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- [00:01]
Lead Pastor
Well, I wanna say welcome back. That summer is officially over, but we're still praying for warm weather. But welcome back. And I'm excited. The first time we had summer and I was pastoring, about 40% of the church disappeared. I thought we were done for. And then you all came back.
- [00:17]
Associate Pastor
Thank you. Thank you for coming back from the cabin.
- [00:20]
Lead Pastor
But I do wanna point something out for something that is coming up ahead. And just say this for all the campuses to hear this. In October, on October 4th and 5th, we as a church are celebrating our 30th anniversary. 30 years as a church. And to think that it started with 13 people in a Bible study and.
- [00:42]
Associate Pastor
Now we have all these campuses.
- [00:44]
Lead Pastor
It's just exciting. So please mark that date. We'll be celebrating at all the campuses, so it won't just be at Apple Valley, it'll be at all the campuses. And just wanted you to be aware of that. Save the date, make it a priority to be here. Bring a friend and let's see what.
- [00:59]
Associate Pastor
God has been up to and where we're going up ahead.
- [01:02]
Lead Pastor
So now we're starting a three part series called Love youe Neighbor. Love youe Neighbor. And I wanna let you know that as we do this series, we're gonna start out with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
- [01:14]
Associate Pastor
All right?
- [01:14]
Lead Pastor
And it fits. This really fits that. We put it right here and I'll explain that in just a minute. But we're talking about loving our neighbor. And it's really part of discipleship, reaching out to them, going into all the world. And I wanna let you know as we get this series started that there's something else you can do to enhance this series. If you've not signed up for a small group yet, we'd love for you to sign up for this new small group called the Commission. Now, the Commission is a small group that is about discipleship and it's about how can we have a biblical worldview? Because Barna just said only 4% of Christians right now in America have a biblical worldview. We've gotta teach on this and help you to understand a biblical worldview. But then we start there and then we go into, how can you reach your neighbor? Then we go into looking at comparative religions. Like what if you meet somebody else that has a different religion? What do they believe and how will you talk to them? And then we go into the, the 42% of the world that has never heard. Because we believe we have an obligation to bring this to them. That's why we love Mission So much. So it's called the Commission. It's a new core group. We'd like everyone to do it. You're gonna get seven disciplines, and it really fits in with part of this series. So go ahead, sign up this week and be a part of this. Now we're kicking off the Good Samaritan, and you're wondering, how does this fit with discipleship? Trust me, it. It really does. How does it fit with outreach? It really does. Now, the Good Samaritan is found in our Bibles. The only place is Luke, chapter 10. So if you have a paper Bible, you can turn there. Now, if you have digital, don't worry, you'll get there quickly. All right, Good Samaritan. How many know? Good Samaritan is the story that has a universal appeal. Like, you know, you don't have to be a Christian, you don't have to be Jewish to know the Good Samaritan. It's all the time. It's all around. And it's probably one of the most recognized stories that Jesus ever told. And it gets simplified and minimized. I mean, if you have a flat tire and you're stranded on the side of the road, somebody comes along helps you change his tire, what do you say? They are Good Samaritan, right?
- [03:23]
Associate Pastor
Right.
- [03:23]
Lead Pastor
You're like, oh, what a Good Samaritan. If Grandma needs to go across the road, and you're gonna walk her across the road, and you slow down, you take her arm and you go across the road, she. She might say, oh, you're such a Good Samaritan. Right. It gets simplified like that. But it's way more than that. It's way, way, way, way more than that. This is about mercy across enemy lines. That's what it is. So don't think it's about Grandma. That's still good to do. But this is about mercy across enemy lines. And I tried to think of an example that would help us to relate to this. And I thought about this. It's very recent. I mean, really, when you think of world history. But In Rwanda in 1994, nearly 1 million people were slaughtered in 100 days when the Hutu and the Tutsi tribe, when they turned against each other. It's tragic. 1994, 100 days, a million people were slaughtered. And I wanna share this because since then, they've apologized. Since then, there's been forgiveness that is going on. Since then. God is doing something supernatural in Rwanda. And you may not realize this. You have been a part of this through Kingdom Builders. I have a First picture to show you. Here's a picture of a church that we built in Rwanda. River Valley Church helped to build this church in Rwanda. Now I wanna show you a picture of the pastor and he's with a friend of mine, David Wigginton. He and our church are the top two missions churches, if you're wondering, in our movement, and we do so many missions things together with David. David is with this pastor. He's the pastor of that church. This pastor was part of a family of 12. The tribes came along and they killed 10 of the 12 of the family. He was struck in the head with a machete and his brother was as well. They were thrown into the outhouse and left for dead. But they crawled out and survived. For three months they were on the run as they were being hunted down. And finally the resistance found them and saved them. He said, I'm not gonna get bitter at these people. I'm not gonna hate these people. I want to pastor these people.
- [05:42]
Associate Pastor
And.
- [05:42]
Lead Pastor
And he's pastoring that church that I just showed you. And right now, show a picture of the inside. Right now, there's 210 people that come together that used to be enemies, that are now brothers and sisters in Christ. And the church they're worshiping in, you helped build. I think that deserves praise to the Lord right now. Incidentally, he and his brother both got married, and now with their wives and their children, their family is back up to 12. And it's an amazing thing. There's another church. I just wanted to stay here for just a minute. There's another church we built. Go ahead and show the picture of this. Another church you've helped to build, this 12 in all so far through Kingdom Builders that we've helped to build. And I want you to know that each pastor, when we build them a church, we also give them a cow and a bicycle. So we give them a way to have some food and some income from the cow, and we give them a bicycle. And then I want you to know as well, your Kingdom Builders giving also helped to build this Bible college, which you can see in Rwanda, because the Rwandan government said, if you're gonna be a pastor, you have to have a four year degree. We had no Bible schools there. And so we built this since COVID in the last couple years. And now 55 students are being trained to be pastors. Come on. This is all through Kingdom Builders. Thank God for what he's doing. But only Jesus, only Jesus can make people who tried to kill you, your brother or sister In Christ, only Jesus can get you to stay in a place and love them and say, I wanna give my life. You tried to take my life, now I wanna give my life. And I wanna preach the message of Jesus Christ. That's incredible what God does. And so when you understand that, you're gonna understand more about the story of the Good Samaritan. So our text in Luke, chapter 10, verse 25. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test to Jesus, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and. And with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. All right, so that's our text as we start, and we're gonna go with some more, but let me get some context and history of Luke. In Luke chapters one through nine, he's kind of telling us, who is Jesus? And then in chapters nine through 18, he's telling us, what does it mean to follow Jesus. So you say, here's who Jesus is, here's what it means to follow him. And in chapter 10, the focus really sharpens on discipleship. If you know, in chapter 10 earlier, Jesus sends out the 72. So it's about the Great Commission, essentially, it's about sending them out as messengers with the good news. And he's telling them to go out and share this good news, and he's gonna show them about discipleship. And he's saying, this messenger is gonna go out and share this message of mine with the world. You're gonna make disciples. And then sandwich in there is the Good Samaritan story. But I want you to know it's not by accident. It's not like Jesus like, where's a good spot to put a Good Samaritan story? It's intentional. It's intentional as Luke writes this, it's intentional that as we're going, as we're proclaiming, as we're discipling, we better be covered in love, we better be oozing love. We better be able to love our enemies if we're gonna do this right. Or else we'll just make it a clique or a social club or a gospel that's not good enough for everybody. And so it's right in there on purpose. And it's saying that when we're gonna share this message, it Requires that we share it with love. And it's interesting. Next week, we're actually gonna talk about going. Like, we're really gonna focus on the going and you sharing with your neighbor and loving your neighbor and the getting out and going to them. And then in week three, we're gonna focus again on love. Like that we have to love our neighbor. We have to love our city. We have to do this. And so I love that it all fits up together here. So this lawyer, it's not an unusual exchange. It's not unusual. People would go up and talk to rabbis and banner back and forth and all this. So it's not an usual exchange. But this is turning into not an exchange. This is really a deposition. This is something. The lawyer is coming after Jesus. He's not really interested in what Jesus wants to say. He's more interested in, do you accept the boundaries of the law, Jesus? Are you gonna stay within the framework of what we have going on? And he's really trying to trap Jesus or antagonize him. And a couple things that we see with this is, it says, this lawyer stood up and did this. If you were a student, you stayed seated. When you stood up in the presence of, like, a rabbi and you stood up, that was like, I'm bowing up.
- [10:58]
Associate Pastor
Here comes a challenge.
- [11:00]
Lead Pastor
And so it says right there, he stands up to him and he challenges him. And as a lawyer, just so you know, what it meant was he was a person that interpreted the law of God. He was an expert in interpreting the laws of God. And so he's talking to Jesus, and he's looking for a minimum requirement. He's not looking for, like, jesus, show me, like, the way to really apply this. Show me the way to live this.
- [11:25]
Associate Pastor
Show me.
- [11:25]
Lead Pastor
He's really looking like, what's the minimum? And he's coming against Jesus. And he's like, what's the minimum? And so many times, like, we resemble.
- [11:34]
Associate Pastor
This lawyer, don't we? What's the minimum, Jesus? What's the minimum? I get who? Peter. How many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times. No, 70 times seven.
- [11:44]
Lead Pastor
All right, so the lawyer answers correctly. Love God.
- [11:49]
Associate Pastor
Love your neighbor.
- [11:50]
Lead Pastor
And she's like, great, do this. Do this, and you'll live. Matter of fact, the way he says it is, keep doing this. Cause you're already doing it. Keep doing it, and you're gonna live. And it's like, the thing is over. It's just done. And it's like, one more question, one more question.
- [12:05]
Associate Pastor
Now.
- [12:06]
Lead Pastor
The guy should have just Walked away.
- [12:07]
Associate Pastor
How many know?
- [12:08]
Lead Pastor
Just walk away.
- [12:09]
Associate Pastor
Don't do a follow up and I'm gonna date myself. I mean, I remember my dad used to love this show, Columbo. It's so old, I don't even know if you can get it on reruns or YouTube. You know, maybe I need a machine. There you go.
- [12:24]
Lead Pastor
But the guy Columbo, he'd be like.
- [12:26]
Associate Pastor
Just walking out and he'd go, one more question.
- [12:30]
Lead Pastor
How did the jewelry get into the.
- [12:32]
Associate Pastor
Drawer from the kitchen? And then he'd walk away and it'd be like, dun, dun, dun.
- [12:36]
Lead Pastor
He always had that one more question. Now his was a good question. This guy's like, one more question. Walk away, walk away. You answered correctly. Jesus said, keep doing it. But he doesn't, because he's trying to get one up on Jesus. He's trying to get one up. He's like, jesus kind of answered it and left that there. And in chapter 10, verse 29, it says, but he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? All right, now you have to know the rivalry of what's going on here.
- [13:09]
Associate Pastor
As we go into this story.
- [13:12]
Lead Pastor
Samaritans and Jews, major, major rivalry. I mean, it's centuries deep. Back in the 900 BC, you have the northern kingdom being Israel, the southern kingdom being Judah. The northern kingdom has an occupation by the Assyrians. And the people start intermarrying with the Assyrians, which was forbidden. So the southern kingdom is saying, you guys are mixed. You're not pure anymore. And to us, you're untouchable. You're like polluted relatives that went and married the wrong people, which they were. They weren't supposed to marry those people. But the attitude is, you're polluted, we're pure, and we're staying away from you. And so there's all these hostilities between them. And you don't realize this. There is such hostility there that the northern group, they actually, the Samaritans, went to defile the temple in Jerusalem and they brought dead human bones. And during Passover week, because they were so upset with them, they defiled the temple. I mean, this is getting bad. This is getting to hatred. This is getting to where they can't stand one another. The Jewish people would say that if a Samaritan gave you a piece of bread, it was as if they gave you pig, and pig was unclean and you couldn't eat it. So even if a Samaritan touched bread, which was okay to eat because a Samaritan touched it, it was polluted and they wouldn't touch it. It was like eating pig flesh. They're like, eh. They said they're unclean all the time. That's what's going on back and forth. The worst insult that you could say to a Jewish person is you are Samaritan. That was the biggest. So you understand. And again, in modern context, put it like this. The Palestinians and the Jewish people, the hatred and the animosity that's going on right now. And you see this. And by the way, if you're not doing this, continue to pray for the hostages to be released and for the hostilities to end, for this war to be over, for a solution to be done, for Hamas to be taken out. Like, we need this to be ending. This is insane that it has gone this far. But that hostility that is there, that's what's going on. That's what's going on. Don't see these. I mean, again, the woman at the well takes on a whole new meaning.
- [15:28]
Associate Pastor
Like when you're like, why are you even talking to this lady?
- [15:30]
Lead Pastor
Why are you even giving her. We're not even supposed to drink water from them. Are you kidding me? What's going on? So he says, who's my neighbor? And when he asks this, it's a good question. Cause they, under Roman rule, they're surrounded by other people, they got all this going on. So it's a good question, but he really doesn't wanna know the answer. He's again, just try to be smart.
- [15:51]
Associate Pastor
With Jesus, who's with him.
- [15:54]
Lead Pastor
And they're supposed to take care of their neighbor. And in Jewish custom, when you'd say the word neighbor like they're your neighbor, take care of your neighbor. It meant take care of the people that are in the family of God. That's what it meant. It also meant take care of the resident alien that has come to worship your God and abide by your rules. So, like, they're your neighbor too, but really it's saying your fellow Israelite is your neighbor. And so he asked this question, and he's saying, like, how far does my love have to go, Jesus? Like, if I'm gonna love God and if I love my neighbor, who's my neighbor? How far is it just my fellow Israelites? Is it the resident aliens that are kind of coming along with us? How far does this love go, Jesus? And this is where Jesus really zings him. Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side, But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to the inn and took care of him. And the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, take care of him. Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, the one who had showed him mercy.
- [17:32]
Associate Pastor
And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. So let's break this down for a little bit.
- [17:38]
Lead Pastor
Jesus says a certain man could be Jewish, don't know. No, no. Most likely Jewish guy, if he's there. If he's going from Jerusalem down, probably a Jewish guy. But Jesus doesn't say. So we just have a most likely here. And he's going down from Jerusalem.
- [17:54]
Associate Pastor
Okay.
- [17:55]
Lead Pastor
And he's going down here to Jericho. And I wanna show you a picture from one of our global experience teams. I think we've got it right here. We can show the picture. Yeah. So you'll see that's us sitting in a little study area with our guide. And everywhere we go on these trips, we have people explain to us, and down in that valley is the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was very dangerous. It's very treacherous. You'd go around corners and you'd follow basically where the water would go. And so there's this pathway going down there, and that's what you'd have to do. And when it says going down, it was about an 18 mile journey, and it was down. You were 3,300ft up above sea level. And then you'd walk down to sea level, essentially. And if you kept going, you'd run.
- [18:41]
Associate Pastor
Into the Dead Sea.
- [18:43]
Lead Pastor
Okay, so that's. We're studying. We actually read this passage and studied.
- [18:48]
Associate Pastor
This right there at the place. All right. I wanted you to see this.
- [18:52]
Lead Pastor
So he says by chance. Our Bible says by chance, but in the Greek it says by coincidence. By coincidence, God brought the right people along. That's how Jesus says it. And he says, by coincidence, a priest happens to be coming by, or a Levite, they're coming by and they both see it and go to the other side. They don't help. And what's really interesting is the priest and the Levite are on the same, like, social category as the lawyer. So Jesus is just kinda. And your social group isn't even helping.
- [19:34]
Associate Pastor
Do you get that?
- [19:35]
Lead Pastor
So there's a lot going on here, right? And he's like, he didn't help, didn't do anything. The guy needs something. And I'm sure that they had excuses for. Oh, they saw it. And maybe you've heard them again. One of the most familiar stories that people say, like, with different stories, like, I can't be made unholy. Which is true. Had they touched him, they would have been unclean and had to go through.
- [20:03]
Associate Pastor
A ritual to get clean. Cause they would be touching blood. And God wanted them to be sanitary.
- [20:09]
Lead Pastor
So maybe they thought, well, I don't wanna do that. Or maybe they thought, I got new clothes or whatever. But they had excuses, and we all do. And I was reading several sermons on.
- [20:20]
Associate Pastor
This, you know, just seeing what other people had said about it.
- [20:23]
Lead Pastor
I thought Charles Spurgeon had a wonderful thought about excuses.
- [20:27]
Associate Pastor
And I'll just summarize kind of what he said.
- [20:29]
Lead Pastor
He said, I'm sure that the priest came up with all sorts of great excuses. Cause he just thought, I've been away for a month. I mean, I've been away from my family for a month and I gotta get home. I haven't seen him. I mean, now if I stop and help this guy, I'm gonna be, you know, like. You know, I just can't. He could have been like, I just was serving. I was at Sikh Month in Jerusalem. It wasn't Sikh Week. I was at Sikh Month. Cause if he was doing his priestly duties, he would be on call for a month, and he'd be up there for a month. And so he's like, I was just in the presence of God, and I feel especially holy. I mean, I don't wanna get down into the mundane things of life. He could have said, you know, it's sundown. I mean, you know, it's not smart to be out here. I'm trying to get home before dark. And if I slow down, I'm not gonna get home before dark. He could have thought, I promised my wife that I'd be home at this time. And if I don't. If I don't get home in time, she'll worry. I don't have any signal down here, so I can't call her. I'm down in the ravine. You know, you gotta get back. He could have thought, like, I don't know how to help people like that. In the medical thing. That's really my wife's thing. When the kids get sick, she takes care of, not me. And so if she was with me for sure I would stop. But she's not with me. He's almost dead. I mean, he's a hopeless case. I mean, what good am I gonna do? So I'm just gonna keep going. He could have thought, the thieves. The thieves are coming back. I mean, if they got him, they could get me, and I actually have my money from serving to take care of my family. That'd be very irresponsible to lose my money. Cause they could mug me if I stopped to help, and I could lose it, you know? So I. I don't wanna be irresponsible to my family. Or he thought, if I'm found with an almost dead guy, I could get framed for this. Talk to Harrison. Like he would tell you, with the fugitive, you could get caught and they could say you did it. Cause there's blood on your hands, all these things going on. And then he probably thought, but you.
- [22:29]
Associate Pastor
Know what I can do? I could pray for him. Prayer changes things. That's it. That's what I'm gonna do. Lord, I just pray with my hand extended, far away from that guy. If he's gonna live, let him live.
- [22:41]
Lead Pastor
All right?
- [22:42]
Associate Pastor
Let his wounds heal up.
- [22:44]
Lead Pastor
And send some ravens.
- [22:46]
Associate Pastor
You did that once before. Do that again, all right? Praise God. Excuses. And what Spurgeon told his congregation was so strong that I want to read it to you. Because if you get mad at him, you can be mad at him, not me. But I just thought, this is strong. He said, you've smiled over what the priest might have said. But if you make any excuses for yourselves, whenever real need comes before you and you are able to relieve it, you need not smile over your excuses. The devil will do that. You had better cry over them. For there is the gravest reason for lamenting that your heart is hard toward your fellow creatures when they are sick and perhaps sick unto death. Excuses won't matter. Jesus isn't authorizing excuses here. He's telling us how we live differently than the world. He's telling us we're going to live differently. And he says, the priest and the Levite. And again, in normal Jewish storytelling, you'd say a priest, a Levite and a fellow Israelite.
- [23:57]
Lead Pastor
It was just common.
- [23:58]
Associate Pastor
It was almost like a priest, a rabbi and a minister walking you Know.
- [24:00]
Lead Pastor
It was that type of, you know.
- [24:02]
Associate Pastor
You just kind of knew it, right? And he goes, a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. What?
- [24:09]
Lead Pastor
Why a Samaritan? Yeah. And the Samaritan came by and saw it and was moved to compassion and then went and did something. The oil in the wine was really medicinal. He's cleaning out the wounds and he's using the wine as like a antiseptic, like cleaning it out. That's what's going on. He takes his animal and sacrifices. It costs him something. He's now walking, this guy's riding. He goes to the innkeeper and says, I don't even know this guy. Not my family, not. But he was a human made in the image of God and he was in need. And so I took care of him. And now here, I wanna give you two days wages to take care of anything he needs. And if he needs anything else when I come back, I'll pay that bill too. Incredible. This is incredible. And you can imagine, the lawyer's there and he's like, my heroes have failed. And now my enemy, the pig guy, like, he's the hero. And this is terrible. This shames him on a level because he should know better. I mean, so should the priest and the Levi. How sad to be so close to God for a month of serving in his presence. And you don't look anything like him. You don't act anything like him. How sad if we come into church and we leave here and we don't look like Jesus, act like Jesus and. And love our neighbor the way that God wants us to love our neighbor. So Jesus says, which of these three do you think proved to be your neighbor? Proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers.
- [25:49]
Associate Pastor
And the guy says, the one who.
- [25:51]
Lead Pastor
Showed him mercy, he can't even say the Samaritan. He can't even say the name. He's like the one who showed him mercy. Which is interesting because. Because when he says the word mercy, you know what he's saying? He's saying a word that in the Greek is translated hesed, which means God's covenant love and loyalty. The one who showed him God's covenant love and loyalty. That's the guy. He actually uses that word. He can't say Samaritan, but he actually invokes. Yeah, you know, the guy, the one that did God's love. And then Jesus is like, yeah, yeah.
- [26:33]
Associate Pastor
He'S displaying God's love. And I want you to display God's love to this world. I want you to do this and go and do it again.
- [26:42]
Lead Pastor
And in the first one. Cause Jesus tells him, go and do it.
- [26:45]
Associate Pastor
Go and do it. Like, first one, he's saying, practice what you know. And in the second one, he's saying, now practice this love and mercy without limits. Practice this love and mercy. I'm telling you, it hits me. It hits me. In two weeks, you're gonna hear from Pastor Logan. He preached a message at our conference that hit me. And I said, it needs to be part of this series. And afterwards, I said, there's people I have to love more. I have to open up my love to this. I've been getting a little hard towards my neighbor and things that have happened in Minneapolis and in Minnesota. And I'm like, God, I need to love more. So Jesus is saying, practice this mercy without limits. Love your neighbor. And I want you to love not just the nice ones that are in your family, not just the near ones. But I want you to. I'll do an N because I'm a preacher. The nice, the near and the naughty, the ones you don't like, the ones you don't like. I want you to love your enemies. I want you to love that way, and I want you to live this differently. And it's crazy. In some way, even Jesus saying, like, the enemy provided aid.
- [28:05]
Lead Pastor
Could you imagine the guy on the road who probably was Jewish?
- [28:09]
Associate Pastor
We don't know if he was for sure. But we do know this, that if he woke up at the inn and he said to the innkeeper who helped me, a Samaritan, what.
- [28:20]
Lead Pastor
Wish it could.
- [28:20]
Associate Pastor
Have been a priest or a Levite. Yeah, they were there. They didn't help. Well, at least a fellow Israelite, a Samaritan, my enemy, could you imagine how he felt like, my enemy is loving me. And in a way, I think that we get a glimpse of the gospel that way. When we love our enemies, they're like, why are you loving me? Why are you loving me? Why are you being kind to me? Why are you growing up?
- [28:47]
Lead Pastor
You should be.
- [28:49]
Associate Pastor
Not like, you should be distancing yourself. And yet you're loving me. It's beautiful. Beautiful. And my prayer is that we'll go into all the world and live this out, that we'll love our neighbor and we'll love our neighbor in proximity. We'll love our neighbors around the world. We'll love our neighbors that are like us. We'll love our neighbors that are not like us.
- [29:13]
Lead Pastor
We'll love our neighbors that don't love us.
- [29:17]
Associate Pastor
We'll love Them. I remember years ago, Becca and I bought a property, had an old farmhouse on it. We wanted to split it in two, and we wanted to build a new home on there and then sell the farmhouse. We'd basically get the lot for free and we'd make money on it. And our neighbors showed up and they protested.
- [29:39]
Lead Pastor
They said, we love that you have the biggest lot in the neighborhood and we don't want a house there.
- [29:43]
Associate Pastor
And city council had told us, like, it's going to pass, no problem.
- [29:46]
Lead Pastor
And all of our neighbors showed up, all of them. And they all were against us, every single one of them. And they're like, we vote no. We vote. We protest no. And the city council voted no and.
- [29:58]
Associate Pastor
Essentially took out the price of a free lot out of my hands. I remember leaving there, and I was like, I hate all my neighbors.
- [30:06]
Lead Pastor
That's what I thought.
- [30:07]
Associate Pastor
I hate them all, you know?
- [30:09]
Lead Pastor
And then I thought, well, I can't.
- [30:10]
Associate Pastor
Hate them because I'm a Christian.
- [30:12]
Lead Pastor
I'm gonna be mean to all my neighbors.
- [30:14]
Associate Pastor
I'm gonna. And I was gonna, like. I was like, what can I do legally? I was gonna buy, like, a oil tanker truck and park it on my yard and paint graffiti on it. And Becca's like, no, you're not. I'm like, I'm thinking about it, you.
- [30:26]
Lead Pastor
Know, and she's like, no, you're not.
- [30:27]
Associate Pastor
You know.
- [30:28]
Lead Pastor
And I'm not. You know. She's like, you're not. God's like, rob, that's not.
- [30:33]
Associate Pastor
It's not about the money.
- [30:34]
Lead Pastor
Like, stop worrying about that lot. Stop worrying about this.
- [30:37]
Associate Pastor
And love your neighbor. Took a lot in me, until finally I was like, it's not about the money. It's not about you voting against me. I have to love you. I wish they would have voted for me. And at first, I gotta be honest, I started to love them, hoping they'd change their mind. You know, like, come on, let's do another city council vote. And then, no. No. I just loved him because I needed to and because God wanted me to, and. Cause that's love without limits. And I was like, I want to live like Jesus. And I didn't want to put them off to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because if I'm there to share with my neighbor, I definitely don't want to hate them. I don't want to be mean to them. I don't want to distance them from God. And I'm praying that we could have that attitude. God, it's not about the money. It's not about the comfort. It's not about me, it's about you. It's about your message. I don't want to hinder it and God help me to love my neighbor. So Lord I just pray right now for all of us here that we would truly love our neighbor and in some ways there's a pleasant neighbor that we're thinking of. Pleasant one. We're just like yep love them want to invite them over for dinner but there's others that are not the pleasant neighbor. God there's even people in our neighborhood that we would say not them. There's people in our driving zone not them God yes them yes them and before we ever get on a plane to proclaim the message of Jesus help us to live it out on the streets we live in and the communities we're part of and the neighbors that you put right in our own life so we can live in this way. We pray this now in Jesus name amen and amen.