Engage With Love and Compassion (by Pastor Mark Parsons)

Those Pesky Calls

​The Lord said to the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” See Luke 14;23.

Recently, I had a fresh stirring to engage phone-call solicitors in conversations that would go way beyond the products or services they would be marketing.  In times past, I would have viewed those telemarketers as someone who wasted my time. In other words, “Get lost!”
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With God’s love and compassion, I now see these calls as opportunities (and believe me, I get plenty of these calls!)—opportunities to go “…out into the highways and hedges…” and inviting these people to come and experience what Jesus has in store for them, such as forgiveness, life, joy, hope and eternal life!

Engaging

A young man recently called me to discuss a mortgage product he was selling. I instantly called upon the Holy Spirit to help me, as His ambassador, to speak to his heart what he needed to hear.

So, I said, “What’s your name?” and from that moment on it was God’s script that was in control, not this solicitor’s pre-planned dialogue. In this case, I discovered he was a born-again Christian who had been baptized. Before we finished sharing with each other, he said with such great fervency, “You have me crying!”  Later he said, “This talk has really made my day!”  Well, you can guess, it most certainly made my day as well!
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This individual needed to hear and feel the compassion and love of God—not a reply of disgust and disdain from me. He was simply striving to make a “buck” and was doing just what he was trained to do.

Slow Down and Listen

​Let us slow down and listen before we speak. This way, we can ask and hear what Jesus is saying—before we speak! Then we can know what God sees in a person and then continue a conversation with spiritual insight and discernment.

Ambassadors in Christ

​After all, “From now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer.” (2 Cor. 5:16).  We can no longer regard these callers from a worldly point of view. Dare we, as children of God, take courage and practice this principle? We are ambassadors, who know God is a Spirit and we walk in liberty in His Spirit. We know God makes His appeal through us.

What Are You Waiting For?

​So, the next time you see an unknown number on your phone, check first with the Holy Spirit to see if this is an opportunity to speak life and light to a soul in need of Kingdom counsel—One who may be dry and thirsty, ready to hear, and ready to drink some Living Water!

Go and engage with Love & compassion.

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​Love in Jesus now and always,
Pastor Mark