🔥 HOLY HABITS | WEEK 2: CONNECTION & COMPASSION 🔥

Message by Pastor Chuck Tate

January 24 & 25, 2026

What habits are shaping your soul—not just your schedule?

In Week 2 of our HOLY HABITS series, Pastor Chuck dives into Matthew 9, a power-packed chapter where one theme rises above the rest: Jesus always prioritizes people.

From healing the paralyzed and calling the unlikely, to stopping for the forgotten and moving with compassion for the crowds—Jesus shows us what it means to live with connection and compassion.

This isn’t soft faith. It’s Spirit-filled, truth-rooted, people-focused Kingdom living.

📖 Key Scriptures:

Matthew 9 (entire chapter) • 2 Corinthians 5:17 • John 17:15 • Matthew 19:4–6 • Psalm 46:10

💡 Key Takeaways from This Message:

✅ Jesus Sees the Whole Person – He doesn’t just treat symptoms. He heals body and soul. (Matt. 9:1–8)

✅ Jesus Calls Sinners, Not the Self-Righteous – Connection challenges religious distance. (Matt. 9:9–13)

✅ Jesus Models a New Way – New wine requires new wineskins. New habits require transformed hearts. (Matt. 9:14–17)

✅ Jesus Stops for the One – He’s not too busy for the woman, the child, the blind, the broken. (Matt. 9:18–31)

✅ Jesus Moves with Compassion – True compassion isn’t just emotion—it’s action. (Matt. 9:36 – splanchnizomai)

✅ Jesus Prioritized People in a Divided World – He stood for truth without losing love. (Matt. 9:32–38)

🙌 PRACTICAL HOLY HABITS: CONNECTION & COMPASSION

Connection:

• Make eye contact. Put down your phone.

• Schedule one intentional conversation per week.

• Follow up when God puts someone on your heart.

• Sit with someone new at church or at work.

• Be present in prayer before you’re present for people.

Compassion:

• Volunteer with RC Cares

• Serve someone who can’t return the favor

• Speak the truth—but with tenderness

• Write a note. Give generously. Listen deeply.

• Respond to needs even when it’s inconvenient

🧠 Bottom Line:

Jesus saw people. He loved people.

He moved toward the broken, the rejected, and the skeptical.

Holy habits aren’t just personal—they’re relational.

Let’s practice connection and compassion like Jesus.

📍 Join us at RockChurch: 1081 Upper Spring Bay Rd, East Peoria

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