PASSIONATE, COMPASSIONATE
PREACHING
Paul repeatedly told Timothy
to stick to the gospel message as he had taught him. Do not detract from or add
to it in any way, shape, or form. He should remain strong in his faith in
Jesus, his total reliance on Him for salvation, and continue to faithfully,
confidently preach the truth with boldness. However, intertwined with his
boldness he should share the compassionate love that Jesus so perfectly
exemplified. He was to speak the truth passionately with love as the
foundation. His loving concern for those who needed Jesus should be his
paramount motivation.
T. L. Osborn, who was an
encouragement and blessing to me, preached with a heart full of love and
compassion for those who needed the message of Jesus’ love. He traveled many
countries for over 50 years faithfully proclaiming the gospel and seeing the
Lord heal many people in Africa and Asia. The first time I met T.L. was on my
way out of the International Gospel Center after worship. He was in a
full-blown conversation with a man as I was being rolled past him on my way
out. He briskly came after me and said, “Excuse me. When you walked past me I
felt the power of God all over you and your life. May I pray for you?” I did
not even know who he was at this point but the hairs on the back of my neck
were standing up. I bravely braced myself to have yet another person try to
cast demons out of my life, but this was nothing like the experiences I had
previously. He bent down on one knee to get eye to eye with me, and prayed,
“May all the dreams and visions according to God’s will for your life come to
full and complete fruition.” The proclivities of my cerebral palsied earth-suit
were not his focus. Instead, he dwelt on God’s calling and anointing on my
life. I was almost out the front door when he stopped me and said, “God wanted
me to let you know that you are loved and beautiful just the way you are.” T. L.’s compassionate heart was demonstrated
to me once again when I asked him to explain whether there was something that I
wasn’t putting together in order to receive God’s healing for my earth-suit. To
my amazement, he did not know why I was not healed; but I was comforted by that
because if a man whom God had used mightily in healing ministry did not
understand, then I did not have to. My
question brought great tears to his eyes and down his face, and he said the one
thing he did know was that I saw myself well, whole, and productive at that
time and would continue to do so in the future. He felt that I knew many truths
about healing that he could not possibly understand. He felt my unique
perspective of walking it out day to day would enable me to teach people things
regarding healing that a person whose earth-suit was sound could not.
As we present the gospel, we
need to do so looking through the compassionate eyes of our Savior. We need to
see past the challenges a person has to the soul in need of love.
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