Sermon Transcript
Well friends, as many of you know, I and a team of folks from Bridges Community Church recently got back earlier this week from our short-term trip to São Paulo, Brazil. And I’m excited for you to get to hear from a couple of the team members that were part of this wonderful experience. So let’s listen to them and then I’ll come back after and I’ll share some more thoughts on the trip as well as some wider application that I think can be of encouragement and of challenge to all of us.
Hi, my name is Ellen Zito, and I first met Paulo and Erinye Moda, who started Restoration Ministries, and went on my first trip with them back in 2001. And I went on a second and a third trip in 2004 and 2006. So after a lapse of 8 18 years, this was actually my 4th trip to Restoration Ministries to work with them in Brazil. Given the long history that I have with them, one of the highlights of the trip is actually being able to reconnect and work with the kids that I saw back in those early years who are now working with Restoration Ministries as adults. For example, the very capable person who provides much of the administrative support, including arranging for and coordinating the short-term missions trip, Danielle, I think she goes by Dani, was just a little girl when I was there in the early 2000s.
She was actually involved with the orchestra back then and was one of the orchestra members who came to the U.S. and performed at our church back then. She made a really big impression. I remember her because she was the only— she was a tough little girl who was the only girl who was doing hip-hop. And when I recounted this with her, we just both just burst into just joyous hugs, you know, the fact that in a way we went way back then and now we are working together as peers. Another person was— is Jonathan, Pastor Jonathan.
Back then, he was a teenager and he was also involved in the orchestra and came during that trip to the U.S. as well.
He, as a young teenager, Paulo shared with me that he kind of noticed that that Jonathan had the heart and also the talent, the skill, the gift of becoming a pastor. And so Paulo and the staff in Restoration Ministries really affirmed him in the area and sponsored him to go to a seminary, and he became a pastor at Restoration Ministries. He left Restoration Ministries for a time, but it was really wonderful when we reconnected during this trip and he shared with me how God really just called him back in a miraculous way to come back and work with Restoration Ministries again. So there are other people that I could share about, but given the time limitation, I can’t really go into that.
But in a way, you know, to witness the journey of becoming, of being one of the kids that Restoration Ministries ministered to, to them now being strong and really faithful servants of God, servants of the Lord and working with the kids at Restoration Ministries just really brought a lot of joy into my heart. I was just so touched when I see them doing what they’re doing through my trip.
And there’s a special joy in a way because I know that The kids living in the favela face so many obstacles and temptations and challenges that can easily just derail them, you know, even with the love and the support of restoration ministries. And I’ve heard of many sad stories like that.
So to see this, what I consider the first generation of young people, young kids that grew up in restoration ministries and becoming leaders, it’s just, I just want to just praise the Lord because it’s just really touched me and I’m really excited to see the kids that I met during this trip, you know, how some of them will, hopefully some of them will also become leaders.
So just to give you an example of some of the obstacles that they face, for example, the first day that we went back to the day center in São Paulo, I noticed that there was a young woman who came to the day center and she was obviously very distraught. It looks like she was very hesitant to come in.
But Paulo approached her, and I noticed that as Paulo was talking to her, you know, in the room later, that she was crying.
And after a time, Paulo approached me and asked me to join them to pray for this young lady. And he shared with me that the young lady is living in a really terrible situation with the stepfather and that she just tried to kill herself the day before and she’s been cutting herself and she’s just expressing that she really don’t see a reason to live.
On the same day in the afternoon, We walked to— we went to a favela that was close to the day center, and one of the persons that we prayed with, that we met and prayed with, was a young man who was paralyzed and sitting in a wheelchair.
And Paulo shared with us that this young man, I think he’s early 20s now, in the 20s, actually participated in Restoration Ministries. And he was active and he was a good boy. But unfortunately, somehow he got involved in some kind of crime and he got shot in the back and became paralyzed.
And unfortunately, those kind of stories is not unusual for the kids who live in the favelas and the kids that Restoration Ministries work with. And so with that background and knowing that, that’s why seeing the kids that I met back in the early 2000s who are adults now, are so special. It’s just, just really praise the Lord for the work that they’re doing, for the difference that they’re really making in the lives of these people, these kids and the families as well. And I’m just looking forward to, to, to see what God’s going to continue to do. At first I was apprehensive about going on the trip because I didn’t know what we were really going to have to do.
At the meeting Steve talked about all of the plans and the daily schedules, but I kind of tuned it out because I was the youngest person on the trip and I felt that I wouldn’t really contribute that much. When we were there, I realized that I actually had a big impact on the kids. They played with me, they laughed with me, and I got to see how each of them grew a connection with Jesus. I think it’s really important to see how they build their own communities even if they don’t have that much. The fact that they were connected through Jesus and that they found people that they were comfortable sharing their faith with is really important to how we build the church and how we share the gospel.
Jesus really opened up my eyes and showed me that through the power of Christ, we were able to laugh and bond and play games with each other and really get to know each other.
I saw how other people experienced Jesus in their lives, and it made me want to grow closer to him. As a group, we all grew together and we learned about each other together. And it was really nice to just have a team of people who you’re with for 11 days that you just, you feel like you know everything about them by the end of the trip. It was really cool to experience the Lord with so many people, especially in our morning devotional sessions. We had worship with our team as well as the Brazilian team that was part of Restoration Ministries.
One of the best parts of the trip was being able to sing worship songs with them, them singing in Portuguese and us singing in English. It just felt like what heaven would sound like. It was amazing to hear all of us praising the Lord even though we didn’t know what the other person was saying.
Bom dia! On our recent trip to Brazil, we as a, as a team planned our Bible lessons and crafts and our message to the kids as God has a plan, God has a purpose, and no matter where we are in life, God’s in control. Life could be hard, but if we believe in him, he’ll get us through. I realize that my plan for this trip was different than God’s. I was going into it thinking, I’m gonna do, you know, XYZ.
I’ll be doing the crafts. I’ll be doing, you know, the things that I’m good at. But God worked on me, and he showed me that he actually expected a little bit more of me than I did of myself.
Doing the crafts with the kids was amazing. They absolutely loved it. It’s something that comes easy to me.
What I realized was important for me as part of this Brazil trip was to not even focus on the kids as much as focus on Restoration Ministry staff. They do everything that we did day in and day out Week after week. We were there for just a short time, but I realized that an important part of this missions trip was to build up the staff that live in Brazil, that work with the kids, that work with the families, because it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t stop once they come to Christ. The families in the favelas They have a battle every single day.
Eventually kids come to a certain age and they get offered the route of drugs, and sometimes it’s the parents that need the support and help and encouragement. And my favorite part was actually Taking everything that I know of myself and everything that I’m comfortable with and just letting God speak. Because when God speaks through us and we listen to what he’s saying and we actually follow his guidance, mountains could be moved. We saw how kids accepted Christ. We saw how mothers cried for their children during the home visits.
But ultimately, we were able to take what’s written in the Bible and have the Holy Spirit speak through us Words cannot describe the emotions you feel when you sit in a room and you let the Holy Spirit sink in and empower you and set you up for the day. Our morning devotionals, part of, were my favorite part of the day.
With the team from Restoration Ministries, They led the worship. A gentleman named Modelo, he was awesome, played guitar, sang. But the fun thing is that no matter which song was sung, we knew what they were singing because we were able to sing along in English while they were singing in Portuguese. We were able to be united through the blood of Jesus. And worshiping God despite of our language barriers.
And the language barrier, I have no clue how we would have done this 10, 20 years ago. It was a hoot of using translator apps with the kids at camp and during the agitas. It used to be something that we might have been like, no, try to put away the phones and focus on the relationships and the kids and don’t be distracted. But it was actually through the use of technology that actually helped us connect deeper and in a more meaningful way because we didn’t let that prevent us from trying to get to know each other. It’s to a point where the friendships we made in this week almost seems stronger than some of the friendships we might have had for dozens of years.
Because here we’ve learned to put ourselves, I’ve learned to put myself on the back burner and let the Holy Spirit work through me. Because God truly does have a plan and a purpose for every one of our lives. And I just hope that going forward, I’m more inclined to continue to listen, listening to God’s voice, his prompting, so that I could continue doing the things that he has planned for me.
Well, I’m so glad that you got to hear from some of these team members. Again, I’m so proud of the 9 others who were with me there in Brazil and how well they served. We saw God working. We saw God teaching us things. We saw God working in people’s lives.
Thank you again for those who prayed, those who contributed to help make this trip happen. And just, we got to see the body of Christ working and the spiritual gifts that God gives the body at work. And what a joy to partner with Restoration Ministries. And I hope that you’ll get to be a part of a similar experience in the future. One of the questions that I always ask myself after a trip like this is what God is saying to me and what God is teaching me.
And there are so many lessons that God is always speaking to me. I tend to like to think about these things and then I analyze them. And one of the things that God showed me once again, but this has happened every single time I’ve ever taken a mission trip, is about the importance of being flexible. You know, we make our plans, we try to go the best that we can, as best prepared as we can, and inevitably there’s change that happens. I can’t tell you how many trips I’ve taken, whether as a participant or as a leader, where that has happened.
I remember specifically going to Morocco about almost 20 years ago with Shannon, with a team of 14 others from our church that we were at as a part of Texas, back in Texas. And whenever we arrived, our team of 16 was told, everything that you have planned on has completely changed. And I mean everything. And the look on our trip leader’s face and how we had to process that, it was, it was a real challenge. Well, as you can imagine, in São Paulo on this particular trip, we did our best to go in with a plan, but I had told our team ahead of time there’s going to be some curveballs.
I’m just telling you. And sure enough, there were. And so it’s the importance of just being flexible and being willing to change. And so I would ask, how do you feel about change? When you’ve been planning and you’ve got something in mind and it’s going one direction and then you realize, oh, I have to adapt, I have to change, this isn’t what I expected.
How do you do with that? I know that that can be a real challenge when you’re in another country and you feel vulnerable already because you’re like, I don’t know the language. And I’m going into the unknown here. Change can be really, really challenging. But one of the things that often happens when you’re in an environment like we were in in São Paulo or on any kind of a mission experience is that you come away looking at the needs, the sheer volume of physical and spiritual needs that exist in this mass of humanity that is in front of you in a place like São Paulo or again here in Silicon Valley.
It could be anywhere. And you look at the volume of needs that exist in our world and you begin to just sort of feel like, gosh, something needs to change. And often when we say something needs to change, we think about something needs to change in that person or something needs to change in that situation. But what I would put before you, is it possible that something needs to change in you or in me? That God wants to work to bring about change in us.
And again, we don’t always like change, and I’ll come back to that in a bit, but is it possible that God wants to work change in us? You might come off of an experience like we did in São Paulo and say, I just know something needs to change in me, in my life, in my family, in my priorities, in my church, in my prayer life. I don’t know all that is entailed in that change. I just know that I can’t continue on in the face of such physical and spiritual needs as just the same person. I can’t.
I know that deep down God wants to change me. And so we could ask, well, what is it that God wants to change? And God may give you a specific picture of that. I want to share 3 dimensions of change that I think God wants to work in each and every one of us that I think about can work in a context like a mission trip, but also Just in our everyday lives that God wants to bring about change. We do know that he wants to change us, but how does he want to change us?
Well, I want to share with you a passage of scripture from the Gospel of Matthew today. In chapter 9 of Matthew, verses 35 through 38, it says, Jesus went through all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, healing every disease and sickness, And when he saw the crowds, Jesus had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless and like sheep without a shepherd. Then Jesus said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are so few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. When I look at that story, I see 3 dimensions of change that I believe need to happen in me.
And that I think need to happen in all of us as genuine followers of Jesus. If we take the gospel serious, if we take being a disciple seriously, these are dimensions of change that God wants to bring about in our life that I see in this story. The first one is the importance of being able to see clearly. We need to be able to see more clearly. It says that Jesus is going through these towns and these villages that he sees the crowd and we’re like, well, of course he sees the crowds.
But it’s not just that Jesus saw the crowds, it is how he saw the crowds. I think we can safely assume that Jesus and his disciples are looking at the exact same physical scene. But Jesus and his followers always seem to look at crowds and at people and at physical and spiritual needs with different sets of eyes. We know that there are occasions where there are crowds around Jesus and the disciples are saying, would you send these people away? Don’t bring these children here.
Don’t bring this beggar here. Don’t bring this blind person here. Jesus, you don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for this. Jesus, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume these people?
That’s— those are the kinds of things that the disciples would say after seeing the crowds. Those are the kinds of things that you or I might perhaps when we’re trying to minister and help meet needs, but we’re exhausted and we’re frustrated. But what we know is that Jesus saw the crowds differently. Where you and I tend to see need and we get overwhelmed by that, Jesus never looks at a crowd and sees a burden. He doesn’t see an inconvenience.
He sees individuals who are in need, and he sees people who are beaten down and are troubled. And are weary, who are each made in the image of God and who therefore each have great value. You know, people estimate, historians estimate that at this particular time in this particular region of Galilee where Jesus is, where this story takes place, that there could have been anywhere from, say, 200 cities and villages with a couple hundred thousand people. I’ve heard estimates as many as up to 2 million people. Well, we think about our world today and we think about, according to what I looked at earlier this week, according to the UN’s latest estimations, there’s more than 8.1 billion people in our world today.
And we think about São Paulo, Brazil, where our team just was, where there appeared to be, according to the World Population Review, in 2024, over 22.5 million people. That’s a lot of people in these towns and these cities. That Jesus is encountering. It’s a lot of people in our world. It’s a lot of needs physically and spiritually.
But Jesus didn’t just see the sheer size of the crowd, and he doesn’t just see the sheer population of our world. He always sees the depth of suffering that exists and that plagues people. He sees people as being greatly troubled and harassed and helpless, and when they’re downcast and they’re destitute, he He sees neediness physically and spiritually. He particularly saw this crowd as being like a sheep without a shepherd. In other words, they’re lost, they’re hurting, they’re vulnerable, they’re being discarded and cast out and forgotten about.
And so the word picture here that Jesus is using is that these are individuals who are an easy target for the devil and for the world. And we could say the same about so many millions in our world today. The needs are enormous. But again, instead of seeing these crowds and these individuals as a faceless, soulless group, he sees each individual. He sees them made in the image of God.
He sees their value, and he sees potential. He sees a harvest. That’s what Jesus said. It’s a harvest, and it’s so plentiful, it’s right in front of us. I think this is an important concept that Jesus tries again and again to teach his disciples, and he’s trying to teach us.
He wants us to grasp where we tend to look at people as a burden and as an inconvenience, God sees opportunity. And when Jesus comes into a person’s life, one of the things that he wants to affect in terms of change is he wants to help us to begin to see people differently than we did before. Or at least that’s what’s supposed to happen, is that he’s giving us a new set of eyes to be able to look differently Just as he gives us a new heart as a new creature in Jesus when we decide to follow him, he also gives us a new set of eyes. If we will allow him, he will cause us to be able to see people differently. But what I know is that something needs to change in me.
I need to see people as Jesus sees people. And I would suggest that perhaps some of you watching this also, this is a change that God wants to work in you. God wants to work in us collectively as his followers. To be able to see people the way that he sees them, with great value, with great worth, and to see their needs and beyond, again, simply the size of the needs, to seeing them as a person created in God’s image who God so dearly loves. Well, a second dimension of our lives that I think God wants to work in us in terms of change is the importance of us being able to feel and to care deeply.
It’s not just being able to see clearly, but to feel and to care deeply about the people that God puts in front of us. What did Jesus feel in this text? In this text, well, we know he must have felt physically exhausted. That’s understandable. He was fully human just as he was fully God, and so he would get tired.
And we know that that must have been one thing that he was feeling, but we also understand that what kept Jesus going despite his physical exhaustion was the fact that he also felt compassion. Verse 36 tells us he felt compassion for the crowds. That word compassion there is a term that goes beyond just this kind of surface-level emotion. It’s something that comes deep down from within in our guts where Jesus sees the masses of people and their needs, and it so agonized him physically and emotionally and spiritually To see the crowds, yes, and to see their needs. This feeling of compassion is something that some people naturally can summon up, but this is something even more than that that is being described here.
It’s a work of the Spirit within us. Jesus has this deep-down reaction to them. He doesn’t look at them with contempt or condescension. He’s not ambivalent towards them. He doesn’t pray that God would just bless their hearts.
He doesn’t tell these people with these great needs to get over themselves, that they’re exaggerating or overreacting. No, Jesus feels this river of compassion towards each and every individual and their needs. Friends, I think we’re so inundated today for a variety of reasons with images and with stories of need, and it’s overwhelming— physical and spiritual need. And I wonder if it’s possible that there might come a day, if it hasn’t already happened, where we have seen so many images and we’ve heard so many stories of need that we just become numb to it. Friends, may that not happen to us.
May our hearts never grow numb to needs of people around us. May we never grow numb to a person’s spiritual condition. May we never grow numb to homelessness and poverty and trafficking. And abuse and all of the systemic things we see in our world that we look at and say, this needs to change, this needs to change. I would submit once again that we need to change, that we need to change, that we need a new set of eyes, and we need God to work this level of compassion within us supernaturally, that it’s a fruit of his Spirit recreating us and refining us so that we begin to look at people the way that Jesus looks at people and feel towards them the way that Jesus feels towards people.
Something needs to change. And the third dimension of our life in this story that I see that something needs to change is the importance of us responding practically. Biblical compassion always entails 3 components. Always. Never just one or never just 2, but all 3 things comprise gospel-centered compassion that we see in the life of Jesus.
Seeing the need, feeling the need, and then doing something tangibly to help meet that need as God so directs us. When you bring these 3 things together, all 3 things, then we have biblical compassion. We have radical compassion that, quite frankly, the gospel of Jesus demands of us, that requires of us as followers of him. Think of the story of the Good Samaritan who sees a need in front of him And instead of doing what everybody else did, they might have seen, maybe they even felt something, but they didn’t meet the need of this person who was in need. And the Good Samaritan was the person who stopped unexpectedly, saw, felt, and acted.
And that Jesus is saying that that’s the person who was a neighbor to this individual who was on the ground and in need. Friends, our neighbors, Jesus is telling us in the story of the Good Samaritan, is the one who’s right in front of us. When God puts a need right in front of you, is it possible that God wants to use you to help meet that need? Seeing can’t just stop at seeing. Feeling can’t just stop at feeling, otherwise it’s just feelings.
Sometimes God wants us to act. And I know I’m hearing you right now having this argument with me that I know I’ve had within my own heart as I wrestle with meeting needs that are so overwhelming. One is this: well, first I’m too busy. Can you relate to that? That’s something so commonly that we would say.
We might also say, well, I’m too small. I think of the life of Moses when Moses told God essentially the same thing. God says, Moses, I want to use you in this particular way, and Moses is saying, who am I? I’m too small. That’s something I know that I’ve said and felt at various times.
And then thirdly, the problem is too big. I can’t do anything about it to make a difference. Friends, I think if we begin to look underneath each of these common things that I have said and that perhaps all of us have said at one time or another, or that we felt if we’ve not said it aloud, is that underneath those things is something that God wants to bring about in terms of change in our hearts. How we look at needs, how we take responsibility and ownership of what God puts in front of us. And again, as he so leads us, you can’t meet every need, but you can meet a need.
You can meet the need that is right perhaps in front of you, by asking God to use you and your time and your talent and your resources to help go about meeting this need, or collectively with other believers helping to meet a need. Empathy just doesn’t stop at feeling, doesn’t stop at seeing, it moves on to doing. You know, when I think about change, I talked about how at the beginning we don’t tend to like change, and I think that that’s mostly true. I, and perhaps many of you, like familiarity. We like our routines.
But I will say there is something about change that can be exciting. A new season of change, a new season of life, or that brings new hope, or a new relationship, or maybe there’s a new restaurant or a new activity that you’re involved in that is fun and that you look forward to, or there’s new technology. It’s not so much, I think, that we detest change for change’s sake. I think what we hate or don’t like a whole lot, to be honest with you, is we ourselves don’t like to be the ones to have to change. Isn’t that honest?
Isn’t that true? I know that I resonate with that. I don’t like to have to change. It’s painful. It’s costly.
It’s humbling. It’s challenging. But I know that that’s what God wants to work within you and me because Here’s what I know is that change, and don’t miss this, change is really at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. If you’re a follower of Jesus, change is at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus. He is working to change you into his image.
It says that God, Romans 8:29, is seeking to conform us more and more into his likeness. And that includes how we see, how we feel, how we respond. To the things that are right in front of us. And thank God that God would send his Son Jesus, because let’s remember, friends, that God saw you and he saw me in our need. And he didn’t just stop at seeing.
He felt compassion and feels such deep love for us. And he didn’t just stop at the seeing and the feeling, but he did something about our greatest need by making us right with God, sending his Son Jesus to be our atoning sacrifice. On the cross. That is such good news. That as we look at other people, to recognize that God looks at us in the ways that we are to look at other people.
Listen, I don’t share these things as a person who’s already arrived and got this all worked out. Please trust me on that. I’m in process too. Something needs to change in me. Something needs to change in all of us.
But as a Jesus follower, let’s remind ourselves that we are God’s representatives. 2 Corinthians 5 says we’re ambassadors of Christ. We’re ambassadors of reconciliation, God’s representatives to the world, and we faithfully must depict the heart of God towards others who are hurting. Yes, there’s great physical need. Yes, there’s great spiritual needs, but may God open up our eyes to opportunities that are around us, again, to use what we have, what he has so graciously given us, to spread the gospel, to help people to know that there’s a God who sees them and who loves them, and to serve people then who desperately need to see and to feel God’s love in a tangible way.
May we be part of the workers that God is raising up. The harvest is plentiful. We’ve got work to do. The workers are few, but may God use us and affect those changes in our lives. I’d love to pray for us.
Would you bow? And pray with me. God, thank you for your word that challenges us as we look at the life of Jesus. May we see, may we feel, may we respond as you would have us to, with mercy, with compassion, with Christlike love. Make us more and more like your Son every single day.
And Lord, when we see these needs that are in front of us, help us, Lord, to entrust these needs to you and to ask, God, what would you have me to do? How can I best be your representative in the world? Thank you, God, that you saw us in our great need and you felt compassion towards us and mercy even while we were yet in our sins. And Jesus dying for us, Lord, you did something about it. Thank you for that.
We celebrate you today. Make us more like Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.
