A Good Neighbor Is Better Than A Brother - Pastor Brad DeLong

The Lord has a plan for this day and every life here. If you've ever received one ounce of the goodness of the love of God, you also received a calling along with it. the Lord speaking clearly to us today and we're going to talk about that calling. Turn with me to Mark 12. While you're doing that, I want to thank every guest who's joined us today at Apostolic Pentecostal Church. Please know that you are loved and cherished here. And I hope and believe that you're one of the recipients of that love, not only from the Lord, but from his body.

APC. What is our mission? Why do we exist? To connect with God and others. This passage we're going to read explains what that looks like and we're going to dive into it. Mission is rooted Mark 12 among other places. It's a critical exchange between Jesus and a member of the Sanhedrin religious elite of his day. The Pharisees and Sadducees had battered Jesus with question after question, trying to make him break, trying to make him look foolish. That obviously didn't work. And it all comes to a head.

There's a climax here in verse 28 of Mark 12 when the scribe tosses Jesus a question. We would call it here a softball. one of the scribes came and having heard them reason together, perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is here, O Lord. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength."

This is the first and great commandment. But he doesn't stop there at one commandment. He's only asked for one, the first and greatest. But he gives a second without being solicited. It's just that important to him. And the second like it is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than these. The scribes said to him, "Well said, teacher. You spoken the truth. For there is one God, and there's no other but he. And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

But Jesus heard, he answered wisely. He said to him, "You're not far from the kingdom of God." And after that, they didn't question him again. Today, I want to preach, teach to you about a topic and a commandment that has been working me over. for quite some time and I want to borrow an expression from the land of Bosnia from my exceptional Bosnian neighbor as my title. I told him I was going to share his title this week. He got all excited and I believe that the scripture that Jesus would concur with it as well.

It's simply this. A good neighbor is better than a brother. Do you feel the love of God in this room right now? That love has an end. And as much as God loves you, you are not the end of it. The Lord's after us and he wants to help us today as he's been helping me to connect with God and others. Would you seek the Lord right now and put your Bibles down, lift your hand, begin to invite the Lord to speak to your heart, change your mind, change your heart.

The word of God is profitable for doctrine, for reprove, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, Lord. And we know what that righteousness is. It's doing right by you and doing right by others. And we also know that the love that we feel in this room, it is unconditional, but it does come with responsibility and it does come with calling. And once we've tasted and seen of the goodness of God, we're called to share it with somebody else. Help us to fully grasp what that means. We ask for your help in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. You may be seated. For anyone who might have gotten a little nervous because my actual brother is in the room, he knows exactly where we stand. And I couldn't have asked for a better f friend and brother than Brian. So, we're all good. I told him this morning, don't be offended by my title. He said never. So, maybe someday I'll test that out. But it may also help us to to tweak this phrase further to reveal its intended meaning in the Balkan states and in Bosnia where they would say uh just to like uh this phrase they would say better a close neighbor than a brother who lives far away.

They believe that proximity matters. Persons in your close community matter. They're heavily reliant on one another uh because of their closeness, because of the convenience alone. But it's a lot more than that. You see, the word neighbor to them and to Jesus carries a lot more weight than we might initially recognize today. In fact, to to many of us uh growing up, the word neighbor might just be used to speak of the person next door, the person across the street. And and to us and maybe to many across the world, neighbor may be more akin to anyone in our proximity, anyone in our immediate or close community.

So geography and proximity are usually the benchmarks for this type of understanding. The neighbor is simply someone who is close by. But to my neighbor and to many in his culture and elsewhere, this phrase reflects a deeply uh communal tight-knit lifestyle where mutual assistance, trust, and frequent interaction with those nearby are crucial for their daily life. They simply cannot live without their neighbors. To put it plainly, they're very dependent on one another and on their neighbors. And there are many cultures and lands and and even times in our setting where that was the case, where we were dependent.

And not just for when you run out of sugar or you need an extra egg or two or Walmart delivery doesn't have your time slot and Amazon can't make it. No, they lean into the covenantal relationship that Jesus is expressing in our text. one that gives a whole new meaning and weight and responsibility to the word neighbor than even the Webster definition allows for. Indeed, I'm not sure that Webster and even some of our western and 21st century traditions, ones that I'm thankful for, and I'm thankful for our culture, but I'm not sure at times that they can really capture what Jesus meant when he said the word neighbor.

Truthfully, one of the closest definitions I've seen from my literal uh neighborhood is when my neighbor defined a close neighbor as being better than his own brother. And I've met his brother. He's a good guy. But this is what my my good friend and neighbor would say. All of this said, you're going to find me grappling today with this loaded but critical word. Because if the second most important commandment out of the mouth of Jesus himself was to love my neighbor as I love myself, I need to know just exactly who that neighbor is and what Jesus is talking about.

We we're TO CONNECT WITH GOD AND OTHERS. WHAT OTHERS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? Of course, that includes our brothers and sisters, but but how far do we take the word neighbor? How many people am I called to love with as much passion and zeal as I have for myself and for my own? These are foundational. They're fundamental questions. Not just for the sake of our mission and our church, which is important enough, but even beyond that, for the sake of our connection with Jesus and our salvation itself.

This is important. Jesus said, "All the law and the prophets hangs on this and on loving the Lord." which means WE'VE GOT NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO figure this out and get this right. Amen. We've got to KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT. If I'm to love my neighbor and if I'm to be a neighbor who's better than a brother, what and who is a neighbor? Thankfully, Jesus was asked this very same question. And his answer is pretty straightforward and it's also challenging to say the least.

Luke 10:25. And behold, a certain lawyer, one who knew the the law, stood up and tested Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And he said to him, "What's written in the law? What's your reading of it, expert of the law?" So he answered and said, "You shall love THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." I want you to notice the religious expert who tested Jesus knew exactly what he needed to do.

He summarizes the entire law in these two commandments. He knew how critical it was to love his neighbor, but also notice he didn't know who his neighbor was. We often wrestle with the same thing. This was debated in the first century quite a bit because many believe that their neighbor was confined only to their countrymen, to the sons of Israel, which may actually be a broader uh working definition than than we like to have if we're being honest. Many of us will go so far as to say, "Yeah, our countrymen, they're our neighbors, but only those who align with us."

Some may confine neighbor to their city or state or or region, but only those I really understand uh pretty well. And I understand their culture. Still others may even be a little more neighbor neigh or narrow rather neighbor. They must be in the same neighborhood, same culture, same values, same upbringing. They went to the same high school as I did or I know where their high school is. That's a big deal in in St. Louis. We're just being real today. And and it's critical to ask, who is your neighbor?

Who are you willing to love as much as you love yourself? And and as we try to obey this allimportant command to to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, are we guilty of the same narrow trap and mindset that the lawyer was guilty of? That we love them as long as we know them and completely understand them and their culture and their background, their way of life. or that will love them but will love them from afar without actually interacting and engaging with them or I will connect with them but only on my terms and according to my comfort my convenience my timeline I ask again this allimportant question that the lawyer asked who am I willing to call neighbor and will I love them before or after they perfectly align with my opinions and my value system and my schedule this question of who your neighbor is is not a new question it's one of the questions of the day Which is why Jesus's answer wre havoc on the questioner, even on me, if I'm being honest, and I am.

Jesus said to him, "You've answered rightly. Do this and you'll live." But the the lawyer wanting to justify himself. Oh, it's the same mindset. I've got it. I WANT TO JUSTIFY MY OH, I LOVE MY neighbor and I'll throw this over my shoulder TO THE GUY BEHIND me who I know doesn't love his neighbor. He wants to justify himself. Who is my neighbor? Jesus answered and said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Probably didn't look like the most appealing neighbor at the time." Now, by chance, a certain priest came down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite. When he arrived at the place, he came and he looked, but he passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, he came to where he was like the other two. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and set him on his own animal, brought him to an end, took care of him.

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two dinari. He gave them to the inkeeper. He said to him, "Take care of him, and and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I I'll repay you." So which of these Jesus says do you think was the neighbor to him who fell among thieves? And I imagine the lawyer through gritted teeth saying couldn't even bring himself to say the word Samaritan just said he who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise.

Church, when I when I read this, I admittedly have a hard time wrestling with this and its implications. If you look at it more than just a surface level, it's difficult to think of a modern-day equivalent of a Samaritan to that fallen Israelite with the relationship being combative at best for thousands of years. Just think of the last person you would expect to stop and help you on the side of the road and maybe the last person you would expect to stop and help. The Samaritan's that guy.

One writer said that when Jesus introduced the Samaritan after the Levite and the priest, it was devastating to the hearers. He wrote that the man asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" But Jesus turned the question on him and asked him, "To whom would you be willing to be a neighbor?" And whatever box and parameters that we and the expert put on the word neighbor, Jesus shattered it. With this parable in mind, some have contended that a neighbor is anybody with a need. A neighbor is a fellow man or woman.

A neighbor is anyone in your proximity. A neighbor is what one book calls them. Everybody always think about the neighbors Jesus had. The ones Jesus engaged with and taught. The ones Jesus loved and connected with and dined with even though they criticized him. The one he gave his precious time to help. a troubled Samaritan woman. Tax collectors who just came through tax season. You're gonna find an IRS agent, take him to dinner. Fishermen, lepers, Pharisees like Nicodemus, zealots, scribes, a demoniac. Jesus had demon-possessed people as his neighbors.

You think your neighbors are rough. They might be possessed, but they're still your neighbor. a prostitute, an occupying Roman soldier, a woman caught in adultery, a thief who ridiculed him on the cross, a disciple who would betray him right after he washed his feet, and even his murderers and enemies, and those who spitefully used him were ministered to by Jesus as his neighbors. If those were Jesus's neighbors, it means that these are also our neighbors. Someone in your proximity, anyone in your proximity, it includes the person who cuts you off in traffic on the way to church today.

includes that combative neighbor. That coworker who's had a rough life and is making a lot of waves in the office. That's your neighbor. The the family member who hurt you and talked about you behind your back. That's your neighbor. Includes my neighbor, Roger. Great guy, but he scares me half to death because he cuts through the lawn and all of a sudden he's just on my driveway two FEET FROM ME. AND AH, it includes the manic man who walks down the road and doesn't say anything to anybody.

And Wesley yells, "Hey, neighbor. That's my neighbor." Includes the guy who wrote up to me. I shared this story a short time ago. A guy who wrote up to me on his bike a couple months ago. And I don't share this. It's a humor story. I don't share it to uh to put this man down in any way. I'm sitting in the driveway and the guy, I can see him coming. He's riding up to me and rides up on his bike and I'm sitting on the driveway and he yells at me the highway noise.

HE'S, "HEY, I WANT A CAT." He yells the same thing. I I got up and said, "Hey, man. What's going on?" He had a bag behind his back. He said, "I just want to see IF YOU WANT THIS CAT." Pulls a cat around. Looks scared to death. I don't know what came over me. I said, "Where'd you get that cat?" He said, "It's my cat." The cat did not look like it knew him. He said, "You want this cat?" I said, "No, I I don't want that cat."

He said, "All right, man. Zip." I said, "Man, have a good day." And he rode off down the street. And I thought I thought, "There goes my neighbor. the neighbor who runs across the the lawn at Terue in a ninja costume. My neighbor, the one who when I was on the driveway yesterday walked straight up to me. I I didn't even see her. She's 5t from me. I look up and she says, "I really need to use your restroom. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's too far.

The Lord working on anyone else like he's working on me?" desperate young lady who had been walking for how long? I have no idea. My neighbor. I only regret that I didn't get the one man's name in case at some point I need a cat. I know from experience it may be difficult to immediately identify all others as a neighbor, someone with whom you're in covenant, especially when their way of life, their values, their disposition. Maybe it's the direct opposite. Maybe they oppose everything about your way of life.

But if Jesus treated the Samaritan and the Sanhedrin and the Roman as a neighbor, that doesn't give me any license to remove anybody from the list. As difficult as it may be to just identify them as a neighbor, it may stretch us all the more to love them as a neighbor. The scribe that day and might have winced when the Samaritan was named. Just imagine what he would have done when he's called to be in covenant with him. Maybe we don't bulk when we're told to view them as now I view them all as my neighbor.

Maybe we just bristle a little bit when we're told to love them like a neighbor and all that it entails. It's one thing to call them neighbor. It's another thing to treat them like we're in covenant with one another. That's part of what's meant by the word love there. It's not talking about a passive love that we give from a distance hoping that they don't walk our way. Instead, this command was taken directly from Leviticus 19. an entire portion of the law given to the people of Israel about their covenant.

Leviticus 19:18 says, "You shall not take vengeance. Don't bear grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." He seals it. Well, it's just my countrymen. But you go to verse 33. And and if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat them. The stranger who dwells among you shall do shall be to you as one born among you. They were family. So the stranger's family and you shall love them him as yourself.

For if you were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. He seals it again. These were quoted multiple times by Jesus. And of all the 613 approximate commandments, we find the law. Jesus plucks this one in Deuteronomy 6 and4 out and he sets them above every other one. He says this in Luke 6, "But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?

For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies. Do good and lend hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great and you'll be sons of the most high. For he's kind to the unthankful. He's kind to the evil. Therefore, be merciful just as your father also is merciful. Church, I cannot overstate how critical it is that we don't just acknowledge our neighbors and nod at them and regard them as such, but and that's good and great, and I'm thankful for for steps in progress, but we're also called to love them in a way that I'm trying to wrap my head around.

I'm doing my best today to rightly divide the word. Communicate this allimportant truth. One that undergurs and upholds all the law and the prophets. One that Jesus quotes himself multiple times. One that James calls the royal law. One that Paul quoted at least two other times in scriptures. One I'm I'm desperately trying to understand and live. Even when I believe the Lord is calling this wonderful church to lean into all the more. It's one thing to see him as a neighbor. Another thing entirely to treat and love and connect with him as a neighbor.

It's biblical to regard that person that opposes everything about your way of life as a neighbor and even to pray for your enemies like you would a neighbor. I think it's Christlike though to love that person as you would love your own self. I know that hardly feels possible. BUT I ALSO know that Jesus would not have commanded it if it were not possible. Looking back at the parable we read, this is the exact implication of the parable he shared with the lawyer. We notice that Jesus says the Levite and the priest, they saw their neighbor in need.

There's a fellow brother. I acknowledge them. But they were not compelled enough to violate their ritual purity. Both of those men likely on their way to the temple. If they touch a dead body, they're no longer able to serve in the temple for at least a time. So, they had a legitimate excuse. Aren't they all legitimate? I just don't have the time. I can't do it. I I don't have what they need. They They are I've had them. I've had them. They saw a neighbor. They just didn't They weren't compelled enough to meet the need of the neighbor.

here and is where we see what Jesus is really talking about when he uses the word love. We know his definition of neighbor. But what about love? He says, "A certain Samaritan as he journeyed came to where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him." I need you to notice as the other two passed by and they drew away from the man on the other side of the road. Now, I'm not saying put yourself in harm's way. All right? Jesus isn't saying, "Hey, run into the frey and do something unwise."

He's saying if you see somebody in need and you are able to do something about it, go to them. Jesus mentions emphatically in verse 33, the Samaritan came to where he was. The original language means he went down to him. He stooped down to this man's level in his lowest point of need and brought him up. This language is very intentional. Jesus knows what he's doing and he uses the word compassion. The same word used when Jesus was moved with compassion for the lost and broken.

I need you to know what this word means. One source defined it as to be moved with compassion or pity. To have a deep visceral feeling of empathy and care. It's almost a physical feeling of of care for a person, prompting a desire to help. It tends to him on the spot. Oil and wine to help him. He's too weak to walk, so he puts him on his own donkey, which means he had to walk all the way to the end. And when he gets there, he doesn't just drop him off at the front door of the church and say, "All right, good luck."

No, he goes in with him. He tends to his wounds the entire night. Apparently, the next day he gets up, he's got to go, but he makes sure that the inkeeper has enough to continue to take care of him while he's gone. It's an attractive picture of a man who did more than a minimum. He saw someone in need and did all he could for his neighbor. It begs the question I'm asking myself, what kind of love is that? And do I have it? Am I at all convicted like I hope that religious expert would have been?

Am I loving others like Jesus would have liked when he commanded me to do this? Am I really connecting with others? Jesus answers the question in part in Matthew 22. He said to them, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." It's the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And you got to know what he's doing here.

He's using a recitation, an interpretive technique. He uses the same line. And you shall love. And you shall love. Same Hebrew phrase beava. You shall love. He ties those two commandments together. What does this mean? It means that Jesus calls for the same kind of love from his followers. for both God and man. For both. That they're tied together and they're inseparable. He uses the same Greek word twice. John later said this of others in the church. If someone says, "I love God, but hates his brother, he's a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God who he's not seen?" And this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And this is the second on the list. Later, his own brother James says, "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you you do well. BUT IF YOU SHOW PARTIALITY WHILE YOU'RE doing it, you commit sin and you're convicted by the law as a transgressor."

And then Paul would add, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Just in case you want to know, okay, what does that word love mean? It's the same Greek word Jesus uses, the same one James uses, the same one Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 13, at least a variant of it when he says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, I've become sounding brass or a clanging symbol.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith, that I could move mountains, but I don't have love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." Love suffers long in kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It's not puffed up. It does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. It's not provoked.

Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity. Rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Believes all things. Hope hopes all things. Endures all things for a neighbor. Love never fails. Verse 11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I had a greater understanding. He said, "SOMEDAY WE'RE GOING TO KNOW IT ALL." And he ends it by saying, "Now abide faith, hope, and love these three, but the greatest of these is love.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second like it is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." I told our staff and our team recently, if we can be a church that loves God and with that kind of love, all of our beings, if we can be a church that loves our neighbor with the same kind of love, we're going to be a successful church.

If we CAN CONNECT WITH GOD AND OTHERS, we're going to be the church the Lord desires us to be. But only if we really know what the words love and connect actually mean. Through the power of the word of God and the example of Jesus, even the people he's been placing here at APC and in my life of late, I'm starting to get a picture of just how involved and just how deep and sacrificial and inconvenient that kind of love is. It's far from passive. It's an active love.

Paul said, "The love of Christ compels us." It moves you. You're moved with compassion, not just to pass by a neighbor, but be an ambassador. And this is what that looks like. That that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. And he's committed to us the word of reconciliation. We've got it now. Then we are ambassadors for Christ. It's like we're pleading that we implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God. For he made him to be no who no knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Same kind of love that would compel an eternal and almighty God to make himself a servant, endure the cross and die for us. This is the kind of love we're called to have and to share with a neighbor everybody we can always. I believe that the Lord has sent people my way recently to teach me what that kind of covenant relationship really looks like. Among other things, truth be told, a lot of those relationships, I've already had many of them here in recent times. A lot of those have come from cultures and families overseas, from our brothers and sisters from Ghana and Kenya and Burundi, Congo.

Wonderful families that have blessed us in so many ways. I want to pause today and speak to these families and offer you a word of personal thanksgiving for helping teach me what true biblical hospitality looks like and showing me a new dimension of what it means to be a neighbor. Again, I'm grateful for Midwest values. I'm grateful for this church. And I don't in any way disparage the values that I've known. I've learned uh over the years what it means to be a neighbor. But I'm also glad to know that we are not the extent of what it need means to be a neighbor in the world that others can teach us many things to our families from overseas.

You were brought here for many reasons, but one of those was to help this pastor see more and more what it means to connect with others. My brother Wickliffe Christine Koko spoke a blessing over my family in their home and in ours. And I'll never forget that covenant moment. I sang with our brothers in Gideon and Esther's house, our brothers and sisters. We sang about the Alpha and the Omega. Brother Isaac, you got a beautiful voice. And the Holy Ghost came in that room. We connected with God and with one another.

My brother Dixon spoke words of affirmation and kindness about my family and about APC that I honestly don't feel worthy of. Brother Dixon and he commended this church for doing what I'm preaching today. These precious families one of our visits lined up on the curb to see us off. We're trying to get the kids in their car seats and they're standing there honoring us. They didn't see as we drove away. Tears running down my face as the Lord. It just seemed like he was unlocking another area of my heart.

You've taught me what this commandment looks like. I freely admit I have not found the depth or the ends of Christ's love for a neighbor yet. I'm working on it to attain that measure of love. Paul calls that love, he he says, "I pray that you would know the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. I want you to know my heart today. I want to love my neighbor like I'm supposed to.

And I'm seeing my inadequacy and the gap between me and Jesus more and more in real time this morning. You're seeing me grappling with and trying to learn and search. And you have to excuse me for sharing what the Lord is trying to help me see more clearly. Who is my neighbor? Do I regard them as such? Do I love them like I love myself with an active, engaging, sacrificial, unconditional covenantal love? If not, am I trying am I trying to be more like Christ in this area, this area that HE SET APART AS BEING MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALMOST any other?

Or am I content to just keep passing by on the other side and maybe even breathing a prayer for them under my breath, hoping they make it out, okay, while they're bleeding out? How far am I willing to go for a neighbor? How much am I willing to be inconvenience? How much time am I willing to give? Am I really connecting with God and others? Or back to my neighbor two houses down who gave me the title for the message today. Or am I learning more from him what it means to be a neighbor than he's learning from me?

So spent the entire day helping me cook a lamb for our group, our global grub group. A day he could have been working. When the lamb was ready, he took the choices cut. his favorite part of the lamb, the piece for the guest of honor. And he held it up. Said to me and Mariah. He said, "You only give this piece to the person you love." And then in a covenant moment, he handed it to us. Mariah asked, "So what you're saying is you love us?"

He smiled. He said, "Yes." Seems like such a small gesture, especially if you don't like lamb. I recognize the moment. It was not. He's my neighbor. He showed me that day in the day since what a neighbor looks like. One who's better than all the brothers except mine. Can I just level with you today and say that my concept of connecting with others has been shattered. It's too small. Shattered by the word of God and seeing it implemented in my life. I'm trying to define it here.

What does a neighbor mean? What does it mean to love somebody? And I want to live it out there. I I I I know I've said this multiple times, but I need you to get it. This is the second greatest commandment. If we don't get this, we we miss it. And I implore you right now, I feel the Holy Ghost in this room. He's just unlocking doors. And maybe you have things that you took off the table that the Lord's trying to urge you to put back on.

And it doesn't have to be anything crazy. It might just look like showing up to their house. Or maybe maybe you just don't drive into the drive into the garage and go straight in the house. Maybe you park your car in the driveway and you look around for a neighbor each day. Maybe it's you're just bringing a gift over their house. Or maybe you write them a letter. Whatever it looks like, not just your next door neighbors, but any neighbor you can find. Have dinner with them.

Speak a blessing over them. Give them scripture. Bring a bring a gift. Invite them to the house of God. Invite them to a connect group. Maybe it looks like showing them some compassion, nourishment, cherishment that you'd once shown to yourself. loving them like you love your own. Loving them like you love God with all your being. Having a love for souls that consumes your heart, your mind, and your strength. When I'm I'm asking myself, WHEN IS THE LAST time you felt so consumed by that kind of love and you were in a service and you thought, I got to text them right now.

I'm going to leave this service and I'm GOING TO GO FIND THEM. THIS WILL NOT FALL ON DEAF EARS. And even if it does, I will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. Maybe it's loving someone enough not to bypass them. Let's stop and stoop. Do for them what Christ did for us. Maybe it's just a change of heart and a change of mind. Putting on the mind of Christ, preferring others over yourself, looking to the needs of others as much or more than your own.

Maybe maybe some of the time it's just that. Maybe it's just time. Like when my neighbor text me and said, "Hey, I need two minutes of your time." It was two hours later and we were still talking. If I think that's unreasonable. Jesus spent six hours on a cross and he spent 33 years for a wretched neighbor like me. He reminds me today that on these two hang all the law and the prophets. That being the case, I need to answer this very important question this morning.

And you need to answer it as well. Who is my neighbor? And how should I love them? Am I loving them right now like I should? I'm not. If it helps. As I help us answer this and before we respond together, I reiterate, your neighbor is anyone in proximity, anyone in a need. Your neighbor's the one in the home next to you, and your neighbor's also the Amazon driver who delivers the package. Your neighbor is the guy who sleeps on our picnic table out there from time to time.

And your neighbor is the guy standing on the corner at Lima in Lindberg. Love them as you love yourself. Don't be unwise. I know that's not usually our problem, though. Love them with all your being. Love them until your heart hurts. And you can't just walk by them on the road on the other side. Love them until you are compelled to invite them to an experience with God. Tell them about Jesus. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Let's all stand together. I'll share this story in greater detail in the coming weeks.

And I don't I please I I just read the definition of love from First Corinthians. Love is not puffed up. I've told you I've got room to grow here. I don't share this to celebrate myself. February 6th, putting the kids in the car and I hear a loud noise and I look up to see a car flipping four or five times in the front lawn over there. I see a human silhouette leave the car. I hid behind my car because there's debris going everywhere. You can go ahead with a breath.

Give him some hope. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I run across Barracks View. People drive crazy on that. If you're driving crazy on Barracks View, slow down. Run over to the fence. Another guy hops the fence, goes to the car. I'm on the phone trying to get through to 911. They weren't answering just yet. There's nobody in there. Okay, check the ditch. We're looking everywhere, find a backpack. We're finding things. Another young man runs up. What do I do? I said, "Go to the car. see if you find a car seat or phone or something.

Another guy runs up. He's on the phone trying to get through the police. He said, "I got through." So, I hang up. We're at Barracks View and Burview Lane telling this happened and we're looking for whoever this is. I get her license, read her name, and I look up across Barracks View. She was on the highway, Terra View Lawn. There she is. 12 ft from where she left her vehicle. I think any one of us would have done this, but I'm just showing you the power.

When you stop and you do something, we run over Tony and Ashley already there. They don't know what to do. And she's coming too. And I didn't know what to do. I just leaned down. Jesus name. Jesus name. I mean, I knew her name. I'm telling her, "They're coming. They're coming. Just stay down. Stay down." She's trying to get up. I'm observing the wounds and I'm trying not to look too close. And she had a less than 20% chance of making it. She got the golden hour.

Thank God for EMTs. Thank God. They come, the officer comes. He doesn't know what to do. He He looks as scared as I do. And we're searching later. I'm the one witness. So, they ask me things and I'm asking the neighbors, "Do you know anything? Have you heard anything?" We're checking Facebook. We're looking everywhere. Hospitals don't. They won't give out the information, obviously. Thank God for that. And we just prayed every morning, every night until Wednesday night, I get this in the mail. She's a lie.

She's a lot. I don't know if I trying to have a hard time. Again, I'm not trying to paint myself as really those those EMTs, those people that came and helped her, but one of the things she said to me, again, maybe someday I'll share all this struck me. Thank you for being someone she doesn't know me carrying out your mission to help others even in extreme situations. You're on a mission to help others even in extreme situations. The Lord knew about this day and he knew what he was doing to me.

And I believe that the Lord is working on hearts in this room. Here's how I'd like us to respond today. I'm going to open this altar in a moment and I wonder if you'd just come and I wonder if you would pray until the love of God washes over you until you feel compelled to act. Not just until you get to the point where you can look at any human being on the planet and say that's my neighbor and I want them to be okay and I want them to be saved.

But pray until you would be willing to be in covenant with them. That may take a while and it may take a process. But today, maybe you just pray until a name comes to your mind and the Lord tells you that person's hurting and they're dying and they're bleeding out and you got to run to them. You got to help them. Today, I feel the love of Christ compelling us. And if you want to if you want to love a neighbor like the Lord tells us, if you really want to connect with others, I invite you to come right now and respond to the word of God.

The Lord told us he gave us the love of the Lord and he's calling us to give it to somebody else. Would you come and find a place right now and call on the name of the Lord and invite the Lord to change your heart and to change your mind? Oh God, if there's anything in me, any wicked way in me, if there's anyone that I've excluded from the list of neighbors in my life, I'm praying that you'd help me to see him the way you, oh Jesus, I'm not content just to feel the love of God on a Sunday.

I've got to share it with somebody. I've got to share it. I've got to tell somebody. I've got to help somebody. I give myself away so you can use me. I give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me. Give myself away I give myself away so you can use me. Here I am. Here I stand. Lord, my life is in your hand. Lord, I'm longing to see your desires revealed in me. I give myself away. I give myself away. So you can use me.

I give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me. Take my heart. Take my life as a living sacriice. All my dreams, all my things, Lord, I place them in your hands. Give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me. Give myself away. I give myself away. So you can use me. Give myself away. Give myself away so you can use me. Give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me. My life is not my own. To you I belong.

I give myself. I give myself to you. My life is not my own. To you I belong. I give myself I give myself to you. My life is not my own. To you I belong. I give myself. I give myself to you. My life is not my own. To you I belong. I give myself I give myself to you. I give myself away. I give myself away so you can use me. Give myself away. Give myself away. So you can use me. Give myself away. Give myself away so you can use me.

give myself away. I give myself away so you can you get the name of that person in your mind right now and begin to pray that the Lord would go ahead of you. Maybe you're going to send them a text or meet up with them later. Would you lift your hands right now and and ask the Lord for his help? I know sometimes we don't have a way in. We don't have the words, but oh God, if you led us to that person, I believe there's an open door and you're going to help us to walk through it and you're going to help us to speak life into them and to be a friend to them.

Lord, a brother or sister or a neighbor. I pray in Jesus' name, equip us, Lord. Give us the wisdom. Give us the words. Help us not to be afraid. Give us boldness to proclaim your word and your truth and to be a light to those around us. and help us as well to love one another because we know by this all men will know that we're your disciples if we love one another. Jesus name. Jesus name. Jesus name. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. I know that the Lord has issued a challenge to us today.

I feel and have felt that challenge.

But I also celebrate men and women among us. Many are here who are loving their neighbors. This is not in any way to say that we're not, but the line I use is the Lord's calling us to lean into it all the more.