Heart & Soul – Love Your Neighbor

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

For more information, visit Access.tv.

We are closing out today a series.

I want to jump right in.

It's called Heart and Soul.

And so this has been an incredible series.

And so today I'm going to give you the title of my message, and then we'll pray, and then we'll make it happen.

The title of my message is just three words, and it's three words that are easier said than done.

You can write this in your notes.

Love your neighbor.

Woo! I know.

Someone said, uh-oh, I feel you.

Right.

Love your neighbor.

Write that in your notes, and then let's do this.

Let's pray and let's make it happen in here.

Lord, we love you.

Thank you for this moment.

Thank you for uh just an awesome church.

We said it.

We believe this is a very special church, not because of us, but because of you.

And you're blessing us in so many ways.

So we say thank you for that.

Now as we turn our attention to hearing what you have to say, let us get something out of it and let us leave better.

And we came in.

We love you.

And everyone said, Amen.

I I found this out, church family, that it is fairly easy to love a friend, isn't it?

I remember growing up, and I had a friend, and he and I, like, we would stay up way too late playing uh video games.

And so we would play sports video games.

So Madden, which is NFL, uh, NBA, and we just play, and uh neither one of us were like huge into baseball, but for some reason, because it was like competition and all that, we would stay up until 4 or 5, 6 a.m.

playing these video games.

And and man, it was it got awkward because each one of us, when we made a good player, when we were winning, we always went back and forth.

You know, he would win and I'd win, then he would win.

But it's like we would just like celebrate right in front of the other person.

And there were times where I was like, I want to take this controller and smack him upside the head.

I just, I'm competitive, and so, but at the end of the day, man, it was just all love between us, and we're still good friends to this day.

Uh, but that's what brought us together.

And it was fairly easy to level, man.

We just had a lot in common.

I had another friend, uh, I played basketball my whole life.

I know you could tell.

Come on, now I'm a baller, dog.

Um, but I failed to make a college basketball team, so I'm not that much of a baller.

But anyway, I uh I played uh basketball all growing up, and I had a friend, and he and I were like, it was just good, like his skill set matched mine perfectly.

And so we would go to the park, we'd play basketball, and we would tear people up.

And do you think I felt bad about it?

No.

Like we would just do work, and I felt bad because he lived in a city um that was very different from the city I lived in, and and a lot of those people looked a lot different, a lot different than me.

And I always would feel bad because I'm like, I'm this chocolate dude coming in, beating on all these guys, and just happy about it.

Like, I'm not gonna get beat up.

I don't know.

And so it was just, but we we partnered, we meshed well together, and so and to this day we're really good friends.

I remember one time in PE, our teacher in school, he said, Hey, listen, today's a free day.

We don't have an assigned game, you guys play whatever you guys want to.

And so there were five of us that wanted to play basketball.

And my friend and I, remember, we were really good.

So my friend and I, we were like, hey, we'll play us two versus you three.

And instead of accepting the challenge, the other three guys were like, Yeah, actually, we don't want to play.

Like, and I was like we were like, What the heck?

It's only two of us, three of you guys, but they were like, Yeah, but you guys need to split up.

You guys are too good together.

And I'm telling you, it's all love.

And I love my friend, and and we just we just got along to this day.

Again, we're still really good, good friends.

I had another friend.

Uh, we both uh just growing up knew we wanted to both be in ministry.

We knew we both wanted to be pastors, so it was just fairly easy to love them because we just bonded over that, and and uh and we were kind of you're gonna think this is like kind of silly and goofy, and and it probably is, but like we talk about man, when we're older, this is what we're gonna preach on, and this, but like that that bonded us, and that it was just super cool.

Hashtag church kids, whatever.

Um but but that's what I mean.

Like it's just kind of easy to love a friend.

And I I found this out this week.

There's this thing called the ABCs of friendship, and I want to show you this.

Let's just go through them really quickly.

A friend accepts you as you are, they believe in you, they call you just to say hi.

They don't give up on you, they envision the whole of you, they forgive your mistakes.

A friend gives unconditionally, they help you, they invite you over, they just want to be with you, they keep you close at heart, they love you for who you are, they make a difference in your life.

They never judge, they offer support, they pick you up.

Come on, you need a friend like that.

They pick you up, they quiet your fears, they raise your spirits, they say nice things about you.

This is a good one.

They tell you the truth when you need to hear it.

Come on, some of us need friends like that that just tell us the truth.

They don't care about you or your status, they just tell you the straight up truth.

They understand you, they value you, they walk beside you, they explain.

I don't know how this works.

I didn't write this, though.

I just found this so that they explain things uh that you don't understand.

They yell at you when you won't listen.

Come on, that's a good friend.

And they zap you back into reality.

Man, it's easy, fairly easy to love a good friend.

And if you have a friend that even does three or five of these, you know you have a good friend.

Now, the reason why I say it's fairly easy to love a good friend, and I don't just outright say it's easy to love a friend, is because sometimes you gotta get over things with people, you know, and it's like, hey, I love you, but there's some things about you that I gotta get over.

Like, like I have friends in my life that that prefer the college football team, the Michigan Wolverines, and I think that's trash.

So that's why I say it's fairly easy, you know, like it is, but I gotta get around that.

I got friends that will leave today's service that'll go home, and there's like a three, four found three, four, or five-pound demon that exists in their home, and it looks like this, and I just I can't, you know, it's like it's fairly easy to love you because of the person you are, but this demon, no.

Uh I told you it's gonna be a good day.

Uh, I got friends that um their favorite basketball team is this team right here.

And that's that's not good.

That's not good.

Let's let's be honest.

You don't know any other player except for Steph Kirk.

Come on, let's just be honest about that.

Like, so it's fairly easy to love you, but a friend, man, they are fairly easy to love.

Here's the deal we've been in this series called Heart and Soul.

We've been talking about the relationships.

It's been a relationship series based upon like your marital relationship.

And a couple weeks ago we talked about even with your kids, that type of relationship.

We've talked about friendships.

Week one, we said, who has your back?

And more importantly, whose back do you have?

And all of these have been good, but I found the common denominator in all of these is it's it's fairly easy to get this because I know who these people are, right?

Like I know who my friends are.

I know who my spouse is, I hope.

But you know who your spouse is, you know who your kids are, I hope.

But right, we know these people, so it's fairly easy to get it.

But here's the question: what about people you don't know?

Oh man, it's fairly easy to kind of have some commonality with people that we know, but what about people that you don't know?

It's people that don't look like you, they don't act like you, they don't frequent where you frequent, they don't value the things that you value.

All of these things are great when you know somebody, but what about the people that we don't know?

You and I, we cross paths with people every day that we just we don't know.

People watch this that don't vote like you vote.

How do I love them?

That's precisely where I want to go today.

And here's what I believe the whole point of today is this embracing relationships with our heart and soul includes loving our what's this word?

It includes loving our neighbor.

Here's why I believe this is important.

This is important because we can do all of these things.

We can love the people that are in our life, our friends, our kids, our spouse, all of these things.

We can love these people.

But if we stop there, we relegate our love only there, not to the people that we don't know, we have missed the mark.

Matter of fact, I'll say it like this that to really accomplish God's purpose and plan for your life and for my life, man, I have to learn how to love people that I simply just don't know.

And so if I'm really gonna get where God wants me, if I don't want to limit myself, man, this is super, super important.

So I want to go there.

And I think it's important.

If we're gonna embrace relationships, heart and soul, that means with all the passion, all the zeal, all the energy that I've got, if I'm really gonna embrace this idea of relationships, God's way, it includes loving my neighbor.

If you have a Bible, you can go with me to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

If not, it'll be on the screens in a second.

It's also in your message notes online.

You can find those message notes as well.

But we get to a portion of scripture that actually is like super popular.

And a lot of people that even if they're not involved in church world or they don't regularly attend church, they know or they have heard of this parable that I'm gonna get to today.

And if you have it, it's all good.

I'll walk you all all the way through it.

The reality is I don't have time to get into everything.

There's so much about this.

I think we could probably take this portion of scripture and divide it up into a few weeks.

But for today, I think there's some things that we can get that are gonna help us embrace this idea of relationships.

We said it week one that if our relationships determine the quality of our life, this is an area that we have to get right.

And it cannot stay with people that we simply know.

It has to extend out to people that we don't know.

So Jesus is in his public ministry, and it says this on one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.

Now, let's pause right here.

An expert in the law.

This is the guy that knows his stuff.

This is a sharp guy.

He is ready to go and he stands up to test Jesus.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean he wanted to do it in a negative way, but he could have, he could have had a genuine question.

But he does stand up and he wants to test Jesus.

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

This is a great question to ask.

He's asking, what do I need to do?

How do I get on good terms with God?

How do I make sure that when I leave this earth and I'm out of here, how do I make sure that I'm on the right side?

This is a fantastic question.

Jesus replies like this.

What is written in the law?

Jesus knows this guy is an expert in the law, so he answers his question with a question.

That's just how Jesus did it in his day.

He just answers his question with a question.

He replied, How do you read it?

So this guy answered, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, and with all of your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

You have answered correctly, Jesus replied.

So Jesus says, Hey, listen, you got it.

That is the way to answer your question.

That is how you get eternal life, case closed.

But the Bible goes on to say this do this and you'll live, is what Jesus says.

But he, talking about the expert in law, he wanted to justify himself.

So he felt like, okay, I've done that part, but it kind of depends on what you mean by neighbors.

So he asks Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

And in reply, Jesus said, Jesus is about to tell him a parable.

Now I want to pause here and just say this that any time in the Bible, Jesus is teaching a story, a parable.

It's a story, but there's an underlying spiritual lesson that he wants you to learn.

This is, we say in in today's day and age, there's a phrase that says, um, mess around and you'll find out.

That's the Access Church PG version.

In other words, what it means is uh keep going and I'm gonna teach you a lesson.

And so this guy is at the point where Jesus says, okay, you want to get into the nitty-gritty and the weeds of what does it mean to actually know your neighbor?

What does it mean?

Who is your neighbor?

Okay, let me tell you a story.

So anytime Jesus says a parable, you know somebody has messed around and they're about to find out.

All right, so Jesus says, this a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, some 18 miles.

He's going down.

Now, this was not a good place to go.

This was known as the Way of Blood.

Some scholars have called it.

This was not a good way to go.

Think of a place, a street, uh, a section, an area of life of maybe Florida or even maybe even Lakeland.

Hey, yo.

Um, but that's why we're here, right?

Amen.

Um, that you're like, yo, we know we don't go down there.

We just don't.

This was this way.

A man was going down there, and when he was attacked by robbers, because it's not the way to go.

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

A priest.

So this is the pastor.

This is somebody that should be trusted.

The priest happened to be going down the same road.

Why was he going down that road that he shouldn't be going?

Who knows?

Maybe he thought, hey, I'm just, I got this.

Like, I'm a pastor.

Nobody messes with me.

I don't know.

But he was going down that same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

Come on, somebody say that's a bad pastor.

That's a bad pastor.

He said, Yeah, I can't do it this.

I'm out.

Likewise, Jesus said that a Levite, yeah, there's still so too, a Levite.

A Levite is this guy that he helps with with church equipment, maybe a little bit lesser than a priest, but somebody's still involved in a spiritual religious office.

This guy, when he came to the place, he saw the guy and passed by where?

On the other side.

Then Jesus turns the story and says, This, but a Samaritan.

This right here, I gotta pause here.

This right here to the Jewish audience of the day, Jesus' the listeners of that day would have would have startled them, would have made them step back in amazement.

Because Jews did not, we're told from John, that Jews did not associate with Samaritans.

Jews looked at Samaritans as as half-breeds, as lower class.

Matter of fact, one of the worst insults you could tell a Jewish person of the day is to call them a Samaritan.

It was just not good.

And there's a whole history behind that.

So Jesus says, but there's a Samaritan.

It's just somebody that's not good.

It's like like like bloods in the crypts.

Like it's like two people that just didn't.

It's a gang reference.

Don't even worry about it.

But but you gotta think about it and get in their mind that there's like two people that just don't like each other, like at all.

They're like if they see each other, they're fighting.

Like they're it's just not good.

Um you guys good?

All right, good.

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

He went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine.

Then he put the man on his own donkey.

He walked himself.

He put this man on his own donkey and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

Then the next day, he took out two denarii, so a couple days' wage, and gave it to the innkeeper.

Look after him, he said, and when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have.

Then Jesus says, Okay, which of these three three people do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of robbers?

The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him.

Pause here, I told you, Jews and Samaritans did not like each other.

This goes to show you right here.

This man couldn't even utter the words the Samaritan.

He said, the guy who had mercy.

You see it?

He didn't even want to say the Samaritan.

He said, The guy who had mercy.

Jesus told him, Go and do likewise.

Here's what I want to do just for the rest of our time.

I have three questions that I want to ask and then answer with the hopes of encouraging and inspiring us, pushing us to the place where we truly love our neighbor.

Because anybody can love somebody that you already know, but do you love the people that you don't know?

You guys ready?

Three questions, and then we're gonna get out of here and have brunch.

How's that sound?

Good.

Question number one is this Who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?

Now to get this and to place ourselves back in the people in this story in their sandals, if you will, you really gotta go back to the third book in your Bible.

That's Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus.

To get inside of their mind, they had a framework, the Jewish people of the day had a framework of who their neighbor was.

And and Jesus was famous for taking someone's framework of what they thought something was and blowing it up and widening the scope of their understanding.

And he's just so good like that.

He does that with each and every one of us.

Those of us that have a relationship with him, it's every day.

When you walk with the Lord, you realize, oh my goodness, like God is widening uh um uh my knowledge, my understanding of who he wants me to be.

And so to really get this, we have to go back to a place in scripture where the Lord was was giving instruction to the Jewish people.

And and we have to get in their mind.

Leviticus 19, 18 says this do not seek revenge or bear grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord.

That's my God impression.

But but he says, I'm the Lord.

So from this time, this book of Leviticus, from this time to when we pick up the story in Luke, the Jewish mind was thinking, like, okay, my neighbor is my fellow countrymen.

It is the person that I know, it's it's it's the person that's like me.

It's it's the person I would say, this person is my person.

This person is like it's like kin to me.

It's my friend.

And what Jesus wanted to do was expand that to say it's not just that, but it's also other people.

Jesus was famous for doing this with people.

He takes what you think you know and he expands it.

And he, it's safe to say because of Jesus' interactions with so many different types of people.

I mean, he's meeting with women and people didn't want him to do that.

He's meeting, meeting with people who were sinners and tax collectors and all these other things, and people criticized him for it, but this is just the way that he lived his life.

Jesus expanded who our neighbor actually is.

So, can I give this to you?

Here's who our neighbor is.

This is the answer to the first question.

Our neighbor is anyone.

Everyone say anyone.

It's anyone we encounter, regardless of their, ooh, watch this, their ethnicity, their beliefs, or actions.

This is the Jesus definition of who our neighbor is.

It's who?

Anybody.

That's the person you don't like, that's the person you think looks like trouble, whatever that looks like.

That's the person that you're like, man, like I'm gonna punch them in the head.

That person's your neighbor.

Maybe they deserve it, but that's your neighbor.

All right.

But it's anybody that we encounter, regardless of their ethnicity, beliefs, and action.

And we see this in the life of Jesus.

This is just who he is.

Can I tell you that we live in a very divided world?

We live in a world where a lot of times the vocabulary is us versus them.

And those people that identify with this, and those people over there who identify with that.

It's the people that act like this, and then there's people that act like that over there.

But let me repeat it to you.

This is not the Jesus way.

This isn't how he lives his life where he points people.

The Jesus way is not us versus them, it is a we thing.

Like we're all in this together.

This is the way that Jesus lives his life.

I wanted to give you a picture, hopefully, to aid what I'm saying.

And I always speak about this because there was an event that happened in my life that drastically changed and transformed and shaped my life.

Uh, I was adopted at a very young age into a family that is not my birth family.

And I share that because that that event really has shaped who I am to this day.

I know it.

I was brought into a family that didn't look like me.

There are some very, very big differences between myself and my family.

But what I'm so grateful and thankful for is that my parents saw past any differences and yet invited me in.

You see, a neighbor is anybody that we encounter, regardless of how they look, regardless of what they believe, regardless of what they do.

It's the person that we encounter that we can show compassion to.

And I'm so grateful and thankful that my parents did that for me.

And you likely are a recipient of someone being neighborly to you.

All of us, if if we've been helped by somebody.

There are probably some differences between you and that person that helped you.

But yet, they were neighborly enough to come alongside you and help you.

So all I'm trying to say to all of us today is that this is who our neighbor is.

Can I step on your toes just a little bit?

I put together just a little list of people that I think we need to be reminded that our neighbor is.

It's the person that we think has it all wrong politically.

It's your neighbor.

It's the single parent that you interact with every day that's struggling to make ends meet.

It's the person that we think looks like they're up to no good.

It's the the immigrant who's coming here to escape something out there.

You may not understand it, but that person is your neighbor.

It's the boss that you're gonna see tomorrow that you're like, that boss is your neighbor.

Come on, it's the person that's making poor life choices.

That person is your it's the person that struggles with a sin that you've never been tempted with a day in your life.

That is your neighbor.

It's the person that you see every day.

That you're like, man, if I could just change this and this about, that is your neighbor.

Are you getting that this morning?

This is who our neighbor is.

Can I say this?

I think that sometimes we need to stop looking at people as problems and look at them as neighbors.

That's just what I think.

Sometimes we see people, we label them by their issues and by their problems, by their struggles.

When the Jesus way is this person is your neighbor.

I love this about Access Church.

We're gonna go on three missions trips this year.

Next year we're gonna do the same three.

And then the next year we're doing the same three.

And then the next because that's just what we do.

And I love it.

We're gonna go to Honduras and we'll go to Kenya, Africa, and we'll go to Chiapas, Mexico.

And I love it.

And you better believe that when we go and we minister to those people, it's not just those people over there, these people that have less than me.

No, we are going to serve our neighbors.

The mindset we have is that of I'm going to serve somebody.

They may look different than me.

They may speak a different language that I simply just don't get, but they are my neighbor.

They're not less than, they are people worthy of dignity.

These are our neighbors.

You with me so far?

This is what Jesus is doing.

He's trying to widen this guy's limited scope.

To say your neighbor is anybody that you come across.

That old word for neighbor, the old uh meaning was the person nearby, the near, the one who was close to you.

Anybody that you interact with that needs compassion, that's our neighbor.

The question two is simply this Do I have to love them?

This is a good one.

Question one is who is my neighbor?

But question three, do I really have to love them?

Oh, the Bible says this in Luke 10, 27.

This man answered, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, with all of your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

This one is very easy.

Write it in your notes.

Yes, you have to love your neighbor.

The answer is a resounding, a booming yes, we have to love.

But Pastor Isaiah, you gotta love them.

And I got those people too where I'm like, mmm, debatable, you know.

But I got those people too where it's like, no, we have to love our neighbor.

Let's go back to that verse.

Go back one more for me.

Let's give me that verse one more time.

Love the Lord your God.

I want to explore this just for the next few minutes.

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

Hold it right here.

I love this.

What I want you to see is this this begins with God.

This begins with God.

Do I really have to love them?

The answer is yes.

And it begins with God.

Why?

Because that's the most important relationship that you have.

Here at Access, we say this all the time.

We do four things.

We want four things for you.

The first of those four things is we want you to know God.

We want you to leave today's service saying, Man, I know God a little bit more.

Man, I'm transformed just a little bit more to look like him when we leave.

That's what we want.

We want you to know God.

Okay, so it all starts with God and then it extends to other people.

We say it like this: our relationship with God is dependent on how we love people.

Your relationship with God, my relationship with God, our relationship with God is dependent on how we love other people.

Yes, the people that we know, but hey, oh, it's the people that you also don't know.

Our relationship with God is determined on that.

I'll tell you why.

It's because there's one creator of us all.

The book of 1 John would tell us in chapter 4 that you can't say you love God but hate your brother or sister.

That person, John, would say, you are a liar.

If you say you love God but you don't love other people.

It's not my words.

Don't get mad at me.

Give me a hug after service.

I love you.

I'm just telling you, this is what the Bible says that we can't just say, Oh, I love God, but I hate this person over there.

It just doesn't work in the kingdom.

Uh let me let me try to figure this out.

Okay, so so I have two kids, Nehemiah and Noelle.

Nehemiah's eight, and he's awesome.

That man's a baller.

He had a great basketball game yesterday.

I love him.

I have a daughter, Noelle.

She's amazing.

She runs our house, and um, she's four years old.

She really does.

And um, I just do whatever she asks.

But um, I love them.

And if you came to me and you said, Pastor, I love you.

I think you're cool, I think you're awesome.

And I said, Man, thank you, man.

I appreciate that.

Man, that means a lot to me.

But then you said, but but your kids.

I don't know about me and my man.

I I don't like him.

I don't like Noelle.

How do I feel in that moment?

I'll tell you right now, I'm gonna act out in such a way that you're gonna wonder, why is he going to be the North Location pastor?

Like, this dude seems like he's a devil.

Like that.

Why?

Because it's like, yo, those are my kids.

You can't say that you love me and hate my kids in a greater, deeper, higher, holier way, so it is with God.

We can't say, God, I love you, and I'm singing all these songs.

I take you at your word, and and all we can't do all that and then hate the person next to us.

How does that even work?

It doesn't work not in God's kingdom.

Let me say it like this.

Put this in your notes that, man, we show our love to God by the way we love people.

You want to show God, man, I love you, love other people.

Some places in the Bible, it's uh they're asking Jesus, hey, what's the greatest commandment?

That you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and that you love your neighbor as yourself.

You want to show God that you love him, we have to love people.

People we know, yes.

People you don't know, yes.

This is what it means to truly love our neighbor.

I like to say it like this that loving our neighbor is it's reflective and responsive.

Now hold this here for me.

Reflective and responsive.

It's reflective in that that I know that I'm a great recipient of the love, the grace, the mercy, the compassion of the Lord.

I know that is true about me, just like I know it's true about you.

Let me prove it to you.

Here it is.

In the last seven days, by a show of hands, raise your hand if you have done, said, or thought something incorrect.

Come on, raise your hand.

Come on, just be honest.

And if you're not raising your hand, you're lying.

Okay?

Right?

Okay, now let's widen the scope.

In your whole lifetime, have you ever done, said, or thought something wrong?

Raise your hand if that's you.

Again, if you're not raising your hand, you're lying.

But you're a great recipient of the love and the grace and the mercy of the Lord.

Matter of fact, I just feel like we're not even worthy enough to come into this building.

Some of us should have gotten zapped at the front door.

Like, let's just be real.

Probably me.

I'm the first one to get zapped.

I'll tell you how it feels.

Right?

But the reality is we didn't get zapped.

That is the love, the grace, the mercy, the compassion of the Lord on your life in operation in your life.

From what I can see, everyone here has life in their body.

No one here is without clothes.

And if you are, we don't do that here.

That's a different church.

So don't do that, right?

So you have life in your body, you have clothes on your back, back, you probably have a reasonable portion of your heart and your mind and strength.

So that is God's love in operation.

Do you see that?

So we ought to reflect that.

If I'm receiving that from God, I need to be a reflection of that.

I can't hate somebody else and I can't not love my neighbor, not show them compassion, especially in a point of need.

I can't do that because I'm receiving so much from God.

It's only right that I reflect that.

Are you getting this?

It's also responsive.

In other words, I don't get all of this from the Lord and then decide, ah, I'm not gonna do anything with it.

Ah, man, God's been so good to me and it's all for me.

I I don't do that.

My response should be that I reflect that and I show that to other people.

Are you getting this this morning?

That that, yes, you actually do have to love your neighbor, but it's a response, it's a reflection of what God has already done in your life.

So for those of us that have been walking with the Lord for some times, the question of the day is, man, are you reflecting that adequately to those around you?

Absolutely, to people that you know.

But what about people that you don't know?

That's the second question.

Is do I really have to?

Absolutely.

Because I'm showing my love to God based upon my love for other people.

You ready for the third question?

Third question is simply this How do I love my neighbor?

If I've established who my neighbor is, in 2024, our devices have made this world really small.

So I can be connected with somebody that's like across the world.

So it's not just people that I physically interact with, but it's also people digitally that I interact with.

Man, I I can be a neighbor to them as well.

So we've established who our neighbor is, and and do I really have to love them?

The answer is yes, but this third question is how do I do that?

How do I make it real in my life?

I love this.

Um, Luke 10, 27 says this.

This guy answers, Jesus.

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

And then check this last part out.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

Let me read it again.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

Third time for emphasis.

And love your neighbor as who?

Yourself.

Now hold that in your mind.

Let's go back.

What did the Samaritan do when he saw this guy in need of help?

Here it is.

It says, but a Samaritan, as he traveled, he came to where the man was, and look what he did.

He saw him, but he didn't just see him and go to the other side.

He saw him, he took pity and compassion on him.

He went to him, he bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on him.

Then he put the man on his own donkey.

He gave him his own way of transportation, and he brought him to the inn and he took care of them.

The next day he took two Denera and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Look after him, and when I return, if there's any extra expense, I will reimburse you for that.

So this guy meets his needs practically and sacrificially.

How do I love my neighbor?

I meet their needs practically when I can, and when when God sends people uh down my path and down my way and in my life, when I meet them practically, but also sacrificially.

I'll say it like this that we should love our neighbor practically and sacrificially.

This is the way to do it.

What's the how?

How do I do this?

I meet my my neighbor's needs practically and sacrificially.

And I love them.

As I love myself.

Here's the crazy thing.

I think we have to just get our minds in tune with the fact that whenever I'm helping my neighbor, whenever I'm helping my fellow man, no matter what they look like or where they've been or their actions, all of that stuff, oftentimes it is inefficient, inconvenient, it's gonna cost me something.

You need to know if you're like, man, you know what, I'm gonna practice this out in my life.

It's gonna cost you something.

It may be inefficient, and it may be uh just inconvenient to you at the time.

But it's what God wants for us to meet the needs of those around us practically and sacrificially.

Man, you want to embrace relationships, heart and soul with everything that you have.

It includes loving your neighbor, and this is part of it.

And here's that other part.

He says, Love your neighbor.

Check this out as yourself.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

And I think a lot of times what we do is we we say, hey, love your neighbor, and man, it'll be all great, love your neighbor, and but we forget those last two words.

It's love your neighbor as yourself.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

Well, I know this about me.

When I wake up in the morning, uh man, I try to choose the highest good uh for myself.

I absolutely look out for other people, but I need I figure out, hey, what do I need to make it through this day, you know, um safe and sound?

And I choose whatever that is for me.

So loving my neighbor as myself means I do that for somebody else.

What's the highest good for them?

Not just me, but what's the highest good for them?

I know this about me.

When I wake up in the morning, I'm I'm never endeavoring, I never choose to.

Um I'm never electing to make a fool of myself, though that happens.

Um I'm never trying to embarrass myself, and sometimes that happens.

Um, I'm never trying to, you know, ashamed, but sometimes that happens.

Um, but I never, it's not never my goal to do that to myself, right?

So then why would I do that to a neighbor?

Why would I put somebody else down or try to bring shame on them or try to make them look like a fool?

Why would I try to embarrass somebody else?

You want to love your neighbor as yourself.

What do you do for you?

Jesus says, now go do likewise.

Do do for somebody else what you would want done unto you.

Remember the golden rule?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

So if I'm not gonna do that for myself, I should not do that against somebody else.

I love what the writer uh Paul says in the book of Ephesians 5.

He he says this that no one hates his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.

In the message translation, I love this.

It says, No one abuses his own body, does he?

No.

He feeds and pampers it.

And that's how Christ treats us, the church, since we are a part of his body.

All I'm trying to tell you is the way we love people.

It's as ourself and practically and sacrificially sacrificially.

I'm done.

I'm gonna close out our time together with just giving you one challenge.

If you're there and you're saying, Pastor Isaiah, how do I get handles on this?

How do I practice it?

How do I apply this in my life?

Everything you said sounds good.

Thank you.

I appreciate you.

But as you leave, how do you actually live this thing out?

I'm gonna give you just one simple little phrase.

I think it'll help you.

It's this see a need, meet a need.

When you leave this church, this place, this space, if you see a need, simply meet a need.

Can I tell you something that I love about this story?

Samaritan man didn't go over to this guy and say, Man, why are you traveling on this road, dude?

Like, you know, this is a bad place to travel.

He didn't interrogate him.

He didn't say, Man, you could be doing better for yourself.

He just saw this man and said, You have a need, and I'm gonna meet that need.

If you were to call 911 right now, don't call it right now, don't do that.

Um but if you were to call 911, how about later, if you need to call 911?

Sure, the the dispatcher is gonna ask you some questions to just get a lay of the land so officers or or first responders can help you.

But they're not gonna say, you know what, we can't come out.

How many times did you use a bad word this week?

How many times did you lose your temper this week?

I don't determine if we're coming or not.

They're not gonna do that.

They're gonna say, listen, I got the info I need.

Help is on the way.

It's not based upon what what's your skin color?

Oh, what no?

They're gonna say, listen, help is on the way.

And so too, if we really want to live this out, we need the people that say, hey, I'm your help.

I'm here, I see your need.

What do you need?

I got you.

We need to be people that view other people not as problems, but as neighbors.

We need to be people that say, you know what, I'm gonna reflect and respond appropriately to the love, the grace, the mercy, the compassion that God has given me to you.

Because after all, man, we're all in this together.

Everyone.

No, I'm we're all in this together.

So let's bow our heads and I want to pray over you.

I want to pray that God allows this message to stir in you and then change and shape the way that you view your neighbor.

Yes, your spouse, yes, your kids, yes, your coworkers, yes, the people that you know, but the people that you're gonna come in contact with this week that you maybe don't know.

People that are just a little bit different from you.

God, I pray that you would do that.

Just help us.

God, I want to say that I'm sorry.

If there is a way that I viewed a neighbor, somebody else, that was not in the right light, I apologize.

And all of us, we we come to you asking for a new fresh start, that we would see people as you see people.

Jesus, when he was on the earth, when he saw people, he saw them as helpless and harassed, like sheep without a shepherd.

Lord, help us to see people that need you.

See the need, but be moved with compassion to meet the need.

Help us to do that.

This week, as much as we need it, God bring these words back to our hearts and minds in Jesus' name.