“Bridging the Gap Like Jesus: The Foundation”

Announcements:

Offering box is in the back

2. August bible reading plan is on the back table

3. Thank you to all who helped with the Puppets and Popsciles Outreach this past Thursday! It was a success and it could have only been done with your support and prayers!

Worship:

Blessed be your name

2. See a victory

3. Made for more

Introduction:

I’m going to show some pictures this morning and I want you to tell me what do they all have in common. (pictures of bridges)

Answer: they are all bridges

Yes, they are all bridges.

What is a bridge: A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross.

How about these pictures? (pictures of the people from church)

Answer: you are all bridges as well!

This week we are starting a sermon series entitled: “Bridging the Gap like Jesus”.

Our vision for The Gap is bridging gaps by meeting needs on every level in the community & serving as Jesus did.

How do we do that? For those who are extroverts, this sounds like fun and you’re probably ready to go! For those who are introverts, you are probably didn’t nervous and wondering if you should have stayed home and watched this morning’s service from a safe distance online!

I want to remind us the command Jesus gave His disciples which also is given to us today:

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “You have seen me bridge the gap with others, and now I am sending you out to do the same as I did.”

Illustration: Being so excited about something that you go up to people and let me know what you are excited about and they are totally clueless and even may think you are a little crazy.

I want to look at some instances through this series how Jesus bridged the gap with others and I hope we can learn, not only what He did, but also how to do it ourselves as well.

What do you need to know when building a bridge? Well, I’m no expert but in what I have read, it comes down to the foundation, blueprint/design, materials, construction, and maintenance.

This week, we are going to be focusing on the foundation of building a bridge. It is important to make sure where you build a bridge is solid and sturdy. You don’t want to build a bridge on something that will settle and cause the bridge to become lope-sided or even fall down. But we do this all the time when it comes to trying to build a bridge to someone else like a neighbor, someone you work with, or even a family member.

We are so focused on building a bridge to someone else so we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ that we build it on the foundation of “I know what you need” or “If you would just do this, you will be better off”, etc.

As we look at the foundation Jesus uses, I hope that we also are purposeful in how we build bridges to others we interact with on a daily basis. So, what foundation did Jesus use? He used love and compassion.

Transition: Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 9:35-38 this morning as we look at how Jesus used love and compassion as His foundation to building a bridge to others.

Matthew 9:35–38 CSB

35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Body:

I. Jesus saw people others overlooked (v36)

Matthew 9:36 CSB

36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 NLT

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 MSG

36 When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.

The NLT says they were confused and helpless.

They had no one helping them. They were, like the MSG says, aimless. They were wandering.

How many people do we know who are aimlessly wandering around each day? Confused about what to do, how to live, what to believe? Written off? Discouraged?

How many times have you and I overlooked that person at Walmart holding the sign? The person walking down the road with the shopping cart? Or the person walking alone with nothing in their hands but just walking?

Illustration:

The Story of Wilma Rudolph: From Overlooked Child to Olympic Champion

Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely in 1940 in Tennessee, the 20th of 22 children in a poor African-American family. Weighing only 4.5 pounds at birth, she was a sickly child who suffered from pneumonia, scarlet fever, and polio. Due to the polio, her left leg became paralyzed, and doctors told her she would never walk again without braces.

Overlooked and Written Off: As an African American girl with a disability in the segregated South, Wilma was overlooked in nearly every way. Many people pitied her or dismissed her future entirely. Her classmates teased her. Most doctors had little hope. Opportunities for medical care were limited because of her race and poverty.

But her mother believed differently.

A Turning Point: For two years, Rudolph and her mother made weekly bus trips to Nashville for treatments to regain the use of her weakened leg. Wilma also received subsequent at-home massage treatments four times a day from members of her family and wore an orthopedic shoe for support of her foot for another two years. Wilma’s mother took her on long bus rides to a hospital that treated African American children and massaged her legs at home every day. Wilma worked tirelessly to regain her strength. By age 9, she shed her leg brace. By age 12, she could run.

Becoming Important: She went on to run track in high school and later at Tennessee State University. In 1960, at the Rome Olympics, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games. She was not only an athletic champion but also became a symbol of hope and progress during the Civil Rights Movement.

After the Olympics, she used her fame to advocate for civil rights, refusing to attend any segregated events. She became a teacher, coach, and speaker, inspiring generations with her story.

Takeaway:

Wilma Rudolph was constantly overlooked — as a poor, African American, disabled child in the segregated South. But with perseverance, belief, and support, she rose to become one of the most celebrated athletes in the world and a voice for justice and inspiration.

Transition: We need to slow down to really see people, even in familiar places. Jesus saw the overlooked people; are we?

II. Compassion moved Jesus to action

1 John 4:7–11 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

We can’t wait for people to come up to us! We can’t wait for people to like us or see if we will get along with them. It’s not about us!

Play “He was robbed at knifepoint” video

Compassion isn’t just a feeling, it’s the beginning of the Gospel in action!

III. There is work to be done (v38)

Matthew 9:38 CSB

38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

James 2:15–17 CSB

15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

Jesus says the harvest is abundant…even in our community!

Conclusion:

Bridges fail when their foundation is weak. The church fails when it lacks love and compassion.

Are we overlooking those in our community? Have we written them off? Too young? Too old?

Compassion moves people to action. Maybe we aren’t doing anything because we lack compassion?

There is work to be done. Just coming to church, youth, men’s meeting, women’s meeting isn’t going to cut it. We need to be getting out of our comfort zone and getting involved!

Application: choose one person this week to reach with compassion: a visit, a call, a meal.