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.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. If you were in serious trouble (car trouble, alien invasion, bad breakup, etc.), who would you call? Your pick can be real or fictional.

  2. What stood out to you most from the message?

  3. If you put yourself as one of the passersby in this story, how would you respond?

  4. There is a lot of suffering around us. How does that impact your outlook on the world? Where do you look for hope?

  5. On a 1-10 scale, how would you rate yourself on being a good neighbor? Or should we say, how would your neighbors rate you?

  6. Why can it be hard to be a good neighbor sometimes?

  7. How might God be asking you to put others before yourself this week? Share a specific example with the group.

  8. Let’s end with a prayer. You can say something like, “Lord, thank You for showing us what sacrificial love really looks like, and for giving us the power to do the same. Give us the right questions. Help us to be good neighbors, just like You were a neighbor to us. Amen.”

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions! Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • In the story, Jesus answers the lawyers questions with other questions. What does this reveal about Jesus’ character?
  • Are you willing to let your heart break to be a good neighbor? To put yourself in the shoes of someone suffering? What has to happen in order to get to that space?
  • How will your life change if you decide to embrace the calling of Jesus, to “go and do likewise?”

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(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

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May 30, 2022 28 mins 34 sec

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