The Way: RLC Values (2- We See People)

Well, as we get into today's message.

I started this last week as we started the series, and it was on the idea of how there are certain characteristics, certain things that people do that other people might do, but when you see certain people do certain things, you realize they're not from around here.

You know they're from somewhere and you may know immediately where they're from.

It may be endearing, it might be wonderful, but you definitely know where they're from if they do a certain thing and I had some for you last week, I got some for you again this week One of them would be if you wear shorts in the winter, you're from the North and you're proud of it.

Okay, can we just get that out of the way?

Okay, there are some people around here.

I don't have to point you out because you'll probably identify yourself.

That is that in January, when we're all huddled up, you're wearing shorts and a t-shirt and you'll tell anybody who'll listen ah, it's not cold yet.

You know we get it.

Okay, you're way cooler than us and you're from north of here and you really have, like all of my sympathy, because I've already frozen at that point.

How about this one?

I can tell where you're from based on how you describe the thing you eat with turkey at Thanksgiving.

Okay, if you say stuffing, you ain't from around here.

Okay, you're probably from north of here.

And if you say dressing, then you're faking it because you're supposed to say dress in there is no G.

Okay, if you're, if you have dress in, then you're probably from south of here.

And here's the thing I have.

I have been intrigued by this one so long that, depending on what you put in your dressing slash stuffing, we can get you all the way down to the county.

Okay, from where you're probably from.

All right.

And then here's the last one.

If you wear cat shirts, bitterly, you're probably an RLC pastor.

Okay, there's that one right there.

And so the question I have, though, is that's really kind of fun if you think about it, but what?

That's really kind of fun if you think about it, but what are some of the characteristics or values of being a follower of the way Jesus called himself, the way, the truth and the life In the book of Acts?

Before we were ever called Christians, we were called followers of the way.

What does that look like?

And that's what we're supposed to look like, because Jesus gave us this commission and it's actually the mission statement of our church.

He said in Acts 28,.

He said go and make disciples.

Mission statement of our church.

He said in Acts 28,.

He said go and make disciples.

Say, make disciples.

It's the mission statement of our church, of all the nations, baptize them in name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit and teach these new disciples to look like it, to obey all, say all, all the commandments I have given you.

And don't worry, I never intended for you to do it alone.

I am with you.

And he says even until the end of the age.

And so if I can tell where you're from and maybe you can by certain characteristics, what does it look like to be from the kingdom of God?

Well, if we were to put it in one phrase, it would be this and that is that the way of a disciple is all of Christ in all of life, that you just have made a decision as a follower of Christ, that you have kind of went all in, you have bet the farm, you've left nothing behind, you've burned the boats.

You are all in all of Christ in all of life.

And we could just stop there and be like well, praise the Lord.

But the question is how?

What are the values we live by in order for the result to be all of Christ in all of life?

And that's the point of this series is to break down that phrase and go okay, well, if we were to break this into some values, some characteristics, what would that look like?

And so, actually, what we're doing is we are going through the RLC values.

What is it that we value in our lives in order to be a follower of Christ?

And so, like week one, we talked about how the foundation of it all is that we love God.

Today, we're going to step back into the story that we started last week and we're going to talk about what Jesus said comes once you love God.

And so, if you were with us last week, there was a moment where he's debating back and forth with these people and the question comes up what is the greatest commandment in all of the Bible?

So, in the old Testament, there were 613 good and bad put together laws people were supposed to do.

And someone said is there a cheat code, like is there a way that if I do this one thing, it will really get me moving in that direction?

And Jesus says, yes, there is one.

And then he said right after that, like because of the first one, you can also do the second one.

So we're going to jump back into because he's going to define that second one.

He said this there was a, there was a conversation and the answer was you must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.

And then he said and love your neighbor as yourself.

And then they continue to talk about it for a while, but eventually the guy who's debating him, wanting to justify his actions, he asked Jesus well, if that's the case, then who is my neighbor?

That's a really good question.

I've heard so many people define love your neighbor as yourself in so many ways.

Let's ask the King how to define it.

And he defines it as only he could.

He tells a story, a parable.

Jesus replied with a story and he said a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits Don't we need to bring that word back again 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 or Levite walked over and looked at him lying there, 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 which, by the way, was enough money to hold him up for over a month and he said take care of this man.

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

Now.

Which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who attacked the bandits?

Jesus asked the man, reply Well, the one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus said yes, now go and do the same.

Wow, so he completely changes the dynamic and he says yeah, I probably do need to double click on that and to explain what a neighbor truly is, but let me explain it to you in a way that you may not actually expect.

And here's the big idea.

If step one.

For us, the first mark or first value is that we love God.

The second one is that, as a disciple, is that we see people.

So the values of RLC are we love God and then we see people.

Let me go ahead and give you a quick disclaimer, and that is that for some of us here today, this is going to be the easiest message you've ever heard.

You're going to be like and just trust me, because we all have something to work on, and if this one's not yours, please just amen everybody to kind of celebrate your awesomeness.

Okay, cause we'll get to you later.

Probably we get to all of us at some point, but for some of us this one's going to be really hard, and so we have to make sure that we even started off correctly by just kind of getting this out here.

So we all know this, and I don't know if you agree, but I would just say relationships are hard.

Somebody say amen.

Relationships are really hard, especially if we get our values out of order.

If we do, we will try to get from people what only God can provide.

If we're not careful, we'll constantly experience hurt and pain because we will try to get from people only God can provide.

If we're not careful, we'll constantly experience hurt and pain because we will try to get from people that only God can provide.

That's why Jesus, in all of his like he's God, by the way, all of his awesomeness he said in order that first we must love God and then, out of the overflow of our love of God, then we can see our neighbor as ourself.

Other words, he says we see people.

If we try to see people and then see God, we're gonna constantly be hurt and offended because people aren't perfect and your bestie one day is gonna have bad day.

It's always gonna happen, but God doesn't have bad days.

And so we can lower our expectation of people and raise our expectation of God.

And that's actually what Jesus is challenging them to do.

Is he's challenging them to do, is he's challenging them to flip this?

And he's saying the question is not who can we serve, who can serve me?

The question is who can we see?

Because notice the guy who's debating with Jesus.

He says, okay, well then, who is my neighbor?

Like who's, who's going to help me?

And then, by the end of the story, jesus says, actually, who was the neighbor?

Who was the one who was reaching out, and so he's challenging them.

Don't look for what you can receive, but look at what you can give.

That's how you can tell what a neighbor actually is.

And here's the thing I will admit to you.

This is a hard message, because all of culture and all of everything around us is actually teaching us to do the exact opposite.

We live in a world that is so connected to algorithms and different things, because every time we get on a social media app or any other kind of app, they have people, experts who will come in and figure out how to give you exactly what you want so that you'll stay on the app, because they make money from it, and so, therefore, the longer that you stay there, the more money they get, and so it is actually trying to make it your way.

And the problem is is that if our relationship with God is weak, it's hard not to have what they call main character syndrome, and that is the idea of like, if you're watching a movie and you're the main character in the movie, and if our relationship with God is strong, it's easier to see people as more than side characters NPCs, right.

And actually it's easier to see people as more than side characters, npcs, right?

Actually see people as part of our life.

And if we're not careful, what we will many times do in our world, as we walk around our world, always expecting it to be our way, everyone to do it for us, and all this kind of stuff, and we wonder why life is so hard?

Because doesn't everybody know what I need?

Well, here's the thing If everybody's feeling that way, then that's why we're getting more and more isolated from one another and that's why it's so very hard to live this Christ life in our world.

Because if we're only looking at ourselves, jesus is saying you're missing so much joy because there's so many great things.

That happens when we see others.

So the question of the day is, according to Jesus, how does loving God help me to be a neighbor and see people?

And my hope for you this week is there's three things we're going to pull out of this passage today, and my hope is that you are winning at two out of three of these and that maybe there's one of them where you go I'm winning pretty good at that one, but I could probably take a next step and that this week that God will open your eyes and open my eyes so that we can see people, so that we can make a difference and that we will somehow find a way to look and to see, because there's a great thing that happens when we realize that because God loves me, because God is if I can say it this way and this is not right but if God is my neighbor, if he's working in my life and he sees me, then that opens up an opportunity for me to see somebody else.

And so the prayer I would ask for you to pray is Lord, help me see like you see.

So I want you to try that.

Say Lord, help me see like you see.

Say it, that was terrible, that was horrible.

It sounded like water rippling, right.

So let's do it later.

Help me see the way you see.

Try it again.

Help me see the way you see.

One more time, help me see, I'm going to find another one.

I'm going to find another one.

It is, it's a little complicated, but that's the point is, I want to be able to see people the way you see me, because I am important to God.

I'm important to a lot of other people, but because I'm important to God, it opens up.

Now, where I don't, you know I don't have to be important to you because I'm already important to the King.

Therefore, from a position of confidence, now I can step into my world looking to be somebody's miracle, because I've already received an amazing miracle from my King.

Here's, here's, three things that he teaches us, and that is this number one.

When we love God, he helps me see people who are hurting and I put in parentheses here it helps me see them differently, because we see hurting people all the time.

But he helps me to see people differently than what I would have.

So I actually see hurting people around me Because, once again, unintentionally, what we want to say is yeah, but who's going to see me?

But once you realize that God does see you and that God is working in your life, that then frees you to then go be his hands and feet into the world.

Because watch what happens.

Jesus tells this parable and he says there was a man traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits.

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

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

You notice that there's all kinds of people seeing this guy, but only one person had compassion.

The bandits saw him as an object to be taken advantage of.

There were two other people that saw him in another way We'll get to them in a moment.

And then the one that wasn't even supposed to see him despise Samaritan.

They hated each other.

They would have thought when he said despise Samaritan, that it was the Terminator coming to finish him off, but instead he actually had.

He saw him, but he saw him in a different way.

Even the people listening would have been amazed, because the road from Jerusalem down to Jericho is 17 miles and it was like almost straight downhill, full of curves and stuff, and it was extremely dangerous.

Even today it is still dangerous, because there's so many curves and things that people can actually hijack you even today, and so you had to be very, very careful.

And so, immediately when they heard this, they went well, he shouldn't have been there if he hadn't have been on this road.

So everybody's got an opinion, but what Jesus wants to highlight is the true neighbor went and saw him, recognized all the things that weren't right, but instead of seeing him as just bad, he had compassion on him, and the reality of it is is we begin to see him and realize this phrase hurting people hurt people, but healed people bring healing to people.

And the reality is is does it excuse bad behavior?

No, but it does explain it.

And what Jesus is encouraging us to do is he saw this guy.

He saw all the different things, but he realized there must've been a reason that I don't know why he was going to Jericho, but now he's hurting've been a reason that I don't know why he was going to Jericho, but now he's hurting.

And now that he's hurting, my job now is to try to find a way to do something.

I'm not saying that he should have been there.

I'm not saying that it was better, but I do see that hurting people hurt people.

Therefore, I'm not going to automatically assume that this guy was a fellow robber and they just got him first.

Instead, I don't know, that's God's business.

Instead, I'm going to have compassion on the guy and thank goodness that Jesus saw us that way.

Thank goodness that, when everybody else counted us out and nobody thought that we were worth it and nobody thought that people should pay attention to us, jesus was willing to love us that way, and our King Jesus teaches us how to see when not everybody else sees.

As a matter of fact, there's a story called Z in a tree.

If you've ever been to vacation Bible school, you know exactly what I'm talking about, cause there was a guy named Zacchaeus and he was a wee little man.

And a wee little man was he?

He wanted to see Jesus, but he had to climb a sycamore tree and I don't remember the rest of it.

Okay, but, but it's there.

And we used to say all the time and here's what happened is that Jesus was going through this town and all these people wanted to see Jesus, but Zacchaeus was shorter than everybody else and he was a tax collector, which meant nobody was going to help him.

They saw him and immediately assumed, because he was a tax collector, that he was a villain, that he was a tax collector, that he was a villain, that he was a thief and a robber, he was all the bad things I'm not going to help you.

And so he couldn't see.

And so finally, in order to try to see Jesus, he climbs up a tree, and if you all automatically assume that, then you would look at him and go.

I bet he's just trying to get the jump on Jesus.

He's been watching the WWE a little too much.

He's going to come off the top rope.

That's what he's probably going to do.

You know, that's immediately where probably some of these people are.

I'm sure they knew the WWE 2000 years ago.

It's fine, all right, and they're kind of going through that.

But here's the thing Jesus didn't go into that town looking for someone to love him.

He went into that town looking for someone to love.

And so while everybody else saw a villain, jesus saw somebody worthy of love.

And the Bible says Jesus went to him.

And I got to think is with a smile on his face.

He's like Zacchaeus get down from there, bro.

Why?

Because I'm going to go eat at your house today.

And then people started saying why are you going to that guy's house?

Do you not know who he is and not know what he's done?

Yeah, I know, I just figure he's somebody worth loving.

And the Bible said that when Zacchaeus, he realized who he was and what was going on, he said you know what?

I'm going to change everything.

I'm going to give back anything.

If I've stolen anything from anybody, I'm going to give them back.

I think it was four times what they have.

It completely changed everything, because finally somebody didn't see him through the mask of his worst mistakes or the things that he did, but saw him as someone to love.

And instead he ended up just completely changing everything, which in that way would have changed the entire community.

And Jesus said salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.

He wasn't what all you people thought he was, what I knew he could be, for the son of man came to seek and to save those who were lost.

And what culture wants to tell us is, they say if only people would understand and support me.

But what the kingdom of God says, how can I see others through the eyes of Jesus?

And so what culture will tell you, all the time is to focus on party of one team, me.

And I just wish, I just wish somebody, if somebody would understand me, if somebody would support me.

But Jesus says because you are loved, because you've never been more loved than you are right now, I can now empower you to then go, jesus, help me to see the world the way you see the world, and it's not full of a bunch of victims and villains, but it's full of a bunch of people that are ready to be loved.

And the reality is is the foundation of loving God.

From that foundation we see people not as bad but broken.

Thank goodness Jesus saw us that way, and the amazing thing is is that a mark of a disciple is all of Christ, of all of life and all of life.

And so then, once I love God, the next step is is now I can look up because I am so loved by God.

I don't have to go into my world looking for love, but it's from the love I've already received.

I get to go into the world going who can I love?

This week I'm going to be somebody's blessing this week.

Look at your neighbor and tell them to say we see people, we see people.

That's a lot easier to say and that's going to stay in your mind.

Okay, we see people, we see people.

We see people who are hurting and we realize they're hurting.

We realize that they may not be victim or a villain.

They just may be hurting and because I'm so loved by God, I can see them.

The second thing is is he helps us to see people who are inconvenient.

Now I put a little halo there.

For all of you who were just offended that I said that, pastor, people are not inconvenient, agreed, but you go ahead and polish your halo, we'll catch you up on point three, okay.

But for the rest of us who want to admit that we do love people, but, man, they're inconvenient.

No one asked my opinion before they have a crisis.

You know what I mean.

They don't check my schedule.

They have that crisis and you know what.

That's okay, because I don't ask their opinion when I decided to have a crisis, and so people are inconvenient.

But isn't it great that, because we're already loved by God, we can see people.

Because, notice, what happened was is he this poor, this poor guy?

We need to name him poor guy, poor soul?

Is there, half dead.

And then the Bible said oh, thank goodness, jesus tells him, a priest came along, praise the Lord.

That's like a pastor.

He'll help, surely, even if he has to wear a cat shirt doing it.

And when he saw the man lying there, he saw it.

But then he crossed over to the other side of the road and he passed him by.

But then a temple assistant or Levite walked over, looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

Now Jesus leaves this open, but in the culture of the time, the number one reason why these two people would have been traveling from Jericho to Jerusalem would have been because it was their turn to take care of the temple At that point.

There were so many priests they had to take turn over the course of the year, and so it's entirely possible that they were on their way to go to the temple, and if this guy looked half dead, it may very well have been that if they went and offered assistance and touched him, they would have been considered ceremonially unclean, so they couldn't fulfill their duty.

So he's like get out of the way.

I got to go serve Jesus.

Think about that for a moment.

But I'd love to help you, but I don't have time.

I would love to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but if you had have really scheduled it and it had have been on you know kind of the day when I was available, then it would have worked.

But and the reality of it is is, if we're none of y'all, none of y'all but only the people on this stage sometimes struggle with getting so busy with my life, I forget that the only reason why we're still here is to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

And the reality is is do we slow down to truly see people the way we hope Jesus see our way, hope they see us?

That shall marinate Like that's one of those you just want to sit down for a minute and so do we slow down to truly see people the way we hope they see us?

It could be a thousand examples.

Here's two of them.

Number one how many times do we post prayers but never actually stop to pray?

Say a lot, okay, all right.

And the reality is we mean that, but think about it and another way.

Think about it Like if you have a crisis and you post it on social media, do you want someone to say prayers and move on, or do you want them to stop and pray?

And we would Not bad, we're busy, but Jesus says, because you are so loved, what would it look like to reorganize your life in such a way that there's enough margin so that you can see people?

Here's one more, and that is we ghost people instead of talk it out.

Pastor, who hurt you?

I know, I know Nobody.

I'm dealing with this when it comes to my daughters right now.

One of them actually said I don't tell stories about them anymore.

So here's a story about my daughters.

Both of them have the spiritual gift of frustrating their father.

Okay, it's a gift, I guess, and what it is is so in my very old generation, when you contacted somebody, you appreciated a reply, you know.

And so I would say something like hey, I need you to do this, that and the other.

And so I would say something like, hey, I need you to do this, that and the other.

And then I would never hear anything.

I don't know if they're dead, I don't know if they've been raptured, I don't know what happened.

Did I miss it?

I don't know what's going on.

And then later I'm like hey, did you get that text message?

And I know that I did, because God love them.

They don't turn the way, I know, and they go yeah, yeah, I got it.

Well, why didn't you reply?

Well, I mean, I know what I was going to do.

Do you mind letting father know?

Conversation is a two-way street.

So, yes, I have been wounded.

This is my life group, okay, but here's the thing.

But we don't do it on purpose.

But how many times, just as an example.

Are we so much in a hurry?

We're so busy?

Well, I know.

Therefore, they ought to know.

How many times do we get offended because of those kinds of things?

Because we go into our world looking for love instead of realizing we've already received more love than we could ever imagine.

Therefore, from a place of being fully loved, fully known, fully significant, fully accepted, fully secure because we're in the arms of God, now we can step in the world to see people.

We can see people who are hurting.

We can see people who are sometimes inconvenient.

I don't do it for me, I do it to see other people around me.

A wonderful example of this would be a story in the Bible.

We're going to call it Jesus and the Inconvenient Woman.

What happened was is there was a guy named Jairus and his daughter was dying.

You think he wanted posted prayers.

You know?

No, he asked Jesus.

There were some people that were so cool.

They were like hey, jesus, you don't even have to come to my house, I know you've got all the power, just say it.

He's like no, no, no, I need you to come with me.

I believe in all of that stuff, but I need your hands to touch my daughter, can you please come with me?

And Jesus was like, of course.

And so there's a crowd already around him.

And so now a moving crowd is now going towards Jairus house because he is desperate.

And while he is there and he's doing that, a lady comes in and she knows Jesus is busy, she knows there's so many things going on, but she's desperate and she's like I don't even want to bother him.

He doesn't even have to know my name, but I know that if I can just touch the edge of his robe, he's so powerful.

If I can just touch the edge, I can be healed and I don't have to bother Jesus.

Can I just go ahead and stop and say you're never a bother to Jesus and he loves you more than you can imagine.

And the Bible said that she reached out and she touched.

She'd been that way for 12 years.

She reached out and touched the very edge of his robe.

Instantly was healed.

And watch what happened.

The Bible said that Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him.

So he turned around in the crowd and asked who touched my robe?

The disciples said to him look at the crowd pressing around you.

How can you ask who touched me.

But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.

And then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.

And he said daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace.

Your suffering is over.

In other words, he said you were right, your faith that brought you to me was the right choice.

You got it.

Go, baby girl, go do it.

Your suffering is now over.

This is while Jairus' daughter is dying.

You know, any good dad is like that's great Praise the Lord.

Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go.

That's what he's doing.

Jairus saw this lady as an obstacle to the mission.

The disciples probably saw her as a distraction to the mission.

Jesus saw that she was the mission.

Jesus has got enough power for her and for the daughter, and that's what we get the opportunity to be part of, because the reality of it is is, seeing people is not always convenient for us, but it might mean everything to somebody else.

It might mean everything that we get to be somebody else's miracle.

That's the joy that's behind it, and so the world teaches us to say other things, but what God teaches us is from the foundation of our love for him.

We see people as worthy of our inconvenience.

Because I'm so thankful that Jesus was not.

He did not think of us as an inconvenience, but instead he came to this earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose again on the third day and would happily do it again for you.

And then he says because you are loved that much, go show that to other people.

And that's why you want to know what it is to have.

All of Christ and all of life is that we love God.

And then, from loving God, we step into our world, not looking for somebody to love me, but looking for somebody to love, because I have already been and am currently being loved by God.

And can I tell you, if we started to see the world like that, we go from seeing the world as a place of victims and villains and somehow we're gonna find our way.

But it becomes one adventure after another.

Who can I see a miracle happen to?

Today?

I'm going to be somebody's blessing.

I'm going to do something to somebody today that's going to make their day better If my my complete you know, my complete mission today is to double someone's joy, cut their sorrow in half.

Why?

Because that's what Jesus is doing to me every single day and I want to show them what God's already doing in my life.

Somebody say amen.

The rest of you say, oh me, I was just wondering.

I was just wondering, all right, yeah.

Then we see people.

We see people who are hurting, we see people who are inconvenient.

And then here's my favorite, and maybe it is yours too, and that is that we see people as an opportunity.

They were asking Jesus what does it mean to see a neighbor Like what is it who's going to be my neighbor?

And he said no, no, you're thinking about it completely wrong.

Actually, it's the other way around, that you can see people who are hurting, you can see people when it seems inconvenient, and then every single person you come in contact with is another opportunity to show love to somebody.

And look at what he did.

He used the Samaritan.

He said a despised Samaritan came along and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him and, going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them, and then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn and then he said take care of them Next day.

He said he gave him anything left.

I got it.

And so Jesus is saying this is what it looks like to truly be a neighbor to somebody else is that we stand in that gap and we do everything, we know how to do.

And then he says later he says go and do likewise.

And so, as we kind of finish our message, we want to get really, really practical and say this week, my prayer for you is that you go be the hands and feet of Jesus, and that somebody will say and I wish they say it exactly like this I go say I bet you're from the kingdom of God.

Wouldn't it be great and be like how?

Because the way you see people, the way that I know you got stuff going on in your life.

I know that your life is a mess, I know you got things that's going on, but the way you let God do that and the way you step into the lives of other people, I can tell you must be from the kingdom of God.

Well, here's the thing, though we got to make sure we say before we talk about this, and I'm going to say this and I don't know if anyone else will say this to you, but I love you, so I'm going to say this and that is that there has to be, though, a balance and boundaries with how you see people, because some people are so broken, no amount of giving will ever be enough.

Remember, we're not seeing them as bad, we see them as broken, and they're so broken that, no matter how much you give, there is a bottomless pit on the inside of them that can only be filled by God.

But until God fills it, they will allow you to, and you have to be very careful with that.

The second thing is is that the enemy will try to make you feel guilty for not having done enough, and so if he can't pull you, he'll push you, and so you have to be careful to find that balance in there, and so you know how to help people and to see people, but do it with healthy boundaries and with healthy balance, and so let's follow the example that Jesus gave.

Jesus said that he did three things.

Here's the first thing is how is that?

He said we see others, we go into our world not looking to be seen, but we look to see.

It said that he came along and when he saw the man he felt compassion for him.

So he went into the world.

He purposed in his heart.

When I see someone, I want to see the way Jesus sees.

The second thing he did is that he challenges us to do what.

We can Notice how.

He said that the man soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine.

That would have been something he would have had with him, that would have used.

The olive oil would have disinfected or, excuse me, soothed the wound.

The wine would have disinfected it, bandaged them, put the man on his own donkey, his own truck, you know, and then took him to the local hotel and he took care of him.

You know what he didn't do.

He didn't immediately become, you know, chuck Norris or John Wick or whatever superhero that you like, and went.

Okay, you stay right here, sir.

Which way did you say the bandits went?

You know he didn't do that.

That wasn't his job.

His job was to do what he could do, and he's like I can't do everything, but I can do something.

And he went and helped him in the way that he could.

And then here's the third one, and that is then he provided next steps for him.

That means that you don't necessarily have to become that person's helper for the rest of your natural life, because you don't have those kinds of resources, but instead we don't just help them once and then and then move on.

But okay, how can I then connect you to something that will then continue to help you move forward?

Because it's not about a single act.

It's about trying to be part of their life being changed, and so you put them in a position so then they can take next steps from there.

That is a balanced way to do.

That is that we try to see others, we do what we can, and then we provide next steps for them so they can continue to get better in whatever way that is.

And then what happens is is then you get to see them flourish and see them thrive, and to realize God used you to be a miracle in somebody else's life, and it's an amazing thing.

And the reason, one of the reasons why we do this and this is how Jesus always connects it back again to our relationship with him is he's telling a parable in a scripture you're going to read this week, and it reminds us why this is such a beautiful thing, and so if you're, if you're reading God's word with us.

We're in the book of Matthew, and isn't it amazing how quickly you can get through Matthew when you're reading a chapter a week instead of a passage every five months, right, yeah, absolutely, if you've been here a while, you know what I'm talking about.

If you'd like to read the Bible with us, you can text RLCBIBLE to 94000 or scan that QR code.

And we're reading through the book of Matthew right now.

And what is amazing is, as we are reading, we're getting toward the end of the book of Matthew and Jesus is just telling all these parables about the kingdom of God and how amazing it is and how wonderful it is.

And then he tells this this parable that's like part parable, part exactly how it's going to happen, and he says this he says when the son of man comes in his glory and all the nations are gathered in his presence, then the King will say to those on his right come, you, who are blessed by my father in heaven, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you fed me.

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.

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

I was naked and you gave me clothing.

I was sick and you cared for me.

I was in prison and you visited me.

Then the righteous ones will reply Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink, or a stranger and show you hospitality, or naked and give you clothing?

When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink, or a stranger and show you hospitality, or naked and give you clothing?

When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?

And then look at this, jesus said.

The King will say I tell you the truth.

When you did it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me.

So he's saying is is that when you see people and you do it as an act of worship, it's a beautiful thing and it's just the same as if you do it to me.

But then on the other side, he looks at these other people and he said where were you?

I was naked, you didn't clothe me, I was sick and you didn't come and help me.

I did this, I needed you.

Where were you?

And they said wait a minute, king.

What do you mean?

We never saw you sick, we never saw you hurting.

And he said when you did not do it for the least of these, it was as if you left me out in the cold.

And so it's a strong warning, but an amazing blessing to realize that nothing we ever do for God is ever in vain.

I love that we get to worship here on Sunday, but we worship seven days a week.

By how we live our lives and how we see people every single day.

And, as a matter of fact, jesus said that as he was having his last meal with his disciples.

He actually said do you know how they're going to know that you're mine?

It's not going to be because of the buildings that you build.

It's not going to be because of the buildings that you build.

It's not going to be because of the things that you do.

It's not going to be because of any of that stuff.

Do you want to know how the world is going to look at you?

And they're going to say you must be from the kingdom of God.

He said it like this.

He said I am giving you a new commandment Love one another.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

He said you know how people are going to know where you're from.

It's going to be because when they see the way you don't give up on each other, when they see the way you forgive one another, when they see the way you just stand in that gap and you and you just constantly just say I'm never going to give up on you, I'm going to keep on reaching out to you.

I'm never.

I'm going to keep on reaching out to you.

I'm never.

I'm going to do everything I can.

You may walk away, but I'm not going to walk away.

I'm going to do everything I can.

When they see that, they'll go.

Where did you get that?

From Jesus, I know you must be from him, because that's exactly what Jesus would do.

And can I tell you, though, if you decide to live that life, if you decide to live that from from the foundation of loving God, I'm going to step into seeing people.

You're going to be different, because we live in a world that does not celebrate that.

It celebrates when you focus on yourself.

It celebrates when you try to step over everybody else.

It celebrates when you go viral and you do all those different things and I know that in the right spaces, in the right places.

There's balance there, but that's what it celebrates.

But Jesus said I did not come into this world to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.

And what would it look like as a church if we valued that?

Number one we love God.

And number two we live our life to see people, not from a place of emptiness but from a place of.

I have been so loved by God.

Have you seen my Jesus?

Have you seen how amazing he is?

Have you seen how he loves us and what he does and how he provides for us?

And out of the confident love that God has given me, now, with confidence, I step into my world, not looking to be seen, but because I have already been seen, I'm looking to see who.

Can I be a miracle to today?

It reminds me of a story you probably heard it.

It's about a grandfather and a grandson who are walking down a beach at sunset and the tide was coming in.

And as the tide was coming in, all these little starfish were being washed up on the seashore and as they were walking and kind of talking to, as they were going along, the grandfather would pick up a starfish and look at it and throw it back in the water and they'd keep going and do that and just kept going and the grandson finally said grandfather, what are you doing?

You're wasting your time.

There's hundreds of these starfish out here.

You're not making a difference, they're all you know.

You can't save all of them.

Grandfather picked up one and kind of washed it off.

He said you're right, you can't save all of them.

And the grandfather picked up one and kind of washed it off.

He said you're right, but do you think this one thinks as happy?

I tried one more time.

He said I bet for him it made all the difference.

And the reality is God has not called any one of us to change the world.

He has called each of us to walk into our world looking to make a difference, each of us to walk into our world looking to make a difference.

And what I believe is that if I do my part, if you do your part, if you do your part, god can change the world, but he's not going to change it through big moments.

I think he's going to change it through everyday faithfulness of going into our world saying who can I be a miracle for today?

In just a moment, the band's going to lead us in a song of worship, and I don't know.

For some of you, this is your life, this is what you live, you love this.

This is how you see the world, because you know what God has done, and so maybe for you, during this time, the prayer time is just simply going to be God, help me stay faithful, help me to not let the jadedness of dealing with broken situations, help me to keep my heart pure.

Maybe that's your prayer.

Maybe you're in here and if you're honest, you would say pastor, I want to, but I've been hurt so many times.

I don't know if I have anything left to give.

What can I tell you?

Maybe that needs to be your prayer God, heal me of all of those things so that I can love people more.

I don't know how you need to take this next step, but I can tell you there's nothing more wonderful than being somebody else's miracle.

And before we pray, I wanna maybe talk to somebody else that maybe you're in here and you don't know Jesus, and I keep talking about the idea of that because we are so loved by God.

Now we can step into our world and you're going.

Wait a minute, I don't know that I am loved by God, but can I be the next person to tell you you've never been more loved than you are right now that God's not mad at you, he's in love with you.

He did all that he did.

He died on the cross, he rose again.

He did that for your salvation and it's from that position that he wants you to go into all the world.

But if you don't have that relationship with God, today's your day that you can take all that, and you can take it to the cross and say Jesus, I'm so sorry for living life my way.

I want to live life your way.

I want to repent of my sin.

That's what salvation is.

And on the back of your connect card we talked about earlier is the plan of salvation.

And during the time of worship that's coming up, your next best step, your next best act of worship, is to give your life to Jesus.

And in just a moment, when we have everyone stand and we're singing our song of worship, I want to encourage you to stand up from where you are.

I want you to walk back to the prayer table and tell them I want to know Jesus and it would be our honor to walk with you as you enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself said the only way I can describe it is like being born again, that you go from knowing about the love of God to experiencing him for yourself.

Whatever next step you need to take to get ready to get in our time of worship, let's take next steps with Jesus this morning.

Let's pray right now.