Session 1: Compassion (The 5 C’s Of Biblical Manhood)

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Well, hello to all my Facebook friends, how you doing? Vince D'Acchioli here, and I'm kind of having fun doing these Facebook lives, and it's kind of a new concept for me. I've been encouraged by a lot of people to get into a flow of doing more live broadcasts, and I just really haven't taken the time to do that. And now with this shut-in and the pandemic, I'm finding that we're able to reach out to a lot more people than I ever thought. And I'll tell you what's humbling to me.

What's humbling to me is to get feedback from so many of you, indicating that some of the things that we're doing here are actually blessing you guys. And I'll tell you, that blesses me. And all I'm doing is taking the last 30, 40 years of full-time ministry and all the curriculum and all the stuff that we've written and developed and just taking little nuggets and putting them together and sharing them with you guys in the hopes that it will bring comfort and peace and joy during this season. And I'm thinking that I probably will continue this even after this pandemic is over, because we're finding that it's a very, very effective platform from which to minister. The old days, it was fun getting up in the football stadium in front of 40, 50,000 men or being on big platforms and stuff.

But honestly, I think more powerful ministry happens in these more intimate environments. So I'm looking forward to that. And praying about what to share with you guys today. And by the way, for those of you who may be watching right now, let me encourage you please let me know that this is making a difference, that you're really enjoying these things by writing something in the comment. The comment sections that are here, they do come up and I do see you guys, if you're writing to me on the screen, occasionally I'll acknowledge you if I see you come across the screen and I'm not too involved in the teaching.

But please do comment and please do give us some feedback. I just recently released an article having to do with Dark Saturday and the pandemic. And I also did a video on that. If you scroll down on this feed, you'll find that video and you'll also find the article, which is up to like, I don't know, multiple thousands of hits now. It's something that I think might bless you if you want to look at that.

And also a reminder, visit our website, otm.co. That's just otmforontargetministries.co. There's a lot of resources there and videos that you can take advantage of as well. I just wanted to share a little bit with you this morning and probably over the next five mornings, I'll unpack this a little bit more. But years ago, I came up with something that I'm thinking I'm going to write a book on.

At some point, it's called The Five Seas of Biblical Manhood. And I want to upfront indicate for those of you ladies who are watching this, these principles apply to women as well. But I'm kind of packaging these things to deal directly with biblical manhood because that's the nature of our ministry. I deal with men most everywhere that I go. Cindy and I do do couples events, but most of the time it's with men.

But The Five Seas of Biblical Manhood, here they are. Compassion, conviction, commitment, confidence, and courage. Again, compassion, commitment, compassion, conviction, commitment, confidence, and courage. And by the way, I'm going to show you how these Five Seas unpack in order, that you must go through these in the proper order. If you don't, then you don't grow in the way that God intends us to grow.

And I want to show you that as we unpack these things. I remember years ago talking to so many pastors and one of the biggest complaints that they would have about their men is they can't get commitment from their men. And what I've discovered is that until a man first goes through a godly compassion, which leads to godly conviction, you will be hard pressed to see a man who has godly commitment. There's a process that you must go through. And I hope you'll see that as we move through the material.

So starting with godly compassion, and I'm going to challenge you in each one of these sessions to rate yourself on a scale of one to 10. How do you think you're doing? And might there be some areas that you might improve upon? And then come up with a plan. I see some people that are joining us and my friend Tom alone.

How you doing, Tom? My good buddy in California is kind of watching now. And there's some other folks that are tuning in as well. Welcome. Anyway, godly compassion.

How I this has to do with how I feel about god number one. And then as a result of that, how I feel about others. And let me start with just kind of a little illustration to talk about this god that we're supposed to show compassion for this. My friend is a cell phone. And we all have cell phones.

They call them smartphones. And I don't know if you really understand how incredible this device is. The technology is amazing. I mean, I can push a button right now and call my buddy who's in Singapore. And I can see him face to face.

And we can have a conversation just like you and I are having now. Okay, the technology is amazing. Every appointment I would ever have for the rest of my life is in this phone. If I'm hungry and I want some food, I can just talk to it and say, hey, can you find me an Italian restaurant? You know, and I could go, it'll find me the Italian restaurant.

It'll show me how to get there. It'll tell me how long it's going to take if I walk or if I drive. I can push a button and go to an app that can get a reservation. I have a table waiting for me. I can order food.

I mean, it's amazing what this thing, any piece of information I want, I have access to with this little tiny phone. By the way, years ago in the 80s, I was a vice president of a Fortune 500 company. We had a spare Univac computer that ran our entire company, 150 retail stores. That computer took up a room that's as big as a house. And it was elevated on a floor with air conditioning underneath.

That computer in 1980, taking up an entire house size room. Okay, this device that I'm holding in my hand is 10 times more powerful than that computer in 1980. This little thing, it is amazing what this does. Now, I want you to imagine everything that I just told you about this device, you know this to be true. Let's imagine for a moment that you, you are, I know your young people are going to have a hard time with this, but put your 1980 or 90 hat on.

Imagine what we had back then. We didn't have cell phones, we didn't have anything. Okay, imagine you're walking down the street and all of a sudden you discover this little thing sitting on the sidewalk and you don't know what it is. It's completely foreign. Okay, you go pick it up and you look at it and you play with it and you realize intuitively all the things I just said that it would do.

What's the first thing you're thinking? Again, 1980, no cell phones, no nothing, none of this technology. The first thing you're thinking, I'll tell you what it is, what alien being visited Planet Earth because there is no way this could have been manufactured by anyone on Planet Earth. It's just that foreign. Now, the reality is who made this?

Okay, I'll tell you who made it. Man, man, we did this. We came up with this technology. Okay, now watch this. I'm going to take a little bitty hair out of the side of my head.

Ow, that hurt. Anyway, this is the little bitty gray hair. You can't even see this hair. Okay, this is one hair off the head of man who made this. If I hold this little bitty piece of hair up next to this technology, this piece of hair blows this away technologically.

In fact, at the cellular level, we still don't understand how it all works. It is mind boggling. So get this, guys. Get this. If one hair off the being who made this blows this away, it begs the question, where did this come from?

By the way, there are a lot of people that have asked that question. But anyway, I'm more serious now. Truly, listen to me. Can you imagine the complexity in us? Oh my gosh, guys.

Who is the being that created this machine? And I'm sharing all this with you guys because we've got to get a different picture of God. God is way bigger than any of us can comprehend. And sometimes I think we make the mistake of trying to bring him down to our level, guys, and just having him as our buddy and our friend and somebody hanging out with no, God is huge. Listen to this, Job 26, 7 to 14.

Job, he spreads out the northern skies over empty space. He suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.

The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power, he churned up the sea. By his wisdom, he cut rave out the pieces. By his breath, the skies became fair. His hand pierced the gliding serpent.

Listen, in verse 14, and these are but the outer fringe of his works. The New King James says the mere edges of his ways. The Living Bible says some of the minor things that he does. And the good news is only hints of his powers, only whispers. Who can truly know how great our God is?

For the first step in godly compassion is we have to understand who this God is and how worthy he is of our being in awe of him and worshiping him and praising him. Listen, and he set up a formula, guys. My favorite verse in the Bible is 2 Chronicles 5, 13. Let me read this to you, because there's like hundreds and hundreds of verses in the Bible that talk about how awesome God is and how he desires for his people to worship him. That's what we're called to do, guys.

2 Chronicles 5, 13 says this. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison as with one voice to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpet symbols and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang he is good, his love endures forever. Get the picture. They're out there, they're praising God, they're singing, playing instruments, okay?

As a result of that, the very next word in this flow of text is the word then. I love it when then shows up in the Bible. Then is a transitional word. What's the placement of then in this context means that because of what just happened, here is the result. This is what took place.

This is the derivative, okay? Then as a result of their praising and worshiping God, listen, the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud. Oh, guys, you got to get this. This is so incredible. It's one of the most incredible mysteries, okay?

God very presence came into the temple. Now, for all you Bible scholars, where did God reside in the Old Covenant? It was a physical tent, isn't it? A tent, a tabernacle, the ark, the temple. He was in a physical location.

But look what happened. Jesus came, died on that cross, okay? And as a result of him dying on that cross and giving up, that says the temple curtain was rent. Did the temple go away? No, the temple's still here.

What Jesus did was he brought access for God to enter now our temple. We are the temple of God. God comes into our very midst. So if you paraphrase that verse for today, listen, everybody, as a result of our praising God, he still comes into the temple. And guys, listen, how many of you would say, man, would I like to sense God's presence in my temple?

Especially with what's going on right now. And the fear and the anxiety that I feel. That's how you gain godly compassion by having the kind of intimate relationship with him where you can sense his presence is in your life. Come on, guys, how do you do that? Reading the word, praying, praising God?

We all know how to do it. The question is, are we going to do it? Don't be someone who's just in the crowd looking around for Jesus. Be someone who's pressing in. Do you remember the story of the woman with the flow?

The woman who was in the crowd. The crowd is following Jesus. And all of a sudden, she reaches out and touches the hem of his garment. And he recognizes that power came out from him. He turns around and he said, who touched me?

Who touched me? He recognized it. Listen, here's the illustration, guys. Everybody else in that crowd was hanging out with Jesus. And that's what many of us are doing.

We're hanging out in the crowd. Okay. But what's the difference between us and that woman? That woman reached out and touched him. The only way you do that, dear ones, is you every morning, every day, you get up, you read the Bible, you pray, you worship him.

That's the way you reach out. And when you reach out and touch Jesus, your life will never, never be the same. Why is this important, guys? Why is God's godly compassion so important? Let me just share a quick story.

I was in a church in San Diego years ago. It was an all-black church. And I was invited there to speak. This is a huge congregation, all African-American. It was a big auditorium.

They were pumping overflow into side rooms. And so I'm there, and I'm the speaker, and I'm pretty much the only white guy there. One little role, white guys that knew me, that came in, they were sitting in the back, and that was it. I'm the only white guy. Okay.

I'm up on the platform with the bishop and the whole choir. And in this culture, they all stay up on the platform. If you're the speaker, you go down and you speak, but they stay up there. So it was just unbelievable. It was a three and a half hour service.

Oh my gosh, unbelievable. So those of you who are whining about your service going an hour and 15 minutes, you need to get a life. Three and a half hour service. And it was the most amazing thing. It was like being with family.

And after the service, by the way, they didn't go home. They went out and had food. And the courtyard came back in, fellowship some more. So anyway, I knew that my message was going to be getting to know your very best friend, which is intimacy with God. So I wasn't sure what to lead out with, but here's what I did.

I came down off the platform and I did what happens to me all too often. I engaged my mouth before my brain. And so have you ever done that? Have you ever said something and then you've gone, whoa, come back. It's too late.

It's already out there. Happens to me all the time with my wife. So anyway, here's what I said. I came down off the platform and I said, you know what? I am sick and tired of racial reconciliation, just like that.

And it was like dead silence. Everybody looking at me and I'm thinking to myself, whoa, I hope I know what I'm doing. Anyway, here's what I did. I said, we have more laws on the books today to legislate racial reconciliation than I've ever been on the books in the history of our country. In fact, listen, there are more laws on the books in the United States of America than all the other nations of the world combined.

So I asked this question. Is at the end of the day is law working? Okay, listen guys, please don't hear me say we shouldn't have laws because there are only two ways to govern man. God's way and man's way. God's way is an inside out process.

The heart of man is transformed so that basic laws governing human behavior work. If you take God out of man, it is no longer an inside out process. It's an outside in process. You need more laws and social constraints because man without God is always gonna go the wrong way. Listen guys, when you try to legislate social justice, all you breed in the absence of righteousness, when you try to legislate it in the absence of righteousness, all you breed is bitterness, contempt, and hate.

So is law working? No, and they agreed. Law is not really getting the job done. Well, what about talking about it? Back in those days, promise keepers was carrying the banner, break down the walls.

I said, it's talking about it working. Please again, don't hear me say we shouldn't talk about it. We should, but is it working? And they all kind of agreed. No, it's not working.

So I kind of had them where I wanted them. I said, okay, what does that suggest to you? I'll tell you what it suggests to me. One of two possibilities. The first one is nothing's working.

So forget about it. You know, that's an Italian word, by the way, forget about it. That's a different story. Anyway, so forget about it. What, why bother?

Is that an option? And they all, and they all said, no. And I said, well, yeah, it is. And the people who think it's an option are called bigots. But if you're a follower of Jesus is reconciliation, not reconciling an option.

The answer is no, because the Bible teaches us clearly, we can be reconciled. So here's where we are. The Bible says it can be done, should be done. We haven't figured out how to do it. So the important thing is that we need to figure this out.

So here's what I said to them. I said, I figured it out, guys. Would you like to know the secret to racial reconciliation? I can only imagine what they're thinking. This white guy up there is going to tell me the secret to racial reconciliation, you know?

And I said, yeah, I am. You want to hear it or don't you? So it got really quiet. And then I got really serious. And I said, yeah, I really believe with all my heart, what I'm about to share with you, is what I believe with all my heart is the secret to racial reconciliation.

I want you to close your eyes. You can do it wherever you are right now. Close your eyes. I want you to imagine in the back of your mind, in your eye, a picture, a person that you consider to be radically in love with Jesus. So when you think of this person, it's like, wow, they got Jesus blood pumping in their veins, man.

They're like a role model. I would love to be like this person. I would love to have that kind of relationship with God. I want you to think of that person. Place them in your mind.

And then here's what I said to the audience. I want you to raise your hand really high if you can think of one person like that that has a racist bone in their body. And guys, I want to tell you something. I've shared this over the last 15, 20 years in churches all around the world. I've never seen a hand go up.

So here's what I said to them. What does that suggest to you? Who do you and I need to be reconciled with? Say his name. Jesus.

Say it again. Jesus. Say it again. Jesus. I had him say it three times.

And I said, why? And I walked down on the audience and I touched them. The same way I'd be touching you if I could right now. I laid my hand on them and I said, the reason is because there is no way I can love you or you or you or you. I don't care who you are, what color you are, where you've been, what you've done.

There's no way I can love you in my flesh. The way my Lord and Savior calls me to love you. But listen guys. Once I am so reconciled with my Lord Jesus that he allows me to see you through his eyes, there is no way you are not the most precious human being on planet earth. So I said, listen guys, you get your eyes off of me.

I get my eyes off of you. You and I focus on Jesus and guess what? Everything else takes care of itself. Church, listen to me. We're doing it wrong.

We've got to focus on Jesus. That's the way you have godly compassion. That's the way you begin to understand the two greatest commandments. What are they? Love the Lord your God, right?

And then love your neighbor as yourself. They are in that order for a reason. You cannot do the latter without the former. That's the whole story of the Good Samaritan. And you all know the story out of the Bible.

And what's the end result of that? The end result of that is the only way that I can see others through Jesus' eyes is if I am so in love with Jesus and have his heart for people. And I can't get that without, I can't get that kind of godly compassion without intimacy with him. So the man in the story, by the way, the Good Samaritan story, who was the man that everybody was avoiding? If you looked at that man that everybody was kind of avoiding except for the Good Samaritan, who was that man in today's society that we tend to avoid?

I'll tell you who he was. He was the person who doesn't think like we do. He was the person who was on the other side of the aisle. He's the person who maybe is a champion for abortion. He's the person who maybe is leading a homosexual lifestyle.

He's the person who is an atheist and outspoken about it. That's the equivalent. Those are the people that we should have godly compassion for. We should be loving and reaching out toward. And we tend not to because we're walking on the other side of the street when Jesus is saying, get close to me, see these people through my eyes.

And that's the only way you're going to be able to advance God's kingdom. Some notes here. Godly compassion means I have a healthy devotional habit. Love God with all of my heart. Spend more time praying than I do whining.

And by the way, I've been guilty of the opposite. Okay. Work to become the very best at whatever I do. Colossians 3, 22 and 24. And see others as precious to God no matter what they believe.

And again, on a scale of one to 10 guys, how are you doing in the area of godly compassion? I just had some discussion questions that we normally do if we're doing a live session. Everything begins with the right relationship with God on a scale of one to 10. How would you rate this relationship in your life? Can you view others through his eyes?

Is it hard for you to do that? What do you need to do to have a more intimate relationship with God? Maybe list some things you need to do right now and commit to doing them. I want to cut this one short. We're going a little bit long today, but I'm introducing it.

And then we're going to be talking about godly compassion today, then godly conviction on Wednesday, and godly commitment on Friday at 10 a.m. And then next week we'll finish with the last two and then wrap it up. But I hope this session has blessed you. I pray you have a wonderful day. Be safe out there.

And may God richly bless you as you drill down on the nuggets that maybe the Holy Spirit is wanting you to take away from this time together. Lord, thank you so much for all the people viewing. I ask you to bless them richly today and help them to understand the things that you, by your Holy Spirit, is trying to teach them right now. And we look forward with great excitement of what you're going to continue to do as we unpack all of this. In Jesus' name we pray.

And all God's kids said, amen. Love you guys, and we'll see you on Wednesday.