I Feel You

0:14 Matthew's Gospel hearkens our attention today. Matthew chapter 9 verse 36 Matthew 9 verse 36. what you found it once you say i got it amen matthew 9 verse 36 let's read together with uplifted voices when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd let's read it again with a little bit more fervent conviction and enthusiasm. Come on, everybody. When he saw the crowds.

1:07 He had compassion on him because he was harassed and helped us by sheep of the Lord. Bless the Lord. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Matthew 9 verse 36. When he saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless. they were to him like sheep without a shepherd I want to preach today using as a subject I feel you look at the person beside you look them dead in the eyes tell them I feel you Amen.

1:55 This morning I regurgitate a story. I heard about this little girl in Alabama. Her best friend lost her favorite doll that she played with every day. in utter despair she sat on her friend's front stoop and uncontrollably began to cry When the girl's mother who was hosting the play date came outside to check on the girls, she was stunned to see them both sobbing.

2:38 The mother trying to get her bearings and keep her composure at the same time asked of her daughter, did you lose your doll too? her daughter tearfully replied, no, I didn't lose my doll. The mother urgently persistent said, then why are you out here crying?

3:07 And she said, I didn't lose my doll, but because this is my best friend, I want to help her cry. What a powerful picture of empathy to see when one's heart breaks for somebody else's. Every once a while in your life, you just need somebody to help you cry. One of the hardest things for adults to say is, I need help.

3:45 But would you, in an act of humility, just turn to somebody around you and tell them, sometimes I just need somebody to help me cry. sometimes I just need somebody to help me cry because my bills are bullying me.

4:06 I need somebody to help me cry because grief is gaining up on me. I need somebody to help me cry because my disabilities have become disrespectful. I need somebody to help me cry because my emotions are running amok. John 11 verse 35 says that Jesus wept. And the thing that is important to note is that when he wept, he was by himself.

4:41 But I'm not like him. I don't want to cry by myself. sometimes all you need is somebody to rub your back somebody to rub your shoulder or sometimes all you need is for somebody to sit there they ain't even got to say nothing deep they ain't got to say nothing profound they ain't even got to try to encourage me it is the power of presence just to know that i'm not crying by myself y'all like act like you ain't never been there you just got to sit in the car by yourself you just sit on the edge of the bed by yourself you just sit on the edge of your couch by yourself you ain't never been at a moment where you just wish somebody would just help you cry David didn't have anybody to cry with him but he said oh magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together. It's a whole lot of people who will celebrate with you and will shout with you, but it's a small circle of people that will actually be there when you need somebody to cry with you.

5:56 empathy is the ability to understand and share the feeling of others. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, the uncertified co-president of the United States, recently said on the Rogan podcast that the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy. Did you hear what the richest man in the world said? He said, the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.

6:39 The inability to feel for others is at the root of what you are seeing take place in America right now. They don't have any feelings for the 5.8 million blacks that are getting ready to be purged off of Medicare. They don't care, have no feeling for the 64% of those who are on Medicaid that are black because the wealthy have private doctors. They don't care about immigrants being criminalized because as a white South African, he has a white privilege while melanated Africans can't get a visa. Don't tell me you feel me if you got to put on gloves to touch me. Psychology Today recently published an article by Dr. Douglas Lieber that has boldly pronounced that America has a newly classified disease.

7:45 And the new classified disease is empathy deficit disorder. Empathy deficit disorder. It's what happens when you are unable to step outside of yourself in order to step into somebody else's experience. Empathy is different from sympathy. Because sympathy is understanding somebody's pain, whereas empathy is identifying with somebody else's pain. I used to tell young preachers when you go to go comfort somebody whose mother has just died don't tell them you know how they feel when your mama's still alive I am not asking you to feel sorry for me. I'm asking you to get in the foxhole with me.

8:45 You got to be able to feel what I feel. And if you can't feel what it is that I feel, then you will stand in the jury box and not the witness stand. If you don't understand what it feels like to be black in America, don't you pass judgment you got to know what it feels like for my heart rate to accelerate anytime I see police pull up behind me you got to know what it feels like to be vulnerable as a woman to walk through a parking lot by yourself and you hear footsteps coming up behind you you got to know what it feels like to not get your prayers answered but still have a prayer life You got to know what it feels like to have to grow up early because you got to raise irresponsible parents. You don't know what it feels like to have to make shrewd decisions, even when you never had exposure to the things that other people take for granted.

9:46 Don't tell me what you would do if you were me, if you ain't ever been me. I forget about walking a mile in my shoes. You could make it to the corner in flip-flops if you had to deal with the stuff that I'm having to deal with. The decisions that I had to make were not easy decisions, but it was the best I could do with what it is that I had. And I'm trying to do all that I can not to lose my mind. I'm doing all that I can not to hurt nobody. I'm doing all that I can not to become bitter. I'm doing all that I can not to pay people back. I'm doing all that I can not to be resentful. Don't tell me how I ought to feel if you ain't never felt what I felt. I'm just trying to keep it together.

10:43 Can you feel me? You talking about Christmas time? I'm talking about basic necessities. of having to tell my children no can you feel me that I'm doing everything that I can to take care of an aging parent and you would think I'm a only child and I got siblings everywhere can you feel me you don't know what it's like to be the only one in a relationship trying to keep it together and everybody in the house takes your sacrifice for granted can you fill me with everything that I'm dealing with I should have left God a long time ago but I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus Do you feel me?

11:46 You don't know what it's like, help me media team with this monitor. You don't know what it's like to have to train yourself not to cry. You don't know what it's like to tell yourself that I am not gonna break down in front of my children. You don't know what it's like to have to keep biting your tongue because folk keep talking to you sideways and they think that you are weak but they got no idea. I got to hold myself back from flipping over these deaths. Can you feel me? In the book Cultivating Empathy, the book Cultivating Empathy, the work and dignity of every person without exception, Nate Walker divulges an interview that he had with Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old black girl who was threatened and taunted for integrating New Orleans public schools in 1960.

12:57 At six years old, she told the reporter, I feel sorry for the people trying to block me from getting into school. The reporter didn't understand the mind of a six-year-old that at six years of age, she felt sorry for the people trying to kill her. The report is left speechless that an adolescent was utilizing the idea of moral imagination. Moral imagination is the ability to anticipate or project yourself in the middle of a moral dilemma. not even having reached adolescence. She figured that segregationists, white supremacists were tortured by her existence. And she felt sorry for her.

13:52 Ladies and gentlemen, I ain't even mad. I feel bad for the brown people who thought they were better than black people who are now facing deportation. I feel bad for the white women who didn't realize they were the real DEI hires and were going to lose their job. I feel bad for Columbia and Emory and Johns Hopkins losing three, four and eight hundred million dollars. But HBCUs ain't never had that kind of money. I feel bad for the Tesla dealerships that got to close because they lost $900 billion since December because they forgot it ain't electricity, it's people that power this nation. I feel bad for them.

14:47 a little bit until I remember the words of that black sister were cornrows until you do right by me nothing you do is gonna work I tried to feel bad I feel bad for those who persecute you for righteousness sake, for they don't know that the kingdom of heaven is about to be yours. Today, I'm telling you, feel bad for your enemies because he's about to prepare a table in the presence of your enemies. I feel bad for your haters because your haters are about to be your elevators. They meant it for evil, but God is going to work it out for your good.

15:50 I feel bad. I feel bad for every demon in hell that thought they were going to break you. They meant it for evil, but God is going to work it out for your good. I need you to just look at somebody and just say one word, surprise. That's the wrong neighbor. Fine, somebody else say surprise. They didn't think I was going to look this good. They didn't think I was going to come through the fire. They didn't think I was going to survive the traps. But we've been made in door for a night. But joy is coming in the morning. When Jesus was dangling on the cross with a withered body and a dehydrated throat, he mustered up enough strength to say, Father, forgive him.

16:52 But that's not where his empathy started. His empathy started in our text this morning when Jesus was on tour through all of the towns and villages preaching and teaching. He healed people who were embroiled in any number of diseases. But where I am arrested is in verse 36. He had a heart for people who were harassed. Jesus felt drawn to people who were feeling helpless. And the Bible says he's moved with compassion. The question I got to ask is why was Jesus in that part of town anyway? What was he doing over there? Wasn't no churches, wasn't no crusade, wasn't no revival. Why was he even there? The problem with being anointed is you are drawn to people you got nothing in common with.

17:51 When you are anointed, people don't even understand. You better be glad I got a heart. Hallelujah, you will forgive folk who ain't even sorry. You'll be there for folk who would never have the same kind of compassion for you. But God will keep drawing you into areas where you otherwise would not be. The Bible said there was a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell amongst thieves and a priest passed him by, a lawyer passed him by. But here comes somebody known as a Samaritan who picked him up and poured oil on him and said I'm going to stay with you until you get better. The person that's sitting beside you don't know they owe you a thank you card because the oil that's on your life is now being transferred to them and they get ready to be stronger than they ever been in their life.

18:52 I dare you to grab somebody by the hand and tell them you sat by the right sink today. I'm not gonna let you go back to who you used to be you gonna be stronger than you ever thought you were gonna be if the devil was gonna get you he should have killed you last week but you're still standing by the grace of God while on others thou art calling please don't pass me by you are anointed to pull somebody up the old Negro spiritual said if I can help somebody as I pass along if I can cheer somebody with a word or with a song then my living is not in vain.

19:46 The reason why the enemy been trying to take you out is he knows you were born to help somebody. You were born to make somebody's life better. You were born to break a generational curse. I need you to think back over your life and think about the two seasons of your life where you didn't think you were going to survive. The death angel thought he was going to get you. But God stood in the middle of the mess and said, I'm not finished with them yet. I got something more for them to do. Bible says he saw them harassed. God been watching you. He's seen how you have suffered with class.

20:45 he watched how you were going through and didn't lose your composure y'all don't like this folk have no idea how tight stuff been for you because you still got a smile on your face you're still in carriage people when you depleted and when you are depressed but God said because you've been faithful over a few things I'm about to make you ruler I said I saw how you've been treated saw how you've been harassed saw how you've been talked about and mocked and ridiculed they harassed you because of your hair because of your ideas because of your intellect because of your opinions because of your appearance because of your convictions because of your ability God said I saw how they talked about you after the meeting but I need you to know angels been going to war on your behalf God I can't hear nobody I need you to know that in the realm of the spirit God been fighting for your namesake he been fighting for your integrity he been fighting for your children and you think I'm going to lose my mind because you didn't speak to me I didn't even notice you was mad I got too much on my mind God is fighting on my behalf Thank you.

22:36 they chose the wrong one by bothering you god said touch not my anointing do my servants no harm do you want to know why god empathizes with us he empathizes with us because he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace is upon his shoulders. And by his stripes we are healed. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but we are not in despair. The remix, why are you trying to figure it out? The Lord is already working it out. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty under God.

23:35 For the pulling down a stronghold, I dare you to just pull it down. You just pull down every attack that's been assigned to your name, pull it down. Whatever's been trying to stop your raise, trying to stop your promotion, pull it down. Whatever's trying to stop your business, trying to stop your finances, pull it down. When you've been picked on, harassed, and bullied for so long, you begin to feel helpless. James Weldon Johnson said God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, the one who's brought us this far along the way. 300 years of degradation.

24:39 300 years of being marginalized and ostracized. 300 years of being castrated and lynched. 300 years of having voting rights diminished. 300 years of having inequitable education opportunities. 300 years of medical apartheid. Now Target, Walmart, McDonald's, John Deere, Amazon feel like this is gonna break us. This is not our first rodeo. But the thing that they can't understand is after everything that we've been through, we still got our hope. still got our joy still got our peace and we still got our relationship with God come on I can't hear anybody do you understand the mental torture you've been through in the last 45 days mental torture you've been through and now segregation is legal again the emotional torture you've been through. That every police officer's record has been cleaned. The torture that you've been through. That now teachers got a second guess. Can they teach their own history to students that look like them without losing their funding? Can you imagine the torture that you've been through just in the last 45 days? That many of you, your children will no longer receive free lunch beginning in August. The torture that you've been through.

26:16 That there is absolutely no sympathy or grace for veterans or for seniors. The torture that you've been through. Be not dismayed. Whatever the time, God will. He'll take care of you beneath his wings. May his love about God will. he'll take care of you but the thing that i love about jesus is that when he saw his people being harassed and bullied he didn't just look at them he said i gotta do something about it and i'm trying to figure out if you feel what i feel how you just gonna look at me going through and not do anything to help me get out of the situation that i'm going through whenever it is that you have the real spirit of empathy there ought to be something that rises up in you that wants to do something for somebody else I need you to do me a favor please look at your neighbor and say I feel you I feel you hallelujah it's been a rough year and it's just March I feel you the devil has been on your back I feel you I understand that the enemy has been waging war and so I want to do you a favor you ain't even got to give God glory today because praise is what I do when I give God glory it ain't just for me but I'm praising God that everything you've been going through is getting ready to come off of you some of y'all are going to have to change seats because you're sitting beside somebody stuck up who's arrogant and standoffish.

28:05 But if you feel what I feel, you can't sit next to me and not lift up your voice. But if there's anybody that's got a praise on the inside, I don't want you to shout for yourself. I need you to shout for those that are being harassed, for those who have been marginalized. For those that are feeling helpless, if they won't shout with you, scoot over some and find somebody else that wants to see you in the best season of your life. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, I'm not like the rest of your friends. I'm not jealous of you. I'm not threatened by you.

28:58 I'm not insecure. So when I give God glory, I'm not shouting for me. But I'm shouting for what's getting ready to hit your life. I dare you to take one moment and shout for somebody like the blessings of the Lord maketh rich and end no sorrow. Give him glory like I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. Give Him glory like your son and your daughter will prophesy. Give Him glory like the worst is behind and the best is yet to come. Give Him glory like healing is the children's bread.

29:58 Give Him glory like they won't lose the house. They won't lose the car They won't lose their job They won't lose their daughter Give him glory If you don't praise him The rocks are gonna cry out And I don't want No rocks Crying out for me Praise him Give him glory Look at the person beside you and tell them this next shout is not for you it's for the person standing behind me that I'm giving God glory to let the devil know to get to them they gotta go through me I'm gonna praise you Is that all you got?

31:12 Shout that the student loans are canceled. Praise him that everything your mama needs is about to be taken care of. Give him glory. Give three people a high five and tell them I feel you. I feel you. I feel you. Hey.

31:44 Hey. I feel you. Oh, y'all ain't shouting good in here. I feel like preaching now. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor. If you wanna know why I scream like this, why I shout like this, why I run like this, it feel like fire. Shut up. If I push, I gotta praise Him I gotta lift Him I gotta worship Him I feel it. I feel it.

32:38 I feel it. I hope you are energized that you don't need an energy drink. What you just heard should have you off and running, chasing your dreams, pursuing your purpose, and answering your call. If this was a blessing, share it with somebody else. Don't be selfish. This is what God gave you so that you can be a blessing to somebody who needs it worse.