[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Thank you, everybody. Come on, one time for Jesus together. Come on, everybody.
To our king. Boy, it's so good to be with you here today on an amazing Sunday morning. We've had a good weather week week here in Longview. Let me just say I spent a couple days last week in Colorado and it was almost as good as it is here. Almost.
Almost as good as it is here. I wanted to say a special welcome to all of you watching online. Come on, Highridge Church. Give them a big warm welcome, if you wouldn't mind, my friends watching from all around the world. Hey, everybody.
I'm glad that you're here. Join us if you would in Luke chapter 10. We're going to spend all of our time right there. Luke chapter 10:10. Today, as we're turning over there, I wanted to say thank you for being such a generous church. For those of you that have chosen to stand behind us financially. We could not do what we do without you. You are an incredible part of this amazing church. Let me just say thank you for being so generous. We want to show you every single week different opportunities that we have in our city in ways that you guys have blessed.
Not just those that are on the outsides of some remote part of a jungle somewhere in the world, but those that right here in this city. And so this past week, we were able to say well done to a bunch of our teachers at Ware elementary and provide them with the best chicken, the Lord's chicken, and tell them thank you for having an amazing year as just a way to bless those in our community that are doing a fantastic job watching over and blessing our little ones. So I think it's important that you see where your money goes. And so when you're standing behind us, we like to bless those that are serving and doing great things in our community. Thank you for standing behind us financially. It's making a massive difference. Thank you so much. Also, groups are launching this week and so if you have not been able to get into a group, let me just tell you, most of them are completely full. We do have a couple spots left, but that might be underwater basket weaving or some group that you're like, I didn't know if that was going to fill up, but there's a couple spots left. I just want to let you know we did make that announcement to first service. So next time, listen to me when I say sign up for a group, I'm just telling you it's amazing. You need to be in a group. We want you in a group. It's going to be good for you. People need your story, and you need people's stories. Come on, you need them. Part of being in the body of Christ is getting around other believers and realizing that you're not alone. So God will place you in an amazing group and you'll enjoy it. It'll be good for you. Luke, chapter 10. We're going to continue on with our series called Jesus the Storyteller. Jesus the Storyteller. I think there are so many things that we could. That we could use to describe our amazing Savior. We could call him our Lord. He's our master. He's my friend. He's amazing. He's our healer. But I don't think enough is said about how crazy good Jesus was with telling stories. So Jesus gives about 30 parables, and each of them have incredible insight and layers to them. They're more than just just stories that he's telling. There's stories that have a point, that take us to places that we're not really willing to go to. And he does that by telling great stories. So before there was Spielberg, before there was Tolkien, before there was Charles Dickens, Jesus was giving incredible stories with fantastic layers. And so this week, we're going to bring it up to the story of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan, Luke, chapter 10.
And it's important to know that Jesus is doing this not to just.
Not to just tell a story, but he's doing this to confront some bad theology.
And so this is what happens in Luke chapter 10.
It says, on one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Now, this would not be describing an attorney, but this is someone that's an expert in the law of God, the law of Moses, someone that had studied it their entire life. And it says he stood up not to ask Jesus the question, really, but to test him.
Now, when it says stood up to test Jesus, this word only appears one time in Scripture. It's a very particular word that tells us it. He's not just putting Jesus to the test. He's. He's testing Jesus's patience. He's trying to aggravate him. He's trying to push him to a place where he can expose Jesus and say, see, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm the expert. You need to, you need to just stop talking, stop teaching.
And so this is the context by which we find ourselves hearing a parable. So the expert stands up to push Jesus to expose him, to try to reveal that he's the one that knows better than Christ.
So he stands up to test Jesus and he says, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus tells him, well, you're the expert in the law.
Jesus says, how do you read it?
You're the expert. Why don't you teach us? What does it all boil down to?
If you could take all the knowledge that you have about the law and boil it down to what? What would that look like? How do you read it?
So this gives the man an opportunity to speak. And he answered, it all boils down to this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Here's the good news. He was right. He is absolutely right. That is the correct answer. And we know this because even Jesus himself at other times in scripture that says, this is what it all boils down to. All the law and the prophets come down to these two commandments when they said, what's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
He says, on these hang all the law and the prophets.
So when the expert is asked, well, how do you read the law? What does it boil down to? He gives the correct answer.
So then Jesus takes that correct answer and begins to expose parts of him that are incorrect when he says, love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says, you have answered correctly.
Do this and you will live. So he's answered, right. He could have stopped there, but it says, but he wanted to look at the next two words, justify himself.
Now it's at this moment in the story that I recognize myself.
How many times in my life, not talking about you, but just my own self, how many times in my own life have I wanted to justify myself? Let me explain. Let me tell you why I'm right. Let me tell you why I got it figured out. Let me tell you how just I was in making this decision.
He wants to justify himself. So he asked a follow up question. He asked Jesus a loaded question.
He says, who is My neighbor. If I'm supposed to love my neighbor as myself, then why don't you tell me who that neighbor is? Who are we talking about here? What people group are you speaking about?
So when he asks, who is my neighbor? In reply, Jesus gives this parable, this story.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, where he was attacked by robbers.
They stripped him of his clothes, they beat him, and they went away, leaving him half dead. If you've been a fan of Princess Bride, he was only mostly dead.
If he was completely dead, there's only one thing left to do. Come on, somebody go through his pockets and look for loose chains. No, no, you don't remember.
Dark humor. I get it. They leave the guy half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road. And. And when he saw the man, what does he do? He crosses to the other side of the street.
But it says, then a Levite comes to that same place and saw him, and he passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan. As he traveled, he came to where the man was. And when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him.
He bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day, he took out two denarii, and he gives them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense that you may have.
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of.
Of the robbers?
Was it the priest? Was it the Levite, or was it the Samaritan? Which. Which one do you think was it was a neighbor. Which one was the one showing love, the one showing compassion? Which one was loving their neighbor as their self?
Jesus asked.
The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. And then Jesus says some incredible words. He says, go and do likewise.
You want to inherit internal life?
Go and do likewise.
So in this instance, what we see is that Jesus answers a legal question by exposing a heart condition.
Jesus answers a legal question by exposing a heart condition. And he does this, by the way, by telling a brilliant story. He does it with a great pattern. If you understand Jewish history and Jewish culture, what you'll know is that as Jesus starts this story, he does it with a very particular storytelling pattern.
Now, we have these in our modern day American vernacular, we. I have things that I could say right now that you would immediately know. I'm about to tell you a story.
Stuff like Once Upon a Time triggers. He's telling us a story.
If I was to tell you a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, you'd be like, okay, this is going to be a Star wars reference. He's about to tell me a story. If I was to tell you, knock, knock, you would say, who's there? Why? Because it's common for us to frame a story or a joke within that pattern. If I was to say, you know, an Aggie and a ut guy walked into a bar, you'd be like, oh, here we go. You know, it's about to be a joke, and I'm probably going to make fun of the Aggie. That's just the way it goes.
It's not like that came as a shock to you. You get it. You know the pattern. You see the joke. And so when Jesus is telling this story, he uses a very, very common storytelling pattern of saying, a priest and a Levite were walking down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and they came upon a man that was laying on the side of the road. All of them would have said, he's in story mode. I get it. Let's pay attention to what he's saying. He's going to try to reveal to us something that we need to understand. It's very, very common for them to use three characters, but Jesus does something unprecedented by introducing a fourth character.
And the fourth character is the Samaritan. That's a major problem for Jewish storytelling to make the Samaritan the hero of the story. This would have caught people by surprise. This is where people would, I don't like where he's going with this story. I don't like this.
This makes us uncomfortable. This makes us a little edgy.
Jesus uses the fourth man into the storytelling. And by the way, the Bible is notorious for introducing the fourth man as the hero. Go back in your mind for a moment if you went to Sunday school when you heard the story of the three Hebrew children being thrown into the fire. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They take them, they throw them into the fire because they will not bow down to the God that Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And then he looks into the furnace. He said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. There was three in the fire, but now I'm seeing a fourth.
And the fourth, he says, looks like the Son of God.
Jesus was the fourth man introduced into the story that made all the difference. And in this story, the Samaritan That Jesus introduces into the storyline is a type and a shadow of Jesus himself.
Jesus says, I am the Good Samaritan.
Now, for an expert in the law, he would have recognized, like, you're telling a normal story pattern. You're trying to get me to see what you're trying to say. But a fourth person that you introduced was one that we would despise and reject. And Jesus is like, that's me.
The fourth one is the person that we're not. We don't want to hear what he has to say. No, Jesus said that. That's me. You don't want to listen. You want to reject me even before you have a chance, have a chance to hear what I'm trying to say. Jesus introduces the fourth man into the story, and the fourth man is the one where all the story hangs, the Good Samaritan. Jesus shows us that he's not just a Good Samaritan, He's a gooder Samaritan, to speak East Texas lingo fluently.
So Jesus gives us a better definition of what it means to love like he loves.
We're going to focus on what this story is, because when he, when he asked him the question, all the law and the prophets boil down to this one thing.
Loving the Lord and loving your neighbor. He says, then how do I define neighbor? And Jesus begins to talk about what it means to have that kind of love, a love that he's expressing to those that we would instantly reject.
The first or three things I want to share with you is what Jesus is explaining to this expert in the law. And he shows us, number one, he shows us a love that takes real risk.
Love that takes real risk.
So Jesus starts the story by saying, a man goes from Jerusalem down to Jericho.
Now, this is a very, very common road where Jesus takes people in their mind to a road that every single one of them knew. This road was notorious for being a place where people were attacked. This is 17 miles walking straight downhill. Where the layout of the land and because there was so much business and travel on this road, you had to go with a group. You cannot travel by yourself because you're going to get robbed, you're going to get beaten up, people are going to jump you. And for those of us that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, those of us that grew up in higher crime areas, you know, you have those roads in your mind. Like, I don't go there. I need to walk around you. You don't take that road unless you come with your boys.
So when Jesus talks about this particular road from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He's not inventing some hypothetical dangerous situation. He's taking every single one of the listeners into a place where all of them knew it.
He's saying, this is a dangerous road.
Now, if we were to translate that to East Texas, he would say, this is 635 in Dallas. You don't want to.
This is not for the faint of heart. He would have said, this is like trying to turn left out of the Walmart on 4th Street. You don't.
There we go. Now you know.
So when Jesus is painting a picture, he said, let's talk about this road. And all of them are like, oh, I know that road.
So Jesus doesn't invent some hypothetical danger.
He paints a picture that they can see. Ooh, that's not good.
I said, this is where we find this guy beaten up, robbed, left, mostly dead.
He said, and this is where a Samaritan comes along after the priest and the Levite have crossed to the other side of the street.
And the Samaritan takes the risk by stopping himself, by spending time taking care of someone that had been left and rejected.
And the Samaritan is the hero of the story who takes a real risk to show someone compassion, to show him mercy.
And Jesus, by the way, shows us very, very clearly that real love involves real risk. It's not safe or sanitized charity.
Real love takes real risk.
And Jesus shows us through the story.
He's the Good Samaritan and an expert in the law that should understand scripture ought to have a light bulb going off in his head as Jesus takes him into this story.
Jesus refers to the Good Samaritan and the things that he's doing. And by the way, as he's doing this, he's laying out the pattern for our discipleship today. He's showing us exactly where he found each of us.
He's showing us that we were dead in our trespasses and our sins, that life will beat you up, that life will leave you rejected and alone, needing help. And Jesus is explaining the process by which he found each of us and saying, I saw you on the side of the road and I felt compassion and pity on you, and I stopped and took real risk to love you back to life again.
This is more than just a story. Jesus is explaining his heart for those that are lost and hurt and broken.
And we see the pattern here. By the way, in scripture, it says that the Samaritan finds the broken man. Jesus tells us later on that he came to seek and save that which was lost.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Then it says, not only does he find him, but Jesus binds up his wounds.
When they asked Jesus, why are you here? He said, the Spirit of the Lord is on me to. To bind up the brokenhearted here. To bind up your wounds. I'm here to take those issues that you have and help you.
It says the Good Samaritan treats his injuries with oil and with wine.
That'd be easy for us to say. Oh, I get it. You know, he puts a little bit of oil on there because this man has been beaten up. And this is going to help to reduce the swelling. And he puts some wine on there because that's the antiseptic. But Jesus is going way deeper than that. He's saying, the oil and the wine is symbolic of my blood and the Holy Spirit.
You want to have healing, you have to be covered in the blood of Jesus.
You have to be filled with the power of his Holy Spirit. He said, this is the process by which every single believer is going to find healing. Healing in your marriage, healing in your mind, healing in your families. It's going to take the blood of Jesus and it's going to take the power of the Holy Spirit. The oil and the wine. He says, the Samaritan lays this upon this man that was hurt and broke him and treats his wounds with the oil and with the wine. He shows us very clearly that the Holy Spirit doesn't just patch us up, but he's here to transform us on the inside. He heals us. He transforms us from that which was dead, makes us alive again.
Notice Jesus says he treats him with. With wine at the Last Supper, that at the communion that Jesus has with his disciples, he explains to them that this wine that you're drinking, he said, this is my blood poured out for you, poured out for the forgiveness of your sins, the healing of your sin problem.
He treats our wounds by pouring out his own blood and showing us that this is where real healing comes from. The power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the blood of Jesus. It shows us very clearly that Jesus blood doesn't just cover our sin, but it cleanses our conscience.
I'm thankful that I don't live in the shame and the regret of my life before Christ. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus.
It's changed me.
It's cleared my conscience.
It says the Good Samaritan treats the injured man with oil and wine after binding up his wounds. And then it says he lifts him onto his donkey.
Jesus Says, come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. He said, cast your cares upon me because I care for you. He said, why don't you use my donkey? Let's. Let's put him on top of my donkey. I'm going to carry him.
So the Good Samaritan is simply Jesus in disguise. We just have to go deeper into the story. He lifts him onto his donkey, says it takes him to an inn.
It takes him to a place where he can get some healing. This is symbolic of Jesus putting each of us into the body of Christ, into a church of believers, into a group of people where we can find some healing. Do you see the process that Jesus is walking us through in the story of the Good Samaritan? And said, this is what this he did for this man. And he's saying, symbolically, this is what I'm going to do for you if you're willing to listen to the story and if you're willing to allow the truth of what Jesus is saying to become your truth.
So he takes him to an end.
Then it says he tells the innkeeper, you know what? Take care of him.
He gives him two denarii, which would have been several weeks worth of food and medical care, to make sure he has not just a place to stay, but he has people that are checking in on him as he begins the recovery process. By the way, this is why we need you in a group. You need to be in a group. You need to be in a group.
This is Jesus showing us the process of redemption and restoration, the process of healing, of getting a little bit better over time. I'm going to give you some people that need to be checking on your life.
Says Jesus takes through the Good Samaritan us to a place, he puts us into the body of Christ and says, I'm going to pay the price to make sure that they get everything that they need.
And then it says this very clearly that he's doing this out of love. Remember, he says, love your neighbor as yourself. So I'm doing this because I love that one that doesn't even really know me yet, but I love them. And at some point he's going to love me in return. He says, we love because Christ first loved us.
It shows us that true love costs something. It doesn't give leftovers.
And God's love for you cost him something.
It's not a leftover kind of love.
Some of us need to understand that today to help redefine what God's Love really looks like it cost him something.
Love that costs, love that takes a risk. This is the kind of love that the Father has for each of us. And then at the end it says, then he, the Samaritan promised that he would return.
Isn't that good?
Because Jesus is essentially saying, I promise you, I'm not going to leave you there. I'm going to come back. Some of us have forgotten that Jesus is coming back. He promises he's going to return. He's coming back. He's made us a promise.
I'm coming back.
You know, In John chapter 14, Jesus tells his disciples, when I go off this planet, he said, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I will come back for you.
I will come for you. Some of us need to draw some comfort from that fact. Jesus says, I'm not going to leave you coming back. And so Jesus makes us this promise. But he hides it in a parable so that those that have a heart to see and a heart to understand can dig deeper and recognize that he's telling more than a story. It's not a feel good story. It's a promise.
It's a process.
It's a guarantee that he's not going to leave me. He's going to help me to heal. He's going to restore my life.
He shows us very clearly a love that takes a risk. Here's the second thing that we see.
He shows us a love that confronts.
A love that confronts.
I hope each of us have people in our life that love us enough to confront us.
And Jesus shows that an expert in the law needed confrontation. And Jesus does it with incredible love.
He shows us a love that confronts.
And he does that by sharing him the story of what happens when the priest and the Levite walk to the other side of the road. You see, the priest and the Levite, they're not evil people, they're religious people. And by the way, that's the problem, that's the issue.
Because history tells us that they're likely avoiding the wounded man because he's either about to die or he looks like he's dead already.
And the Book of Numbers would tell them that according to our religion, in verse 11 of chapter 19, whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. Like that's really inconvenient for me. If this guy dies while I'm trying to get him some help, then I'll be unclean for seven days. I can't go to work, I can't go to temple. Pet's heads are falling off.
Sorry you picked an inconvenient time to be mostly dead.
And that's the problem.
Why? Because ritual law was never intended to be more important than showing mercy. And Jesus confronts this over and over and over and over again. He tells his own disciples in Matthew, chapter nine, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
You think it's all about bringing your bulls and bringing your pigeons and bringing your doves and sacrifice, and sacrifice, and sacrifice. What about mercy? What about people that you see laying there on the side of the road that need help? What about that?
So Jesus is answering a legal question by exposing a heart condition. He said, I'm looking at your ability to show mercy to your neighbor.
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. So Jesus begins to expose this distorted theology that says, well, it's ritual over mercy and it's rules over relationship.
And Jesus is like, that's. That's not the point.
You're missing the point that God's word was never intended to be a loophole to avoid loving people ever.
So this expert gets gently dismantled because his. His knowledge isn't in question. His heart is.
This is where many of us find ourselves at today. You may have been raised in church your whole life.
Read the Bible your whole life on every Bible study. You've done awanas, you've done Royal Rangers, you've done Christian schools. Wonderful, great.
We run the risk of falling into the ditch, of knowing all these things about God and never putting them into practice practically by loving people.
So Jesus speaks to this expert in a beautiful story that's more than a metaphor. Look at me. It's a mirror saying, why don't you look at this?
And he sees himself and it exposes his theology.
Let me say it this way. If your theology lets you avoid hurting people, it's not holiness, it's hypocrisy.
Here's the third and final point. I'll stop stepping on toes. We'll move to something better.
We need to hear this.
That's not holiness.
That's hypocrisy.
Jesus came to seek and save those that were lost.
And at some point, our Christianity has to become something more than head. Knowledge has to become something more than an excuse to say, well, they're different than me, therefore I don't have to love them, or I can love them from over here. No, Love takes real risk. It's not sanitized.
It's messy. It's hard.
But we hide behind our theology, saying, I don't have to take Care of those that don't look like me, act like me, vote like me, sin like me.
And Jesus would say, that's hypocrisy.
That's not the gospel that I gave you.
Jesus said, I loved you when you didn't look like me. Act like me, think like me.
I loved you before you could love me. In response, he shows us very clearly a love that confronts.
Here's the third and final thing I want to share with you. Number three. Jesus shows him a love that redefines, a love that redefines.
So Jesus doesn't really answer his question the way that he asks it. But what Jesus does is he flips the question with a story.
He said, well, who is my neighbor? He said, let me flip that question, because the issue isn't who your neighbor is, but what kind of neighbor you are.
What kind of neighbor are you?
And so as Jesus is telling this story, his face would have been like, you're an expert in the law.
Let's hold it up to you.
Because even though he had the right answers, he wasn't walking it out practically.
So Jesus flips the question, and Jesus redefines the word neighbors to include the people that we would instantly reject.
Now think about this. In your own life, are there people that you say, as soon as their picture pops up in my mind, I instantly would reject them because they've hurt me, they've said things, they've done things.
And Jesus like, let's start with them. You're like, e, no, I.
I don't like that.
Jesus tells his disciples, if you only love those who love those love you in return, what, what reward is there in that?
You're really good at loving yourselves.
But Jesus picks the Samaritan. And Jesus doesn't just include the outsider. He makes him the hero of the story. That's a big problem. It would have really stepped on a lot of toes. Jesus would have confronted their legalistic spirit by mentioning those kind of people. Why is that such a big deal? Because for centuries, these two have been clashing with one another. The Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans were considered theological and racial half breeds to the place where they were not allowed to worship at our temple. The Samaritans had to build their own temple.
This is why Jesus later on in scripture finds himself at a well, speaking with the woman at a well, who's a Samaritan, by the way. And she's the very first person that he ever reveals who he really is to.
And she tells him Stuff like, well, I understand theology a little bit. I mean, you guys worship in. On that mountain with that temple, and we have to worship at. At this temple because you don't accept us, and we can't come to your temple and all this. And Jesus, like, stop.
So the time is coming.
We're going to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Time is coming where the things that have kept us apart are going to be broken down.
We recognize that to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves means letting this stuff go.
And he's going to redefine the word neighbor by including those that we would instantly reject.
History tells us if you've ever. If you ever want to just do a deep dive into why Samaritans and Jews hated each other so much that when the Jews were building the temple, that the Samaritans would throw, like, dead pigs into the foundation of their. Of their building as they're constructing it. Like, that's pretty bad. But a pig would mean they're completely desecrating it. They have to dig the whole thing up and start over again. That's more than just a prank.
Come on. This is like religious terrorism. And then they would, you know, go a little bit farther, and they would take. And they'd throw dead human bones in the other temple. Like, come on, you've defiled the whole thing. And this goes on for centuries to the place where Jews would not go into Samaria. They would have nothing to do with them. They would go completely around so that they wouldn't have to even look at them.
And Jesus starts by saying, this person over here that you reject, that you hate so much, that's the hero of the story.
Because this is what the expert in the law is asking Jesus. He said, who's. Who's my neighbor? In other words, where do I draw the line? Is it those that live right next to me? Those that live in my city? Is it those that go to the temple with me? Is it those that I like? Where's the line? And Jesus says, erase the line.
And let's start with those that you would instantly reject.
You're an expert in the law.
Let me talk to you about love and mercy, compassion. See, Jesus changes the focus from boundaries to becoming someone who lives beyond them.
And I want to leave that on the screen for us to see, because this is where it still confronts us today. And it redefines how we're supposed to love.
And so at the end, Jesus asked him A question. Who do you think out of these three characters was a neighbor to the man that was. That was dying?
And notice the expert in the law can't even bring himself to say the word Samaritan?
Jesus says, the Samaritan did this. The Samaritan did that. The Samaritan. Now, which one was the.
Was the true neighbor?
And he's like, well, the. The one that you mentioned earlier. That. That. That guy. The. Which one was that? Yeah, the one who had mercy. It shows us that even after all that, the prejudice still exists.
How many times did Jesus, the Word made flesh himself, stand right in front of a person, explain it in a way that they could understand?
And that person says, yeah, that. Nah, no thanks. Why? Because it calls me into humility, saying, maybe you've taught me something that I needed to hear.
The prejudice still exists.
And by the way, this is after he gave the right answers.
He gave the right answers.
Please hear me, because this is important for us to see.
You can have the right answer and still have the wrong heart.
You can have the right answer and still have the wrong heart.
So Jesus says, who's the neighbor?
The one that had mercy.
And Jesus gives him not a conclusion to the story. He gives him a command.
So this is not a bedtime story. This is a battle cry to do war with our flesh, to do war with our theology, to do war with our mind, to do war with our understanding of who God is and what he's expecting of me, how God is having me to live. He said, I want you to do war with that. How do I do that? By really loving who's my neighbor. Erase those lines and start loving those that you instantly reject. Let's start there.
It's a battle cry for each of us to say, I need some help. I need some help here. There's some people I need to forgive, and there's some people I might need to ask for forgiveness from. There are those that I know need help, and I refuse to help them.
There are times where I'll come to church on a Sunday morning and lift my hands and worship the Lord. Thank you, Lord, so much for blessing me. And the Lord put someone in my pat that needs help. And I'm like, yeah, maybe not so much.
And Jesus says, let's start there.
Let's start right there.
As we're finishing up today, I want to give you a chance to maybe respond to the Lord and what he might be saying to you.
I think if I've done my job correctly today, hopefully it's Helped to kind of expose some areas of our own mind, our own understanding of how we can call ourselves children of God, call ourselves believers, and recognize that we've got mistakes, we've got issues.
But God is calling us to have compassion, to show mercy, to show love. It's not about just what you're giving up for God. I understand today you've made a sacrifice by even coming here to church. You've made a sacrifice, perhaps by watching online, you're sacrificing your time. God says, I get that. I get that.
But let's talk about what I'm really requiring of you, which is showing mercy. I'm not asking for sacrifice. I'm asking for mercy.
What do you do with those that have less than you?
What do you do with those that have great offenses towards you? How do we treat those?
And I believe that there are some incredible things that the Lord wants to do in each of our lives. When we allow the word of God to confront those places that have remained hidden.
And if we allow the Lord into those places, what comes next is beautiful.
The Lord is giving us not a suggestion. He's giving us a command to love.
Would you bow your head and close your eyes?
I'm going to pray for you today and invite you to maybe spend some time with the Holy Spirit.
So with heads bowed and eyes closed, can you simply pray this very simple prayer? Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
Because for some of us, we need to love better.
We need to forgive. There's people that are coming to your mind right now that you need to forgive.
There's people that are coming to your mind right now that it's time to lay that stuff down.
And the Holy Spirit is bringing them to your mind, not because I said something, but because you're in his presence.
He's exposing areas of our hearts that he wants to deal with. Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
Lord, we recognize that in this moment you're showing us some things that you want us to see.
So, Lord, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, give us a heart to understand so that we can leave this place, Lord, better than when we walked in walking in the truth of your word.
For others in this place right now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, you would say, pastor, I.
When I hear this story, I recognize it's myself. I'm laying on the side of the road.
I need help. I am messed up. Life has beaten me up. It's broken me down.
I Need Jesus. I need his help.
I need him to come to pick me up, to begin to heal me.
I need his help. My friend, you're in the right place. The Lord led you here today to help you to begin that process of healing for you.
There's others that might say I don't have a relationship with Jesus at all.
Maybe you've never asked him to forgive you of your sins, to cleanse you from your ways, to take over your life. You're in the right place, too.
For others, maybe you've walked away from God.
You were raised in church, but you've gotten away from God and you need to come home. My friend, I want to invite you to pray a prayer with me. As a matter of fact, we're all going to pray this prayer together today so that you're not feeling singled out, you're not feeling embarrassed in any way. But I want to invite you to pray a prayer.
I'll tell you the words to say, and all of us are going to pray it together. Let's say this together. Let's pray. Just say, Jesus, Come on, let's say it like we mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life, forgiveness for my sins and hope.
I ask you to forgive me.
Save me.
I give you my life right now in Jesus name and with heads bowed and eyes closed, if that was you. And you prayed that prayer today. You said, pastor, I was far away from Christ, but I prayed that prayer. Pastor, I've never had a relationship with Jesus, but I prayed that prayer. Pastor, I prayed that and I meant that. Can I just see your hands all across this place? Nobody else is looking around. Would you lift your hands up right there. I see you. Good for you. Would you lift your hand and say, that was me. I prayed that prayer. Yes. Good for you. I see you, sir. Good for you.
I'm so incredibly proud of you. The decisions that you just made, and whether you're sitting here in person or watching online, there's going to be a phone number that appears behind me on a screen.
And if you prayed that prayer, I want to invite you to text me, text the words I prayed to that number. What's going to happen when you do that? I'm going to send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what to do next.
It's the greatest honor of my life to help people know Jesus better.
I'd appreciate if you do that for me. Good for you.
Well, how rich family, Go ahead and look up at me if you would. And can we stand to our feet together? I'm going to have our elders and their wives step forward and be available to pray for you about anything that you might need prayer for. And then also, if you'd be so kind to help me out with something. One of the ways that you can make a difference today is by using your social media to share this message. I think there's a lot of people in our world that need to hear what's happening in Longview, Texas, through the word of God explained in a way that anybody can understand. And so would you do us a huge favor if you're watching this online, if you have a social media, would you consider sharing this message with your social media friends?
Every single week, we have people watching from all over the world that may not have a home church, but they have a phone. And they find ways that the Lord just supernaturally leads them to connect with us. We see people get saved all the time. We see people find connection, find a story, find the word of God, find life all the time. There are people that you'll never meet this side of heaven that have found Jesus because of your social media. And one of the ways you can make a huge difference is by sharing this message with those that you need, that you know need to hear it, even if you don't know their face. It's a beautiful thing. I want to say thank you in advance for that. Also, groups are going to. We want to invite you to the last few spots about groups and then if you've been coming to this church, kind of kicking the tires around here, wondering, is this my church home or not? The way that you join our church is by a class called the Growth Track that happens every single Sunday right after this service in the building right behind me. So that's at 12 o' clock every single Sunday we have our Growth Track class. And so there's some amazing people that will help you understand what we believe and what we're expecting for you. And so this is the way that you can make this kind of official, if you wouldn't mind. So if you're looking to become part of this church, that's how you do that now for everybody else. Let me bless you. Let me pray for you and send you out. Father, I pray that you bless my friends with an incredible week, showing mercy and compassion and love and grace to those that you put in our path. Would you bless them? Would you bless their families? Bless their finances? Lord, I pray that you bless every area of their life as they go in Jesus mighty name and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. Have an awesome week.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
