Stories from Above: Be The Neighbor | Luke 10:25-37

A question that sounds spiritual can still be a trap: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We sit with that tension and watch Jesus expose the flaw beneath it, because you don’t earn an inheritance. That single contradiction uncovers so much of what we still do today: spiritual scorekeeping, self-justification, and the quiet hope that God will draw the love line somewhere other than where we feel uncomfortable.

From there we move into Luke 10:25-37 and the Good Samaritan, a story so familiar we can miss how offensive it would have landed. A priest and a Levite see a broken man and choose distance, excuses, and urgency. Then the Samaritan, the last person anyone expects, stops with compassion that costs him time, effort, money, and inconvenience. We talk about why compassion in the Bible is never merely a feeling, why “protecting the brand” can be dangerous for the church, and what it means to let mercy interrupt your plans.

Jesus also flips the lawyer’s question on its head. The issue is not identifying the right “neighbor” category, but becoming the neighbor, treating anyone in our path as someone we can serve. We connect that call to the gospel itself: Christ found us when we were dead in sin, and that grace changes how we see people, especially the ones we would rather avoid. If you want a practical, conviction-filled message on Christian love, mercy, and discipleship, press play, then share it, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Reading Luke 10 And Prayer

Why Parables Convict Us

The Lawyer Tests Jesus

Do Versus Inherit Eternal Life

Love God And Love Neighbor

Justifying Ourselves With Definitions

The Road To Jericho Sets Danger

Priest And Levite Walk Past

Protecting The Brand In Church

The Samaritan Chooses Compassion

Compassion Becomes Costly Action

Jesus Redefines Neighbor As A Verb

The Gospel Removes Our Excuses

A Welcoming Church Changes A City

Invitation To Respond And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon Podcast. My name is Taylor Gere and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist. And I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week. And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist, El Doredo. Would you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week? And open with me to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. We'll be in verses 25 through 37. Luke 10, 25 through 37. Allow me to pray for us as we begin. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for how you've already moved in this place this morning. Would you continue to do so? And would your spirit continue to have your way this morning as we read your word? Would we respond to your word? Would we be transformed by your word, Lord? That is what we need. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Last week we began a series of sermons walking through the parables of Luke. We talked a little bit about what Jesus is up to as he's telling these parables, a earthly story with a heavenly reality, where if your heart is open to hear, you will hear what Jesus is really saying in the midst of these parables. Though for some in these days, and even in the original days of the hearing, but even in these days today, some hearts may be hardened to the things of the Lord and might not have ears to hear, but we pray we would have ears to hear. And I'll tell you, the only problem I find with the parables is simply this is that they are so true that Jesus just tells the truth. And that's a problem for me because every time I come to the parables, I walk away convicted. Because I know he's told the truth, and I know the truth applies to me, and I know I've got to change myself, transform my heart to fall in line with what he has to say. Because time and time again throughout the parables, we find that to live a life within the kingdom of God is going to mean sanctification has to happen in my heart, in your heart. And we're going to see that today, and the Holy Spirit might convict us all over again. The parable of the good Samaritan, maybe a story if you grew up in church or around church, a story you've heard before, but I hope this morning we can hear it with fresh ears and a fresh heart. It begins in verse 25, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Throughout chapter 10, Jesus has sent out these 72 followers for ministry. They have returned. They've been talking about what has happened on the road. Jesus is rejoicing in the fact that he's done the Father's will. And then all of a sudden, verse 25, this lawyer walks up. And no lawyer jokes will come from me this morning, but it's just fascinating. The lawyer comes, this critical thinker, and what does this lawyer want to do? I'm going to put Jesus to the test. I'm going to see if I can trap Jesus in this kind of gotcha moment. We see that throughout the Gospels. We've talked about it on Wednesday nights as we've seen it with the Pharisees, but always trying to put Jesus in kind of this gotcha moment. That if I can trip you up and trip you up with your words and maybe get to you to say the wrong thing, then I've gotcha. And so the lawyer comes and puts him to the test. And again, he says this teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, from the start, that question is a little bit flawed. It's an interesting question because he's really describing two different attitudes, two different actions. What must I do? So there is effort, there is ability, there is merit. I am going to do something to earn this. So what must I do to inherit? Now, think about an inheritance. Now, obviously, we know in the real world, uh, there are things that can uh uh affect an inheritance that maybe relational rifts or different circumstances that can affect an inheritance, but in a vacuum, in a vacuum, in a perfect world, what is an inheritance? It's something that's simply received as gift. Well, what does it take to receive my inheritance for my children one day? What does it take? It just takes them having my last name. It takes them being my children, and they receive it as gift. In a perfect world, that's how inheritance works. And so the question is kind of off from the start, what must I do? What action can I do? Can I complete to receive that very thing that can only be received as gift? So already we see this lawyer wants to try to earn something that can really only be received as gift. And so in verse 26, Jesus says to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? Now it's interesting, and we see this too throughout the Gospels, sometimes, and this happens, when people kind of want to play a game with Jesus, Jesus is willing to play the game with them. When people want to try to trip them up, him up, Jesus is willing to kind of meet them on their terms and talk in their lingo a little bit. And so, what does he say? So if you want the answer, you tell me what's written in the law. Now, again, this is a lawyer. Now, for you and I, as we think about the law, the law is something different than the word of God. As we think about our law, the law of the land. I'm thankful, certainly, on our 250th birthday this year, that our forefathers certainly had uh a spiritual element to uh them putting the law together and certainly had the law of God in mind. I'm thankful for that, but it is something separate than the word of God. Now, if you think about being a Jewish lawyer in the first century, well, your law is this book. You have the law. It's all throughout the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, uh, I think Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the law. So this man knows his scripture, it's his job. And so he asks him, What does the word say? How do you read it? How do you interpret it? Verse 27, and he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. First of all, he's answered beautifully here. By the way, we know from the start his motives, he's wanting to trip up Jesus, but in the midst of that, he gives a good answer. What does the law say? Well, how should someone live? Love the Lord your God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. Verse 28, and Jesus said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. Now we might be tempted to wonder what's going on here, because now Jesus seems to be using language of doing. Okay? If you do these things, if you love the Lord your God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself, you will live. Is Jesus preaching now some kind of works-based righteousness? I hope you and I both know the answer to that is no. He's not doing that. Uh uh, we can look at this in two ways. Number one, what will the true follower of Jesus who knows him by grace through faith end up doing through the power of the Holy Spirit and sanctification? The Holy Spirit will work in their lives so that they do begin more and more, better and better, day by day, moment by moment, loving the Lord with everything they have, loving their neighbor as theirselves. The fruit of the Spirit working itself out. But also, the perfect response from this lawyer would have been this. As Jesus says, if you want eternal life, and he says you've answered correctly, love the Lord your God with everything, love your neighbor as yourself. What this lawyer should have said is, Jesus, I can't do that. I can work hard at it, but there's no way I can live up to that standard. To love uh everyone around me perfectly all the time, to love you perfectly at all times. God, I'm not even capable of that. And friends, that's where the gospel comes to us. You know that, right? At the very point where we realize I can't live up to God's glorious standard, that's where the gospel meets us. But it's interesting this man's response, verse 29. But he, look at this now, desiring to justify himself. Okay, here's what this man has just found out that in his mind there is a scoreboard. In his mind, I'm able to keep score, and I can get my score as high as I want it to be. I will work as hard as I can. All I need to know now is just the rules of the game so that I can play the game as best I can. So, desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Okay, if I'm called to love my neighbor, well, Jesus, who is my neighbor? What he's asking here is, who do I have to love? Who around me uh would you say that I have to love so that I can make sure I'm doing this the right way? And in his flawed view of salvation, this lawyer, that I can make sure I'm earning my way and doing what I need to do. Who is my neighbor? Who do I have to love? Now, can we just call it exactly like we see it this morning? Do you know the question he's really asking here? The question that is implied by asking, who is my neighbor, or we might say like this, who do I have to love? The real question is, if we can call it like we see it, who do I not have to love? You see that? That that's what he's asking. He dresses it up nicely, but that's really what he's asking. Show me the person or the group of people that that I don't have to worry with, that I don't have to love, that it that it's okay if they just kind of stay on the the fringes of life and I don't have to find my way to them. Because Jesus, it's really nice to stay in my little comfortable spot, knowing that I can keep my comfortable score, and I can maybe just earn my way to being good enough for you. Who do I not have to love? That's exactly what he's asking here in this moment. And so, verse 30, Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Let me just pause here for a second. Just a word of caution, a word of advice. If you're ever having a conversation with Jesus, and he starts in on a story, you're done. Okay, you've lost. And this story is not going well for you, I promise you. 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. First of all, he picks up on this story. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho, we actually talked about it a few weeks ago in another story, but that road is about 18 miles uh long, but Jerusalem to Jericho, it is about 18 miles almost straight downhill. You start at about 2,500 feet above sea level, you end about 800 feet below sea level. So you are walking downhill uh for 18 miles. Uh some even say they they referred to this road as because it was dangerous, robbers could be that they refer to this road as the way of blood. I gotta tell you, if I pull up my GPS and they give me two routes, and one I take Smith Street, and the other is the way of blood, I know which one I'm choosing. But on this road, the way of blood, the it is a dangerous road, again, where where robbers can lay in wait for those who might be walking down this road. And in this moment, Jesus tells us the story. The man that is on this road, uh he is, he fell among robbers. He they stripped him again, they beat him, and they departed, leaving him half dead. So this man is in a difficult position. Now, verse 31, surely he's going to be saved in this moment. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road. If we stop there, we say, What a uh uh divine intervention in that moment that the Lord has seen fit to place a priest on his path that day. This is great news. A priest was going down the road, and when he saw him, when the priest saw this man who was half dead on the side of the road, he passed by on the other side. He's going down the sidewalk, hears this man half dead, he goes to the other side of the road and keeps walking. Verse 32. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, pass by on the other side. So first we have a priest, then we have a Levite, with the uh Levite think in terms of uh a leader of worship or someone who works within the temple to help with the activities of worship. We might could even wonder if they're uh a Levite and a priest are leaving Jerusalem heading out of town. Are they even are they leaving the place of worship? That they've left the temple of worship, and even as they're leaving worship, they've just kind of left this guy on the side of the road. I mean, these are the people. If there were ever people who were supposed to help this man, it surely it would have been a priest and a Levite. Surely these were the ones that help. And what do each one of them do? They pass by on the other side of the road. Now, they they may have, in their own mind, told themselves they have great reason for doing this. They may have been leaving the temple and they may have been on their way to another uh unbelievable ministry opportunity. That I just got to get to Jericho because once I get to Jericho, I'm I'm preaching at First Baptist Jericho, and I don't want to be late to that. They may have, I'm certain they knew the law enough to know that if they touched this broken and bloody, beaten body, they would have been ceremonially unclean and would have had to go through the process of becoming clean again. I mean, it it would have taken time. It would have taken a lot out of their day to do this. Surely they had these excuses. What I think they were doing, what I think we can be in such danger of doing is probably just trying to uh protect the brand. Think about that term protect the brand. No one does it better than what we saw last week with the Masters Golf Tournament. Think about this for a second. You want to talk about protecting the brand. Do you know this tournament? Every year, every single year, they go to TV executives and they sign a one-year contract for those TV partners to show the masters. One year at a time. You don't get to lock it in for five years, you don't get to lock it in for a decade. Year by year, we will tell you our terms. They leave money on the table every year so that they can uh broadcast the masters their way. And they tell CBS, there are specific rules you have to follow. We don't have uh fans here at the golf course, we have patrons. You've you've heard this lingo, you've heard it, even if you didn't know the lingo, you've heard it even if you didn't know it. They protect their merchandise. If you want master's gear with that master's logo, there's one place to get it, and it is at the master's. You can get online this afternoon. Maybe on eBay you can pay you know 10 times for it, but you can't just order master's gear online. You've got to be there. They protect the brand like maybe no other brand I've ever come across. That's really good for an elite golf tournament. I just want to tell you, that's very dangerous for the church. And when I say the church protecting the brand, hear me clearly, I'm not talking about protecting our doctrine. Of course, we guard that with everything we have. We don't compromise there. But just protecting the brand as the church, when we just maybe unspoken say things uh like like I I don't know if we can reach out and minister in that kind of way. That maybe we just have the way we've kind of always done things, and if we start to do it this way to help this person or this group, uh what if that doesn't go well for us? Or I think about our unbelievable benevolence ministry, and every so often I I I'm so thankful that uh we're able to do that. And I think of the people that come up that just need a little help along the way. And and sometimes I I wonder, are there are there a few folks that come up to us and and maybe they they they tell us a story and we help them in some way, and and and maybe you know, maybe they weren't entirely accurate with what they told us. We've even talked to other churches in town from time to time. There's someone that wants to work the system along the way. I I want to tell you something that I know for a fact. I am certain that at some point someone's gotten a little bit from us and they've told us a little bit of uh they they've they've kind of fudged the numbers or fudged the truth a little bit. But if that happens one, and we have a great protocol, I want to be clear on that. But if that happens one out of 25 times, I'm okay with that. Because I love the fact that anyone and everyone can come to us, and in their broken state, they can come to us and we can be a church that helps, that loves, that invites them in. I don't want to be a church, and I'm not saying we're not, but I don't want to be a church that we say we've got to protect the brand. I don't want to be a pastor that protects the brand. But when I see someone hurt and broken on the side of the road, that I'm not worried about where I'm going. I'm not worried about what this might mean for me. I'm not worried if I've got the time of day for it. I'm not worried about the fact that I've got all this good ministry I have to do. Surely I can't handle an interruption right now, but instead I say, Lord, where you've brought me in this moment, Lord, would it be that I would say, I'm ready to serve? Is that true of you? Is that true of us as a church? I hope and pray that it is, because we continue this story and we see that a priest has passed by, we see that a Levite has passed by. And now, if we're wondering what happens next, what we'd imagine is this that just a Jewish layperson passes by and helps this man. That'd be a great story by Jesus. We we saw the priest wouldn't do it, the worship leader wouldn't do it, just your average everyday member of the church, he steps up to do what the priest and the Levite wouldn't do. It's an amazing story. Jesus, you've done well, beautiful moral to the story. But Jesus blows that wide open and takes it even a step further, maybe ten steps further. He says this, but a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. Now, a Samaritan has come, and I'm thinking in this moment this crowd of Jews and this law, you're hearing this story, uh this uh presumably Jewish man beaten on the side of the road, who do we expect in this moment? There is no person we could say that we would expect less than a Samaritan. It's hard to even put in terms of in terms of today just what that would be. These Samaritans of old, many years ago, and when the Assyrians came and wiped out the north, uh, many, many Jews, they intermarried with these Assyrians, these outsiders, and the Jews that stood firm and said, We will not do that, they hated them for it. How could you give in? How could you sell out? And on down the line, these Samaritans have lived in the north, and Jews absolutely hated Samaritans, and Samaritans were willing to return the favor and hate them right back. Again, it's hard to put in our terms just what this would be like. I mean, in our maybe modern political times, Just take the person on the furthest right and the furthest left, and somehow these have come together to help one another. You know, rip it from the headlines that uh uh Palestinian and Israeli have come together, or uh an Israeli and an Iranian, whatever it looks like, whatever you can get that's far apart in this day and age, maybe multiply it by ten, and that's this Samaritan coming to help, this Jewish man beaten on the side of the road. And what does this Samaritan from this group that were enemies of the Jews, what does he do in this moment? He passes by, and what does it say first? He had compassion. Now I just want to ask you a question real quick. As you think about the people in your life that it is maybe difficult to love, the person or the people that you've just had trouble loving, like Christ has called you to love, and we're family here. You have those people in your life, and and maybe there's there's reason for that. They've hurt you, they've ridiculed you. But when you think about those people, are are are they enemies that you want to get even with? Or are they people that you can pray for even in the midst, and that maybe the Spirit can give you this same kind of compassion for that this Samaritan sees this Jewish man who is the enemy of his people and has compassion. But then what's fascinating about this, it is compassion that leads to action. He went to him, verse 34, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal. By the way, if this injured man is on his animal, then that means the Samaritan man is now walking. And he brought him to an inn and took care of him. So this Samaritan man took care of him himself, and the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Some say this two denarii would have taken, would have given about three weeks of a stay at one of these inns. So, one, he paid for three weeks' time there, and then basically just gave a blank check. Whatever more you need, just put it on my tab. I will totally take care of it. This is the one that helps this man. This is what the Samaritan man does. From his own pocket, on his own time, it was his own interruption as he was heading on his way down to Jericho. In this moment, he takes this man, he provides for this man, he helps this man, and if this man needs any more, he says, Put it on my tab, and when I return, I will take care of it. Now, verse 36. Here's what Jesus says. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Which of these men prove to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? What's interesting about Jesus in verse 36 is that he has now really rephrased the question that the lawyer originally asked. What did the lawyer ask? He asked, he asked, and who is my neighbor? He's wanting the uh a noun. Point to the person. Who is what group or what person? Who is my neighbor? Point them out. Jesus is talking in the realm of verbs. Uh who in this story, Jesus says, is being the neighbor? Who is showing himself as the neighbor? What Jesus wants this man to do, and what's what you and I to do, is not necessarily be asking the question, well, who is my neighbor? I hope you know the answer to that by now. Your neighbor is anyone, okay? Your neighbor is everyone. In fact, one pastor said it this way, and he's exactly right. If you want to know who your neighbor is, think about the one, close your eyes and think about the one person in your life that you are hoping Jesus does not say. Like the one person or group in your life that when you ask that question, you're hoping that Jesus doesn't say him or her or them. And guess what? There's your answer. That's your neighbor. But really, Jesus isn't answering that question. Who's my neighbor? He he's asking this question: Are you being the neighbor? Are you the neighbor? Are you acting in this kind of way? And for an answer, verse 37, the lawyer said, the one who showed him mercy. Now, maybe it's reading between the lines a little bit, but it's almost as if this lawyer in this story can't even address this guy. It's like he doesn't even want to say the word the Samaritan. Doesn't even want to say this guy's title. So he just says, How about the one in the story that showed him mercy? And Jesus said to them, You go him, you go and do likewise. You go and do. In your own life, as you think about those around you, as you think about the people in this room, as you think about the people outside this room, uh as you think about the people that you have over to your house and you eat dinner with and you live life with, and then you think about the people that are tough to love, and you think about everybody in between. I just ask you this question that we have to ask our question today and really for the rest of our days, is really this Am I being the neighbor God has called me to be? Has the gospel of Jesus Christ changed my heart and life in such a way that I am now being the neighbor He's called me to be? As you think about those around you who you are called to be a neighbor to, just think about this with me for a second. You and I have really no room. I won't even I won't even say it of you right now. I'm just gonna pick on myself. I've got no room and no right to look at anyone in my life around me and say, You are not my neighbor, and say, I don't know if I can do anything for you, and and say, I I don't know if I can bring myself to help in that kind of way. And let me tell you why. I can't, I I've lost the the right, the standing to look down on anyone. Why? Because because I I I'm I know who I am, I I'm at the bottom. I've got nowhere to look down. Why why do I say that? Because Christ found me when I was at the bottom. What does Paul say? When you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Romans 5. While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. As I read scripture and I look at myself and my own life, there's nowhere lower to go than the state I was in outside of Christ. There's no pit that I haven't been at the bottom of already. And so when I see someone in my life, and Jesus puts that person in my path, I've lost the right to say, uh I can't serve in that way. I've lost the right to say, God, surely you don't want me to go there. I I'm just so thankful this morning, if I could tell the truth, that as I was as low as I could be, that Christ came for me. You know, uh we could say that Jesus Christ is the ultimate picture of uh the Good Samaritan, that when we were at our broken place, he came and bandaged us up and uh paid our our room and and and credited all to his tab. We could say that, but but I don't think that really does it justice because I was a lot worse than just beaten up on the side of the road. Again, dead in sins. And what did Christ do? He came for me. And so imagine if Christ has done all this for me, I could do nothing to earn it, to deserve it, and my only hope is because Christ has had pity and grace and mercy on me, and all that is true of me, and then I turn around and look at anyone else and say, Hey, I really can't do anything for you. That's just not how the gospel works. And it will be costly, and it will cost you time and energy, it will cost you tears, and you will help, and then the person you help will maybe maybe find themselves broken again, and you'll have to help again, and you'll have to forgive again, and you'll have to pick them up again, and again, it will cost you your time, your energy. It'll cost you so much to be this kind of neighbor, and yet I look at Christ and say, that's exactly what he's done for me at a greater cost than I could ever give. The cost of his own life. I I think about this church for a second. Uh literally, this church, this structure, this building. And I'm gonna tell you something that you already know. This is a big building. I'll tell you this: this is an intimidating building. Do you remember your first time coming to this building? 8,000 doors. Which one do you go in? I don't know. And you remember coming here for the first time, and out front, those big wooden doors and huge columns, and and it's just an intimidating place to come for the first time, maybe for the second time. It's just a big place. And it's it's First Baptist Church. Is that the kind of place I can go that I can walk into? Is that the kind of place the family I can be a part of? Would they want me there? Can I just tell you what moves people from seeing this place as just the intimidating structure, beautiful structure, but the intimidating structure that it is? Can I tell you what changes that in the hearts and minds of people outside this building? It's when they know that when they walk in, that they will be met by people that love them. That when I walk through those kind of intimidating wooden doors out there between the big columns, that I'm gonna walk into a place that treats me like family. And we grew up in different places of different means. We've got maybe different opinions about this or that, or we like different things, and maybe we have different preferences, but but when I walk through the door, it just feels like family. There's just a lot of neighbors in that room. And that changes everything. And I'm just gonna tell you, if we want to see First Baptist do a mighty work in El Dorado, let me tell you how it happens. We could get a strong social media campaign. We could probably up our advertisement budget, we could do it that way. We could probably host some event where we give something big away and someone's going home with something. We could do some tricks and some gimmicks, we could do those kind of things, sure. But let me tell you, if you want to make an impact in this town, if you want to make an impact, I'm talking about with the lost among this town, what it's going to look like is this is a church that is full of people that when you meet them, you just say that's a neighbor. That's someone that that is ready to welcome me. That's someone uh that that that that is interested in me. That I'm really not anybody, that I moved in from out of town, and and suddenly they welcome me in as family. That I I just came here to play baseball at South Ark and I thought I'd kind of stick to the dorm room, and then these crazy people down the street invited me to lunch. That that uh when I was, you know, down to my last dime, these crazy folks over at First Baptist, they just helped me keep the lights on for one more month for me and my children. Whatever it looks like, if you want to change this town for the sake of the gospel and reach out to the people around us in ways like never before, if we will be a church that just says, we are going to be the kind of neighbors that Jesus describes here, simply because we are the very people who were once in such need of Jesus' grace on us, and we found it, and so we're ready and willing to give it far and wide. If we are that kind of church, I just promise you, there's nothing that the Lord cannot and will not do in our midst. To see the lost come to know Christ, to see people come from all over and come be part of a family of something bigger than themselves. If we are committed to what Jesus calls us to do, we will see him do a mighty work. And I believe the people in this room are the people that we need at this time in the life of this church to make a big difference for the kingdom of God. Maybe this morning you want to come join this family. You've walked through the big wooden doors and the columns, and you say, This is my family. I'd love nothing more than to invite you. We'd love nothing more than to invite you to our church family. Maybe you want to come and have a pastor pray with you. Maybe you want to uh talk about baptism. Maybe you want to come to know Christ for the first time. Whatever that looks like, I'd love nothing more than for you to respond this morning. And I want to give you the opportunity to do that. I'm gonna pray for us, then we're gonna worship together and you respond. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for the gospel. Lord, you found us when we were at our lowest. In fact, you found us when we were dead in sins. And yet, in your grace and your mercy, you brought us into the family of God. Lord, teach us what it is individually, teach us what it is as a church to be the kind of family, the kind of neighbor that you are calling us to, right here in this story, Lord. Lord, every day at school, at work, in our homes, there are people that just need a neighbor, just need someone to uh bandage their wounds, to give them a little piece of hope. Lord, let us be the ones on mission for you that do that for your glory, Lord. However, someone needs to respond, would they do it now in this moment? We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. Would you stand now as we worship, and I'll be down front as you respond?