What Question Are You Asking? | The Book Of Luke Week 3 | Anywhere Service

When Jesus was asked a question, oftentimes He responded with another question. Real helpful, right? He told parables (essentially stories He made up) to help us understand the truth and the question we ask makes a big difference.

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    - Today on Crossroads, our friend Paco
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    is going to unpack the Good Samaritan story
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    found in the Book of Luke
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    and tell us exactly why we need good neighbors.
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    - Dude, what did you do last night?
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    Shoot.
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    - There are bad ways to wake up
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    and there are great ways to wake up.
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    Start your day connecting with God and your community.
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    Explore the app and grow deeper daily
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    with the Bible Challenge; a great way to wake up.
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    - And now presenting the parables.
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    No, I said parables, not pair of bowls.
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    - Oh, sorry.
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    - Parables: The Good Samaritan.
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    Some experts of the law challenged Jesus
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    with the age old question of How do I get to heaven?
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    Which led to Jesus telling a pretty surprising story
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    about a man beaten and robbed
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    and an unlikely hero that came to his aid.
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    - Today, our friend Paco
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    is going to talk about the Good Samaritan,
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    one of the most famous parables in the entire world.
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    We're in the series called Stuff Jesus Made Up.
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    - And we're looking at the Book of Luke,
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    looking at the things He made up,
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    which are just parables
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    that actually have truth for our lives.
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    Listen, one of the truths for our lives is that
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    Jesus wants us to practice spiritual disciplines,
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    and one of those disciplines is giving.
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    And everything that we do in our community
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    is made possible by giving.
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    But the fact of the matter is that
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    less than 10% of people watching this right now
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    are going to give.
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    - That's right. That's not to alienate anybody,
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    it's not to shame anyone.
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    It's simply to invite you in
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    and let you know that if you enjoy this,
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    your support can help more things like this happen.
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    - And now with that being said,
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    let's jump into the message.
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    - The great American villain Rowdy Roddy Piper
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    once said, "Just when they think they got the answers,
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    I change the questions."
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    Now, speaking of questions,
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    we all find ourselves asking questions.
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    Here are a few of them that you probably shouldn't ask.
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    And full disclosure,
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    I've actually asked some of these questions.
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    Here's one I've asked:
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    Are you gaining weight? Are you pregnant?
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    Sorry.
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    Who would you vote for?
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    How's your ex-wife?
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    Hey, why are you so moody right now?
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    Is it that time of the month or something? What?
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    Yeah, that was a bad one.
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    Here's a question we all get asked
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    at some point in our lives
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    and we all say no to at some point in our lives:
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    Would you like to install the software update?
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    The answer is no, absolutely not.
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    Never in my life will I ever.
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    Try tonight, if you're lucky.
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    Here's a question I start my day with every single day:
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    How many times can I hit that snooze button
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    and still get up and get ready and get to work on time?
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    Life is full of questions.
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    And as we unpack the book of Luke,
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    what I want to do today is I want to go to a story
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    where Jesus tells us parable to a group of people,
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    specifically the one guy who was asking a question.
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    It's this parable that we often call the Good Samaritan,
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    and it's a reaction to a guy asking Jesus the question.
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    But what this guy didn't realize
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    is he was asking the wrong question.
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    So let's pick up the story, Luke 10:26.
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    Let's get to it.
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    Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem here and verse 25:
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    This dude, it's important to note, he's a lawyer.
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    That means he's well versed, he's well studied.
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    He probably knows his stuff.
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    This dude is asking a question
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    about inheriting eternal life.
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    But here's the thing,
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    he most likely already knew the answer.
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    What he was trying to do here is
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    he was trying to affirm his current opinion,
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    the way he was currently living.
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    So Jesus kind of picks up on this because
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    Jesus is a masterful teacher
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    and he's a masterful people person.
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    He picks up the vibes this guy sending him,
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    and Jesus makes a decision
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    to not directly answer his question,
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    but to give him a question to chew on.
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    Verse 26, he says to him:
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    Now, the lawyer here is quoting
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    two Old Testament verses,
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    one from Deuteronomy, one from Leviticus.
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    And I can imagine him like the kid in the front
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    of the class that knows the answer
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    to the long division problem
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    that no one else can figure out.
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    He's like, "I'm the smartest kid in the room.
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    Thank you all very much."
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    He probably was.
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    But in verse 28, Jesus says to him:
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    He affirms it, he's like, "Yeah,
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    you got the right answer, dude. Well done."
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    But the guy, he's got a deeper underlying issue
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    that he might even realize he needs dealt with.
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    Verse 29, the man says:
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    Hmm, that's an interesting question because
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    this dude knew the intellectual answer
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    to how do I do this eternal life thing?
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    How do I live for God thing?
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    And the question that actually is
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    eating at him underneath that is,
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    who is my neighbor? Who qualifies as my neighbor?
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    That's a question we should probably be able
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    to answer now, but it's a little confusing, right?
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    You live in an apartment building.
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    Is the person on your left or your right your neighbor?
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    What about the person above you or below?
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    Are they your neighbor?
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    Okay, you live in a neighborhood,
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    is the person across the street your neighbor?
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    How about across the street two houses,
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    are they your neighbor?
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    What about the weird person in the neighborhood
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    that has the yard signs that are like super left
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    or super right leaning, are they?
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    What about the person who never cuts their grass
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    and is dropping the property value
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    of every house on the block,
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    is that person your neighbor?
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    You see, the only reason that this guy
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    is asking that question is because he's looking
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    to qualify people from being his neighbor.
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    He's looking to put people in chunks of,
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    "Hey, this person qualifies as my neighbor
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    and this person doesn't."
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    And so Jesus in His masterful way, He tells a parable.
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    And we're going to pick it up in Luke 10:30,
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    Jesus replies to him, He says:
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    Now, this dude was headed down
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    from Jerusalem to Jericho, it's about a day's trip.
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    He's headed down there.
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    He's walking this road.
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    He probably has an animal with him.
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    He comes across some bad company.
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    They take all this stuff. They beat him half dead.
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    He's in a really bad spot,
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    most likely on the side of the road.
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    Verse 31:
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    This is fascinating to me, because what I often do
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    is I often take my, you know, modern American context
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    and I put Bible stories around it.
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    So I imagine, like when I read the story,
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    I often imagine like a guy walking down a highway,
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    right, and across the four lanes of the highway
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    he sees a dude on the side of the road.
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    And he goes, "Oh, man, it's a little too far
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    to see what's going on over there,
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    but I've got to keep it moving,
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    and plus crossing all these lanes,
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    it's going to be tricky.
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    Let me just keep it moving. Right?
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    That actually wasn't what happened here.
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    This priest would most likely be going
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    from Jerusalem to Jericho,
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    probably headed towards a little bit of vacation,
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    a little bit of time off.
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    Also important note, the size of these roads
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    back in the day, they weren't four lane highways,
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    they weren't even two way roads.
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    They were small little trails that probably
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    could hold one person and maybe an animal.
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    So for a priest to come walking by and see a person
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    and cross to the other side,
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    it didn't look like them going very far.
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    It probably looked like them doing this
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    and stepping over the dude on the ground.
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    Could you imagine that, this religious leader?
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    You might be broken on the side of the road
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    and this religious leader like, "Oh look, a priest,
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    finally someone can help me."
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    And he comes, he looks and you and goes,
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    "Whew, that doesn't look good."
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    He kind of shields his eyes,
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    doesn't make eye contact and walks around you.
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    It's messed up, man.
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    Let's continue the story, though, verse 32.
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    A Levite, another person who's supposed to be
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    down religiously comes walking down the road,
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    sees the dude and goes, "Ah! Not a good day for him.
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    Let me keep it moving."
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    Verse 33:
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    Let's stop right there.
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    This Samaritan comes walking down the same road
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    that the two leaders in the religious world
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    we're walking and pass by the dude.
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    He sees him, he goes, "I can't leave this dude here."
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    So what does he do?
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    He takes out his own oil, his own wine,
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    and he binds up the dude's wounds,
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    puts him on his own animal, takes him to an inn.
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    This dude is on a trip, right?
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    So he says, "Look, you can stay here.
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    Here's two denarii, pay for it.
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    When I come back, we'll cover the rest of it.
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    But take care of the dude."
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    Now, when you read this story,
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    it's easy to find a meaning here, right?
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    It's easy to be like, "Well, yeah,
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    you should help people.
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    Like you shouldn't leave people who are hurting
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    on the side of the road. You should help them.
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    You should be like the Good Samaritan."
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    And most people take this passage
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    to simply mean that and nothing else.
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    I want you to know you should absolutely
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    every time you can help someone who is hurting,
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    especially, especially if you see them in pain.
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    But if the point of the story was just
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    to be nice to everybody then the victim of the crime,
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    the person who was broke on the side of the road,
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    Jesus would have told that as that person
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    being a Samaritan, and the hero in the story,
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    the person who helps him
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    would have been most likely a Jewish leader.
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    Looking past the cultural differences,
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    helping less fortunate people out.
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    It's an important aspect of living out our faith.
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    But if you leave this parable with that,
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    you've missed the bigger picture.
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    If you leave this parable asking the question
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    that the lawyer asked, "Who is my neighbor?"
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    My friend, you are asking the wrong question.
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    So that leads us to
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    what is the question we should be asking?
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    - On August 14th of 2021,
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    while the country of Haiti was starting their day,
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    a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck,
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    devastating the already fragile infrastructure
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    and killing thousands.
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    [speaking Haitian]
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    - Crossroads Masters of Disaster team was deployed
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    to assist the efforts of our on the ground partner
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    Restavec Freedom.
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    Our hearts were broken for our friends and neighbors,
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    and while COVID, political unrest,
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    and unstable weather were deterrents,
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    our love was much greater.
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    The generosity of the Crossroads community
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    provided $50,000 to ensure essential supplies,
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    tarps for immediate shelters,
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    and continued community care was available.
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    With this support, Restavec set into motion
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    immediate aid for the hardest hit communities.
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    - Haitians are resilient,
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    enduring many difficult circumstances,
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    many of which have been out of their control.
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    As the poorest nation in our hemisphere,
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    God calls us to serve the least.
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    This is why we run after our neighbors.
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    - So this whole interaction starts
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    with a guy asking Jesus a question.
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    Jesus responds with a question.
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    The guy goes, okay, cool, asks another question.
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    Jesus tells the whole story about
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    a guy on the side of the road,
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    two people walking by him,
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    one person finding it good in him to get up
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    and help him, and we're finally getting to the answer.
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    It starts in Luke 10:36, Jesus then finishing the story
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    ask this question:
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    Now this seems like a pretty easy interaction,
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    like, to understand, but it's important.
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    It's so important that we realize that Jesus here,
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    He's super prescriptive.
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    He says exactly what He wants the guy to do,
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    "Go and do likewise."
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    In tons of other parables Jesus is leaving it open ended
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    and leaving it a little bit harder to interpret.
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    But for some reason, in this one He says,
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    "You go and do likewise."
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    Do do what likewise?
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    Well, do what verse 36 says: Be a good neighbor.
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    Go and be a good neighbor.
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    See, this lawyer's problem was not that he was,
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    you know, trying to know it all, be a smarty pants.
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    This lawyer is problem was that
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    he was asking the wrong questions.
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    So many of us are asking the question,
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    "Who is my neighbor?"
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    And what we're essentially saying there is:
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    Who qualifies for my love?
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    Who qualifies for me to serve them?
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    Who qualifies for me to do that?
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    Who, more importantly, doesn't qualify for my love?
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    And this guy is so entrenched
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    in this us versus them mentality that
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    he doesn't even acknowledge the Samaritan in the story.
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    What does he say?
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    He says the one who showed compassion, right? The one.
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    That, my friend,
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    is a ton of underlying us versus them mentality
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    because the lawyer who asked the question,
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    he was Jewish.
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    This person in the story is a Samaritan.
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    Jews and Samaritans did not get along.
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    Clashed big time. Why?
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    Because there were in different camps.
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    See, because they probably in that time
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    saw each other as others, saw each other as them.
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    Didn't see each other as neighbors.
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    It's wild that we still do that today.
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    I'm guilty of it, and so are you.
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    I'm a church guy. I love the local church.
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    I love the church.
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    But here's the thing,
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    there's some weird subcultures of church.
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    And regardless of if you worship with or without guitars
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    or music or drums, or if you like flag ladies
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    doing the thing in the front or not or whatever.
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    Guess what? You're my neighbor. We are neighbors.
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    I can easily us versus them you,
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    and you can easily us versus them me.
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    But listen, when we see each other as neighbors,
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    we're following the ways of Jesus.
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    I love my family.
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    I think that starting a family is one of
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    the most important things a man can do in his life,
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    probably one of the most powerful,
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    long lasting legacy things a guy can do.
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    I believe raising kids a certain way
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    and all that kind of stuff.
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    You know what that means?
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    That means that I'm still neighbors with people
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    who let their kids stay up all night
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    and ride bikes after dark when they should be inside.
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    I can easily make it a us versus them thing,
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    or I can look at it and go, "You know what?
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    That's my neighbor."
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    I care about money.
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    I know it's weird, I said it at a church thing.
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    I care about money.
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    Are you allowed to do that? Yes.
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    I believe that money is a tool from God
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    and God has given it to me to steward well
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    and to serve people well.
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    You know what that means?
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    That means that I'm neighbors with people,
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    even if they have what I would call bad spending habits.
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    So let's ask a better question.
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    Let's ask the question: am I a neighbor?
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    Do I love people without qualification?
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    Because that's what this Good Samaritan did.
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    And what made him a good neighbor
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    was not just that he stopped,
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    it's that he loved that cost to himself.
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    He went out of his way and provided for
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    this hurting, broken person beyond expectation.
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    And if we're going to be good neighbors,
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    we have got to love the same way because
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    being a good neighbor costs something.
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    It costs time. It definitely costs convenience.
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    It costs money at times. It cost opportunity.
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    It costs. It cost us something, even sleep.
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    I want to be a good neighbor.
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    I want to love people around me at cost to myself
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    because I know it pleases Jesus.
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    But here's the real truth,
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    the ugly of the whole thing is
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    I'm not qualified to be a good neighbor.
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    There's no way I can "Go and do likewise."
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    I can't love everyone at cost of myself.
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    I can't care for people on a consistent basis.
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    There's so many times where I'm locked in
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    and focused on what I'm doing,
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    I forget there are other people even in the same room.
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    There's no way I'm going to be able to pull this off.
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    And neither are you.
  • 00:18:29
    We can't do this by ourselves. We can't do this on our own.
  • 00:18:32
    We need a rescue.
  • 00:18:33
    We need to help if we are going to be good neighbors.
  • 00:18:36
    And the beautiful part about that is that Jesus,
  • 00:18:39
    He models this perfectly for us
  • 00:18:41
    because Jesus tells this story.
  • 00:18:43
    He's qualified to tell this story because
  • 00:18:45
    Jesus is the ultimate good to us.
  • 00:18:47
    I mean, think about it.
  • 00:18:49
    He sacrifices at cost to Himself
  • 00:18:52
    so we wouldn't be stuck, hurt, broken.
  • 00:18:56
    He pays the costs for us and He provides for us ongoing.
  • 00:19:01
    Yeah, that's the ultimate good.
  • 00:19:04
    Now, when you hear a message like this,
  • 00:19:07
    you might relate to certain people in the story.
  • 00:19:10
    Some of you might relate to the lawyer
  • 00:19:12
    who is asking questions and thinking,
  • 00:19:13
    "Man, I've got to ask better questions."
  • 00:19:15
    Some of you might relate and connect with
  • 00:19:17
    the Jewish leader who is focused in and locked in
  • 00:19:21
    and zoned in on what he's doing and doesn't care
  • 00:19:22
    or need to care about things around him.
  • 00:19:24
    Some of you might think, you know what,
  • 00:19:26
    you connect more with the Levite
  • 00:19:27
    who might care deep inside, but feeling like,
  • 00:19:30
    "I've got other things I got to do."
  • 00:19:32
    Some of you, some of you might connect more
  • 00:19:34
    with the person on the side of the road hurting.
  • 00:19:37
    Some of you when you look around at your life,
  • 00:19:39
    you might see brokenness and pain and heartache
  • 00:19:44
    and thinking, "How am I ever going to get out of this?
  • 00:19:46
    I was headed somewhere and somehow something happened
  • 00:19:48
    and bam, now it feels like life was at a standstill
  • 00:19:51
    and this might be how it ends for you."
  • 00:19:54
    I want to give you the best news of all right now:
  • 00:19:57
    No matter who you are, this is about you.
  • 00:20:00
    This isn't about just helping people.
  • 00:20:02
    This isn't about us being good.
  • 00:20:04
    This is about being saved, and anyone can be saved.
  • 00:20:08
    It doesn't matter the good. It doesn't matter the bad.
  • 00:20:10
    There is salvation for all of us.
  • 00:20:13
    And when you understand what it's like to be picked up
  • 00:20:16
    off the side of the road and cared for,
  • 00:20:19
    it fundamentally transforms
  • 00:20:21
    the way you interact with hurting people.
  • 00:20:22
    Because you know what it's like to be there,
  • 00:20:24
    you know what it's like to be hurt.
  • 00:20:26
    I'm sitting here with you because of good neighbors
  • 00:20:30
    who saw me hurting, who saw me broken,
  • 00:20:32
    who saw me in pain and said,
  • 00:20:33
    "You know what? I'm going to help you."
  • 00:20:36
    Because of the love that they had for God,
  • 00:20:38
    that love transformed into their love for me.
  • 00:20:40
    I'm here because of people like April, like Kevin,
  • 00:20:44
    like David, like Jonas, like Ruby, like Jesse.
  • 00:20:50
    I'm here for because of people like that
  • 00:20:52
    who saw a young person hurting and in pain
  • 00:20:55
    and decided, "You know what?
  • 00:20:56
    I'm going to be a good neighbor."
  • 00:20:58
    Not, is this person my neighbor?
  • 00:21:00
    They didn't ask that question, thankfully.
  • 00:21:01
    They asked, "How can I be a good neighbor
  • 00:21:03
    to this person?"
  • 00:21:04
    It's the same question that Jesus is asking you,
  • 00:21:07
    not who is your neighbor,
  • 00:21:08
    but how can you be a good neighbor?
  • 00:21:10
    Because He is the ultimate good to us.
  • 00:21:13
    He has gone all the way for us.
  • 00:21:15
    He's done more than you could even think, ask or imagine,
  • 00:21:18
    all the way to the cross for us.
  • 00:21:21
    All the way to death for us.
  • 00:21:23
    All the way into the grave for us, and
  • 00:21:28
    all the way up out of that grave in resurrection for us.
  • 00:21:32
    Why? Because He is the ultimate good
  • 00:21:35
    and He finds you and I worthy and worth it to be saved.
  • 00:21:40
    The writer in Romans 3 puts it in an interesting way.
  • 00:21:42
    I want to read it to you:
  • 00:21:53
    Do you see it there?
  • 00:21:54
    You and I, we all fall short.
  • 00:21:57
    None of us master this idea of being a good neighbor.
  • 00:21:59
    Right?
  • 00:22:00
    But the beautiful part is we have
  • 00:22:03
    Jesus as the model of what it looks like.
  • 00:22:06
    And it's a gift of grace that you and I
  • 00:22:09
    can tap into that power and lean into it
  • 00:22:12
    to transform people around us.
  • 00:22:16
    So, we can ask the question, Who is my neighbor?
  • 00:22:18
    And we can continue to segment ourselves out
  • 00:22:20
    and have different camps,
  • 00:22:22
    or we can ask a better question:
  • 00:22:25
    How can I be a good neighbor?
  • 00:22:27
    And we can lean on the power of Jesus Christ
  • 00:22:29
    to give us the strength and the power
  • 00:22:32
    to live that out every single day.
  • 00:22:34
    And when we build our life on that as a foundation,
  • 00:22:36
    let me just tell you, the way that you interact
  • 00:22:39
    on the day to day fundamentally changes.
  • 00:22:41
    When I get out of my own head and my own narrow focus
  • 00:22:45
    of what I want to do with my day, and I start to realize
  • 00:22:48
    I've got to love like Jesus loves,
  • 00:22:52
    I start to see different things
  • 00:22:53
    start unlocking in my life in a beautiful way.
  • 00:22:56
    And I want the same for you.
  • 00:22:58
    So, let me pray for you.
  • 00:23:00
    God, thank You for Your word.
  • 00:23:02
    Thank You for the beautiful teachings of Jesus
  • 00:23:05
    and how they still apply to our lives, even today.
  • 00:23:08
    And Lord, would You come near to us, God?
  • 00:23:12
    Would You help us to see just how good You are to us?
  • 00:23:16
    And for those of us who are locked in
  • 00:23:17
    and narrow focused on us, and only us, God,
  • 00:23:21
    that we would have our eyes open,
  • 00:23:23
    that You'd lift the veil off of our eyes to see
  • 00:23:25
    that you have called us to so much more
  • 00:23:28
    and that more than we could even imagine on our own.
  • 00:23:31
    God, unlock that for us, God.
  • 00:23:33
    And for for people who are feeling broken and hurt
  • 00:23:36
    and just in disaster on the side of the road,
  • 00:23:39
    God, I pray that You would show them
  • 00:23:41
    that You are the ultimate good.
  • 00:23:43
    And God, that you would put people in their path,
  • 00:23:45
    even right now, to reflect that love
  • 00:23:48
    and to reflect that service and reflect that goodness.
  • 00:23:51
    And God, for those of us who are asking questions,
  • 00:23:54
    God, help us to to keep bringing those questions.
  • 00:23:56
    God, we know that You can handle all of our questions.
  • 00:23:59
    And we are we are thankful that You have been good to us.
  • 00:24:02
    Jesus, you have been so good to us.
  • 00:24:05
    And God, we declare right now, even in this moment,
  • 00:24:07
    right now, that we don't want to build our life
  • 00:24:09
    on anything other than You and Your Word.
  • 00:24:12
    God, we want that to be a foundation
  • 00:24:14
    for all that our life is built on.
  • 00:24:17
    God, we want that to be a foundation
  • 00:24:19
    for everything that's built, God,
  • 00:24:22
    we want You to be that foundation. Amen.
  • 00:24:26
    So as we listen to this song,
  • 00:24:29
    I got one more question for you today:
  • 00:24:31
    What are you build in your life on?
  • 00:26:45
    - Thanks for that, Paco. That was awesome stuff.
  • 00:26:47
    - Hey, like we said earlier,
  • 00:26:48
    you can support messages just like this one
  • 00:26:50
    simply by giving here at Crossroads.
  • 00:26:53
    One of the simplest way to do that is to get in the app.
  • 00:26:56
    You just go to your profile, you click the gear shift
  • 00:27:00
    and then you click Give. It's that simple?
  • 00:27:02
    - Maybe for you, you've been struggling
  • 00:27:04
    with this idea of giving.
  • 00:27:05
    I was there as well. I get it.
  • 00:27:08
    It always felt to me like
  • 00:27:09
    I was going to end up with less. - Yeah.
  • 00:27:11
    - And then I realized giving is actually about
  • 00:27:13
    me wanting to communicate to God
  • 00:27:15
    He gets more of my heart.
  • 00:27:17
    - And if you want to hear a story about
  • 00:27:19
    what you're giving actually does around this place,
  • 00:27:21
    I want you to stay tuned.
  • 00:27:24
    - Hi, I'm Christina Dronen from Finally Family Homes.
  • 00:27:28
    I just want to say thank you to all the givers
  • 00:27:30
    at Crossroads for your support.
  • 00:27:33
    Because of you, we are able to help youth
  • 00:27:35
    who are aging out of foster care without a home,
  • 00:27:38
    by partnering with them
  • 00:27:39
    to build their own tiny homes on wheels.
  • 00:27:43
    [music]
  • 00:27:56
    - Can we skip to the good part?
  • 00:28:18
    - What Jesus trying to do here
  • 00:28:20
    is He's trying to get our attention
  • 00:28:22
    and He's trying to tell us we get God's attention
  • 00:28:26
    based on how we use our money.

May 30, 2022 • 28 mins 34 sec

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