Weekend Sermon -- Christian Characteristics -- Mercy

 I want to start today by saying thanks be to God, I now have a new job. Thank you all for your prayers. I also want to thank the Lord for the opportunity to post this message.

This will be the final sermon in our current series. Starting next week, Lord willing, we will begin a couple of sermons dealing with Christmas. I have a new series that we will begin after the first of the year. 

Today, we will focus on the characteristic of mercy. Mercy is part of who God is. He has shown His mercy upon us by redeeming us from our sins. Because He is merciful, God expects us to be merciful as well. In fact, God tells us in Hosea 6:6 that He desires mercy more than sacrifice. In addition to this, the Lord Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes that the merciful will be blessed for they will receive mercy. 

I believe that there are at least two aspects to mercy. First of all, we have mercy on someone who is indebted to us in some way. For instance, someone may owe us a lot of money. We can show mercy by forgiving a debt or modifing the loan terms to make it easier for someone to pray. 

Another aspect of mercy is compassion. When people are hurting, we extend mercy by helping them in their time of difficulty. Some hospitals have mercy in their names. This is to signify that they are reaching out to assist those who are sick.

One major way that we can show mercy to others is by aiding refugees. These people are fleeing wars and incredible poverty. They need us to extend a helping hand to them in the name of Jesus.

We can also show mercy by helping those who are struggling with loneliness and depression. We can listen and help so that others can have a better life.

One of the greatest ways that we can be merciful is to tell others about the love of Jesus. We can explain to them how much Jesus loves them, and how they can be delivered from their sins. Amen.

Prayer Requests

Let us thank the Lord that a vaccine for coronavirus is now available. Let us pray that the vaccine can quickly reach people around the world. Pray that the pandemic will end, and pray that the sick will quickly recover.

Please continue to pray for peace on Earth. Let us focus our prayers on Libya, Yemen and Syria this week.

For our prayer focus countries, let us pray for Nepal and Mauritania.

Next week, the sermon will deal with Christmas. I will post the verses on Monday, and I hope to post something on Wednesday. May God bless you all.