Replay | The Gap with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online, go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

But I am really excited about the series that we're kicking off today along with 20 plus

other churches in the tri-state area called Won't You Be My Neighbor?

And for the next five weeks we're going to be discussing what Jesus called the second

most important commandment written in the Bible.

And in fact when we really break it down and what I've come to find this week and study

it is we don't talk about it enough.

Like if it's that important and Jesus put such a high emphasis on it, why don't we talk

about it more?

And this clip that I am about to share with you will explain why.

Let's check it out.

It's a different feeling when your doorbell rings today opposed to 20 years ago.

20 years ago your doorbell rang, that was a happy moment in your house.

It's called company.

You'd be sitting there on a Thursday night watching TV, your doorbell rang, the whole

family shot off the couch.

Oh my God!

Put the lights on, somebody's here!

We got people!

The whole family went to the door, the kids were in socks, they slid up to the door.

Nobody looked to see who it was.

You just open up the door and the person would be like, I was in the neighborhood.

I thought I might stop by and see how the kids are doing.

They're like, oh, come on in.

We're going to have some cake.

Your mother had a little entomance.

It would be some Sarah Lee crumble cake just in case company came over.

She made an announcement when she bought it.

She's like, listen, nobody touched this cake.

This is for company only.

Those crap muffins, those are for you people.

Nobody had a cell phone back then.

If your house phone did ring, your father stood up and said, nobody get that phone.

We got company.

Now your doorbell rings?

It's like, what the?

Your own mother's crawling across the kitchen floor.

Get down, my army crawl!

Get in the closet.

Go get the sword in the living room.

Somebody get the sword underneath the couch in the living room.

There's a sword.

All right, now we laugh at that, right?

That's funny.

That's humorous.

But it's true.

I mean, that is what we've come to.

The doorbell rings.

Someone knocks on the front door.

I know me personally.

If someone knocks on our front door, we have to scream at our dog because he will literally

run at the front door and try to rip someone's hand off.

Now we blame it on his cataracts and that he can't see, but we think he's just angry.

Okay?

But that is the state of our society.

Right?

Let's be honest.

That's the state of our society.

That if someone actually shows up at our door through the week while we're watching TV or

having dinner, it's like, shut the lights off.

We're not home.

So as I was watching that this week, and here we are kicking this series off, Won't You

Be My Neighbor, talking about Jesus' challenge to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Why are we like that?

Why has society come to a point that that is how we live?

And this is some of the things I found.

Health insurer Cigna's 2018 US Loneliness Index found that 46% of Americans report feeling

lonely sometimes or always.

47% report feeling left out sometimes or always.

And why the insurance company did this is because there was a study that was subject

to citing this loneliness, and it literally suggests that loneliness has the same impact

on our mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

And when we really step back and think about the health effects that that has on us, that

is just outrageous.

Now Generation Z, adults ages 18 to 22 are the loneliness, followed by millennials, adults

ages 23 to 37.

And those two brackets are far worse than any of the older generations.

Now everyone immediately points to social media, but none of that has been proven.

What has been proven though is that students have higher loneliness scores than retirees.

And if you really step back to think about that, students, you know, people in schools

and around people all the time, retirees, you would think that they would have these

things, and it's just not true.

And Trinity, my 18 year old daughter, she's a freshman at the University of Maryland,

she came home for the weekend, so we've been asking her how she's been doing, what her

classes are like, some things that she's noticed.

And we got on the topic of Apple earbuds.

You know, Apple earbuds are these headphones that don't have any wires, you just put them

in your ears.

And she said it's interesting.

She walks on average anywhere from 10 to 15 miles a day to her classes, very large campus,

and a lot of the students do the same.

She said, whenever I walk to my classes, no one talks.

Like there's no interaction with people.

Like literally everybody walks around campus with their earbuds in, watching their phone

or listening to something on their phone.

I mean my oldest son, Isaac, he even said that last year he was walking to class, same

way, headphones in, had his phone playing, and he was getting ready to go across the

crosswalk and almost died because the car didn't stop.

But he wasn't paying attention.

Which led me to this article that I found in the New York Times.

Listen to this.

Two in three millennials don't feel like they belong to their local community or their neighborhoods,

according to new research, a new study of a thousand millennials and a thousand non-millennials

explored the notion of a community and what it means and found that 64% of the younger

generation feel disconnected from their community.

So they asked them, they were like, why do you feel disconnected?

And they all responded, it's because they don't participate in community activities

because they don't have enough free time.

And I was just, as I read that, I began to think, what?

Yeah, they said one in five don't participate because they don't have friends in their neighborhood

and they don't know how to get involved.

And literally my heart broke because in other words, our younger generations, generation

Z, our millennials, they're not engaging one another and not only not engaging one another,

they're not engaging the community.

They're not getting involved anywhere.

There's no meaningful relationships being built and thus 47% of our society feels lonely.

And then you wonder why people freak out when someone knocks on their front door or rings

their doorbell, which leads us to our first thought this morning as we kick off our new

series.

Society has lost what it means to be a neighbor.

Society has lost what it means to be a neighbor.

Now I know that many of you have heard that there's a connection between relationships

and the declining relationships within our society, how people are going further and

further apart and how the nature of neighborhoods and neighbors have been lost and people are

pointing to social media.

They're pointing to all these different reasons.

Well in reality, sociologists have began to break it down and they found four different

factors that are pointing to this truth.

And the first that they found is the emphasis on boundaries.

And the sociologists have found that when the suburbs started, when people began to

move out of the inner cities and the big cities en masse, these suburbs have created barriers

that also include garages and fences and places where people go just to be by themselves.

In fact, Robert Frost wrote a poem called The Mending Well and he wrote this, good fences

make good neighbors.

And while that may be true for some of you, what does it point to when it comes to relationships?

For most of the people in our world, life is centered around the common village well.

For most people around the world in third world countries, they walk to wells where

they get water and they connect with one another building what?

Community.

Our society has lost that.

We have running water.

Everything comes into our houses so that we can seclude and isolate ourselves and thus

we become responsible for who?

We become responsible for ourselves.

So not only is it boundaries, but it's the automobile and the independence that it brings

in terms of getting to different places from where we live.

Imagine a time, and this is just within the last 100 years, imagine a time when you couldn't

jump in your car and go to the grocery store or work or come to a Sunday gathering, but

the only place that you could go was where you could walk.

Right?

Suddenly that changes the picture of what it means to be connected to home and to neighborhoods.

Sociologists also point to the personalization of entertainment and it all started with the

television.

When the television came out, people were able to entertain themselves by themselves.

They didn't need anybody else.

If they wanted to connect or unwind, they just watched the TV and now fast forward to

today, we have TVs in our pockets.

So it even greater points to the separation of relationships.

So entertainment and all interaction is between you and a machine and no one else.

Now of course there's the increasing mobility of where people live and how far they can

go and the loss of roots and permissibility.

Michael Frost, the sociologist says that the modern Western experience of life is like

that of a tourist.

Someone who is always moving, never belonging, always interested in collecting experiences

but remaining superficial and disconnected from permissibility.

And see all of those studies, all of those statistics, all of those truths leads us to

an encounter between Jesus and what the Bible called a religious man.

Meaning he was not professionally religious, he was not a priest or a Levite, rather he

was just a man that was highly respected in his community.

He was known to be nice and well spoken and considered a man that followed God's commands.

And in Luke 10, 25 to 28 we read this.

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question,

teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus replied, well what does the law of Moses say and how do you read it?

And notice that Jesus responds to the man's question with a question.

He literally points it back to him because Jesus knew that the question that was being

asked could have been a loaded question.

And he wanted to see the man's response because when the man responded it put the emphasis

back on him so that he had to be responsible for his choice.

The man said this, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,

all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

Now notice Jesus, he's right, Jesus taught him, do this and you will live.

Love God.

Our lives being centered on God and our affections going towards him and I want to encourage

some of you this morning.

What I shared earlier was true.

God is here.

God is in this place.

He is in this auditorium and he is speaking to your heart and some of you, you've got

to let your emotions and you've got to let your guard down and let them just come out.

Some of you are just so hard and on edge that you can't even respond to the spirit beckoning

your heart.

And he is in this place and that's what loving God is.

And then from that we must hold the same regard for others.

You know so many of us struggle in relationships because we don't have that regard for God.

If we can't give our all to God we're not going to be able to give anything to anybody

else.

We are to love our neighbors which our society has lost the most important aspect of what

a relationship with Jesus is really all about.

You know we got a new puppy, some of you may know we named her Bay.

She just turned three months old on Saturday.

If you know anything about a three month old puppy, right, there are so many times during

the day that I just want to throw her in her kennel, shut it and just walk away.

Because we've had this dog for I guess about I don't know four weeks now and in those four

weeks I've noticed that everywhere you go she's at your ankles.

She's either nipping at them, licking at them, you know tripping over them, just all over

rubbing up against you.

And it gets to the point where you're just like, okay what do you want?

So of course me going to the greatest source of all human knowledge, Google, I typed into

Google I said, why is my two month old puppy nuts?

I mean and of course Google responded with this great answer.

It pulled up this article and it said, puppies are all about companionship.

For the first six months of their life all they're worried about is companionship.

And the article went on to say, think about it.

The puppy was just born into a litter.

She had six brothers and sisters.

A mom and dad.

All they did all day was play, lick and wrestle.

All day.

Oh yeah and sleep and poop.

But they did it what?

Together.

Rubbing against each other, hanging out with each other, nipping at each other, biting

at each other.

And then all of a sudden you take her out of that and she has nothing.

Okay we have a mom and dad.

But the point is this.

The puppy wants companionship.

Friends we're no different.

We want companionship.

But we've allowed our society to dumb down what it means to be a neighbor and we need

to change our outlook because our second point is truth.

Loving our neighbors really matters.

Loving our neighbors really matters.

Look at Mark 12, 20-30.

Of all the commandments which is the most important?

Jesus replied, the most important commandment is this.

Love the Lord your God.

I'm sorry I got ahead of myself.

Listen Israel, the Lord our God is the one and only Lord.

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and

all your strength.

The second is equally important.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says the whole law of God can be summarized by those two great commands.

Now think about it.

At this point in history there was 613 commandments in the Old Testament that the Jewish people

had to follow.

613 commandments and Jesus says all of those are summed up with two.

Love God, love your neighbor.

So in Luke's gospel Jesus responds with write, do this and you will live.

In Mark's gospel Jesus begins by making the statement.

The most important commandment.

So in both gospels, in the accounts we read that verse where loving your neighbor as yourself

is just as important as loving God.

Now if you're anything like me, my response is, oh it's simple enough.

Because it sounds easy.

Oh that's right, just love God and express to Him how great He is and then just love

our neighbor as ourselves.

We all have that down right?

We got it down.

But see in this exchange between two people, between Jesus and this religious man, that's

the problem.

The problem is the religious man thinks he knows it.

And then within this exchange you almost feel this man, he's becoming uncomfortable, his

toes are getting stepped on because Jesus immediately turns his question back on him,

has him respond and then it goes right to the point where this man, this religious man

has to justify his actions.

And I don't know about you, but if you have to justify your actions that means chances

are you're doing something wrong.

And see friends we can get just to be the same way as that religious man.

We can think oh that's simple, that's easy, I got that down.

I know that Jesus wants me to love Him and love my neighbor as myself.

I've learned that, I understand that.

But there's a big difference between knowing it and living it.

Jesus doesn't want us to know it, He wants us to live it.

He doesn't want us to gain knowledge about Him and memorize verses if we're not willing

to live it each and every day.

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

For the next five weeks we're going to step on one another's toes and challenge one another

to just get our hands dirty with our neighbors.

Because when those words come out, love God with every aspect of being and love your neighbor

as yourself, it's where the rubber meets the road.

Either our actions begin to produce what we think and what we know or we're going to be

just like this religious man that says I need to justify my actions.

Well who's my neighbor?

You can almost hear Bia's response, well who is my neighbor?

That he's already thinking that, well those that are just like me, right, those that believe

the same things, those that look like me, those that dress like me, those that are cool,

that get the cool points, okay they're my neighbors.

But anybody that's different than me?

They're not my neighbors.

It's like you can hear that man trying to justify his lack of concern for his neighbors.

And we can get to be the same way.

There's danger in justifying our lack of concern and our lack of love for our neighbors.

Because it's just not God's best for his church and friends, you and I are the church.

And we need to begin to change that.

So Jesus tells this story in response to the man's question, well who is our neighbor which

needs us to our next point.

Jesus sees all of humanity as oppressed.

All of humanity.

Luke chapter 10 verses 30 to 35, Jesus replied with a story.

Luke 10:30–35

A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits.

They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up and left him half dead beside the road.

By chance a priest came along but when he saw the man lying there he crossed to the

other side of the road and passed him by.

A temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, even walked over and looked,

gazed down.

But he also passed by on the other side.

Then a despised Samaritan came along and when he saw the man he felt compassion for him.

Going over to him the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged

them.

Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him.

The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins telling him, take care of this man.

If his bill runs higher than this I'll pay you the next time I'm here.

So notice this story, Jesus begins this story with a Jewish man walking through a vulnerable

road through an area between Jerusalem and Jericho that all of those listening, including

the religious man, he knew, well that's dangerous.

That there's robbers and thieves there that are looking for opportunities behind turns

and crevices and rocks that could jump on someone, steal, wound, beat and live for dead.

And when we first read that we first have to recognize this.

There are lives along each of our pathways that are wounded and in real need.

There are lives everywhere we go.

People, real people looking for relationship, encouragement, love.

And you may think that Jesus is describing literally something unrelated to our actual

neighbors because let's be honest, when we think about our neighbors we think, well they

drive nice cars.

Nicer cars than me.

They dress well.

I know they eat because they're alive and they drink.

And they seem to be doing pretty well.

But see what we don't know is what's happening inside.

Only outside anyone can play the part.

Can look successful.

Can look like they have it all together.

In fact, Steve Jobs, a former founder and CEO of Apple puts it this way.

At this moment, lying on this bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realized that all

my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death.

You can hire someone to drive a car for you.

You can hire someone to make money for you.

But you cannot rent someone to carry the disease for you.

One can find and purchase material things.

But there is one thing that cannot be found when it is lost.

Life.

You know, and many people would point to him as successful, a legacy, he had it all together.

He had anything that, you know, billionaire.

Yet at the end of his life, he recognized the most important were relationships.

And it goes on in this article that I read about him that he didn't do enough in terms

of relationships that he then regretted on his deathbed as he died from cancer.

And many of us don't know what people are struggling with and what they are going through

because quite often it is unseen.

We don't know people are lonely or depressed or go without the basic needs of life because

they won't express it.

It is something private.

And if people have it all together, we know for a fact that Jesus saw all humanity as

oppressed, spiritually oppressed.

And a lot of this story that he is sharing is, are you going to continue to allow people

wounded and dying on the side of the road?

Because this man, he was beaten and left for dead and you begin to wonder, was he hard

to miss?

Did he get lost in all of the traffic?

But apparently not because Jesus describes how a priest comes by.

But immediately when he saw him, he quickly went to the other side.

And then within our minds we think, well a priest, he is busy.

I am sure he was going somewhere to pray for someone or to get a ritual together or he

had a message to prepare.

He was busy.

Maybe he had an assistant.

Maybe his assistant could take care of this man that was on the side of the road.

But a Levite, which some translations describe as the temple assistant, what did he do?

Well he walked up and looked at the man and then went to the other side.

But did he help him?

No.

See Jesus is bringing this story really close to home and these casts of characters, if

you will, that were being told in the story.

They all, meaning the audience, knew who they were.

And as I share it with you, you know what is happening.

And it is quite often we see people in need but we feel we cannot stop because we are

preoccupied.

We are busy.

If you are anything like me, everywhere I drive there is a point to it.

Like when I go to the store, I am going to get something at that store and I have a list

ready.

I am not, I do not ride motorcycles so I do not take Sunday drives.

Right?

I do not just go somewhere in a car with no point to it.

And I am sure many of you are just like that.

But quite often in our busyness we lose sight of what is happening around us and then we

cannot justify religious activity as a reason to forget about those on the side of the road.

I have got to get to church.

God is like no, bring them with you.

Bring them and make them a part of what we are doing.

So Jesus is telling a point here and He is trying to explain that the hardest part of

our lives, especially within our society is busyness.

We are so busy going to and fro to this and that that we miss our neighbors.

We miss being connected.

And the amazing thing about this story, if you really break it down, do you know who

the busiest person was in the story?

The Samaritan.

Because it says the priest and the Levite, they were not going anywhere but the Samaritan

we know, he served and helped.

And then paid the innkeeper and said I have got somewhere to go.

I will be back though if I need to pay anything else for the expenses.

The Samaritan had responsibilities.

And think about this.

When Jesus told this story, when he shares, well the Samaritan came and helped, literally

the people in that crowd would have booed.

They hated the Samaritans.

Boo, we don't want to hear about them.

They hated each other.

So Jesus isn't telling a story about those who have time and those who don't.

Like if you are retired, you are supposed to go and serve the ones that are on the side

of the road dead and buried and help them.

No, we are all called to it.

Every single one of us.

And that villain, that Samaritan proves a point and that is our next talk.

Loving a neighbor requires crossing the road.

Luke 10, 31-34, you have the priest, he came along, he saw the man, he didn't go to him,

he saw him.

Then he crossed on the other side, the temple assistant walked over and looked at the man

lying there, then went to the other side, then the despised Samaritan came along and

when he saw the man, he felt compassion, which is big, we are going to get to that in a minute.

Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and banished

him.

In the English Standard Version it says, but a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where

he was, when he saw him he had compassion, he went to him.

Meaning he crossed the road.

And what we see here in this story is there is a chasm, if you will, there is a gap.

And what do you think that chasm or that space is that is being represented?

That he had to cross to the other side.

Think about it, one of the biggest things that he had to get over was fear.

Like he was fearful, this man was beaten and robbed and left for dead in his mind, he is

thinking, well what if the robbers are still there?

What if those robbers are still there?

Or that man, I am a Samaritan, he is a Jew, if I was to touch him he would become unclean,

I don't want to get involved in his mess.

Or I don't want to cause a mess for him.

So there is all these fears of why he should or shouldn't cross the road.

You have conflict, cultural conflict, the man that was lying on the road was a Jew and

the Samaritan they despised one another.

Hated one another and that man, that Samaritan had to deal with that hatred.

Am I going to be a good neighbor here and allow my hatred to leave in order for me to

serve this man?

And all of us have differences with other people.

But see, our differences become prejudices, our prejudices then become racism and we separate

people.

And God is calling us to be different, to change.

You have indifference.

This man had to get over the reality of he is not my neighbor.

That's a Jewish man, he is not my neighbor, I have nothing to do with him.

And all of us have these boundaries within our life, these walls, these barriers, these

fences that we put up that I guarantee you in a couple of weeks when we do our local

neighbor worksheet, many of us don't even know the names of our neighbors.

And Jesus says are you willing to cross the road?

Because to love our neighbor requires us to cross the road.

To love our neighbor means that we have to cross the street, the hallway, the courtyard,

the sidewalk, I don't care what it is, in order for us to get involved in people's lives.

I have fears.

Just like you.

You know fears of what people are going to say or what they are going to think or do

I say the right thing or what if they ask me a question I don't know or what if we don't

get along or see eye to eye, it doesn't matter.

It's about being connected.

My daughter, Lily is in sixth grade, she started middle school this year and she came in from

school on Friday and we were having a conversation over dinner and we were like, yeah, how was,

how was your day here at school when she was like, oh I saw my first fight.

Not sure that's quite a highlight.

Right?

I was like, well what happened?

She was like, oh well there was a fight in the girls locker room and these are sixth

grade girls.

There was a fight in the girls locker room and I was like, well what was the fight over?

Oh well this tall skinny girl, tall skinny white girl brushed against a locker of a black

girl and the black girl said don't ever touch my locker.

I mean it was just like, don't touch my locker.

And then a fight broke out.

Like literally a fist fight over brushing against a locker.

You know and my heart went out there and I was just like, are you serious?

Like that's the state of our society.

That teenage girls, sixth grade girls are fighting over brushing against a locker.

And I want to challenge you, if you're a student here, if you're in this room and you're a

student, someone needs to be the light to your school.

Like someone needs to stand up and be an example of what it means to be Jesus to your school.

And it may be hard, it may be difficult, it may be challenging, but there's kids in your

school that need encouragement, love and just accept it.

The outcasts are forgotten.

Don't let them be forgotten.

Be a person that will go to that wounded student and support them and encourage them.

But it doesn't change for us adults.

I mean we have people fighting and blowing horns and honking at one another in school

drop off lines for no reason.

No reason.

Because we're impatient and busy and we've got to choose to become good neighbors.

If our community is going to change, it's going to start with you and I individually

getting involved in our neighborhoods.

Getting to know our friends, both locally in our neighborhoods but in our workplaces,

at the local Walmarts, wherever we go we've got to get to know people.

We've got to be willing to be initiative and to be outspoken just about wanting to serve

and help people.

So three steps in bridging the neighborhood or the neighbor gap.

Three steps and the first one is this.

You got to be filled with the Spirit.

Luke 10, 33.

When the despised Samaritan came along and when he saw the man he felt compassion for

him.

Hear me out.

This Samaritan man had compassion.

Compassion only comes from God.

His heart was filled with God to act.

Because I tell you what, if you try to do it on your own you're not going to do anything.

I'm just being honest with you here.

There's holes in our hearts.

And unless we choose to allow God to fill those holes, and I'm not talking about this

one time encounter, oh I believe you Jesus, I'm good, I'm saved, I'm going to heaven,

hallelujah.

I'm talking every day fill that hole.

You're going to choose yourself.

You are going to choose yourself, your schedule, your busyness as to where you're going to

go and who it is that you're going to talk to.

But if you're filled with God's Spirit, chances are you'll be a difference maker in this world.

Psalm 143, 10.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.

May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on firm footing.

Romans 8, 12-14 from the message paraphrase says, so don't you see that we don't owe

this old do it yourself life anything.

One red cent.

And I love how it says do it yourself life.

You know, get yourself out of your problems, figure it out, pick your, pull yourself up

by your, what is it, bootstraps or whatever.

Like figure it out.

It says, I love how that says, don't think that way.

There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all.

The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

God's Spirit beckons.

There are things to do and places to go.

And let me add there, people to see and serve.

The only way to change the current trends of our society, the loneliness, the forgottenness,

the desperation of suicide and going without life is to allow God to change it.

That's it.

That we have to invite the Holy Spirit into our heart each and every day and say, God

lead and direct me, give me opportunities to serve those that are hurting.

And it's a choice.

Simply stated, it's a choice.

Which moves us to our next step and that's to see people.

See the Samaritan, he had that compassion in his heart but he saw the person, Luke 1033,

the Spies Samaritan came along and when he saw the man, so he saw him, he felt compassion.

And we have to begin to see people, whether they move in next door as in our neighborhood

or they cross our path just for a moment and we recognize a tear in their eye or an anger

in their words.

We have to see people and we have to be willing to look people in their eyes.

Like have you noticed that people don't look in your eyes anymore?

They won't make eye contact.

Because the second you make eye contact, it gets real.

And see I'm telling you that and challenging that because when you make eye contact, that's

when you say to that person, you are special.

Does that make sense?

Like you are loved.

Like we begin to see people as God sees them as a son or daughter of God when we make eye

contact.

It's not just brushing by and oh hey God bless you.

No it's making eye contact, giving people their time.

The Samaritan, he saw the man, he had compassion.

And what is compassion?

Compassion alludes to kindness and sympathy.

And compassion literally means when it's defined it means to suffer with.

When he saw the man, his heart broke as if he was lying there.

And literally within his mind, within his heart he said I've got to do something.

Friends we've got to do something.

True compassion changes the way we live.

And this is how Jesus lived.

Look at Mark 14.

As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.

But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns.

So let me put that in our terms.

Jesus was tired, worn out.

He wanted to get home, get on his recliner, put his feet up, turn on the big game and

unwind.

So he wanted to do.

He wanted to space out, veg out, shut his door.

Didn't want anybody around.

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them and

healed their sick.

So what led him to responding?

He put himself in their shoes.

He knew they were lost, wondering, needed direction and guidance.

Matthew 20.

Two blind men were sitting by the roadside and when they heard that Jesus was going by

they shouted, Lord, son of David, have mercy on us.

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet.

And isn't that interesting?

The crowd be quiet.

Like keep your mouth shut.

He's too busy.

Like to me, you want to know what that is?

That's like the church and I'm not talking about like just our church.

The church is fighting and bickering, right, over a song that's being sung or the color

of the carpet.

Right?

I'm so glad in our new building we're not going to have carpet.

We're going to have concrete.

That way you can spill your coffee all over and then clean it up.

See I'm casting vision for the future.

The future when you can bring food and drink into the auditorium.

So the crowd rebuked them and told them be quiet.

But Jesus, he had compassion on them, touched their eyes immediately, received their sight

and followed him.

And I believe that's a challenge to our church.

Like follow Jesus' example.

Don't worry about what people are saying.

Don't worry about what your friends are saying.

Don't worry about what your other neighbors are doing or saying.

Like no, step out and be bold.

Be a person that is serving others, that sees people, you know, lying on the side of the

road, dying, defeated.

See people.

I got an email this week.

There's this organization called Teen Challenge.

If you don't know what they do, they're an addictions recovery organization.

Very highly recognized.

They're very successful at bringing people out of addiction.

Sent me an email this week.

They said, hey, we're Teen Challenge in the DC greater area.

We want to bring a location to Washington County.

And they sent me this email because they said, would your church be interested in helping

support that endeavor?

So I want to ask, let's take a, you guys are the board.

Okay, so we have a, we have a board here.

Okay, you are now on the HCV board.

Okay.

And we're going to take a vote.

So all in favor say yes.

Should we support this endeavor?

Okay, there we go.

We had our first board vote.

That's the first ever in the history of our community of faith.

Good job.

You know, I share that.

Now listen, hear me out.

I share that because they sent me that email because they know we have a heart for the

forgotten and the addicted and those that are, that are struggling in those areas.

And I knew as soon as I put it out to you, you guys would all say yes, because that's

what we're about.

But hear me out.

That's great that we can do that as a community of faith.

We can do it every day, everywhere we go.

But you got to see people.

You got to see their potential.

You got to see their heart and you got to see and want to have God change their life,

which moves us to number three.

So you remember, you got to be filled with the Spirit, see people.

You got to make it a lifestyle.

It's not a one time thing.

Luke 10, going over to him, the Samaritan sooned his wounds with olive oil and wine

and bandaged them.

And then he put the man on his donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him.

The next day, he handed the innkeeper two silver coins to him, take care of this man.

If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.

So when you see a need, notice the Samaritan, you see a need, don't keep walking, stop and

do something.

And then the Samaritan, differences aside, remember the two hated each other.

He put all that aside.

He said, not only am I going to help this man, I'm going to invest in him.

It's not a one time thing.

Oh, look at me.

I'm going to help this man.

I'm going to get him to an inn.

See you later.

I'm out.

And then he said, is this what he said?

He left enough money so that the man could stay at the inn.

And then he said, if it's higher, I'll come back and pay more.

That's a lifestyle.

That's a lifestyle of love.

And hear me out.

I know if you're anything like me and my family, I can't go pan off medical bills for people.

Like we just don't make enough money.

But Jesus shared these words in Matthew 25.

I was hungry and you fed me.

I was hungry and you fed me.

For those of you who missed out on Micah's backpack, we feed M.K.

Daliband elementary school students on the weekends, those kids that would go without

food, we feed them every weekend.

I sent out brown bags last week.

Okay, if you weren't here, if you missed a brown bag, our cupboards are empty.

Okay, and we want to fill those shelves with food so those kids will have food.

So if you could, the list is online, just get the list.

It's on Instagram, it's on Facebook.

If you say, Chris, I don't do those things, I'll hand you a piece of paper when you walk

out the door.

We need to fill those cupboards.

And that's a simple, practical way of responding to Jesus' words.

I was hungry and you fed me.

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.

Isn't it amazing?

He just said, hey, give someone a drink of water.

Invite someone over for coffee.

Have a refresher.

They're delicious.

But have it with somebody, somebody you know that needs love and courage.

I was a stranger, you invited me into your home.

You know the next time your door rings or someone knocks on your door, don't immediately

assume it's someone looking to take advantage of you.

Don't turn off all the lights and pretend like you're not home.

Just don't talk and they'll go away.

How about inviting someone into your home and making it a priority?

I was naked, you gave me clothing.

I was sick, you cared for me.

I was in prison, you even visited me.

You know, the story again, the Samaritan, he didn't just drop the traveler off.

He cared for him.

He loved on him.

Loving our neighbor isn't a one-time act.

It's a what?

It's a lifestyle.

It's a lifestyle.

Living a life of love, I'll be honest with you, it isn't easy.

I mean, read 1 Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians, if you haven't read it, it describes what love is and there's all

kinds of things like patience and kindness and care and all.

And you're just like, whoa, I'm not there yet, God, none of us are.

But it's baby steps.

And if we all strive to get to a point where we're doing it together, guess what?

We're making a difference in our community.

And it all starts with this.

Hear me out, it all starts with a choice.

Choose to practice kindness today.

Choose to practice patience.

Throw away anger and unforgiveness.

You know, invite your neighbor in, engage your neighbor, talk to them, get to know their

name, get to know your coworkers, your classmates, invite them into conversation with you.

Change one person.

You know, begin to slowly make a difference, friends.

And if we do that, God's going to show up, suit naturally and begin to change our community

one person at a time.

Do you believe that?

I believe that.

First Corinthians 16, 13 to 14, and this literally has become my life verse over the last month.

Keep your eyes open.

Hold tight to your convictions.

Give it all you've got.

Be resolute and love without stopping.

Friends, it's time we lay our differences aside.

It's time you lay your political differences aside.

Your racial differences, your gender differences, your financial differences, whatever it is.

And become a people that are following the second most important commandment that Jesus

challenged us to live.

To be a church that is known for its kindness, its compassion, its love.

It's love for people.

It's love for our neighbors.

Are you staying with me this morning?

You know, I prayed this week and I said, hey God, how am I going to close this talk this

morning?

And he spoke right to me, man.

He said, hey Chris, listen.

There's one way to do this and to do this successfully, and that's with my spirit.

It's with my spirit.

Because in your own strength, you're not going anywhere, and having my spirit, it's a choice.

And hear me out.

I'm not judging anyone here.

I'm not, but in the back I was worshiping.

I was looking around the crowd as our people were worshiping.

And there was many of you in this place.

Many of you in this place with hard hearts, arms crossed, not wanting to sing, not opening

into what God wants to do in your heart.

God wants to break that down.

He wants you to respond to His spirit.

And this is my call to you this morning, and I'm going to be the first to do it.

I'm going to invite you that if you want to be filled with God's spirit, He wants to fill

you today.

And I'm the first to say, hey God, I need it.

So I want to pray for anyone that says, yes, I need it.

But I want to invite you, put one hand, both hands, all hands, however you want to do it,

and feet.

But I want to pray for you to receive God's spirit.

And hear me out.

This has no baggage with it.

Doesn't matter what your church background is, what you believe, what you don't believe.

I'm not going to make you speak in a different language or push you over.

Okay?

But I believe God's spirit is going to come alive in your heart.

And He's going to empower you to go and make a difference.

And He wants to break down barriers in your heart.

But you got to choose to let Him down.

And I'm inviting you now to let Him down.

Holy Spirit come.

Fill this place with your presence, God.

I pray for supernatural life change upon each and every person that says be filled with

your spirit that wants to be filled, that you would fill them now in Jesus' name.

That God, you would fall in this place.

That we would know your presence is real and evident.

And that God, we would leave here as different people.

We would choose life.

We would choose life.

And we would choose our neighbors.

Allow us to be a people, God.

That this is the turning point.

This is a new day.

A new horizon.

A new outlook.

In Jesus' name, and we all said.

Now hear me out before you go, because I don't want you to beat me to the door.

I got a longer walk now.

Before you leave this place, I want you to hug someone.

And I don't even care if they're a stranger.

That's right.

Step out and hug someone.

Share some love.

Don't leave this place the same.

Love you guys.

There's no impossible.

I believe that you are working now.

So pour it out.

Oh pour it out.