Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

It's crazy.

You ever seen somebody like uh maybe like five years ago and then you see them again and like, oh my goodness, you've grown or you've changed.

That's how I feel like this weekend at Access Church.

I'm like, wait, we're not in just one location.

We're in two locations, soon to be in a third location.

Look what God is doing in and through this church.

If you don't get goosebumps, just go into church right now.

You have missed what God is doing.

It's not normal.

It is rare, it is authentic.

You are in what most people would have prayed for, which is called a revival.

It is incredible to see what's happened at Access Church.

You've changed, you've grown, and it's so exciting to see what God's doing.

If I could take just a little bit of relational equity, uh liberty here for a moment, I would say this.

If you are a part of some of the new community here at Access Church, and maybe you're kicking the tires of faith, or you're new to church, or you're new to this church, I want to tell you from somebody who's been in and out of church in my early teenage years, but now in my adulthood, been walking with the Lord for over 20 years, been in ministry for 20 years.

I want you to know that you're in a place that is safe, that you can trust.

And I want to encourage you, don't do what most people do when they experience new things.

They wait around to see if they'll get disappointed.

Instead, throw your feet all the way in.

I think the kids say something like, I'm gonna go 10 toes down.

I don't even know what that means, but you should try it and jump all the way in.

Find a group, find a place to serve, fast track your spirituality and your heart connection to this place, put your treasure there, watch your heart go there.

I'm telling you, it's exciting to see what God is doing to access.

Um, Pastor Jason mentioned that we recently moved to Denver, Colorado, and um you'll notice I've been there long enough.

I'm trying to say the word right because I went there from the south and said Colorado, and they're like, Where?

It was like the cute thing the Coloradans do to you, right?

Where?

I was like, Colorado, and they're like, is it an O or an A?

I was like, uh there's an O in there for sure, but I think you're referring to the A Colorado?

They're like, right?

You gotta put the rat in Colorado.

It's gonna be a tough journey.

Um and it's funny when you first move somewhere, you're like, you walk around like your neighborhood.

I'm trying to figure out like who's gonna be our friends, who's gonna be our neighbors, you know?

Because I grew up in the 90s.

I was made in the 80s, grew up in the 90s.

We had the best TV shows on the face of the planet.

I mean, we had things like Family Matters and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and um, I wasn't allowed to watch any of those.

Um, I was able to watch like PBS.

Uh, I don't know if you guys remember, but there was a show where it had this little jingle to it, and it was a it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Oh, some of y'all remember this.

Some of y'all look at me like, you're old, bro.

Back in the day, there was a show, and it was Mr.

Rogers' neighborhood.

And he always, you know, came home.

He went in the closet.

I always loved the fact that Mr.

Rogers had this flex about him.

He would come inside and put on new sneakers to walk around his house.

I didn't even know how rich that man was, so I became an adult.

You got inside sneakers and outside sneakers.

That's amazing, Mr.

Rogers.

Mr.

Rogers would always ask this question, won't you be my neighbor?

And it's interesting because I never would watch Mr.

Rogers ask that question and go, no.

I was always like, for sure I would be your neighbor.

You're the nicest guy.

I mean, this is the time of year where you know you could walk around your neighborhood and you're trying to see what's in somebody's yard and decide whether or not you're gonna be their friend or not.

I was talking about college football flags.

I don't know what y'all were thinking about.

Like, but it's interesting that this dilemma of being neighbor close to someone, seen by someone, or to see someone else is not a new question.

It's not a new dilemma.

Matter of fact, I want to take a portion of our time today, go to the second half of scripture.

The second half of scripture is known as the New Testament.

And the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the story of life, the miracles, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

I want to camp out in the physician's gospel, the gospel of Luke, and I want to go to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

In Luke chapter 10, we see this interesting exchange happen between Jesus and a lawyer.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And no, recently I was preaching on this passage in a prison and I didn't think about it before I went in.

And I preached on the lawyer, and when I did, the booze rang out.

If you're a lawyer here this weekend, I love you.

Some incarcerated people who'd like to talk with you.

Let's go to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

This is what it says.

Then on one occasion, an expert in the law or a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.

Uh-oh, watch out doing that, right?

He says, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

If you're taking notes, which I think you should, because note takers are a world changer, and according to a recent study, you get into heaven first.

It says this eternal life.

Eternal life is not just if you're a Jesus person, you've been walking with Jesus, you could think that's what's next.

But when Jesus talks about eternal life, he's always talking about now and possibly next.

This is to mean the fullness of life.

What is written in the law?

Jesus asks, and how do you read it?

Goes on.

He says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your and with all your and with all your.

It's incredible.

I mean, this man knows the law, and it's interesting because Jesus' teachings were that all the laws of the Old Testament, over 600 laws, would hang on two laws.

And now this lawyer somehow is familiar with the teachings of Jesus, and he says, wait, I know the answer to the test.

Jesus says, You've answered correctly.

He goes on and says, Love your neighbor as yourself.

Now this is interesting to us, right?

This is interesting because this man gives the two laws that Jesus would have given.

It wasn't just the old Levitical law, things like if you want to go poop, you have to do so outside the camp.

An important law.

I don't know how many of us are keeping that today, right?

But the most important laws were these two, to love God with all of me, and then to love my neighbor as myself.

Jesus would continue the conversation.

This is how he would do it.

He said, You've answered correctly.

Do this and you will live.

But he, the lawyer, wanted to justify himself.

And he asked Jesus, well, then who is my neighbor?

Pause.

This is interesting to me.

This man has a lot of intelligence, but I don't know how much awareness he has.

Because he asked the question about who is my neighbor.

He he cited two laws love God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says you answer correctly, and the man goes, Okay, then who's my neighbor?

I have other questions for Jesus.

For instance, how do I love you with all that I have?

This man just makes this like quick shortcut past one of the most crucial and difficult things that we could do.

Love the Lord with Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

I mean, that's stuff to do even in church.

Like I can see glowing faces right now in the room.

I know you're not taking notes.

You're on TikTok, right?

Like it is difficult to say, I'm gonna give God all of my mind to not be surrounded by just past memories, to not just have future possibilities, but to be present in his presence in this very moment.

This man indicates, yeah, I did that, but how do I know who my neighbor is?

And and if you can tell me who my neighbor is, then I can tell you whether or not I've loved them to love myself.

He wants to justify himself.

I think many of us this weekend, if we're being honest, loving God is not as easy as it is to read it, and loving my neighbor isn't as simple as saying it.

And Jesus is going to go about telling a parable.

A parable is a truth that's so deep, it has to be told in story form for us and our humanity and finite minds to understand and comprehend it.

But Jesus is gonna give one of the most famous parables.

It's been taught on throughout the centuries.

But what's interesting about it is sometimes that parable can be mishandled and misused.

Want to go on, says this.

In reply, Jesus said a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers.

They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

Now that part, half dead, is so key.

Why?

Because half dead would have indicated how someone can approach him.

See, there were laws in that day and age that if something was dead, if someone was dead, then they could not be touched or they would become unclean.

So that a priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

Now, uh, if you don't know this about Jesus, he's funny.

This is Jesus using sarcasm.

See, I've been on this road.

This road from Jerusalem to Jericho is about three feet wide.

I don't know how tiny the man was who got robbed, but to pass by on the other side would have been a feat.

Why?

Literally, it would have been like moving around.

Jesus is painting this picture of hyperbole for the people going, he would have had to scale the side of the road to get to the other side of the man who was half dead.

Now I read that part about a priest going on the other side, and some of you are like, that's why I hate pastors.

Wait a minute, okay?

Chill out.

What we have to know about the context of a priest is this is they had a law and a command that they could not touch anything that was dead.

And upon seeing this, the priest goes, I have to hold the law high enough that I have to pass you by.

Goes on and says, and so to a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.

Ah, Jesus being funny again.

Two times, two people.

Now, it was indicated by most historians that when these parables would have been told, it would have been similar to today if I were to tell you a boudre and thibodeau joke, right?

If I said I'm gonna tell you a boudreau, you would fill in the blank with a thibodeau.

You would know there's something about the story form.

For the listeners of that day, when Jesus is speaking, they know there has to be three characters.

So they go, the priest, the Levite, then they know that the next character that would be in this parable would be a Pharisee, because a Pharisee had a clause in the law that a Pharisee could actually touch someone who was half dead.

So the audience has already skipped ahead.

They know exactly where the teacher's going, and the teacher continues and says, But a Samaritan.

Oh, the whole audience went away, oh what?

Oh why?

Because the Samaritan in that day and age wasn't just separated from Jewish people because of background or DNA or bloodline, but also because of beliefs.

See, this is interesting.

When Jesus introduces this character, the entire community surrounding him, hearing these words, goes, wait, this can't be right.

Okay, we've leaned in, you've offered us something new, but a Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity or had compassion.

Compassion is love, and action took pity on him.

Said that he went to him, he bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an end, and he took care of him.

Goes on in this passage.

Says the next day he took out two denarii.

This is interesting.

Because to stay at the end, two denarii would have likely given him a stay up to two months.

Oh, he didn't just take care of the need, he went above and beyond.

He decided, no, I'm gonna take care of every possible need, not just currently, but in the future.

And he gave them to the innkeeper, said, Look after him, and when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expense.

He's already gone above and beyond and taking care of the extra.

But he says, if there's extra on top of the extra, I'll take care of the expenses that you may have.

This is the crucial part.

Says, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

The expert of the law replies to him.

Says, the one who had mercy on him.

He cannot even say the word Samaritan.

Why?

Because this Jewish lawyer would have likely despised the Samaritan, and to even say it would have made him cringe because the hero of the story should have been the Pharisee, somebody who kept the law like me, not a Samaritan who breaks the law.

Says, go and do likewise.

Go and do likewise.

Now, this is interesting.

If you've been around church, it's likely that you've heard this parable, and even if you haven't, you've got some moral, ethical code that's likely built off of an understanding of this parable, which is to be a good neighbor or be a good person.

Where we live in Denver, Colorado, there's actually a brand, you'll see it everywhere.

It's be kind or be a good person.

And while there's moral implications to this, I think that what we want to look at today is so much deeper.

Because it's easy for us to really jump to the fact that Jesus said, go and do likewise.

Many of us stop the story there, but the physician Luke, when writing the gospel of Luke, what we see is that the very next passage takes Jesus and the disciples to Mary and Martha's house.

This is the end of the conversation.

It feels like a cliffhanger to me.

I don't even understand what's supposed to take place next.

But Jesus goes on in the story, says, go and do likewise.

He goes with Mary and Martha, and Martha's busy doing, and he says, Don't just do, be with me, spend time with me.

Well, Jesus, which is it?

Do for you or be with you?

I think for you and I today, before we put our feet in the sandals of the Samaritan, we may need to accurately find our place in the story.

It's likely that on our best days we're more like the priest or the Levite.

That we go, oh, I'm I have too much going on.

I have to pass by on the other side.

I have a reason why I won't look them in the eye.

I know they're going through something right now, but I can't deal with it.

They're too messy, it's too messy, I'm not gonna get involved.

That's our best days.

But truthfully, we're not the good Samaritan in the story.

St.

Thomas of Aquinas, an early church father, would have shared this belief and this perspective, a perspective of the parable of the Good Samaritan.

And it is this that most of us are more like the man who was beaten by life, stripped down by the enemy, and robbed of all of our joy and peace.

And a good Samaritan named Jesus came along, bandaged up our wounds, took care of every expense we had, and said, Not only will I take care of your current problems, but anything else you do, I'll cover that too.

That is the grace and mercy of God that when we were broken, when we were left for dead, he still came for us.

If that's true, though, why is it so difficult for us to embrace it?

See, it's one thing to challenge ourselves to be a neighbor, it's another thing to ask ourselves, are we willing to let Jesus be our neighbor?

Before we try to go and do what we allow him to come close.

So, my first question to you today is this, is to ask yourself, does God love me?

Does God love me?

Before I go on, maybe I need to ask myself the question have I really pondered the fact that God loves me?

Because I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in loving God, we forget to let God love us.

Says one portion of scripture in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 16 reminds us and we know and we rely on the love God has for us, for God is love.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

I can take confidence that God is love, therefore God does love me.

Or John 3, 16.

If you've been around church or you were a fan of football in the Tim Tebow era, you know this verse.

For God so loved.

Okay, now I'm gonna ask you, North Lakeland, South Lakeland, everybody online, if you're on a bike, a hike, wherever you are, a Peloton, we're gonna say this part out loud.

So loved, you're ready?

For God so loved.

Now I'm originally from the South, and some of you are transplants, you're not really Southerners, you're fake Southerners because you're here in Lakeland.

You're really from Jersey and California, and you moved here because you love our weather and the taxes.

But listen, I need you to say when I really love something, I so love it.

Okay?

So I'm gonna ask you, would you say that?

So loved.

Okay, right?

For God so it's easy for us to go, for God so loved the world.

No, no, no, no, you're part of that world.

For God so loved me that he sent his one and only son to die the death that I deserve?

Oh, to be beaten and broken and bruised for me, for my shortcomings, for all of my mistakes.

That's how good God is.

So here's my question If God loves me, then why is it so difficult for me to receive God's love?

If God loves me, why is it so difficult for me to receive God's love?

Oh, this is this is perplexing.

If we're really honest with the wrestling of this passage, many of us may have it on an intellectual level, but have we ever really grappled with the fact that God loves us?

And if so, how are we receiving that love?

Why is it difficult to receive that love?

There's something known as a heuristic, it's a cognitive bias.

Your brain is so hardwired by God that it's hardwired for efficiency, meaning this, you make thousands of decisions a day.

Thousands of them, but you don't even know it because part of your brain is on autopilot.

Once you've made that decision, you've trained your brain to keep making that decision over and over again.

You don't get to a red octagon and go, mmm, S, T, oh, and many of you don't even take time.

You're just like, go, you're a G-O, right?

You don't even have to think about it, you just have a response to it.

Unfortunately, that same hardwired efficiency and strength by God can be a deficiency when it comes to understanding, embracing, and receiving God's love.

Why?

Because I contend to receive and define love at my lowest level of experience with it.

Who hurt you, who broke your heart, who left something out where it should have been put in.

If I'm not careful, I let a definition of love be based on somebody who broke it.

What if I've defined love as bad because of someone who didn't know how to handle me rightly?

I realize in a room like this, on a weekend like this, that many of us are struggling to define love in a pure and authentic way when we use words like Father God, or God so loved the world.

Part of you goes, Yeah, I bet God could love other people, but I don't know if he could love me.

Many of us in this room have dealt with abuse physically, emotionally, sexually, verbally.

Some of us have had our heart broken and shattered and thrown into a million pieces.

People walked out when he thought they would run in.

We have dealt with the loss of love.

I believe that God comes in and redefines and gives us a new handle for love.

Now, before I go on, I have to do something very interesting.

Pastor Jason, I have to alert you to the fact that the timer that they have given me has started over three times.

And so I had 35 minutes, I had 20 minutes, it's counting up, it's counting down.

I can go all day when I'm talking about the love of God.

So if somebody could just give me an accurate time when to shut up, it'd be great.

You know me.

Okay.

I was telling my friend that I was gonna talk on love, and I told him, I was like, oh, okay, great, 15, we're ready to go.

Um it was so funny because I was telling him, I was like, man, I want to talk about love, but it just feels so fluffy.

I'm just not a fluffy guy.

Now, I do find myself accidentally telling dominoes when I'm hanging up the phone after my order, like, love you.

Ooh, sorry, see you in a few.

I said, why does it feel weird for me to talk about it?

It's just like, oh, we're gonna talk about God's love, and everybody in the room is gonna go, yeah, we know.

He said, No, James, you don't understand.

This is a very successful businessman.

He said, James, life's like a bucket.

We come into rooms like this, we hear God loves us, and then we walk out into that world and people poke holes in the bucket and we leak that love out.

We gotta be reminded that God loves us.

So here was what I begin to think about.

What is it that life has been doing to damage the bucket or container of love that you have?

Here's some life lessons where Learning, I don't think we know that we are.

Number one is to receive love, it must be earned.

Isn't that true?

If you chase hard enough, if you make enough, if you look the right way, talk the right way, get your finances in order.

If you do that, you earn it, you chase, you pursue it.

Or to receive love, I must be perfect.

Some of us have this with God because you had people in your life that were disappointed with decisions you made, and instead of talking and communicating and having reconciliation and restoration, they walked out because of a decision you made.

It'd be easy to go, well, if they walked out, God must too.

Or to receive love, it must be constantly pursued.

I found myself coming into environments like this on days like today.

For instance, hey bro, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

I love you.

Why he said it back.

Okay, now you're like, that was weird, bro.

No, what's interesting is I said it so he would say it.

Right?

I just I love you, I love you, I love you.

And and I think sometimes I treat God that way.

I go, if I just say I love you enough, then you'll love me back.

If I put my hands high enough, or if I show up enough, or I serve enough, then you'll love me.

Whoa, friends, don't get it twisted.

You didn't say it first, you're only saying it back.

We say we love God because He first loved us.

The good news is you're not saying love you to get love, you're just returning it.

I love the way the message translation puts this verse, says this says that the word being Jesus became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.

You mean Jesus decided I'll leave heaven.

Don't get it twisted as we get around Christmas and go, He was, you know, from Bethlehem.

No, no, no.

He was from heaven.

He decided to put on human flesh and bone and move to this planet and move into the neighborhood.

He would look like us but not live like us.

This same Jesus would say, I love you so much that I'll endure beatings and shame.

He was spit on.

Oh, don't just relegate it to Easter.

The reason that you and I have a relationship with God is because that Savior, Jesus, who was a king, who sat on the throne, came to this planet, was beaten, was punched, had his beard ripped out, had a whip rip into his flesh and remove flesh and muscle.

You know, James, that's grotesque.

That's what love really looks like.

That's what love really does for someone who's in pain.

Oh, to be the Good Samaritan meant he would put on everything that we deserve shame, guilt, and punishment, so that we might put on everything he had, which was grace and mercy and confidence before God.

Romans 5.10 says that while we were still sinners or enemies of God, his son Jesus died for us.

Okay, James, I'm ready.

I'm ready to let God love me.

I got it.

God loves me, bro.

I've already done that.

Maybe.

Maybe today you grapple with it at a different level.

Well, maybe this is the next question for you is why is it so difficult for us to love others?

I let God love me, I got that, but why is it difficult for me to love other people?

I remember several years ago, one of the first houses that my parents were able to afford and buy, we moved into it, and I was a latch key kid.

So admit this, I would get picked up by the bus and dropped off by the bus, but I had a key to the house.

I could let myself in and out.

And every Christmas, there's my favorite cookie comes on the market.

It's only at Christmas time, it's the best cookie on the face of the planet.

If you don't believe me, I love you, but I will fight you, okay?

And it is uh it's this it's this this Christmas Oreo.

It is don't look at this part, right?

Oh be gone in Jesus' name, right?

Like, and then it even put equals one serving.

Stop.

Like a serving is at least a rack of those, right?

You can't just have one.

I remember, man, I would get these boxes, and back in the day, they came in like this silver wrapper.

It was oh so good, right?

And I begged my parents.

Now, growing up, we were so poor we couldn't afford the last two letters of pour.

We were po is what we were, right?

So, like you got treats.

The treats I remember getting were cream soda, which I learned don't ever drink because you're thirsty, drink because it's a treat.

But dad, it's a drink.

He's like, water if you're thirsty, okay.

Um, and then two, these cookies.

And I loved these cookies.

I so loved these cookies, they're amazing.

Well, I had this idea one day.

Uh I wanted to be a little entrepreneur and make some money.

And so I took all these cookies, I dumped them out, I put them on a nice glass plate.

I put foil over the top.

And I went from house to house in my neighborhood and I sold them for about 75 cents a piece.

It was great because you guess what nobody had?

Three quarters.

Guess what I sold every cookie for?

A dollar.

Homemade cookies for a dollar a piece.

I went home, I was so proud of myself, y'all.

I had a lot of cash in my pockets.

It was amazing.

I go home, I can't wait until my parents they get home from work.

I'm like, guys, take me to the store.

I'm going to buy five boxes of cookies.

How?

You ain't got no money.

I got money.

I sold these cookies.

And I remember I thought my parents would be so proud that I turned cookies into cash.

And my dad says, son, come here, sit down.

You gotta go return all the money.

I said, What?

I'm I that was hard working money.

I made that today.

He said, No.

He said, I'm not upset that you had a business idea.

I'm not upset that you sold something.

I am upset that you sold something that I gave you for free.

When I think about God's love, I think sometimes the reason that we start charging other people more is we forgot what we got for free.

Oh, no, God will use you when you stop sleeping around.

God will love you when you stop gossiping.

God will love you when you stop lying.

God will love you when you stop smoking weed.

Really?

Is that when God loved you?

Because God loved me when I was a homeless wreck.

When I had nothing to offer him, he offered me everything.

He loved me at my lowest point.

And when I think of that and how good God's been to me, I believe he will love everybody else.

And when he loved me that way, I want to love the world around me that way.

It's pretty easy to love other people when you remember how he loved you.

So what does it look like to be a neighbor?

I think if I could give you three points this week on how to how to be a neighbor, this is what it would be.

Number one is this is receive God's love.

Receive God's love.

We talked about it.

I wish I could tell you that it's gonna happen today and you'll never have to receive God's love again.

I think it's actually a daily practice.

Many of you know my story.

At 17, I was homeless, living out of a Ford Explorer.

I was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs.

Many of you don't know about my story is when I stopped abusing alcohol, I was under all these prescriptions.

They were given to me by a doctor.

I didn't know terms like over-prescribing.

So as a teenager, I just kept taking these prescriptions.

I was on the highest dose of Adderall for an adult male, but I was on that dose twice a day.

I was on the highest dose of oxycodone four times a day.

I was on the highest dose of Xanax twice a day.

And then I was on the highest dose of ambient, but I took two every night.

I was a walking, talking zombie.

I woke up and went to bed based on my prescription.

I didn't know anything was wrong.

Got married to the love of my life.

We were in Seattle, Washington, and one night I closed the book around 2 a.m.

and asked her when we were gonna eat dinner.

She said, babe, you're a zombie.

Like, I think you have an issue with this.

I said, I don't have an issue.

Was the first thing that somebody has an issue says.

I went to the bathroom, I took all of it, and I flushed it down the toilet.

I was really proud of that decision.

Proud to bury the past and move forward.

And I was doing really good with it.

We moved to Springfield, Missouri, and we were having a difficult time getting pregnant.

And I began to think that God didn't love me, that God was wanting to judge me.

And that God didn't want me to have a son because he knew I'd be a bad father because of all the bad things I had done.

I was a pastor thinking this.

I was a pastor preaching God's love for you, but not truly receiving it from me.

Now remember, I got access to Xanax.

One night as a pastor in Springfield, Missouri, I took a handful of four or five pills, and I went to sleep.

I woke up two days later.

My poor wife crying, weeping.

She'd been covering for me, telling everybody I was sick, which I was.

But I was so embarrassed, I was so ashamed.

I was supposed to be a pastor, supposed to have it together.

I'm supposed to be living new mercies, and and yet I'm living in old patterns, I'm shattered, I'm full of shame.

I feel like all hope is lost.

I remember I went into the bathroom, I closed the curtain, I laid my face against this cold tile wall and put the shower on, and I just began to cry.

I said, God, I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry.

I was so ashamed at who I become.

I thought if I just feel enough shame, then maybe I won't mess up again.

My wife overheard it.

She came in there, she hugged me.

She said, Babe, I think you need to go for a jog.

I was about 245 pounds at the time, and so I didn't know exactly what her encouragement was, if I'm honest.

She said, I think you should go down for a jog, and then when you get down there, maybe you just go, God loves me.

She goes, baby, God loves you, and so do I, but you've got to get it in your heart.

I can't do it for you.

You gotta really let God love you.

I remember I I jogged very short distance that day.

I got down to a little spot and I sat down.

I said, God loves me.

I was so mad I got up and I ran back home.

I tried it again the next day.

I said, God loves me.

God loves me, God loves me, and I ran back to the house.

I did this for almost a week.

I couldn't get fully sober and a distance from my past because of hard work or willpower.

I needed God's power, but God's power is in God's love.

Listen, after a week ago and God loves me, today I've been over 12 years sober from abusing prescription drugs.

Not because I'm good enough, but his love is powerful enough.

So I'm asking you, Access, whether you're a guest or you call this place home, I'm gonna ask you to do something this week.

You ready for this?

It's gonna feel weird some days, but for 30 seconds every day, I'm gonna ask you to say, God loves me.

The first 30 seconds before you get up out of bed, before you go pee, before you check your phone, God loves me.

I'm gonna ask you all over every location, on site, online, would you do it with me?

Take your take your hand ready.

God loves me.

We do it again.

God loves me.

This week, what if you let Jesus be a neighbor that gets close enough to you that you can trust him so you can let him love you?

Your past has been forgiven, your present is secure, and your future is on the way.

Let God love you.

Number two is this say it back.

Say it back.

Me and my barber, we have this thing that uh if I'm leaving the barber shop and he says, I love you, then I gotta say it back.

And if I say I love you, bro, he's like, Why you gotta say, bro?

What you scared of, right?

Say it back.

What would it look like for you to say it back?

I love one of the things I will never forget.

Pastor Jason said all the time, gratitude that's unexpressed is expressed as in gratitude.

Did I get your quote right?

It's very similar.

If I don't express gratitude, it's not gratitude at all.

Love that's held here is a feeling, but you're not functioning in it.

So sometimes after I'm done going, God loves me, but God, I love you.

I do that through my time, my talents, and my treasures.

I want to make that love matter.

And then number three is this share that love around.

Share the love around to the world around us.

Oh, I love what Pastor Jason's talking about through that legacy offering.

You want to know where I'm gonna be given on December 8th?

Access church.

You wanna know why?

God's called me to share his love.

If there's babies that need beds, that's my assignment.

If there's somebody who needs to be fed, that's my assignment.

It's not our duty, it's our privilege, it's not an obligation, it's an opportunity.

Why?

Because when I look at the love I've gotten, all I can do is love the world around me.

Church, what would it look like for you and I to live authentically, loving God and loving others?

I'm gonna ask you at both locations and online if you would to bow your head and close your eyes just for a moment, of privacy.

I want to give you an opportunity to do two different things this weekend.

Maybe you're here or you join us online, and you just say, James, I've never let God love me.

This weekend, I'm not asking you to love him yet.

I'm just asking you, would you let him get close enough this week to love you?

Would you keep showing up on Sunday?

Let God love you.

Would you keep showing up?

Let somebody serve you coffee as an expression of God's love for you.

You say, James, this week, I'm gonna choose to let God love me.

If that's you on the count of three, would you just raise your hand?

I'm not gonna point you out, I'm not gonna stand you up.

One, two, three.

If that's you, yeah, I see you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm gonna pray for you in just a moment.

The second group of people, you're here.

You go, James, I've been kicking the tires of faith for a little while.

I've been considering this thing, and if I'm honest today, hearing how God could love you, hearing that you're able to love him back today, in light of the scriptures, in light of Jesus being the good Samaritan, I want to choose not just to love him, but to follow him.

You're making the best decision you'll ever make for the rest of your life.

You make this decision and it makes every other one for you.

Ready?

If that's you on the count of three, would you raise your hand?

One, two, three.

I'm gonna pray for you in just a moment.

God, I thank you.

That you're so good and you're so kind, that you sent us your one and only son, Jesus, who endured all the pain and difficulty that we should have because of our own decisions, but he loved us enough to take on shame and guilt and to give us goodness and mercy and love.

I pray for my friends who are choosing today to let you close enough to love them.

I pray they would break down some of those walls this week and let you know who they are so they might see who you are.

For those who are choosing for the first time to make a decision to follow you, I pray they would never be the same.

I pray their lives would be directed by your Holy Spirit.

I pray, God, that you would surround them with a community.

You would cement them here at Access Church, that they would continue to grow in their relationship with you.

And as they do that, you would change the world through them.

God, thank you that anytime you do something in us, it's an indicator you're about to do something through us.

I thank you for Access Church.

I thank you for what you've done in the past.

But God, we are so excited to see what you're about to do in our future.

We pray all of these things in the name above every name, the name of our hope and liberating king in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hey, Access Church, can we celebrate everyone who just made that decision?

Come on.