Love God-Love People

Good morning.

Well, I don't know how to follow that.

I uh because you can't.

I mean, there's there's nothing like uh worship that comes from a thankful heart.

And uh I just know the Holy Spirit's gonna keep flowing and give us each something from his word that that we know is our own, and it's gonna make a a difference in in our lives.

Um if it's your first time here, just want you to know we're really glad that uh that you're here.

Hope you can tell you can just relax and and be yourself.

Um actually we're all glad everyone's here.

You know, it's just great to be uh together.

Groups and classes are starting on February 6th.

I've got to get out of my uh worship mode and into my being able to think and talk mode here.

So it may take a while, but uh but we've got a great uh um session coming up of groups and classes.

We do that in the spring.

It's it's in February and um in March.

It's uh another step we can take.

You know, last week we talked about steps, it's another step we can take to make great friends and and draw closer to God.

I want to tell you about them um real quick.

There's these flyers out in in uh the lobby, and probably both sides as you leave, it's gonna have all the um information, and you can also get on the website and email any of the uh the folks leading the classes and uh and get more information.

First of all, uh perhaps most important for some is there's child care uh on Wednesday nights.

Um it's for ages three months uh through fifth grade, and we have something for for every age, and even in those uh uh younger ages in child care.

Though uh there'll be something um uh meaningful, a God uh thing for them.

The uh did I say they start February, March 6th?

That's a week from Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Um we got a great guys group.

This is just uh a super group of men.

And uh last year uh went through a beautiful outlaw, great book by uh John Elridge, and and this year it's another book by John L.

Elridge.

It's a video um series, and it's uh called Walking with God.

And uh so it's getting together, uh watching the videos together, and then breaking into groups and and uh praying and and uh and just being together.

So it's a great group for the men.

Uh the women's group are uh doing 40 days to a joy-filled life.

It's a book by Tommy Newberry.

This is uh a great book that we'll probably talk about uh sometime later on in the year.

It's kind of become meaningful uh to um Susan and I.

She's gone through this uh book with a group and the whole worship team is going through it together uh right now.

It'll be just a great experience for any of the women that want to get together.

And and and again, you'll make great friends, and and you will by the end of March, you guaranteed you'll have more joy um in your life.

Junior High group, uh this is gonna be a cool group.

Ben Sykes is leading the junior high uh sixth through eighth graders.

Um it's eight weeks through the entire Bible, and uh it's gonna be fast-paced and it's gonna be awesome and just a great overview of uh of God's Word.

And high school students, your week has got her kicking off the high school group actually this Wednesday night.

And it's gonna be a great night of uh of worship together.

And if you're in high school and haven't uh been part of the high school group, these are the best students.

And uh you'll just get to know God and you'll make great friends.

Um so come this Wednesday night at uh at 7 o'clock.

Uh we have an art group.

God's blessed us so much, just have so much creativity uh here, and God is you know creativity itself, and so to see that flow through through different people and and Marlon, who's done a lot of the art around the building uh so uh generously uh leads this group.

You don't need to have any um experience, um you don't even have to have any perceived ability.

You can just uh just come and be with the group and and learn how to paint, but really, I mean it it's it's really also just worshiping God through the creativity that that He's given us.

And so that's that's a great group.

The Freedom from Addiction Group is a great group.

You know, Dallas was talking about just uh shame and hiding and and uh addictions are definitely one of those things.

And there really is there there's there's no more shame with Jesus, you know, he just wants to heal us, and it's no different than any other need.

And so whether it's it's you know drinking, meth, cocaine, prescription drugs, you know, whatever it is, I promise you you can get free and and just have a whole new life.

Um Mike Mamone leads that group.

And if you're not sure, and and you've you've maybe given it a shot a bunch of times and just feel like like you can't get free from whatever that is, um go on our website and click God's stories and then watch Mike's God story.

And you will see that if you just with God's help and and and following what Mike says, I mean, you will definitely get free from any addiction that's that's holding you back.

Uh we talked about Financial Peace University last uh week.

It's Dave Ramsey's course.

It's a life changer.

I mean, it's if if most of us at different times have had financial stress in our lives.

I know Susan and I have experienced uh that uh greatly.

And and this again is a step that we can take where you can just learn to look at money really more than even manage it.

It's how we look at it uh God's way, and specific steps, you know, and in managing it.

But uh it this is the only one that has really any costs attached.

It's a hundred dollars that goes for the materials to Financial Peace University, but you'll get that hundred dollars back like within weeks, just as you look at at money differently.

And uh if for some reason that hundred dollars is what would keep you from being able to uh do this course, please uh let someone at the signup table know.

And uh often there's scholarships or part scholarships um to help with that.

And then uh Bill Thrasher is uh is leading a uh group uh this time, and it is a great study.

It's on the the last, it's an eight-week study on the last week uh before the crucifixion.

So it's a great time of year because it kind of leads up right to um Easter.

In fact, probably the last class is the Wednesday before um Easter.

But I've got to be in this class some, and I mean it it is uh phenomenal.

And if you have any, like if you have doubts about God, is God real?

Is is the Bible really God's Word, this would be a great class to go to because when you see the intricacy of the planning and how it all, every little detail goes together um in that late last week of Jesus' life.

It it's it's really incredible.

The you don't have to sign up for any of the the groups except for Financial Peace University, so they can prepare us um with the with the supplies.

And uh, if you want more information, go on the website and you can just send an email uh to whoever's leading the group.

And again, that starts Wednesday, February um 6th.

Uh haven't mentioned giving in a few weeks, and I wanted to mention that.

You know, we don't pass the plate, and so really more as a reminder, one of the things that uh we're doing as a group that I think is exciting is we're kind of stepping out in faith because we know we have uh needs and and just like everybody.

But uh but we've decided that together we're gonna give 15% of all of our giving to uh to three ministries.

Uh the uh Cherokee Center for Fi Family Violence, which uh provides help and and um and housing for women and and children that are in an abusive situation, um for the Hope Center, which helps uh babies and and uh moms in crisis pregnancies, and then uh you know just further on uh in their lives in the Papa's Pantry, which uh provides uh food and uh and also a track to uh with job training to get out uh of a situation that kind of long-term uh help.

And so the first uh really check that we're gonna give them is is after this month, and this is the last week in the month.

And it'll just be so exciting to to give uh them some financial help that's really gonna make a difference.

But beyond that, I know that you know when you're leading ministries like that, those are hard ministries.

And and it's it's lonely, and um I know it means so much to them to have a group like us, you know, with them.

You know, we're not only gonna help them financially, we're gonna have some volunteer opportunities, and we're going to share the building in in different ways, and it's really gonna be a great thing.

And ultimately, the greatest thing is that there's gonna be a lot of people in real uh crisis um and pain in our community that we're gonna be able to help uh together with them.

And so uh you can give in the back or online, and thank you for that.

So let's pray.

Father, thanks for being such a great God, uh, for loving us, adopting us as your children.

Holy Spirit, thank you for for being our comforter, you know, our counselor, uh, for teaching us.

And I just asked this morning that you would give each of us something from your word, that we would all go away saying, you know, that was for me.

That's gonna make a difference uh in my life.

And so we praise you for that.

And Jesus, we just thank you for saving us, for for uh being our friend, for showing us what love really looks like.

That's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So we're kind of at the start of a new year, we're we're kicking the year off right, kind of taking a broad look at some different things.

We we started with what is, I think, one of the most important interactions in in the history of the world, really, uh in the Bible, and that's the the interaction in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, who had a friendship with God and walked with God, and God wanted them just to eat and to live at this tree of life.

But there was this forbidden fruit that is so often we forget what it was.

But the the fruit was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the deception was that if we can just learn all the rules, if we can get together on Sunday and talk about what to do and what not to do, then we can become godly.

We can become godlike.

But the truth is, of course, that we can't do that.

We don't have that in us, and so first we have to have a relationship with the living God.

And so God gives us all the opportunity now, that's what Jesus did, to get back to the tree of life and to get into relationship uh with him, and then let him change us and let his uh life flow through ours.

And later on we'll talk about just a couple practical things about developing a relationship with God.

And then two weeks ago, just Justin shared uh one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament.

It's Elisha and and Jehoash, and it's kind of a strange story, which is part of why I like it.

But he has them shoot uh Elisha has Jehoash shoot an arrow through um a window, and and they were in this battle, and so that signified a battle.

Then he gave um Jehoash uh a group of arrows and told him to strike the ground, and he did it three times, and and Elisha was so frustrated because God was gonna do more.

He was gonna do more if he had just uh struck the ground more times and really believed in what God could do in his life and in uh their nation's um situation.

And so that was it.

It's just that we've got a big God, and there's always more.

There's more for us in our relationship with God, there's more for us in our relationships with with uh each other.

And then last week we kind of talked about how uh we get to the more, the you know, the bigger things, and and we looked at the parable of the mustard seed and how uh Jesus taught that that big things start with uh small seeds or small steps and um taking action.

And we have a big God, and so he can turn those small things that we do into big changes uh in our lives and and and big hopes and dreams and and um all that.

And so today we're gonna look at another parable, and it is, I think, probably the most famous parable that uh that Jesus taught.

Um, you know, much of what Jesus did is is uh famous, but this one's famous uh for a great reason, and it has kind of a profound message, and it has a practical message, and I think it's just the perfect way for us uh to to really get ready for the rest of this new year.

And Jesus tells this story, it's in response to a question.

It's in Luke 10.

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?

And just in that one verse, we can s really understand what the what the situation is.

First, it's it's a group of people.

Um the um the person, the expert in religious law, I mean, he would be to us maybe a um a head of the Bible department at a seminary, you know, or or maybe a senior pastor with a doctorate in theology.

It'd be somebody that really is an expert in uh in religion and the law.

Now in Middle Eastern times or in Jesus' time, uh a student would um uh show respect to a teacher by standing to ask the question.

And so this is a little different because what we see happens is this this person who could be the student stands, but he treats Jesus not like the teacher, but he treats Jesus like the student because he actually is testing Jesus.

Um, we see that the question itself is flawed.

I mean, what can anyone do to inherit anything?

You know, an inheritance is by its very nature a gift.

And usually it flows through a uh a family um situation or family relationship, I should say.

Um and so when a humble person came and asked Jesus a question, most often Jesus responded directly, you know, with love and with forgiveness and and with help, with uh help.

When a when a self-righteous religious person asked Jesus a question, Jesus most often responded with a question.

And see, both of those are loving.

Jesus loved this religious expert as much as everyone else.

Um and so someone who's humble and knows that they're in need, that's what they need.

For a self-righteous religious person, what Jesus needed to do was kind of shock them into a need, you know, help them see that they needed God too.

And that was the loving thing uh for for him to do.

And so Jesus replied, What does the law of Moses say?

How do you read it?

The man answered, 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.

Right, Jesus told him, Do this and you will live.

Love God, love people.

That kind of sums it up.

You know, this man probably heard Jesus teach this before, because he had taught this before now, and that uh loving God and loving people summed up all of the law and the prophets.

Um so that wasn't the test.

The test from from the teach from the experts uh yet to come.

But it's interesting in the law that these were given in the reverse order.

Um remember the tree of knowledge and good and evil?

The uh the lie was that we can be like God if you just tell us what to do, if we just know what to do, then we can become godly ourselves.

And so God gave the law.

That's what came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It's it's the law.

Okay, here you go.

Here's the rules.

Go at it.

And so he gave the second part um first.

And so in the book of Leviticus, it says to love our neighbor as ourself.

It's later in Deuteronomy that it says to love God with all your heart, mind, soul.

You know, the whole law teaches us that we can't do it on our own.

And um and so Jesus comes and he sets things straight.

You know, and he puts it in the proper order, the the order God originally intended at the tree of life.

That we first connect with God.

Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

You can't do anything apart from me.

And so the proper order is we love, well, first God loves us, we love him, and then that love can flow into other people.

And so this expert's probably heard this, and he gives the right answer.

Then he goes right back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

So you see what he's doing here is he wants to know the rules so he can justify himself, so he can say, I'm good enough.

The law says I have to love my neighbor, okay.

Well then who specifically is my neighbor?

What's the rule on that?

And it's a never-ending rule or never-ending progression of rules that we think leads to godliness.

And if Jesus had answered the question the way the expert thought, if he'd said, you know, who's my neighbor?

He said, All those around you.

There would be another question.

It would be like, Well, do you mean the Jewish people or pagan people?

You know, if it's the Jewish people, then it'd be like, well, what if they've got a family?

Should their family not help them first?

It would just be this constant of progression of rules.

And that's what happened until they got so far that they were tithing just the smallest of herbs as they defined all the rules.

And so we're blessed enough to live in the buckle of the Bible belt, and the same thing happens all the time.

You know, God created us in it in His image, He has a plan and a purpose for our lives.

Um, but a life-giving, transforming relationship is a supernatural um thing.

It's so much easier to come up with the rules.

You know, what we can wear, what we can drink or not drink, what movies to see, what books to read, you know, dance or no dance.

You know, why give generously when we can just demand a strict 10% like the old law did?

And there are, of course, ways that God wants us to live, ways that that are healthy and help us fulfill uh all that God has for us.

But that flows out of a relationship, out of the tree of life, not out of the rules and religion and all that.

And um, and that relationship can be formed or can be summed up by loving God and loving people.

And so this expert's wanting clarification.

Okay, who is my neighbor?

And Jesus replied with a story.

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 besides the road.

Okay, the people that are listening to this are gonna have an immediate reaction.

You know, to us we know the story.

We've heard the story, and it's it's it's it's a story, but but but this is their land, this is you know their area.

They're gonna have a mental picture and um and an immediate reaction.

For one thing, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho is notorious as one of the most dangerous roads um in the area.

It's 20 miles uh from Jerusalem to Jericho, it's steeply downhill.

Jerusalem is about 2,500 feet above sea level.

Um the road uh goes down into the Rift Valley and it's steep and it just winds around kind of like uh Wolf Penn Gap if you ride a motorcycle and ever been on that um road.

But it's very dangerous, not because of the road itself as much, as there are so many places for uh thieves and bandits uh um to hide.

And this particular stretch of road, Jerusalem to Jericho, has been infamous for danger really through throughout history.

Even today, parts of that road, uh it's recommended you don't travel on it without a military escort.

And so they'd have a picture of that's that road, what that looks like.

Uh there's this man um traveling.

You know, small aside is in the culture at that time, if someone was robbed and didn't resist, I mean, it was rare that anyone would be beaten.

Um and so this person is inferred that he fought and probably uh fought hard, but uh but was overwhelmed and was beaten and left half dead on the side of the road.

And 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.

Now the priests were kind of the upper class of that day.

They were they were wealthy, they had kind of a combined religious and political power, at least within the the Jewish um population.

And so the priest was a big deal, and he would have had an entourage, and he'd have been riding a donkey, and people with him would have been riding um donkeys, and and they could have fairly easily transported this man um down to safety.

But only Jesus could tell a story like this.

I mean, he is.

He is so cool.

Because the expert in law would know that the story Jesus told puts this um priest in a quandary.

See, if the beaten man was a law-abiding Jew, the priest was required by law to help him.

But the way they identified themselves and who they belonged to and all that was by their clothes.

And so this guy was naked.

He was beaten and naked, and so the priest would have no way to tell.

And so if the priest went over and touched him, checked on him, and he were dead, the priest would be ceremoniously unclean according to the law.

And so he would have to return to Jerusalem and go through a week-long purification ceremony.

If he were a foreigner and he touched him, and he later died according to the law, he would have to tear his garments, uh, which could break another law against the destruction of property.

And that seems like a small thing in this context, but actually everything was a big thing.

And so uh there's another law.

And so the priests did the safe thing.

He just rode on.

And so a temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there.

But he also passed by on the other side.

Um the temple assistants were were from the tribe of Levi.

Uh they are most known for inventing blue jeans.

Um see, I know that's stupid.

I mean, I wrote it down, I thought that's stupid.

This morning I thought it's stupid.

Just now I thought that's stupid.

So we need a group for people that say stupid things, and I'll I'll be in it.

Um but but these temple assistants, they they worked in the temple, and they were really the middle class um in their culture.

You know, this man was uh walking, but he too is in a quandary, the way Jesus tells the story.

I mean, what's he gonna do?

He's an assistant to the priest, probably the priest that just came through.

So is he gonna second guess the priest's interpretation of the law?

I mean, is he gonna take this man into town and make the priest look bad?

So he just keeps walking.

And so we all know the story, and so what comes next is not a shock to us, but it would be a huge shock to the Jewish audience that Jesus is talking to.

And we talked about this parable four years ago, and and one thing I'm probably even more aware of uh now is just the attitude and the anger between the Jewish people and the Samaritans.

You know, it's not different than uh parts of the Middle East today.

You know, some Iranians, deep hatred towards uh towards uh Jewish people.

I mean, just think of an American going walking through Yemen or uh you know parts of Afghanistan or Pakistan, what the what the level of hatred and um and attitude is.

And there was a long history between the Jewish people and the Samaritans.

About a hundred, well, it started with the Syrians and um and Jewish people intermarrying.

And the Samaritans kind of had a combination of both as uh as their faith.

And uh they were they were mixed between uh Judaism and paganism, and still are um today.

And about 150 years before Jesus' talking, they had built the temple and on Mount Gerizim, and it it so infuriated the Jewish people that they stormed the mountain, they destroyed the temple, they destroyed um the entire city.

And it was such a deeply held attitude, this this hatred really for uh the Samaritans, that it was even held by the disciples, by Jesus' disciples.

We're reading from Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Um, shortly before this, at the very end of Luke chapter 9, uh there's this uh encounter.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

So he sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival.

But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem.

Again, that's the Samaritan versus Jewish conflict.

Now, when James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?

That was the disciples' attitude towards the Samaritans.

And that wouldn't change really until later the Holy Spirit transforms them, and it does change.

Um but Jesus turned and rebuked them.

So they went on to another village.

And one last small thing is just that the Jewish people, especially the religious leaders, were trained to think in logical patterns.

And so this story has a logical pattern to it.

And so it's priest comes along, assistant to the priest comes along, devout Jewish person comes along.

And so they're thinking ahead, and they would know what this is.

And so when Jesus says, then a, there's they're already filling in, devout Jewish person.

And Jesus says, then a despised Samaritan came along.

And when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.

Okay, so we know the story, but Jesus really just blew their minds.

A Samaritan came along.

But the Samaritan, Jesus said, had compassion.

And this is probably the key word in this entire story that Jesus tells.

Um, compassion.

Because compassion is part of the very nature of Jesus.

In Matthew 9, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

In Matthew 14, Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

In Mark 1, a man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed.

If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean, he said.

Moved with compassion.

Jesus reached out and touched him.

That is a small thing, but a big deal to the person with leprosy.

Never been touched, probably in years.

So Jesus reaches out, moved with the compassion, touches him.

I am willing, he said, Be healed.

Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.

Jesus says in Luke 6, you must be compassionate, just as your father is compassionate.

In Luke 7, a funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate.

The young man who had died was a widow's only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.

When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion.

Don't cry, he said.

And then he walked over to the coffin and he touched it, and the bearers stopped.

Young man, he said, I tell you, get up.

Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk.

And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

You know, when Jesus tells a story of the prodigal son, you know, God is the father, and man or woman, we are all the sons in this story.

It says, so he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming.

Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Compassion is how Jesus describes the good Samaritan.

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.

So the oil was used as an ointment then.

The wine would be an antiseptic, so he would clean and dress his wounds, and then he put him on his own donkey, meaning that this man was gonna walk, and the injured man was gonna ride.

And one part of the story that I really had had always missed, but would be obvious to the people that are hearing this story, is there's no ends on the road to Jericho.

You know, it's a steep, dangerous mountain road.

Um this man, the Samaritan man, was taking the beaten man all the way into Jericho, a Jewish city where they hate Samaritans.

So 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.

Okay, so helping him, risking his life to go into enemy territory, if you will, is uh, you know, it raises the bar, but then he spends money.

You know, he shares his money, he pays in advance for everything that the man needs, and then promises to come back and settle up for good.

And so this is just a beautiful example of compassion and how compassion, like love, is not an emotion.

You know, it it's it requires action for it to matter at all.

You know, it interrupts our plans, it costs time and money, um, but it does change lives.

The compassionate person and the person that's being helped.

You know, in this case, the Samaritan, his compassion interrupted his trip.

Um, it created personal risk as he took the person to Jericho.

It cost him time and it cost him money, but it saved this beaten man's life.

So now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?

Jesus asked.

So Jesus re-asked the question, and it's a subtle difference, but it's it's it's a huge difference.

The religious asks, the relig the religious expert asked, Who is my neighbor?

Jesus asked, Who was a neighbor to this man?

You know, it's a difference between law and life.

Who do I have to help change to who needs my help?

And the man replied, the one who showed him mercy.

So this Jewish person couldn't even bring himself to say the word Samaritan.

Um, but he can't deny the obvious answer, and so he says, the one who showed him mercy.

And then Jesus said, Yes, now go and do the same, be a neighbor.

And it's a story that we call uh the good Samaritan.

And so when we think about 2013, you know, if we can receive God's love and love him back and let that love overflow into compassion, it's gonna be a great year.

Susan read something to me from a book uh a few nights ago, and uh she's a night person, I'm a morning person.

So so late at night she reads things and then either wakes me up to tell me or um or uh just just tells me, and I'm like, thank you, hon.

But um but I woke up on this one, it's still a loose um paraphrase, but there the author in the book was asking the question.

It was simply when did Christianity become such an intellectual pursuit?

And it's a great question because Jesus did not come and give his life to establish a belief system where scholarship and knowledge is somehow the ultimate goal.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians, but while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.

See, he came so we could get back in relationship with our Abba Father, our Daddy Father, to be loved first, and then to love others.

In Ephesians 2 it says, For we are God's masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

And so that's a practical and potentially life-changing truth.

Um, because really we only have joy, or at least a certain type of joy, when we're noticing others and having compassion and helping.

And so we can spend a lot of time.

This was a big frustration of mine for years, and it might be for someone here, but it's what is my purpose?

You know, I know God's got a plan and a purpose for me, but but what is it?

Would you not show me, please?

I want to get on with whatever it is you have for me.

And Susan shared a message, uh, it's been a few years now.

Um, it's one of the best I've heard.

And it it's, I'm sure, out there on podcasts and and with CDs at the at the source, but the message was, What is my purpose?

And the bottom line is to love God and to love others.

See, we can all step into our purpose with God.

We don't need to keep asking and wondering.

We can step into our purpose with God today.

Sometimes we have a gift from God, and so we think that that is our purpose, to use this gift for God.

But a lot of times he won't even let us use that gift until he teaches something else that he has for us.

And we all have different roles and we have different seasons in our lives.

But we all, each of us, share the exact same purpose.

Love God and love people.

I can relate to uh this expert in religious law that was grilling Jesus.

You know, Susan and I were raised in a group that uh was pretty legalistic, and we happened, it happened to be a group that felt like we had found the pure theology and everybody else had it wrong.

And so we spent a lot of time, I spent a lot of time, just arguing about the smallest doctrinal things that could never help anybody with anything.

And so when we found out that we could have a relationship with God, I mean it was like getting out of prison.

In fact, I was thinking that when we sang the very first first song, um, you know, every little prison, and and it was like getting out of prison, just the freedom and and and the joy and the and even I just the energy from God, and it was just so exciting.

And um, and so Susan for several years developed her relationship with God in different ways, but one way is was she kind of called herself God's secret agent.

And and she would get up and she would just uh on most days ask God, what do you want me to do?

Who do you want me to help?

And it was amazing the situations she would encounter, you know, all the time.

It could be small things, it could be a waitress that just needed uh encouraged, or it could be someone that needed tangible uh help in some way, it could be uh a ministry that that she got involved with.

I mean, she'd be the first on the scene at a car wreck and and um encountered a man whose best friend had just uh drowned, um getting golf balls out of the lake on on the golf course.

And it was just all these things.

But through that, she developed this relationship and hearing from God where where she would know you know who she was supposed to talk to and when she was supposed um to pursue something.

Um one of the things we talk about a lot, or I talk about a lot, is this difference between religion and rules.

Is I mean, this is so important to God and such an opportunity for us, but the difference between that and real relationship.

And so I'm really going to be purposeful this year about talking about how we can develop that relationship.

And so it's not this nebulous thing.

I want a relationship with God, is well, how does that happen?

How do we develop this relationship?

How do we learn to hear Him?

Because the relationship really with God is just like any other relationship that we have.

You know, we talk, uh, we listen, we share.

Over time, we get more transparent, you know, and kind of share the real us, and we talk about hopes and dreams and fears and frustrations.

You know, a great point in our relationship is when we express our frustrations with God, to God.

Um, but asking who can I help today is a great way to learn to hear God's voice.

And it's different for everybody.

See, you know, we're all created differently, uh with great care and great love.

And so God's gonna speak to us differently.

You know, it might be through a song, or it might be through a dream, or or it might be just this strong impression that we know that that's God telling us something.

It might be like a physical way that we feel when God's speaking to us.

It can be a lot of different things.

Um, but we can definitely learn to hear God.

And when we're helping others, that's one of the things God, you know, it's it's it's what God does.

And so when that's our heart, we kind of become partners with God.

And we give him a lot more opportunities to talk to us and then a lot more opportunities to learn to hear his voice.

And so I've shared this before, but I kind of it's like a hearing God challenge.

Um, and that was a frustration of mine for years.

I just felt like I couldn't hear God.

And um and so I did the same thing Susan kind of did, but a little different because it was with money.

And we both learned to set aside money, and then we'd let uh some of it we'd set aside, and then just ask God what he wanted to do with it.

And it's a great way to hear his voice.

So here's the challenge is if any of us are frustrated, it's like I just I I can't hear God, or I don't know what that feels like in my life.

Take an amount of money that's not painful but significant to you.

It might be$10 or$60 or$500.

And and let's just say it's$60.

So you take$320 and put it in your pocket and say, God, I'm gonna leave this here until you show me what to do with it.

And so maybe you go along four days and you haven't heard.

You say, God, I'm not gonna do anything with this money until you tell me who to help with it.

And if you do that two, three, four times, you will learn to hear God's voice.

Because that is what he does.

He helps people, and that's what he loves to talk to us about, amongst other things, is who can I help?

What can I do?

And so that's just a small practical thing, but but it's a way of kind of stepping into that purpose, knowing we're loved by God, loving him back, and then being fueled by the word that Jesus used, compassion.

So Jesus wants us to do that as a group.

We have opportunities to do that all the time.

We talked about that this morning with the three ministries that were helping.

And then, of course, in our lives, there's no joy about just being aware.

The thing about the Good Samaritan is he was just living his life.

You know, it doesn't have to be this big thing where I want to be in God's will, so I'm gonna go to Africa, even though those are great things when it happens.

He was just living his life, doing his business, on a trip.

He came across a need, and he had compassion.

And that's the example Jesus used.

Our everyday lives.

Just noticing, loving, having compassion.

But there's something else in the story of the Good Samaritan, um, and this is how we're gonna finish.

And it's really who we are in the story.

Going a little long today, sorry about that.

But um, who we are in the story, uh, you know, we obviously don't want to be the priest in this story, and we don't want to be the temple assistant in this story.

But who we are is not the Good Samaritan.

Eventually, with God's help, we can become him, but we are the ones who've been beaten.

We are the ones who've had things taken from us, who've been beaten down, abused.

We put up a fight, but it wasn't enough.

And so eventually we're left there exposed, hopeless, unless maybe someone with enough compassion will come along.

And Jesus comes along.

You know, and he and he heals our wounds.

And there's so much depth to the story, you know, the the oil and the wine.

I mean, with Jesus, it's the Holy Spirit and and his sacrifice, but but he heals us up and he bandages us up.

He risks his life coming into hostile territory.

In fact, he gave his life, paid the price, and eventually says, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna make everything right.

I'm gonna make everything whole.

I'm gonna make sure you're completely healthy, I'm gonna make sure you don't have any more pain, that there's no more hurt, there's no more fear.

I'm gonna take care of all that.

And so this morning, if we're feeling beaten up, if we're feeling worn out, and we can turn to him because he is compassion and he will help.

So the story Jesus told was really in response to this critic's question.

You know, but it's also what it means to follow Jesus.

You know, it's not an intellectual pursuit, even though it's great knowing more about God.

But what it is is connecting with God, getting filled with his love, loving him back, and then that pouring into loving people.

And so if the worship team will come up, we're gonna stop uh or at least uh finish in a minute, and we're gonna sing a great song together, which is really the end, the song itself is the end of what I want to share.

Um, one of the things that Jesus uh is telling us is not so much to love everybody, even though that's good.

What Jesus is saying is to love anybody.

Is to love anybody.

And it might be someone we meet this afternoon, it might be someone we meet tomorrow at work or at school or or a week from now.

But it's to love anybody, and that's what Jesus does for us.

He loves everybody, but he loves anybody.

You know, even somebody like me.

And and and God is not mad at you, he's not given up on you, he loves you.

And Jesus has great compassion, great compassion for us.

And so it's so easy to connect with him.

You know, it's just in our own words, our own way.

Jesus, I need you.

Jesus, uh, help me, Jesus, save me, Jesus, I want you part of my life.

You know, but when we turn to him, you know, with that type of trust, we're all creating God's image and we and with the spirit, and God's our spirit comes alive, connects with God's spirit, and then he starts changing us.

He starts filling us with that love.

He does the heavy lifting and uh and changes from the the inside out.

So if you've never done that, you could definitely do that uh this morning.

Okay, let's stand and let's get ready for this last song.

So the Good Samaritan is such a great story.

You know, it's because Jesus teaches us what love looks like.

He shows us who we are in the story, and he also shows us who we will be, who we can become with God's help.

So I love y'all.

Hope you have a great week.

Let's uh pray.

Jesus, we thank you.

Thank you for loving us, thank you for teaching us.

Thank you for having such compassion for us.

And we just ask, Jesus, that you would fill us with your compassion, fill us with your love, help us to see people that need help, and then give us the strength and the love to help them.

We ask this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.