you to be different. Enjoying empathy is walking in a growing understanding of the goodness of God with others until they get their faith and they begin to walk too. That's how we become a missional church. That's how we become a missional church, god. I ask the worship team to come on up. Sometimes we don't want to walk with other people because we don't want to be called names. We don't. They may not be the most pleasant people, they may not be whatever you may think. We don't want to walk with them because we're afraid of may not be whatever you may think. We don't want to walk with them because we're afraid of what other people are going to think. If we don't walk with them, who's going to walk with them If we're not willing to get beside the lowly, the outcasts, the people around us that people think are not cool, people that we don't want in our neighborhoods or in our schools? We're not willing to walk with the gang members and the drug addicts, the opioid addicts, the prostitute. We're not willing to walk with the teachers and the doctors and the bankers If we're not willing to walk with a person who abuses their wife and their children, if we're not willing to walk with those who drink and those who smoke and those who do all the things that we, as holy people, don't like to do, if you're not willing to go in the bars and on the highways and byways of life and take the Holy Spirit and not believe not believing you're going to be contaminated. Well, we don't get contaminated when we go in those places. We take the Holy Spirit in. If you're afraid to get involved with people because you're afraid you're going to become like them, first of all your faith is too weak. Secondly, your discipleship is missing and thirdly, you don't trust the Holy Spirit Because the apostles never went into any place and they came out like the people they went in after. The people came out different. In fact, in the book of Ephesians it says when the apostles showed up in Ephesus, what did they say? These people who've been causing commotion all over the world have now come to our city. What would happen if you walk into work tomorrow and somebody says this person who's been causing commotion all over the place is now in this workplace and somebody's going to get saved this week? Or you got a friend or family member who's been going through a tough time and you need to be praying for them. You need to pick up the phone and call them and say I'm praying for you, I'm praying with you. I don't know what the answer is, but I know somebody who knows what the answer is. I may not be able to help you with everything you have, but I can help you to the throne of grace until he reveals to you what he's got in store for you. Are we willing to bring that person in our lives who we don't agree with, we can't talk with. We have whatever it is like Jeff testified this morning that broken relationship? They may not return our phone calls or answer our messages, but are you still willing to carry them to Jesus Until they meet Jesus and they pick up the phone and call you and say thank you for praying for me for all of those years and not giving up on me, not giving up on me? Are you willing to walk with your children who turn away from God until they come back to God? Are you willing to walk with your son or your daughter or your grandchild or your cousin or your aunt, your nephew, who is heterosexual, who is homosexual, who is LGBTQ and we don't like that? Are we willing to walk with them until they meet Jesus? The Scripture doesn't say we need to like the people around us. It doesn't say we need to bring them to Jesus. It doesn't say we need to like what they do or how they live. It says we need to bring them to Jesus. And we don't have to walk around with a big sign and a big fish on our car or a chain on our neck or a tattoo with a big cross to demonstrate the goodness of God. We need to engage with people. Engage with people, be willing to get into the mess, be willing to hear stories, be willing to listen to their stories, be willing to engage people in the mess, because God saved us from our mess and if he could save me from my mess, he can save somebody else from their mess. We don't even need to like how they smell somebody else from their mess. We don't even need to like how they smell. Prodigal son right, came home from a pig pen, smelling and walking all that distance. What does the scripture say? His father put his arms around him. Do you think he had a bath before he went home? And he put perfume on? His father put his arms around him, just how he was. He says come in, come in, you can get cleaned up after you come into the house, after they come into the house of God, after they come into a relationship with him. After they come in is when they get the cleaning up. Because cleaning up and putting perfume on and new clothes, you still got the mess. You just cover it up with a smell, a new smell. But when you meet Jesus, when they meet Jesus, when they come into the house and he changed them, changed them from the inside out they don't need perfume anymore because the perfume is a perfume of the Holy Spirit. So, as I wrap this up, billy Graham said that salvation is free, but discipleship costs us everything. If we're going to be a true disciple, it will cost us everything. Diedrich Bonhoeffer says salvation without discipleship is just cheap grace. That's like getting walking again and not be saved, you just walk it. And then NT Wright said discipleship always involves the unexpected and sometimes that can scare us because we like to know everything before we go in first and when we get engaged with people there's a lot of things we're not going to know until we engage. So if we're afraid of the unexpected, we're going to be afraid to engage with people. But if we believe that God is able, that the goodness of God is able to overshadow all, we can walk into the unexpected with the expectation that the same God who brought us there will take us through and he will enable us to be a fruit and a salvation and a witness to other people. If you try to walk by yourself, you're going to fail Christianity. Our price-like walk is not about walking by ourselves. It's about walking with others. We call it discipleship or we call it whatever you want to call it, but it's about walking together. That's why the text began with their walk together. They brought him together. Many scriptures say that Jesus walked with his disciples and when he was walking with them, he taught them. On the road to Emmaus, they were walking and the Holy Spirit said Jesus went up to them and walked with them. As they were walking, it was revealed to them who he was. Our relationship with Christ grows by walking with him and walking with others. Walk in with him and walk in with others. So today I want to ask you are you willing to engage in enduring empathy? It may not be easy, it may not be comfortable, it may be unexpected. You may have to do some hard work. You may have to do some hard work, Maybe have to tear up a few roofs, get some people mad at you, but are you willing to walk? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to see our world won to Jesus Christ?