The Invisibles (2): In Focus

Deuteronomy 10.17-19 (NLT)

17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. 18 He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes.

Our response to each other:

1. Show no partiality

2. Look after those in need

3. Love those outside the group

4. Clothe and feed them

Our Response to God:

1. Fear Him

2. Worship Him

3. Cling to Him

4. Praise Him

Micah 6.8 (NIV)

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

BOTTOM LINE: At some point in your life, you were invisible—but Jesus saw you.

INTRODUCTION

There are people all around us who go unseen.

TENSION

Some of you have felt invisible before.

At some point in our lives, each one of us will experience what it’s like to be invisible.

TRUTH

“Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6 NIV).

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked (John 5:7-9 NIV).

Jesus saw those others overlooked. He paid attention to those others thought invisible. He stopped. He took notice. And then He did something.

APPLICATION

Every one of us has actually been the man at the pool.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners (Romans 5:6 NLT).

Just like the man at the pool—we are without hope, without strength, without assistance—until Jesus took notice of us.

God didn’t ignore us. He sent His Son to die for us. When we had no one, God sent Jesus so we could have Someone.

Jesus sees the invisibles. He sees us when we’re so desperate and we want to be seen. He sees us when we’re completely unaware of how impossible and hopeless our situation is.

Jesus not only saw the invisibles then, He sees the invisibles now.

LANDING

Everyone could use a connection—if only someone would stop long enough to reach out.

Because of Jesus’ love, because of His actions, we never have to be invisible again.