One of the things I've learnt about flowing in the gifts of the spirit, is whenever I feel compassion for someone, I know God will give a gift of the spirit to operate. As soon as I feel the compassion, I know God's going to do something. As soon as I sense a heart for the person, I know God is about to do something. When you see someone, meet someone, begin to discover a problem or an issue, and you start to feel compassion in your heart, God is stirring you to do something so compassion, we need to manifest the compassion, not close our heart but be sensitive in our heart to the needs of people. Now you don't have to meet every need, as you'll see this guy didn't either. Jesus definitely didn't - said he went to him, he went to him. So here's the third characteristic. We need to be able to engage and enter, enter and engage, the world of unsaved people.
Now to enter and engage unsaved people, you must be able to get rid of religious clutter, and jargon, and funny ways of doing things, and talk in language, and realities, that unsaved people can understand. We've got to be able to enter their world without any judgement, enter their world and understand, people who are sinning do crazy stuff. We need to understand where they're coming from, what's going on. Today the next generation that's emerging has got immense needs. I was looking at a study related to the Gen Ys, and concerning the baby boomers, those who are married or - were married, permanently married at around the age of 24. There was something like about 70 per cent of the Gen Ys, which are the younger generation now, only five per cent at about the same time - a huge drop, over two or three generations, disillusioned with relationships, disillusioned with all kinds of things, unable to enter into commitments.
The world around us has changed rapidly, so the church has to change, and the way it does it's business, to engage with a culture that has shifted, now that's a challenge because of course, if you're from my generation you tend to think in certain sorts of ways, but the young generation and the people today think and operate radically differently. In order to engage them, you've got to be willing to enter their culture without judgement, and begin to understand how their culture operates, and connect with ordinary people who are quite wounded and need someone. The needs are the same. The answers are the same. It's just the wrapping is different, that's all. But the church over the decades has been notoriously slow to engage culture at where it is, with the needs it has right now. We need to do that. We need to do that.
Notice the next thing he went to him, so he entered his world. Can you enter the world of unsaved people and begin to even understand them, and find out what's going on? It requires a measure of conversational skill and ability. It requires a heart to listen, it requires a willingness to be non-judgemental. Next thing you notice it says, he bandaged his wound; he connected to and identified the wounds in the man. He bandaged his wounds. Now you can't minister to someone's needs, unless you connect into and identify what they are, and usually that requires listening with a heart to hear, ability to ask a few questions. I've found people will open up, they will share their heart. You say, well I don't know what to do. Well do what you can. If God put a touch, and brought that person around you, why don't you do what you can, see?
The next thing you notice, he poured in the oil and the wine. Well God calls us to be ministers of the Holy Ghost, the oil and the wine. Notice that the religious people lacked oil and wine, they lacked the anointing, the flow, the presence, the activity of the Holy Spirit. But this man here had that anointing, had that flow. He had what was needed, to bring soothing and healing to the wound, and he did what he could at the time. Gifts of the spirit are for every believer. God calls you to operate in giftings so He can bring a word of encouragement, word of prophesy, word of healing, bring ministry at the level you're able to, and whatever level you're able to, grow in it. Get more oil and more wine. We'll talk about that another time.