A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Week 1

But we're gonna have a little more church. Is that okay?

If you're wondering where Pastor Steve is, he is on

the ground in Roatan in Honduras.

Him and his family were able to go.

They had a little bit of a delay getting there,

as you know, the airline situation has been crazy, and

getting to Roatan, which is a small island off the

mainland of Honduras, takes a little bit more time anyway,

so they actually got their day late.

But I know they're doing good work. I've heard from him.

They're doing well, and they're coming back to us middle

of this week. But yeah, give the Lord some praise

for what we're doing in Honduras. Look, it takes it

takes a special kind of person to be able to

go and do what Pastor is doing. He's just incredibly

gifted in a lot of ways behind the poolpit taking

care of us and and also going and planning the

seeds and making mission work happen all around. So thank

you for your prayers. Continue to pray for him as

he returns to us. But this morning, I want to

open a brand new series. It's a new month, so

we usually do a new series every month. And this

is a good one. We're starting our brand new series

called A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Now, for some

of our gen I don't know, our younger generations, you

may not be familiar. But the rest of us we

remember mister Rogers neighborhood. So that's you see it. But

every year we sit down, we create a sermon plan,

and we go through the year, and each year we

try to look at what God has done the previous

year and what has happened, and what we did, and

those four things which one we need to work on

this coming year.

And this year.

I don't know if you've maybe it's not been obvious

to you, but what we've been working on this year

is walking in freedom and how we do that and

how we can live life together in community the way

we're supposed to and intentionally bringing others along with us

in the journey.

And that's what this series is really all about.

It's all about creating and maintaining those relationship ships that

lead to life change.

That what I mean. We we have relationships that.

Are kind of auxiliary, right, They're in our outer orbit, right,

these people that we just kind of know.

But I want to I want to propose something to you.

I want you to ponder a question, even to those relationships,

to the people may you call acquaintances, maybe maybe people

you pass by at work, or at school or in

the store. Are your relationships purposeful? Do they mean something

more than just a connection. There's a few types of

relationships that we identify as having clear purpose. If you're married,

there's a clear purpose in that relationship. If there's not,

we have another sermon series later on. We'll we'll work

on that. Parents and kids, we know that's a purposeful relationship.

There's there's a there's a purpose, there's a goal. Bosses, employees,

we can identify the purpose really easily. But if we're

honest with ourselves, we find that many of our relationships,

beyond those major ones, beyond those bigger ones, maybe are

lacking in the area of purpose. You know, some of

us have friends that we you know, we we we

rarely check up on what we call them friends, but

we talk to them every once in a while, every

every few months. Some of us have friends that some

of us have friends that we get something from.

And that's why we're friends.

Some of us have friends that are getting something from us,

and that's why we're friends. Some of us have relationships

that have been stagnant for years, maybe friends that we

are simply idle with that we just kind of don't

do anything. That relationship hasn't progressed at all. It's just

kind of there. And all of us have acquaintances that

we barely interact with. I mean, we don't have to

put very much effort into those relationships. Maybe it's the

cashier at the store, or maybe it's the waiter at

the restaurant. Maybe it's the delivery driver that you don't

even speak to that drops off your food at the

front door and rings the doorbell and is gone by

the time you get there. And then there are those

that we avoid that we actively separate ourselves from. Maybe

it's the noisy bunch who live upstairs. Maybe that's your

own kids, but maybe it's maybe it's the family member

that we constantly see posting on social media and we're like, man,

I just I'm not ready for Thanksgiving because I have

to deal with that, or maybe others yet, maybe it's

maybe it's a coworker that we know makes more money

but seems to do less than we do.

Maybe that's difficult.

We actively put space there that could go on, but

for most of us, that could be any person that looks, believes,

or votes differently than we do.

We put space there.

So not only do we have relationships that don't have

any purpose, but we have some relationships that have a

toxic purpose, that have the opposite of what God calls

us to do. And yet, as we're about to see,

as we get into the scripture here, God calls us

beyond this lesser, checked out way of living that many

of us live, into.

Something much greater.

Because belonging to Jesus is as much about loving your

neighbor as it is loving God himself. Belonging to Jesus

for the follower of Christ being a good neighbor, it's

not about form. It's not about oh that's my neighbor,

that's my friend, that's my family. It's not just the title,

it's not just the obligation. But it's about function. What

are we doing in our relationships? So it begs the

question who is my neighbor? Then, because we can easily

identify neighbor next door their house is next to mine,

or their apartments above mine, or they live down the

street or the next street over. We can easily identify

that kind of neighbor. But when Jesus talks about being

a neighbor, who is my neighbor? Turn with me to

a familiar story. You probably know this when we talk

about this one all the time. This story from Scripture

is so popular that it actually has become a way

that it's become a phrase that we use all the

time to describe people who do good things.

We call them good Samaritans.

You're probably familiar with the story I just want to

camp right here in Luke chapter ten. We're going to

start in verse twenty five. I just want to stay

right here all day with you. Not literally all day,

but for the next few minutes. Luke chapter ten. Start

in verse twenty five. It says, and behold, a lawyer

stood up to put him to the test, saying, teacher,

what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he

said to him, what is written in the law? How

do you read it? I just love the Savior, Okay,

I just love Jesus. I love the way Jesus responds

to this because he's in the middle of He's in

the middle of a lot there's a lot happening here.

He had just sent the seventy two away to do

work to prepare.

For his ministry. They've come back to him.

He's dealing with that, he's handling that, and then this

lawyer decides, I have a question, and.

Then Jesus responds to me.

It's funny. I laughed when I initially read it. Jesus,

is what is written in the law? How do you

read it? As though it should be obvious, as though

a lawyer ought to know what's written in the law,

and how to interpret that the correct way. Jesus always

seems to be saying more than we might think on

the first read. I want to encourage you as you

read scripture, especially when you read the words and read

there's a lot more there than just what's on the surface.

And this passage is as much about what we shouldn't

do as much as about what we should do. I

believe Jesus in his answers, in his questions, in the

way he responds to people, we can see what not

to do just as much we can see what to do,

and those two are very important. A few things about

the lawyer, if we can just for a moment. He

could have been one of the seventy two if you

don't know that part. Just before in Luke, Jesus sent

out these seventy two and he told him to go

and to preach and to prepare the way Jesus was

about to travel and do a lot of ministry. And

he sent them out, and they came back and they

had done miracles. They had seen miracles. It had happened

through them after Christ sent them out, So he could

have seen miracles. He could have already known the truth

about Christ. And he comes back and asks this question.

He was probably really well versed in the Torah, in

the law of God.

See, and that time. We think of lawyers.

Now we think of generally we think of a secular

lawyer as someone who handles, you know, if maybe they

had no family law or business law. You know, we

don't think about them in conjunction together with God's word.

But this lawyer likely a Jewish lawyer, which means he

dealt with the Torah, he dealt with God's word. He

would have been an expert in fact in that day

and age. And we know by the way he asked

this question that he intended to trap Jesus and find

flaw in his teaching. See Luke gives us that little

extra bit there put him up to the test. The

lawyer intended to trap him and intended for this conversation

to go a different way, and Jesus would have been aware.

He knew this guy was supposed to know his stuff.

So he responds, in this funny way, well, how do

you you read it?

What does the law say? It should have been an

easy answer. How do you read it?

If it wasn't obvious enough, then do you have another interpretation?

It's almost like christis saying, well, I pretty clear to me,

how do you read it?

So what is the other option?

And I find myself in a similar situation at times,

and perhaps you do too.

I think we all do this from time to time.

I'm guilty of.

Knowing the letter of the law, meaning I know the scripture,

I know what it says, I know what I'm supposed

to do. But I'm still asking God to give me

a different answer. I don't know if you do that.

I don't know if you can be honest enough to

admit that this morning. But I do that, I know

the letter. I know the right thing to do. But

then I want God to give me a different say

it a different way, Lord, so I can twist it

and make it my own and do what I really

want to do in my flesh.

So we quote scripture all the time, now, not from

the stage.

We as a people, we quote scripture all the time,

and then we don't really mean what it means. We

use it to our own advantage, because who can argue

with God? So if we can twist him to be

on our side in our argument, we will. So that's

the lawyer. Let's see what happens next verse twenty seven.

And he answered. The lawyer answered, you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself. And he Jesus said to him,

you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.

You see, the lawyer knew the right answer, word for words.

It's an old law, it's from Deuteronomy, it's from the

beginning of the formation of Israel. Jesus just confirms that

it was the right answer, and he emphasizes the action

do this and the promised reward and you will live,

which again Jesus is always saying more than we think,

not just and you will survive until tomorrow.

Physically you will live eternal life.

Remember the original question eternal life, verse twenty nine. But he,

desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is

my neighbor?

You see what he's doing. He's doing the same thing

we do.

Oh okay, okay, So I love my neighbor as myself,

But who is my neighbor really?

Because I think what he's hoping Jesus.

Says is the people you like, the people that think

like you, the people that look like you, the people

that vote like you, the people that agree with you,

the people you're come fee with. But Jesus, Jesus tells

him something totally different. Now, Luke, here he gives us

more information about the lawyer's intentions. Desiring to justify himself,

so first he wanted to test Jesus. He wanted to

make a mockery of what was happening. Secondly, he wants

to justify himself. He wanted to puff himself up with

those that were around. We do that too, because it

feels good to be right, It feels good to be

the smartest, one in the room. We like that feeling,

Jesus confirming that he answered correctly.

It wasn't enough for the lawyer. He needed more.

He sought to justify himself among the rest of those

in attendants. And here we get another example of how

not to be. You see, the lawyer's religion was entirely

self interested. He was initially asking the question concerning his

own interest in gaining eternal life for him.

He wasn't worried about others. How do I get it?

Wanting to prove that he was already doing a great job,

he asked this follow up question, and who is my neighbor?

And this lawyer, if he's like the others who step

who stepped up to test Christ during his ministry.

If we look through the gospels, this happened quite a bit.

The high religious people of the day often tested Jesus

and challenged him. And if he's like that, then he

probably wasn't a fan of Jesus, even though he had

seen what had happened. He the lawyer, knowing and working

with the law, was likely to be pretty comfortable with

his circumstances because he was probably in a position of

wealth and power all the things that we like to

latch onto and try to hoard and keep in this life.

He probably was able to rule over other people to

some degree, and he liked that. But then Jesus comes

on the scene and starts to turn his whole world

upside down suddenly, which is why I think he asked

the question in the first place. If this guy keeps going,

I don't get to keep my position. I don't keep

I don't get to keep living the way I'm living.

This is going to cause things to change. And there's

a lesson for us here too, that the danger of

becoming like this is very real. We all have the

tendency to get to a certain level and then we

like to stop because we get comfortable.

It's a human thing. It's human nature to seek comfort.

That's why we make our beds as comfy as possible,

because we know we're going there every night. It's why

we like to to set up our living room. Our

living rooms are the comfiest place. We try to make

it so comfy because we just we just we associate

living with comfort. It's just what we do. And this

often happens when we're comfortable. We get comfortable when things

are familiar. We like it to be familiar around us

because if I understand, the most uncomfortable thing in the

world is the unknown.

We think, we think it's other things.

You think we have other fears, But our most I think,

our most, prime, almost base fear is the unknown.

If I can see.

It, and I can know it, and I can understand it,

then I can.

Probably handle it.

But when there's when there's doubt, when there's gaps in

the information, that makes me a lot more anxious. But

God is consistently calling us forward and higher. There's always

more with the Lord beyond the comfort. He's challenging us

to move out of that comfort zone. And we have

to fight the inclination, the desire to twist what God

is saying.

So that we can justify ourselves and remain comfortable.

But though the question was asked with ill intent, though

he meant to trap Jesus, Jesus takes the opportunity to

give a potent example in the form of a parable

and it further breaks down the religion of the day

and the religion that we struggle with even now.

Verse thirty.

Jesus replied, and I love how he doesn't even really

he just starts into the parable, which is just incredible

to me. Jesus replied, a man was going down from

Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped

him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

Leo's pause for a moment. These finer details, they might

seem like not a big deal. But I don't think

anything is in scripture for no reason. And I definitely

don't think even more, I don't think when Jesus is

speaking out of his own mouth and we have that recorded,

those details are not for no reason. Jesus was very intentional,

the master of teaching of all time. Jesus noticed how

he doesn't say what sort of man it was. He

just says a man. The only identifiable features of this man.

We don't know if he was Jew or gentile. We

don't know if he was Samaritan. We don't know who

he was, We don't know what he did for a living.

We just know he was going from Jerusalem to Jericho.

The only thing we know about this guy is his circumstance. Now,

the reason I think that's important is because could it

be that we are far more judgmental of people based

on their circumstance rather than race, rather than what they believe,

rather than what they believe. Politically, we tend to judge

even more on circumstance. If someone's worse off than me,

we naturally want to put distance there because we have

all kinds of crazy fears, like all like like the

bad is going to jump off and get on me,

like the issue is going to jump off and infect me, as.

Though it's like a virus see the world? Would that?

Have you believe the opposite that that it's it's about

it's about race and faith and politics, and it's a

it's about those things, about having one and I.

But maybe it's maybe it's deeper than that.

This particular situation, it would have been recognizable to the

lawyer and to all those in attendance. Down from Jerusalem

to Jericho is literal it if you've ever seen the map,

the topography, the way it is an Israel, it's down.

He was walking downhill to Jericho. But it's also figurative.

This was a danger journey from the heights of Jerusalem,

where it was safe, down to the danger in Jericho.

Verse thirty one.

Now, by chance, Jesus says a priest was going down

that road, and when he saw me pass by on

the other side, so likewise a levite when he came

to the place and saw him pass by on the

other side.

Jesus picked these first two.

People, I think on purpose as well, a priest who

should have been operating as God's hands and feet, and

then he picks a levite who should have been accustomed

to helping. The whole thing about levites is they helped

the priest, so he should have been had a lot

of helping skills.

That was his duty.

So if it helps, instead of reading priests and levite,

maybe you could read now a pastor and a worship

leader came and passed by on the other side. The

lesson for us is that a title or position that

someone has, it doesn't determine Listen, a title or position

does not determine or reveal one's heart. There are lots

of pastors without the heart of one.

Nor does having means reveal someone's heart. There are a

lot of very rich.

People who are totally poor on the inside. But these

two men would have had the resources to help. They

would have been, like the lawyer, probably in an elevated

position in society. They would have been able to help,

and they chose not to. And a lawyer probably would

have held these men in high regard. He would have

respected them to some degree because of their title, their position,

their duty. So another warning for us is that thinking

too much of oneself in a position can lead to

very poisonous religion. I I don't take I don't take

myself very seriously, but I take what I do very seriously,

and I believe that's the.

Way to be.

That if I can't, if I can't joke and I

can't laugh about me, if I can't I if I

think too much of myself, then I'm going to eliminate

my position.

There's just no doubt.

Both of these men made a conscious decision to avoid

helping the victim. It says when they saw him is

when they decided to.

Go to the other side. They literally went to the

other side of the road.

Similar to how the lawyer intended to justify himself by

twisting the law, these two men in the terrible put

distance between themselves and the need. Well, I couldn't help.

I was on the other side of the road. I

was in a hurry. I couldn't take the time to cross. See,

we do that all the time. We put this space

to give ourselves a justification. Oh well, if I just

run up my credit card until it won't run anymore,

than I don't have any money to give. If I

just find more things to do, then I won't have

any time to serve God's people. If I intentionally put

myself in a way where I can't help, then I

have justification for when someone questions me.

That's what these two men did. Neither.

I want you to notice this too, that neither was

out looking for someone to help.

As we'll see next, neither was a Samaritan. Neither was

the Samaritan.

None of nobody here was looking for an opportunity to help.

It was by chance the incident happened, these men happened

upon it, and then the opportunity arose. And I want

to encourage you. You don't have to go looking for problems.

The world is full of problems. All kinds of people

got all kinds of problems. I got problems, You got problems.

There's problems in your path. I promise you you don't

have to go looking for it. We're gonna encounter the opportunity.

The question is, are we willing to help. Verse thirty three.

Jesus says, but a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to

where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

Hear me, Church, if you don't hear anything else today,

listen to this. Compassion always leads to action. Don't claim

to have compassion unless you're willing to do.

Something about it.

And now listen, All kinds of people, in all kinds

of powerful positions, claim to have compassion and claim to

be doing things the right way to help people so

that people don't struggle as much. And then we look

and year after year do things seem to get better.

They claim to have compassion, but no action to pack

it back it up. So I don't want God's people

to do that either. If you're gonna claim compassion, put

action with it.

Verse thirty four.

He went up to him, and he bound up his wounds,

pouring on oil and wine. And then he set him

on his own animal and brought him to an end

and took care of him. And the next day he

took out two denaria, and it gave them to the innkeeper,

saying take care of him, and whatever more you spend,

I will repay you when I come back.

Now.

Look, we're gonna talk next couple of weeks in August

about how to be a good neighbor and what that

looks like. But I want you to notice here that

the Samaritan not only met the immediate need. He bound

up the man's wounds, he treated him, he got him stable,

and then he goes the extra mile.

He put himself out in order to help.

He put him on his animal, which means the Samaritan

had to walk. He used his own oil, his own wine,

his own time and money. Here's the lesson here that

having compassion like Christ calls us to have, it's going

to cost you. And there's risk here for several reasons.

I mean, if you know anything about the culture here,

that Samaritans and Jews.

Hated each other.

They were not buddies, they were enemies, which is why

I think Jesus intentionally used the Samaritan for the good example.

This was a dangerous road. We just talked about that

going from Jerusalem to Jericho dangerous. This situation is day,

there's risk. Robbers could have easily repeated the crime. The

Samaritan put himself in harm's way, and the return on

this investment was not likely. This man was half dead.

Scripture says, that's pretty close to dead. That's closer to

dead than I want to be. And that probably means

that he wasn't gonna be able to repay this guy

anytime soon. So he knew he was making an investment

just out of being a good neighbor, that he wasn't

gonna get anything back. We make that mistake that we

well got it. If if I give a little bit more,

you're gonna give me back more. God, if I do

good today, you're gonna do good. You do right by

me tomorrow. God's not a genie. God's not a ending machine.

We don't do things to get We do them because

we're called to do them. And this is the other

thing about the Samaritan, that he was planning on following up.

That he didn't just handle the situation at hand, He

was also planning to follow it. Now we don't know

what happened next, We don't have any more of the story,

but he intended to return to the innkeeper and he

was willing to pay whatever it costs, whatever he racked

up on the bill at the end, he was planning

on coming back and paying for that. Being a true

neighbor is never won and done. Verse thirty six. Jesus

wraps us up. It's just incredible to me. He says,

which of these three do you think?

Now? I hear that in a tone.

Maybe I'm reading into that a little bit, but I

read that in the same tone is when Jesus said,

how do you read it? And then he says, which

of these do you think prove to be a neighbor

to the man who fell among the robbers? And he

the lawyer said, the one who showed him mercy? And

Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Now

his point has clearly been made because the lawyer. Notice,

the lawyer doesn't argue anymore. At this point he's beaten.

Jesus concludes by asking this last question, and the lawyer

answers correctly, and Jesus gives him another charge, the same

challenge he gave before.

Go and do.

See our status as a biblical neighbor. It's not assigned

or assumed. You have to prove yourself to be a neighbor.

The band can come and get ready. It's not a title.

Neighbor is not a title. To be flaunted or taken

advantage of. It's a way of living that sets you

on your way to show, listen, to show, and receive mercy.

When you put yourself in the path to help and

be a good neighbor, not only do you get the

opportunity to show mercy as God shows mercy, but you

put yourself in a place to receive it. There's some

key points to remember. As the band gets ready and

I want to I want us to have a time

of prayer, if you'd like to pray. But as we

wrap up here, as we close, here's a few key points.

Number One, being a neighbor crosses all boundaries ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, political,

any boundary you can come up with. Being a neighbor

in the way Jesus calls us to be a neighbor

crosses that boundary. There is no room for petty animosity

in the Kingdom of God. Number Two, if someone is

worthy to be our neighbor when we need help, then

they're worthy to be a neighbor at all times. Because

I don't know about you, but if I find myself

in this situation that this man did, it wouldn't really

matter to be who came up to help. Doesn't matter

what they believe, what they look like, what they did

before that, what they did after that. If I needed help,

I'm receiving the help. If I'm half dead, you're not

worried about those things. And what Jesus is illustrating here

is that if you do it while you're half dead,

if you had accept help while you're half dead, then

that should be all the time. That's the way we

ought to be at every moment. The number three, there

are no shortcuts. There are no shortcuts. Be prepared for

the cost. I want you to be blessed, and I

want you to be wealthy, and I want you to

be full of all the resources that you need.

Not so we can be a rich church, not so

you can get more in the offering.

I want you to be blessed and ready to help,

because the more you have, the more you'll be able

to be neighborly. And who is my neighbor? The bottom

line is this that we choose our neighbors. You have

a choice to make. No one is inherently excluded. If

we see someone in need, we ought to prove ourselves

to be a neighbor worthy of the call of Christ.

You can't help everybody.

Look, I know some people are thinking, well, I mean

a pastor, how how am I gonna do that? I'm

barely making ends meet for me and mine. Look, you

can't help everybody. Cornerstone can't help everybody. Free Chapel can't

help everybody. This is a body of Christ thing we

all have to help. You don't have to go and

start some new organization. You don't have to start some

some big thing to make sure you can be a neighbor.

They're gonna be times when you're unable to help because

you don't have the ability or the means. I'm not

trying to discourage you this morning. I'm not trying to

overwhelm you with the task of being a neighbor. And

I don't think Christ is either. I think it's just

as simple as this. When you meet someone in need

and you're able to help help, how many times do

we neglect that I've done it. I know I've probably

done it this week. I know I've seen something I

probably could have helped that person. It doesn't have to

be financial. It could be anything I probably could have

done more there, but instead I passed On the other

side of the road because I didn't think I had

the time.

But the truth is I just didn't have to want to.

I didn't have the desire because something's up in my heart,

because I haven't mastered.

Being a good neighbor truly following Christ. Here's the thing.

When you truly accept Jesus and.

You follow him, that guarantees that you're gonna find people

in need because you're gonna be on a journey like

the Samaritan was on a journey. You're living on purpose.

Our whole thing at Cornerstone is to live with purpose.

If you're living on purpose, you're gonna find people in need.

Don't pass on the other side of the road.

As you find them, help them. You will encounter the opportunity.

The only question is will you step up. If we

allow ourselves to let petty differences determine whether or not

we're neighborly, then that we rob God, we rob the

other person, and we rob ourselves. And listen, I can't

stand a thief. I don't want to be a thief.

They put Jesus on the cross. He was next to thieves,

and we know he's spared one. But you don't just

put anybody on a cross. I don't want to be

a thief, and so I don't want to rob God

by being a bad neighbor. I don't want to rob

my brother, my sister, my fellow child in Christ.

I don't want to rob them. I don't want to

rob myself.

But notice that what Jesus said to the lawyer is

also symbol and you can stand as we as we

finish up.

Jesus last charge to the lawyer.

Go and do likewise. When we understand the number one,

everyone is a potential neighbor. That's a wide scope, I know.

But when we understand that everybody is a potential neighbor,

everybody we see, and the number two, our responsibility is

to be merciful like God was merciful with us. And

we understand that opportunity will show itself as we journey purposefully.

Then we can truly begin to live eternal life.

You don't have to wait for heaven, you can live

it right now.

What must you do to inherit eternal life? Love the

Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself, the

great commandment and the second like it. I want you

to remember this week how that lawyer started this conversation

because he was asking you about eternal life.

I want you to live it. I want to live it.

I want to live it.

To the fullest extent that we can live it until

we're with Jesus himself. So maybe today, if our alter

team will come and get ready. Maybe today you've passed

by on the other side of the road a lot.

Maybe you're feeling guilty of that. Maybe you're feeling that's

heavy on you. I just I know I should have

been a good neighbor. I had the opportunities, but I

just didn't. And I want to make it right.

I want to.

I want to make it right with God, and I

want to make it right with myself. And I want

to go out and do better. Maybe that's you today,

or maybe you get stuck right there.

After loving the Lord your God, maybe you can.

Maybe you're doing that, but maybe you struggle with love

your neighbor as yourself. But maybe you don't love yourself.

Maybe you have an improper view of yourself. Maybe you

can't see you the way God sees you, and that's

that's the block between you and being a good neighbor.

Maybe that's the thing today, or maybe it's maybe it's

something different, whatever it is this morning, as we sing

this next song, this last song, and if you need

prayer this morning for either those two things, or maybe

you don't know Jesus at all, and maybe you're thinking

this sounds tough, but I'm up for it.

I just don't. I don't know Jesus, not like that.

Maybe you're all nine, you're watching, you don't know Jesus.

I want to give you the opportunity to accept Christ

today and to start this journey so you can live

on purpose and you can be a good neighbor and

all that reward is opened up to you. So if

you need any of those things this morning, as the

band plays, I want you to come and find somebody.

If you want me to pray for y'all, pray for you.

But if you're not coming down, I want you to worship,

and I want you to commit to the words of

this song that we bless God in the same sanctuary,

we bless God in the streets.

We bless God with every person we meet. We bless

God with our lives. But one of the biggest ways.

We can do that is by being a godly, biblical neighbor.

So if you need prayer, come forward as they sing.

If not, worship Father, have your way. Do what only

you can do in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen

and Amen.