Being a good neighbour

I thought it was really important, am I on? Yes.

For us to spend a little bit of time reflecting on evangelism and mission.

I read this week that this, what's the difference between mission and evangelism?

Some person suggested evangelism is when you tell people within your own culture about Jesus,

and mission is when you do it cross-culturally.

Anyway, something for you to think about.

And so three weeks on evangelism, and I thought, great, you know, the church and us,

we really need to reflect on this subject.

And I'm solely responsible for picking the passages for last week and this week.

And last week's passage was not at all what I was thinking,

which was quite distressing when you start preparing a sermon.

I thought, I want to say this, but the Bible says this.

And I came across the same problem this week with this short story.

And there are three problems.

One is, what's this got to do with evangelism?

I mean, at least last week's sermon, there's some explicit reference to a mission.

There's no Matthew 28, you know, authority on heaven and earth.

There's no, you know, none of that.

And I thought, how do I...

First problem.

Second problem is, we're so familiar with this story, you know.

And looking at a familiar story is like hearing a familiar joke.

And everybody knows the punchline.

And I spend 20 minutes telling you a joke that you already know.

So, how do I...

You know, is it familiar?

And how do we...

What does it mean for us?

So, that's my second problem.

The third problem is, when I spend a little bit more time looking at this passage,

I kind of found that it's not what it seems.

And I want to take you through this.

Hopefully, it makes sense.

And hopefully, I'm being faithful to what the Bible says.

So, it's not really what it seems.

And I think it does have something to say about evangelism.

And we need God to help us.

So, will you join me in praying to God and ask that he might help us to listen to him?

Great God and Heavenly Father, we praise you that even though words that have been written so long

and so familiar to us can come alive in ways that we would never expect,

help us not to presume on your word.

And we pray, Father, that tonight you might speak again to us by your Spirit,

stir our hearts, lift our eyes and move us into the world.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The story is fairly familiar to us.

It's a story about a smart Alec lawyer.

And there is no other type.

Trying to trap Jesus with his cleverness and learning.

And Jesus, the real hero of the story, kind of turns the situation around,

outsmiles the guy by a story.

You notice Jesus tells a story, an earthy story with a twist.

You know, parables are often stories with twists.

And this parable has a twist.

The twists come in the form of the hero of this parable.

It is an unlikely hero because it's a Samaritan.

Again, we kind of missed it.

And I'm sure that you have heard this explained to you.

The Jews hate the Samaritans, you know, with a vengeance.

And so the whole being the hero thing was just unexpected for them,

but familiar to us.

And as I was telling this morning's congregation,

I was struggling to think the type of hatred, you know,

the Smiths know what I'm talking about.

You know, swan supporters.

West Coast would be the Samaritans.

The dirty, no good, parasitic, you know,

they should be destroyed from the face of the earth.

I get you, but nobody else.

Maybe people who are from Sydney, you know.

Sydney would be like the Jews.

People living in Melbourne, they're like the Samaritans.

You know, just, they wish they've got, well,

they don't even have a harbour.

What do they have?

A brown river.

But, you know, it's not quite,

and this morning I thought maybe it's like the JWs.

It doesn't really quite capture it.

And I was thinking this afternoon,

I think it's more like this story was told

and the hero of the story is Richard Dawkins.

Right?

Or a Muslim.

Okay?

A Christian audience.

The first two guys are good Christian folks

and they turn out to be bad.

And then there's this guy that you kind of think,

I can't stand, can't possibly be good.

And Jesus says, that's the hero of the story.

Shock, horror.

But it still really doesn't answer the question.

What's the point?

You know, is it saying that we ought to be like this guy?

I mean, after all, this is what Jesus says in verse 37.

Go and do likewise.

Be the Samaritan.

You know, look after,

look out for the needy and the marginalised in society.

Is that the point that Jesus is trying to make?

But as I said before,

if you dig a little bit deeper

and read it in the context of what's before and what's after,

I want to suggest to you,

there's only a lot more to it than first appears.

Well, firstly,

the parable comes in the context of a conversation

with an antagonist.

The antagonist we introduce in verse 25

as an expert in a law.

Presumably a wise and learned

and spiritual and respected person.

But an antagonist, nonetheless,

is obvious to us as the reader

because we have an insight into his motives

as opposed to the people present in our conversation.

We are told by Luke in verse 25

that he's come to Jesus to test him.

I don't get a real sense

that this guy is a genuine spiritual seeker.

You know, he's come to Jesus

to not so much put him in his place,

but perhaps to reveal Jesus for who he really is.

Some sort of peasant,

popularist,

uneducated,

not a really spiritual person.

To test Jesus,

you know,

to see really what,

you know,

the true shallowness

of Jesus' spirituality.

I think that's what he's come to do.

And in verse 29,

we saw that he's a guy

who wants to justify himself,

and we'll come back to this point

a little bit later.

Our scene starts with a question.

What is that question?

Have a look

if you've got the Bible in front of you?

The guy comes to Jesus,

and he says,

teacher,

very respectful,

you know,

flatter him.

And there's a question,

you know,

what must I do

to inherit eternal life?

Very familiar passage.

Very familiar question.

It comes to us

in other contexts

with a rich young man.

A very odd question

when you think about it.

Let me read that question

to you again

with my emphasis.

What must I do

to inherit eternal life?

Okay?

Don't bring in Luther

and the whole justification

by faith debate,

but just on the terms

of the question itself,

doing and inheriting,

what philosophers would call

a category error.

You know,

like what color is Monday?

There are different categories

of things.

Doing

and inheriting

belong to different boxes,

and you don't normally

put them together,

except when you want

to manipulate your kids.

Imagine if you're a parent

or a young one,

speaking like this

to your parents,

I've been good.

You know,

I worked hard at school.

I don't bum around

like my brother does.

And I'm most likely

not going to put you

in a nursing home.

But I am concerned

about how many

overseas trips

you're taking.

Because you are

squandering

my inheritance.

And while I'm

at it,

because I've been

so good

and my brother

suck,

do feel free

to leave him

out of your will.

Of course,

being nice people,

we don't say that

to our parents.

But if you were

a parent,

you might gently

remind your dear son

that it's not

his money.

And it may never

be his money.

It is your money

to squander,

to spend,

to allocate,

to give.

It is

the nature

of an inheritance.

You cannot be

a good son

and expect

to have an inheritance.

An inheritance,

by definition,

is a gift.

If it is no longer

a gift,

it's not an inheritance,

it's something else.

You've earned it.

It's a wage.

It's a salary.

You cannot,

by definition,

do anything

to inherit

a gift.

A first curious thing

is a curious

confusion,

a category

in the mind

of this expert

of the law.

Jesus,

just in case

you

confuse

his endorsement,

you will note

that doesn't

sort of respond

by saying,

well, okay,

you know,

fair question.

Here's the ten steps

to heaven.

Step one,

you need to join

a good church.

Step two,

you've got to start

reading your Bible.

No,

he doesn't

endorse the question.

He simply

asks a question

in response

to the question.

Verse 26,

what does the law

say?

By that,

he meant

the Torah,

what the Jews

would call

the Old Testament.

What does the Old Testament,

what does the Bible say?

When you read it,

what do you understand

is the basis

on which

you can

inherit

eternal life?

And we see

the answer

by the man

in verse 27,

and it's a fairly

standard answer

of the spiritual

people of the day.

You know,

if you ask

a person

what a Christian

is today,

you might get

two ways to live

or bridge to life.

This is the equivalent.

You know,

what does the Bible

teach you

about eternal life?

And the guy says,

well,

two things,

perfect love for God,

you know,

love God

with everything

that you have,

all your heart,

all your soul,

all your mind,

all your affections,

and love people,

love your neighbor

as yourself.

Perfect love

for people around you.

So love God,

love people.

Great answer.

Doesn't fault it.

Jesus doesn't do that

in verse 28.

He endorses

the answer,

not the question.

And we'll come back

to that answer

at the end

in the conclusion.

But not so great

a response

from the lawyer,

verse 29.

We are told

that he wanted

to justify himself

and we're not really

quite told

what that means.

Maybe there's

a bit of a crowd

and,

you know,

he's asked this question

and Jesus kind of said,

well,

you know the answer,

you tell me.

And he looks like

an idiot,

so he has to kind of say,

well,

well,

I'm not a idiot.

That was a really

legitimate question.

Maybe that's what

he was doing.

Maybe,

I don't know.

Maybe he wanted

to tell himself,

convince himself

that he's

on the right track.

You know,

to get,

he kind of assumes

that he has

eternal life,

he's done enough

to inherit

eternal life

and he wanted

Jesus to endorse

that.

Maybe that's the thing,

like justify himself.

But make a general

observation.

Any lawyers in the house?

Judy?

Thank you.

Any other lawyers?

Okay,

good.

Sorry,

I'm going to apologise.

I'm going to seek

forgiveness

before,

but,

you know,

when you go to a lawyer

and ask them a question,

sorry,

I was a lawyer.

I love them.

My best friend

is still a lawyer.

Not a son of a lawyer,

no,

but,

but I think,

you know,

lawyers,

they kind of reflect

more us than them,

but when you go to a lawyer

to ask a question

about law,

what are you seeking to do?

You know,

for those of you

young ones,

you know,

one day you're going to

finish uni

and you're going to

have this great job

and you're going to have

squillions of dollars

as pay

and,

and,

and that's right,

that's right.

Education department,

that's right.

And,

and you're going to go

to a big firm,

an accounting firm

or a law firm

and you're going to see

the top charging partner

and it will invariably be

the tax partner

and you ask the tax partner,

I want to know about tax law.

Now,

why is that?

Is it because

you want to pay more tax?

You want to find out

about the law

so that you pay more tax

or fair share of the tax?

No.

When you see a tax lawyer

it's because you

don't want to pay tax.

Right?

Sorry,

Katrina,

you're a lawyer.

I'm sorry to you as well.

You know,

when,

when you go to a lawyer

they're not really interested

in upholding the law.

Really,

even though we took an oath

to do that,

what are you,

what are you really seeking

to do as a lawyer

in finding out

what the law says

is to actually avoid the law.

That's what lawyers,

and,

and,

and this is what

I think this guy's doing

in justifying himself,

whatever that might mean.

So,

the law is

love my neighbor.

Okay,

let's,

let's have some definitions

because I'm not so sure

about

neighbor.

That's a very interesting word,

isn't it?

Yeah,

I want to know about

the boundaries,

you know,

the semantic range

of the word.

I want to know

what the limits are.

I want to,

particularly,

I want to know

what the exceptions are

to this love

the neighbor law.

You tell me,

Jesus.

Because,

of course,

after all,

that's the only way

to keep the law

is to find those exceptions.

Well,

it is in this context

that Jesus told

the story

of the good Samaritan.

And like every good joke,

it comes in three.

There's a victim of crime.

The guy is traveling

from Jerusalem

down south

to Jericho.

He's in the wilderness.

There's this road,

easy picking

for thugs

and stuff like that.

And sure enough,

you know,

if he's telling this story,

everyone will go,

oh yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

that road.

Oh yeah,

yeah.

He got mugged.

Yeah,

his phone got taken.

Yeah.

And his shoes.

But he's sort of

beaten senseless.

He's left without his shoes

and he's unconscious.

And three guys

sort of went by.

The two obvious

sort of characters,

religious type people.

There's a priest

and a Levite.

And what is clear

is that they didn't help.

They didn't,

they so much

didn't want to help

that they actually

crossed the road

so that they didn't

have to help this guy.

Right?

And we don't know

the reason,

speculative,

obvious,

you know,

if you see

a person

who's just been mugged

and you stop

and help,

the thought might

go through your mind,

you might be nixed,

you know,

the thugs

might still be around,

your phone might be taken,

so maybe

it's better

to keep going

and just call the cops

on your way.

Maybe that's what

they were doing.

They were going

to Jericho

to call the cops.

Maybe,

more likely,

there's a fear

of defilement

and contamination.

They were,

see,

we don't get it

because this isn't a temple

and I'm not a priest.

Right?

In the old

sacrificial system,

the whole world

is divided into

at least two categories,

clean and unclean,

and the two can't mix.

And a priest

is a clean person.

It's his job

to be clean.

And one of the things,

not hygienically clean,

ceremonially clean,

and one of the things

that defile you

as a priest

or as anyone

is if you touch

a dead thing.

if you come

into contact

or even within

the vicinity

of a dead body,

that makes you unclean.

And so for the priest,

and it's very clear

in the Old Testament

that you're not even

to go to the funeral

of your family member.

So imagine this priest.

It's part of their job.

You know,

their son could be dead

and they can't go

to the funeral.

So strict.

Because,

after all,

if they've been defiled,

no longer a priest,

what use would they be

as a priest

for the people?

Understandable.

Or maybe,

like all of us,

you know,

they kind of focus

on what they have to do.

You know,

you're driving along,

you've got an appointment,

a lunch appointment,

you see someone break down,

and you think,

oh, you know,

I could stop,

but then I'll be late,

and that wouldn't be,

I'm sure somebody else,

you know,

who isn't on the way

to somewhere else

in a car driving somewhere,

they'll stop,

I'll just keep going

because I don't want

to be late.

Maybe these two guys,

you know,

we've got to go to Jerusalem,

important appointments.

We're not told,

what we are told

is this third guy,

the enemy,

the hated Samaritan.

He,

we are told,

felt deep compassion,

a stirring of the heart,

of the gut,

for this victim,

and what we have

is a picture

of extravagant

and lavish care.

Every conceivable need

is met,

not just the present one,

but he said

to the innkeeper,

if you spend money

on the guy,

I'll come back

and I'll pay.

It's rather

an unrealistic picture.

Who would do

such a thing?

Perhaps this is part

of the intent

of this character.

It is so extravagant,

it is so obviously

a caring,

good,

loving thing

to do

that you cannot

mistake

the difference

between the third character

and the first two.

And Jesus finished

this story

with a question,

who's been a neighbour?

And the answer,

of course,

is the Samaritan.

Somewhat of a twist.

Again,

Jewish

hearers would go,

what?

Don't get that.

But I think

there's a bit

more of a twist

as well too.

Obviously,

Jesus really

doesn't answer

the question

of the lawyer,

if you notice.

The lawyer,

okay,

you know,

the command

is to love

your neighbour,

so my question

to you is,

who is my neighbour?

Who is it

that I have

to love?

What's Jesus'

answer?

The Samaritan?

Doesn't make sense,

does it?

So,

if I'm supposed

to love my neighbour

and the Samaritan

is the neighbour,

how does that work?

You know,

it's kind of curious.

It's a curious

ending

to the story.

I'd rather think

Jesus kind of

turns the question

on his head.

As the lawyer

is asked

the wrong question,

category errors,

he's possibly

another category,

error.

You want to know

about the neighbour,

who the neighbour is.

And what Jesus does

is he turns

the noun

into a verb.

Changing categories.

The question is,

who is my neighbour?

And the question is,

who has been neighbourly?

Who's the one

who loves?

Perhaps the question

is the wrong one.

Who's the neighbour?

Who's the neighbour?

It's the wrong question.

The question is,

what does it mean

for me to love

to the people around me

who I need,

who I come across

my path

on my road,

on my way

to Jerusalem?

The lawyer wanted

to justify himself,

we are told.

It's pretty clear

that God

has rather

a simple expectation

on his creation,

us.

Love God,

simple.

Love people,

also simple.

Which one

is easier?

Which one

is harder?

Let me

take you

to one John.

John says,

if anyone

who says,

I love God

yet hates his brother,

he's a liar.

Why is that?

Because anyone

who doesn't love

his brother

whom he has seen

cannot love God

whom he has not seen.

So there's a two love,

love God,

love neighbour.

John says,

it is impossible

for you to claim

that you love God

if you can't even

love people you see.

you're lying.

And of the two commandments,

the two expectations

that God has

of this lawyer

and of us,

Jesus kind of picks,

well,

let's go with

the easier one.

Okay,

let's go with

the loving people one.

How are you going

with that?

How is that

working out for you?

And it's pretty clear,

I think,

from the parable

that the guy

isn't really

interested in love

at all.

Perhaps it shows us

something about us

and our love

and our claim

to love God.

He doesn't really

love his neighbour.

He's interested in the law

is to avoid it.

Find me the limits,

find me the exceptions.

If you caught it,

the context

of this conversation

is the mission

of the 70.

70 disciples

stand out,

seeing God at work,

amazing stuff,

comes back

and Jesus,

that's wonderful,

thank God

that your name

is written in heaven

and then he breaks

into prayer

and he says,

Luke says,

at that time,

Jesus,

full of joy

through the Holy Spirit,

said,

I praise you,

Father,

Lord of heaven and earth

because you've hidden

these things

from the wise

and learned

and revealed them

to little children.

Yes,

Father,

for this was

your good pleasure.

The things of God,

the things of the kingdom,

the way into heaven,

the way to inherit

eternal life

is hidden

from the wise

and the learned

like this lawyer.

Yeah?

He's one of these guys

who doesn't get it.

Not, I think,

because of his learning

or whatever it is,

he just doesn't get it.

Perhaps it's this

self-righteousness.

I don't know.

But I think that's part

of the point

of that particular section

of the parable.

The guy's asking

the wrong question.

The question isn't,

who's my neighbour?

It's obvious

that he cannot love

this extravagant love

that Jesus talks about

in this parable.

Well, what's the point

of this parable?

I think the first point,

most obvious point,

is that

we need Jesus.

I don't know.

Do you love like that?

If you can't love

people like that,

how much do you think

you love God?

I can tell you,

and you don't even

have to know me,

I don't love like that.

I know I don't love God

with my whole heart,

with my whole soul,

with my whole energy.

And it drives us

to desperation,

to be like a helpless infant,

coming to God

with nothing to offer him

in terms of righteousness.

We cannot demand

that he will

eternal life to me.

There was no good

to be found in us.

And I think

this is part of the first point

in understanding

Jesus and us.

We need Jesus.

Without him,

we will not

make it.

And I hope,

I hope you understand this.

if you,

in any possible way,

identify with this

learned,

wise lawyer,

in any way,

thinking that,

in some way,

you know,

you can justify yourself

and wanting to,

then I want to invite you

to come to Jesus

as a child

and to ask him

to help you.

I think that's

the first point.

The second point,

and much more difficult,

and you might think

this is a really long bow,

well,

I'll tell you the point

and you decide.

What's this got to do

with evangelism?

You know,

it's like,

if I had picked

Matthew 28,

it's really obvious,

you know what I'm going to say,

so I thought,

I'll pick something else.

It has nothing to do

with evangelism,

and I'll talk about evangelism

from there.

Maybe.

Just to keep you interested.

Maybe,

you know,

I could have gone

with Matthew 28,

you know,

this is like

the great commission,

the great command,

you know,

you are all,

I am all commanded

to be making disciples

of the nations,

teaching Jesus,

you know.

Personally,

I find it really hard

to be motivated by that.

It's like evangelism

by guilt.

You know,

you're guilty

because Jesus commanded you

and you haven't done enough,

so you need to get cracking now.

I think this is why

it sort of drew me

to this passage

and Leviticus 19.

I won't go into Leviticus 19.

It's a very complicated

and simple passage.

It starts off

with the holiness of God,

if you notice.

You know,

be holy because I'm holy.

And the rest of the chapter

actually expounds

on what that holiness is about.

And what is that holiness about?

Right in the middle

is a summary

of the whole chapter.

Of course,

you shouldn't be surprised

to know that

the summary of the chapter

is to be holy like God

is to love your neighbor

as yourself.

Right in the middle

of Leviticus 19,

love your neighbor

as yourself.

This is where

the lawyer got it from.

See,

the whole intent

of God

has not changed.

The very purpose

for which we have been created

has not changed.

We have been created,

we have been manufactured,

designed

to love God

and in that

to find freedom.

And we have been designed

to love people

with this deep,

dying,

unyielding,

crazy,

irresponsible love.

That's what it means

to be truly human.

What Jesus does,

other than affirming it,

is to save us

from our failure

to do that

and secondly,

to give us

his spirit

so that we can

live it out.

I'm only quoting,

you don't need

a genius,

a religious genius

to tell you

to love your neighbor

as yourself.

What you need

is the power

to do it.

That is what we lack.

Jesus comes,

he dies,

he rises

and he sent

his spirit

to change

our hearts

and now

he gives us

a heart

of flesh

so that we

delight

in this command.

It is not

a burden

to love.

We love

to love.

We love

to love

strangers.

That's what

Christians do

with new hearts.

Why don't

we do it?

Sorry,

why don't

we evangelize?

Why don't

the,

and I don't

know if you

do evangelism.

I know I don't

do it and I feel

awful and guilty

about it.

And the top

three that I

can put down

is firstly,

I'm too busy

and I'm a minister

so there are

lots of good

things I can do.

So I'm too busy

to evangelize.

There's no

decent program

to be involved

in.

And thirdly,

we're already

doing it.

There's a whole

range of activities

that we call

evangelism.

So we are

doing it.

That's me.

The reason

why I come

to this

passage,

I wonder

whether the

reason is

actually a

little bit

deeper.

And I wonder

whether this

is actually

the reason

why we

lack so

many of the

things that

we see the

Bible describe

and we don't

experience it.

You know,

we lack

community.

We are not

perhaps as

welcoming.

People aren't

as diligent

in their

ministry and

we don't

evangelize.

I wonder

whether at

the heart

of the

matter for

us

is that we

have no

love in our

hearts.

God's

love in our

hearts.

We know

what the

law says

but as we

travel down

the road

and we see

our neighbours

in desperate

need,

lying,

sprawn,

bloodied on

the ground

and for

our own

purposes

we decide

to cross

the road

to go

on our

way.

And

evangelism,

like everything

else,

is just

one of the

many things

on our

list to

do.

Good

intention,

when I get

around to

it,

I'll get

to it.

Yeah?

We're too

busy with

that list,

with our

own needs.

we fill

the calendar,

our personal

one and

church calendar,

all sorts

of things

but I'm

not saying

it is,

I'm just

wondering

aloud.

And often

I see

churches,

what they

do is

they default

into a

position of

being friendly.

You know,

for the

hurting,

dying,

desperately,

I need

God people,

when they

come into

our midst,

if I

were one

of them,

I really

don't want

friendly.

What I

want is

love.

What I

want is

people who

care enough

about me

to give

me time

to understand

me,

to listen

to me,

to maybe

think about

me during

the week,

to pray

for me,

to see

me in

sin,

to care

enough to

rebuke me.

You don't

need to be

best friends

with people

you love.

Perhaps

that's the

other mistake

as well,

too.

We keep

thinking,

everyone

needs to

be our

best friends,

so I

can only

have one

best friend,

I can't

love anybody

else.

No,

I...

Deep love

is to have

a concern.

And one

of the things

I want to

say is,

and I

don't do

this very

well,

is what I

call,

we need

to make

relational

space for

people.

In my

own life,

I'm pretty

filled to

the brim

with relationships,

you know,

with a family,

an extended

family,

and you

guys,

and this

and that,

and all

sort of

stuff.

And when

that happens,

we just

don't have

space for

anybody else.

And people,

you know,

needy person

come into

our life,

and it's just,

look,

I just can't

handle this,

you're going

to have to

be somebody

else's one.

We don't

say that to

them,

but this is

what we

think.

And we

don't make

time for

non-Christians.

We don't

make time,

we don't

make relational

space.

And let me

encourage you,

if you want

to,

as a

practical,

small practical

step,

is to make

that relational

space for

people who

don't know

Jesus.

Okay?

And I can

tell you now,

making room

costs.

It will

cost you.

It might

cost some

of your

other

relationships,

it will

cost you

your time,

your interests,

or other

things.

It will

cost you

because it

requires

commitment

and conviction,

it will

cost you,

but the

only way

that you

can truly

love people,

I want to

suggest to

you,

at least a

small step,

is to make

that space

for people.

There's a

small group

of people

that I

work with

to help

them to

talk to

people about

Jesus,

and one

of the

things,

small

target,

that I

invite them

to do,

is simply

each week

to pray

to God

to bring

someone

into their

life that

they can

love.

Okay?

It is as

simple as

that.

Now,

the Lord

might decide

not to

give you

anyone,

or more

than one,

but why

not start

with just

asking him?

Yeah?

And I'll

share this

story with

these guys,

and I'll

share it

with you

guys as

well.

There's a

little old

lady,

I can't

remember her

name,

she lives

in North

Carolina,

in her

60s,

she was

involved

in a

car accident,

pinned in

a car,

and she

was in

such

excruciating

pain,

she called

out to

Jesus to

take her

at that

point in

time,

and she

felt a

deep

conviction

that Jesus

answered her

by saying,

I'm not

done with

you yet.

She survived

the accident,

went to the

hospital,

and she

wondered what

that might

mean.

You know,

what does

God want

of me that

he's kept

me alive?

And she

was sharing

some of her

experience with

the staff in

the hospital,

and she

decided,

okay,

well,

maybe what

I can do

is to tell

people about

Jesus,

you know,

at the age

of 65 or

whatever,

start telling

people about

Jesus,

and she

said,

okay,

what I'm

going to

do is I'm

going to

keep a little

journal,

journal,

of the

people I

spoke to

about

Jesus,

that Jesus

led into

my life

to share,

and I'm

just going

to start

praying for

these people

in this

journal.

That was

20 years

ago.

She's still

alive and

kicking in

her 80s,

and in

that little

book,

she has,

or maybe

it's more

than one

book now,

she's got

about 4,000

names.

A 65-year-old

woman in

a car

accident,

that God

can do

this sort

of work

through.

I wonder

for you

young ones,

well,

not so

young ones,

what God

can do

through you.

A simple

commitment,

just ask

God to

lead you

to someone

who needs

you to

share Jesus

with them.

Don't know

how?

See Deb.

She's running

a great

course.

We're having

two missions.

They're simply

seeking to,

and I've

sort of chosen

to call to

missions,

who is my

neighbor mission,

because I want

to remind us

to ask that

question,

who can I

love?

Who can I

love in this

period of time

that I can

share Jesus

with?

my hope

and my

prayer before

today is

that we

would fall

in love

with our

city.

Without

love,

we will

not go

to them

with Jesus.

It will be

under obligation,

it will be a

sense of duty,

but if we're

in love

with the

people in

Chesswood,

with the

people around

us,

we would

care enough

for them

to want to

share our

lives,

and to find

out about

them,

and to share

Jesus with

them,

because he

will meet

all their

needs.

Amen.