This week we started a series called “For the Valley”. Often, Christians are characterized more by what they are against rather than what they are for. Looking at Jesus in Matthew 9:35-38, we see that he is moved deeply when he sees people that are spiritually needy. He is the shepherd that was foretold in the Old Testament, but not just to those who are “in” with God, but to those who are far from Him. We are to be like him in this way, proclaiming the invitation to the family that a lost world was always created for. With nearly 1 million people of the Lehigh Valley, there are hundreds of thousands of our neighbors who look to things other than Jesus as their shepherd. Rather than look down on these people or ignore them, the Church is to be like Jesus and have compassion on them, pray for them, and be laborers in the harvest of bringing them to an awaiting Savior.