Radical Care: Lowering the Roof for Healing - October 12, 2025

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

I don't know. Last night, I hate when Boise State plays late games.

Man, it just affects my preaching the next Sunday from lack of rest,

I think. That's not the only reason.

When you're in these games and your team's just not playing as they do,

and there's fear and there's one moment and there's elation the next,

it's just an emotional roller coaster.

I tell you, some of you know that very well, especially those of you that play

ball. You know that feeling.

And sometimes that fear just likes to enter in.

There's a book out called The Dare. not a new book, but written by a guy with

the last name Mayo, Josh Mayo.

And in that book, he tells the story of a five-year-old little girl who was afraid of the dark.

And the mom always, whenever this girl would go to bed, the mom would have to

go into the room and sit beside the bed until she would fall asleep.

She was just terrified of the dark, the fear of the lights off and weird sounds.

You didn't know what was making them just freaked her out.

And so there was one time that the mom was really sick.

She'd come down with the flu and she just was not feeling well.

And she had this conversation with her daughter and said, listen,

I am not going to be able to sit by your bedside tonight until you fall asleep.

I am just so ill. I need to go to my room and lay down.

I tell you what, I will leave the nightlight on for you so it won't be totally

dark and you'll be able to sleep.

And immediately on the face of the little girl, just panic ensued.

Just sheer fright and terror.

No, mom, you must stay here with me. I do not like to be alone,

even if there is a nightlight on.

Well, some of you have played this game before, right?

Even the mom, just so weak from everything that goes with having the flu,

said, Listen, honey, I love you very much, but there is no way I can be with you here this morning.

Listen, I know you love Jesus. Jesus loves you. And I want you to know that

the Bible says Jesus will never leave you or take you for granted.

And the little girl looked at her mom and the mom could see the look of terror

and fright was still on the little girl's face.

Well, as mom got up to leave and went to the door, clicked on the nightlight,

the little girl said, Mom, and as mom looked back at the little girl,

she says, I believe in Jesus, but right now I need Jesus with skin on.

Will you come and will you sit by my bed?

How many of you have ever felt like that? Sometimes when you're praying,

when you're going through some hard times, you just wish Jesus had some skin

on and was right there with you.

I want to tell you, though, maybe Jesus has been there with you.

Maybe you have been Jesus to someone else and just spending those moments with somebody else.

We're talking about living life radically like Jesus lived and being radical like Jesus.

Last week, we talked about radical prayer. Anyone pray radically this week?

Not just last night at the football game, but anyone pray radically? I hope so.

I hope you're able to spend at least 10 minutes a day in prayer with the Father,

just pouring out your heart to Him.

We gave you a pattern last week on how to do that.

And this week, I want to talk about kind of what that story was about in radical care.

It takes the spiritual and brings it down to a level where everybody else is at.

We think about caring for others. This morning, we have a great example from

the scripture from Luke chapter 5, and we're going to read verses 17 through 26.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

I know I put 25, but I'm going to add a verse here that's in the scripture.

Would you stand with me if you're willing and able as we read the words of the

Lord this morning from Luke chapter 5?

Luke 5 · chapter mention

One day, as he, Jesus, was teaching,

Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee

and from Judea and Jerusalem were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was

present for him to heal the sick.

Some men came carrying a paralytic man on a mat and tried to take him into the

house to lay him before Jesus.

When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd,

they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the

middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven.

The Pharisees and teachers of law began to thinking to themselves,

who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, why are you thinking these things in your heart?

Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive

sins, he said to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.

Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on,

and went home praising God.

And then verse 26 says, Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.

They were filled with awe and said, We have seen remarkable things today.

Father, thank you for your word. may it impact our lives. Give us an example

of what it's like to radically care for others.

Lord, as we try to live, as you would have us to live, God, following the example of Jesus,

Lord, in all truth and holiness, I pray that today when we leave,

in our own hearts even, if we don't talk amongst ourselves, may we repeat what

was said by the crowd that day.

We have seen remarkable things today, not in anything that's happened with us

and what we've done, but God, with what you've done.

And Lord, the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit. And so,

Lord, may your word impact our life today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you. And you can be seated.

I always just want to make it as brief as I can today, because it's a pretty

cut and dry message when we think about the content of it.

We think about to live radically like Jesus, it takes three things.

And it takes a willingness to live sacrificially.

It takes a willingness to live courageously. And it takes a willingness to live compassionately.

And Jesus did all these things, especially when it comes to caring for other people.

And so first off this morning, as we went through the scripture,

we saw three things that really exemplified Jesus' radical care.

And the first one is this, radical caring takes sacrifice.

When we look back again at the scripture in verse 19, the friends,

when they could not find a way to do this, they had the man on the mat trying

to get him in the front door. They couldn't do that. There's too many people.

People would not move out of the way. They had to think of a different way.

And it says, they went up on the roof and they lowered him on his mat through

the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

Man, these guys knew how to get service. They knew what to do.

The friends sacrificed time and comfort to bring the man to Jesus.

This guy who had been paralyzed, we're not told in the scripture if it's been

all his life or a sudden accident, if he fell off his donkey and broke his neck or what happened.

We don't know, but we just know that his friends cared about him so much he was paralyzed.

He couldn't take care of himself.

And so the friends sacrificed their time to load him up. Hey, let's go.

There's this guy healing people. That's what we hear. So let's go check it out.

They took their time and they went to find out where Jesus was,

to find out where he was located.

And it was easy to see because a crowd began to gather around.

And so as they went, couldn't get in the front door.

They sacrificed even more as they climbed onto the roof. You know,

roofs in those times were usually flat.

And this one says there was tiles. So, you know, they had tiles on the roof.

They started tearing those off so they could lower this man down and right in front of Jesus.

They sacrificed their time. They sacrificed their comfort.

I don't know how heavy this guy was, you know, if he was light or what,

but they had to have some strength to carry him around town.

We're not told how far he had to travel, only that he was there at this precise moment.

So there was sacrifice involved on the part of the friends.

I mean, sacrifice even, as we'll talk about here in a few minutes,

with some of the reputation.

Hey, isn't that, what's his name over there? What's he doing hanging around with a paralyzed Gaius.

I mean, you know how public opinion goes and how rumors start.

I mean, you just don't know there was sacrifice. Jesus also sacrificed.

Jesus gave his time and attention to this man. Now,

some of you that have in your own personality profile, a very high level of

justice would get angry if you were in the crowd because you'd be like,

why is this guy cutting the line?

Who are these four people think they are with their friend, putting them in

front of Jesus. When I'm here with my grandma, she needs to be healed now.

And you just cut the line.

So Jesus had all these kind of different personalities to deal with that were in the crowd that day.

Jesus had all these ministry needs that were before him right at this very moment.

People were bringing folks to be healed.

Not only that, there were people within the very gathering there that were looking

for an opportunity to stick it to Jesus.

They were fault finders. They were legalists.

They were by the book kind of people and Jesus didn't fit their mold.

And so they were looking for a chance to accuse him of something.

So Jesus is sacrificing here. He's sacrificing his time and his attention to

care for this man that almost quite literally has been dropped into his lap, right?

He had all these ministry needs and yet here's one right here he's got to deal

with. It's right in front of everybody.

And it's right here and it's right now. So many needs, so many people.

You know that when we care for someone, a true sacrifice, it costs us something. It does.

If we're really going to care for someone, it's going to cost you time.

If you really want to care for someone, it's going to cost you comfort.

You're not going to always be able to go according to your own schedule.

Those of you that have had children, you know that. When you're getting ready

to go on a road trip, everyone get in the car, come on.

Everyone's went to the bathroom, right? All right, we're not stopping until

we get to Reno. Here we go.

And man, pedal to the metal by the time you get to Jordan Valley,

guess what? Daddy, I got to go to the bathroom.

Or if they're too young and they're still in diapers, There's a smell that starts

to waft throughout your vehicle.

We know that it costs us comfort if we're going to care for somebody else.

If we're going to care for someone that is terminal, someone that we love,

we want to be with, we know there's going to be sacrifices.

We know that there are sacrifices that it costs us something.

We can't do everything everybody else does at times because we've got someone

that we want to pour our life into, even to the very end. We think about Jesus.

Ultimately, his sacrifice would cost him his life.

We think about John 12, 24. It says, unless a head of wheat falls to the ground

and dies, it can't spring forth and bring forth an abundance of more wheat.

That's my paraphrase of it.

But Jesus' life, it was going to end as a sacrifice for all of us even today.

Praise be to God. There's a sacrifice that happens.

These guys were going to have to take care of the roof. they just destroyed

in order to get their friend down.

Because not only is radical sacrifice, excuse me, radical caring takes sacrifice.

Radical caring also is risky.

You got to take a risk if you're going to radically care for somebody else.

The friends, of course, they risk safety and reputation here.

Oh, there's those guys. Those guys are the ones that ripped up Mr.

Jones's house over there, man.

Jesus was there and they came in and they're so destructive,

they just ripped the roof right

off so they could get their friend down there in front of Jesus first.

Their reputation was at risk for that. I mean, financially, of course,

they had to pay for what they took care of or at least offer to fix it.

Their safety was at risk too. I mean, inciting a crowd by cutting the line,

so to speak, if you look at it that way.

There was a risk involved for these friends to bring their friend,

whom they cared for deeply, to bring him to Jesus, to really get his needs met,

to see him healed, to see him transformed.

They had faith that Jesus could do that. So they went and took that risk.

They went to the extreme for their buddy.

They said, we believe this can happen.

Took courage to do that. But even with Jesus, we can see that Jesus took a risk here.

He took a risk, like I've already said, of inciting the crowd a little bit.

Why are you letting this guy take cuts?

If any of you ever worked at a food bank, and by the grace of your own goodness

of your heart, you let someone cut in line, whoa, World War III happens.

I've been waiting in line three hours. And you're going to let this lady with

10 kids under two years old come and cut in front of me?

Well, yeah, I'm going to. Look at all the kids she has.

Boy, it just incites something. Jesus had to have courage to put up with that.

But not just that. Remember, I said there are people in the crowd who are looking

to be an accuser of Jesus, who are looking to trip Jesus up,

who are looking to make things difficult for him.

And we can see that if we look to verse 20.

In verse 20, the scripture says, when Jesus saw their faith,

he said, friend, your sins are forgiven.

Whoa, just that phrasing right there. It freaked those guys out.

Because if you follow along in verse 21, the Pharisees and the scribes or the

teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

So these guys had just saw Jesus trip their trap. They just sprung it. So they thought.

Because what they thought was true. Who can forgive sins but God alone? No one can except God.

But Jesus perceived what they were thinking. Jesus was taking a risk here with these guys.

Jesus risked the criticism here by forgiving. Not just the forgiving,

but the healing that follows that. Did you catch that?

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, why are you thinking these things?

Jesus knew what they were up to. Which one's easier to say, your sins are forgiven?

Or to say, get up, guy that hasn't walked for so many years.

Take up your mat and go home.

Which one's easier to you, Pharisees? Teachers of the law, which one is easier?

It's easy for me to say something, but I got to back it up.

And so what did Jesus do? He told the man, pick it up and get on out of here.

And the guy did, and he went home rejoicing.

You see, Jesus had the trap really for them. Jesus proved his authority to forgive

sins by the healing that took place.

I don't care what kind of healing it is. Anytime there's a healing,

it's there to promote the authority of Jesus Christ.

Not only to forgive sins, but that he's a miracle worker. It confirms the word that is spoken.

Anytime, especially as you go through Acts and you see there's a healing that

happens, when you look at the healing that's happened, it confirms the word

of the testimony that's been given.

It's a powerful device that's used in the scripture here.

Which is easier, Jesus says.

Ah, getting those Pharisees goat right from the get-go.

Blasphemy, claiming the attributes of God is what Jesus was accused of. But they didn't know.

They didn't want to know or really want to understand that he himself was the

son of man. That he himself was God.

See, caring means that you're going to step out of those comfort zones.

You're going to take a step out of what you know is safe, what you know is okay,

and to step out and to go for it.

I told you the story before when I was a little kid. I had to have swimming

lessons because I almost drowned in the little pond at the Idaho State Fairgrounds.

So my dad made me go to the YMCA downtown Boise and do swimming lessons.

Well, part of the swimming lessons was I had to jump off the diving board.

And as a little kid, that diving board looked like 100 feet tall to me.

And so they said, go ahead, go up, get up there. I'm like, no,

I don't want to get up there. Uh-uh, I'm not doing that. Go on, get up there.

See, for me to get up on that 100-foot diving board, my perspective,

it was probably only, I don't know, how tall are diving boards?

It was probably three feet maybe.

No, it was the big one. For me to get on that diving board, it was way out of my comfort zone.

I wish I could tell you that I got up there and I did just a nice dive,

but I didn't. I chickened out. There's no way I was going to do that.

But you see, it's those kind of challenges we get just in life with other people.

If we're going to care for someone else, we've got to step out of our comfort zone. It's scary.

It's frightening at times. Well, what are other people going to think about

me if I'm over here helping someone?

What are people going to think if I'm with the wrong kind of people,

sharing God's love with them?

What are people going to think about me? We turn it around and it shouldn't

be focused on us. It should be focused on those that have the needs.

Well, they can't repay you for anything. Why are you going to waste your time with them?

I mean, these are the criticisms that come. And it takes courage for believers

in Christ to stand up and to say, I don't care what other people are saying.

Jesus has put this on my heart and I'm going to care for this person.

Jesus has put it on my heart and I'm going to pray for these people.

Jesus has put it on my heart that these people need the love of Christ.

And I'm going to do what I can to reach out to them, even if I don't have anything in common with them.

I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. I'm going to eat weird food to be with them.

I'm going to enjoy some uncomfortable conversations so I can get to know them,

and earn the right to share the gospel with them.

I'm going to show them how much Jesus loves them before I have the privilege

to share how much Jesus loves them and exactly what Jesus Christ did for them.

It takes courage, you guys, to do that.

It takes putting fear behind you and stepping out of your comfort zone and sometimes

standing alone until other people see, hey, that's Mike over there.

Why is he out there with those people? Let's go see what's going on.

And so you go over there and you look and Mike's got the shirt and he's sharing Jesus with them.

They're asking about what Jesus has done and he's sharing.

Well, that's out of a lot of people's comfort zone. But man,

the blessings that come.

You find out what needs people have, and you're able to share with them exactly

how God wants to meet their need.

Did you notice in the scripture, Jesus didn't immediately heal the guy when

he was dropped down in front of him. Did you see that? What's the first thing he did?

I see the faith of your friends, and so your sins are forgiven. Whoa.

Boy, wrestle with that theology for a little bit. He saw the faith of the four

friends, and they believed this man could be saved.

They believed this man could be healed. And what Jesus did, he cut to the heart

of the matter immediately and said, your sins are forgiven.

He didn't say, get up, take your mat. Oh, wait, before you go,

you got to know I'm the Messiah.

I'm the Savior. No, he didn't have to tell him to believe. After he was forgiven

of his sins, he believed when that healing took place, Confirmed his authority Of who he was.

So to live radically is to radically care like Jesus did.

To radically care like his friends did who brought someone to Jesus.

Someone other people would say is hopeless.

What good is this guy going to do for the kingdom? He can't even walk.

He's got to have people cart him around everywhere. He can't drive.

Well, there's many amongst us who would be considered the least of these,

aren't there? Maybe even within our congregation.

Even within our communities, in our own neighborhoods, in our own areas.

What are we doing to bring them to Jesus, literally?

Maybe it's by our faith, in this verse especially, that God is patient,

not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,

that God honors that faith and opens up the door for you to be able to go in to truly care,

but not just truly care, to share the good news of Jesus after you've been with him a while.

Or maybe right then and right there. I'm not discounting that by any means.

We give up our comfort. We step out of our comfort zones because that's what Jesus did.

Radically caring takes sacrifice. Radically caring takes risk,

but radical caring, it flows from a heart of love. It flows from love.

Now, I know that word love, it's kind of tricky because to us,

love can mean a lot of different things. I mean, I love pizza.

Oh, do I love pizza? I just don't love any pizza. I love good pizza.

But I can't say I love pizza the same way that I say I love my wife.

It's different. I love pizza, but I don't love it as much as I love my wife.

You see, we have these different words. You know, I'll say I love football. I love to watch it.

I love to follow it. But I don't love it in the same way I love pizza or love

my wife. It's different.

There's a hierarchy, if you'll say it that way. The kind of love I'm talking

about is the kind of love that Jesus came and he portrayed to everyone.

It's not just brotherly love. Hey, buddy, how you doing? Give me five.

No, it's not just a familial kind of love, like you love your kids,

like you love your family.

But it's the kind of love that is, it comes from an act of the will.

When your kids are sick, they're throwing up, they're barfing everywhere.

Maybe stuff's coming out the other end. You love your kids and you say,

honey, can you go take care of that, please?

And then you realize, oh wait, she's at women's retreat. Guess who's on duty?

And then by the sheer act of your will, act of your desire, you go and you clean

up the mess and you care for your child.

That's the agape kind of love. It's the selfless love.

It's the love that puts number one in the backseat and says, you're my focus.

How can I serve you? How can I love you?

It's the kind of love that Jesus expressed by giving up everything he had in

heaven, coming to earth, being born as a little baby,

a vulnerable, the most vulnerable that you can be entrusted to a young lady

who wasn't even married, but then got married.

I mean, you go through the whole story like we will in a couple months, right?

And then to come to the point to where he began his ministry like's happening

here, and then he gives up his life to die on the cross for people that hated

him, for people that didn't even know about him or couldn't care less about him.

That's the kind of agape love, selfless love, sheer act of the will,

the desire of the mind to commit to someone else above yourself.

That's the kind of love it takes to truly, radically care for someone else.

That's the kind of love we're talking about here. Again, if we look to verse

24, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin.

He said to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.

Love drove the friend's persistence to get that man to Jesus.

Their love for their friend, knowing that there was a chance that this guy could be healed.

They canceled all their plans and they took this guy and they made sure they got him to Jesus.

Nothing was going to get in their way because they had this kind of love for their friend.

It wasn't just the kind of love that says, here, let me get you up out of your

mat and prop you up and let's watch the game together.

It wasn't just a brotherly kind of love. They had that for sure.

But it was a deeper love to where they would sacrifice and they would take a

risk to get this man to Jesus because they heard and they believed that Jesus could heal him.

We think about that love. It's powerful. We said already that Jesus met both

the physical and the spiritual needs of this man.

How powerful that is when we think that Jesus saw the first and foremost needs

was that he be forgiven of his sin, that his physical condition really wasn't

the primary focus there,

but it's the condition of the relationship with God.

Jesus met them. It's easy for us to say, yeah, I'll give some money for this

relief or that relief, or I'll give some money for Bibles or this or that and the other.

And that's important because that's needed. And some of you have that gift and

you have to give because that's just the way God made you.

I mean, all of us are asked to give, but some we give, but are we willing to go?

Some of you can't give because you don't got much. You give what you can.

You give of your tithe. You may give an offering here and there,

but really you got more time than money.

And maybe God's asking you, hey, I need you to go.

Step out of your comfort zone. Take a risk and serve.

Take a risk and get to know someone that doesn't know Jesus.

Remember what I said last week, the longer you're a Christian,

the less and less non-Christian friends you have.

It's just how it goes. It takes an intentional effort to make sure that you're

building relationships with heathen, if you want to say it that way,

that you're building relationship with people that don't know Jesus.

Even if they're great people, if they're nice people, even if they're generous

people, they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And if they were to die, they would spend an eternity in hell separated from God.

Calls us to radically care by building relationships, even with people that

aren't religious, that aren't Christian, that don't know him.

Folks, I want to tell you that genuine care starts with a heart that's transformed

by God's love, by God's sacrificial love.

Have you accepted his sacrifice this morning?

Have you accepted Christ as your savior? Have you stepped out of your comfort

zone of your sin and let God take care of that and wipe it away so you can live

this new radical life, following God into the plan that he has made for you.

That's a radical step. Just coming to the point to where you realize you are

a person that's a sinner, that's in need of salvation.

And then going beyond that, not just having fire insurance, knowing you're not

going to go to hell because of your relationship with Jesus,

but then stepping out and saying, I want others to know about this.

These four friends that brought their friend to Jesus, They believed that Jesus

could take care of him That Jesus could heal him And Jesus met his deepest need

first The forgiveness of sin It came because of his heart of love.

2 Corinthians 5 says this, 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, for Christ's love compels

us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died.

And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves,

but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Did you catch that first phrase?

The love of Christ compels us. What does that mean?

King James Version is the word constraineth. I kind of like that word.

When I used to run track, I was a short distance guy.

But to keep in shape, I would run the long distance in cross country.

And when I think of the word constraineth, I think of myself at the end of one

of those races. Because I was a short distance guy.

And I'm huffing and puffing and the veins are throbbing in my head and my neck.

And I'm constraining just to get to the end. But you know what?

This says the love of Christ compels us. That's different.

It pushes us. It's the engine that keeps driving us, the love of Christ.

What does that mean? It means the love that God has for me in Jesus.

The love of Christ who gave himself up for me, died on the cross so that I could

be forgiven. My life transformed.

And really, my heart transformed.

Instead of a stony heart full of sin, just bitter and hard.

God softened that. Softened it so much that he put a spirit within my heart,

in my life, the very presence of God, so that I could love others,

even those that were unlovable like I was.

The love of Christ compels us. It pushes us on.

It drives us. It motivates us to radically care for others.

Because I got a guarantee of this. The guarantee is that there's someone in

the world that is like you before you knew Jesus?

And who better to reach out to them than you who knows what you used to be like?

You can reach some people. And I've said this before that I can't reach because

one, I don't have a relationship with them per se.

And secondly, you know them better and God's going to use you.

God put you in their life to reach out to them.

It doesn't mean we can't reach strangers. It doesn't mean we can't reach out

to people we don't know. We certainly can.

The power of God is not prevented from that and doesn't prevent us from doing

that. But what's our motivation?

Like the actors of old, Give me my motivation for this scene.

The motivation is the love of God.

Is the love of God top priority in your heart? Are you seeking for ways to share that love with others?

Boy, radically living like Jesus is radically caring.

It takes sacrifice. It takes risk. But more than that, it takes that heart of

love that God has created.

And I might add, is creating continually within you.

As you reach through different circumstances, different problems,

different ages and stages of life.

There's a new opportunity for love to reign there.

The true love of God, the love of God that is that sacrificial agape love.

So I want to ask you this morning, how can you serve those around you?

Yes, we start with our family and I know you're already serving your family

because you've not only got agape love for them, you've got the kind of love,

the storge kind of love that that's your family and you're going to love them.

But would you reach out to others, others who don't have a family,

others who've been ostracized from their family, others who don't want anything

to do with their families?

Would you seek ways to reach out to them and to serve them?

What I'd like you to do this week is look for ways to serve at home, at work, at school.

Maybe at home, it's like, I'm going to do the chores this week without even being asked.

I'm not only going to do my chores, I'm going to do the chores of somebody else

just to say, I love you. And it might be a sacrifice.

You might not get to watch that Netflix show because it's going to take you

longer than 42 minutes in order to do that.

Give up some time on your favorite video game so that you can go outside and

take care of something for someone else that you know they want to get it done, but they just can't.

Maybe you'll be the people that will come out Saturday at 9.15 and say, you know what?

I'm going to go down there with the church, and we're going to go to Wilder,

and we're going to go into Holmedale, and we're going to do some weeding.

We're going to pick up some trash.

We're going to make our community look great for the glory of Jesus.

And all you're doing is sacrificing maybe a couple football games you wanted to watch on the TV.

Don't worry, you'll find out the score later. If you DVR it,

you can watch it later if you want.

But what are you going to do this week to reach out to somebody else,

to share with them God's love?

Ask yourself, what can I sacrifice or risk this week to show Christ's love.

What can you do? I wish I could tell you, but I got to tell you.

God will reveal it to you if you're open.

If you're open to it, to live radically like Jesus did by radically caring for someone else.

Let me remind you as I close about the circle here, I want to continue to remind

you to pray for the people's names that you've written in the middle there.

Seek a way that you can reach out and now care for them after you've been praying.

Maybe just starting a conversation with them to say, okay, God,

would you reveal their needs to me that I can meet?

It might not always be something that has to do with stuff or money.

It might be that they just need someone to talk to.

And would you be willing to be that person that will listen?

Let's be radical like Jesus and see how we can radically care this week. Would you pray with me?

Father, in the name of Jesus, we just come before you, and I just thank you,

God, that, Lord, you radically loved us first so that we could not just be empowered

to love others, but that we could understand the kind of love that we were missing

out on before you chose to love us.

Lord, that not only did you bring healing to our lives spiritually through the

forgiveness of sin, but God, you even enable us to bless other peoples and perhaps

even to bring physical healing to them.

Lord, this morning, we just dedicate this time to you as we have.

God, we ask that you would help us to remember this example,

help us to find who we can bring to Jesus.

And Lord, if it's any indication in the story that is told here,

God, maybe it takes more than one of us to bring one guy to Jesus.

Maybe it takes all of us working together just by caring and just by seeking

to sacrificially serve someone else, to have the courage to do that before they

will come to Jesus Christ and to be forgiven of their sins.

Father, be with us now in the remainder of our time as we have one more song,

Lord, and then leave together after the benediction.

God, be glorified, we pray this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon as well as other sermons and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.