Transcription
Welcome, YouTube family. My name is Joanna, and thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube to stay up-to-date each week. We believe God has a powerful word for you today, so let's dive into this amazing message.
If you are taking notes, the title of my sermon is, "That's My Neighbor." That's my neighbor. Everyone say, "That's." "That's." "My." "My." "Neighbor." "Neighbor."
This is a true story. When I used to live in Wake Village, I had a friend over, and this guy came. He knocked at my door with no shirt on, flip-flops, and undergarments. My friend said, "Who is that?" I said, "That's my neighbor."
Okay, I'm not proud that he's my neighbor. I didn't—I don't know if I want him to be my neighbor, but that's my neighbor. He would cut the grass in his underclo. He would have his shirt out, chest hairs. I mean, this dude was serious business, okay? And when I would bring people over, it's like our house looked nice, the area looked nice. Then there was him. That's our neighbor. And this guy was always neighboring, right? You got neighbors, and neighbors be neighboring.
And, um, one thing that's funny about neighbors is neighbors are different than any other people in your life. And what makes neighbors different than any other people in your life is almost every person in your life, to some form or capacity, you chose them. You chose your co-workers. You chose your in-laws. Yeah, you did. You married her. You knew who her family was before you proposed to her. You chose them. You chose him and his in-laws. You knew who they were. You met them before y'all got married. You chose the job you would work at. You chose your co-workers. But the one thing in life we don't get to change is, guess what? Our neighbors. We don't get to choose nor change our neighbors unless we move. But our neighbors are our neighbors.
That's my neighbor. Today we're going to speak from that topic. And you may wonder, what does that got to do with anything? It has something to do with everything. That's my neighbor.
Now, um, my job as a pastor is to provide hope and clarity in times like this. And when everything happens as a leader, it's very important that you unplug and go to the spirit of the Lord for wisdom, clarity, and direction. Uh, why do we need wisdom? Because wisdom gives you the ability to look further than what's happening. Right? Without wisdom, we just see the problems. With wisdom, we see the problems and the solution to the problems and the purpose of the problem. Come on.
So with everything happening in the world, as much as it grieves me and breaks my heart, it also inspires me. And what inspires me is it's an amazing time for the wisdom of God. It's an amazing time for the word of God. It's an amazing time for the heart of God. That the purpose of the church was to be an answer and a solution in a world that didn't have them.
It's like we're confused because we thought that somehow politics would have a solution. We thought that somehow the world would have a solution. But the world never has a solution. Only Jesus has a solution. And the beautiful thing about the tragedy is this: we have a massive problem, but we have an even bigger savior who can bring wisdom and clarity to our problem. So I got a question for you. Then I'll preach.
If I showed you as accurately and as precisely as I can, with the time I spent in prayer and the wisdom God has bestowed upon me, if I showed you accurately and as precisely as I could how Jesus would handle today, as close as I could, as close as I can present to you, if I showed you that, would you open up your heart and lean in? That's a question I have, honestly.
If you knew the old adage, "What would Jesus do in a time like this?" If you knew, would you do it? Because in order for us to be a solution to the problems our nation faced, we would have to do what Jesus would do. And maybe you don't know what Jesus would do. Maybe you have your own interpretation of what you think Jesus would do in this hour. But what if I showed you biblically, precisely, and accurately what Jesus would actually do in this time? Would you open up your ears, your heart, and would you lean in? I'm asking you guys. Okay. Well, then we're good then. Okay. Okay. Y'all ready? I'm rolling. Let's go.
Um, if you have your Bibles, go to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. And we're going to examine the heart of God with the lens of our nation and see, can we find truth, strategy, wisdom, and solutions to our problems.
Luke 10 verse 25, and it reads, "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and testing him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'" This is a question Jesus got pretty frequently. He said to him, "What is written in the law?" This is Jesus' response to that lawyer. "What is your reading of it?"
So he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
And he said to him, "You have answered rightly." This is Jesus saying, "Hey, you've answered correctly. Do this and you will live." But he, the lawyer, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" It's a very important question.
Then Jesus answered and said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothes, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road, and when he had saw him, he passed by on the other side."
So in other words, this man was beaten by thieves. He was beaten up. He was left for dead, and then a priest came by, but instead of helping him, the priest passed him by. Likewise, a Levite—a Levite is someone that the Levites, they did worship. There was assistance. There was very involved leaders in the church. A Levite, when he arrived at the place and came and looked, and passed on by. So a Levite came and a priest came. It'll be like the pastor, worship leaders, leaders in the church. They all came by this man, and they just passed him by.
"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend when I come again, I will repay you.'"
"So which of these do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said, "Go and do likewise." Wow.
Okay, we're going to dig deep. We're going to cut this story up in half. So Jesus came, and he condensed the commandments. There are ten commandments. Jesus came, and he condensed the commandments. Why would Jesus condense the commandments? Jesus condensed the commandments because he wasn't just trying to command us, but he was trying to give us solutions to actually apply the commandments. He condensed the commandments because he was giving us the solution to keep them. He said, "I can take all the commandments, combine them into two, and if you would just focus on keeping these two commandments, you would keep the ten. If you would keep the two, you would keep the ten." So Jesus combined and condensed the commandments.
And what new command did Jesus give? The new command he gave was, "Love the Lord with all your heart, your soul, your strength, your mind." Love Jesus with every ounce of your being, and love your neighbor as yourself. And this is the commandment that Jesus gave. And when the lawyer came, he came and he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said, "Just keep these commandments." And the guy said, "Okay, I can keep these commandments. It's cool because God, I love God. I can love God. It's easy to love God. I think we all can agree to love God. But the difficult part is loving our neighbors."
So, love God with all of your being, but love your neighbor as yourself. And the lawyer had a very tricky question. He wanted to know, "Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Is it the guy in speedos with no shirts and flip-flops that live next door to me? Who is my neighbor? Is it the person that goes to church with me? The person that believes like me, the person that behaves like me? Who is my neighbor?"
In other words, the lawyer was saying, "Hey, I am versed in Jewish law, and I will love God and I will love my neighbor, but I need to know who my neighbor is." Who is my neighbor? Is my neighbor that co-worker that's hating on me? Is my neighbor my husband's baby mama? 'Cause we know she crazy. Like, who is my neighbor? Like, look, I can't. Like, who is my neighbor? I need to know who my neighbor is. Is it that person that's posting things I don't like? Like, who is my neighbor? I love my neighbor, but I need to know who is my neighbor.
And Jesus, in his brilliance and his wisdom, instead of answering the question, he gave him a story. And the reason why he gave him a story is stories have the ability to do what answers sometimes can't do. They have the ability to bypass the conscious mind and go straight into the heart. Jesus spoke in parables, analogies. He would use stories because even when you try to reject the principle, it still gets in you, because we remember stories. So Jesus didn't answer the question. He just responded with a story.
And when he responded with a story, here's what Jesus said: There was a man leaving Jerusalem, going down the path of Jericho. And this man was caught by thieves. These thieves beat this man up. They beat him up to a pulp. They beat him half dead. They stripped him naked, beat him half dead, and left him here for dead.
And what kind of man was this? This man leaving Jerusalem, headed down to Jericho, it was a trading path that Jews would go. So this was a Jewish man. And as this Jewish man was heading down to go trade, in the story that Jesus is telling, he was caught by thieves, stripped naked, beat to a pulp, beat halfway to death.
Now, as he's sitting there bleeding out, hurting and in pain as a Jewish man, who would he expect to come to his rescue? And imagine if a priest came by, and this man gazed up and he saw a priest, a Jewish priest, walking by, seeing a Jewish man beaten to a pulp, halfway to death, he would imagine that that priest would help him. But the priest kept going and passed him by.
Then, okay, the priest didn't help. Then a Levite came by, which is a leader in the church, would see this Jewish man, and he would expect this Levite to help him, but the Levite passed him by.
And then all of a sudden, a Samaritan is walking. And let me give you some backdrop of a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews had no dealings. It was hostile. They were different racially. They were different politically. They were different in background. They were different in every facet. And Jews and Samaritans had no dealings. "You stay on your side. I'll stay on my side." They had no dealings with one another.
And Jesus created a story where now the Samaritan is coming by, and the Samaritan had compassion on the Jew. Yeah. And this Samaritan has compassion on the Jew. And now he comes and he put bandages on his wound, and then he helps him. He helps him up, and he helps wipe the blood off of him. Then he picks him up and he puts him on his animal. And when he puts him on his animal, his animal carried him to the inn, which is a place to stay so he can get healed. And he went in there, he paid for his stay. And he said, "Anything else he needs, I will return and I will pay for it." He gave him compassion. He cared about him. And he was the most unlikely person to do it.
The man that was beaten, he probably would have wanted a Levite or a priest to come help him. And how I know that is because Jesus wouldn't have had them pass him up if those aren't the people that he would have wanted to help him. And Jesus was saying, "Sometimes you are in despair and you're in pain." And he says, "Sometimes you will be passed up by the people you feel like that should help you."
And Jesus said, "But a good Samaritan came and had compassion upon him and bandaged his wounds, cleaned them up, picked them up, put them on his animal so he wouldn't have to carry him himself, allowed the animal to carry him to the inn, allowed him to get restored and allowed him to stay there and recover, and he covered all of the expenses."
And then Jesus looked at the lawyer and he said, "Which one of these was a neighbor to that man?" And the lawyer responded, "The one who had compassion." And Jesus said, "You go do likewise."
In other words, Jesus was saying that your neighbor is anyone that's on your path. Wow. It's not just the person that lives next door to you. It's not just a person that believes like you believe. It's not just the person that shares your race. It's not just the person that shares your political affiliations. It's the person on your path that is your neighbor.
And Jesus told this man, he said, "You go and do likewise. You go and be a neighbor to all. You go and serve all, love all, care for everyone. You go and show compassion and mercy." So what did Jesus expect out of neighbors? Jesus expected neighbors to show compassion, and he expected neighbors to show mercy. And the reason why is because that's what Jesus does for us.
And check this out. This is so beautiful. What is compassion? Compassion isn't a weak word. It means to feel deeply in your bowels. It means to feel so deeply. It means to feel deep. It's like if someone was gut-wrenched. To have compassion means to be gut-wrenched. It means to feel so deeply someone else's pain. Why? Because you can't heal what you can't feel. You can't heal what you can't feel.
And then to be a neighbor meant to show mercy. Mercy and grace are different because grace is getting what you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Which means grace is us getting what we don't deserve. That's heaven. Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. That's hell.
So Jesus says, "I want you to show compassion," which means, "I want you to be gut-wrenched. I want you to feel deeply in your core. But then I want you to show mercy. I want you to give somebody what they don't deserve." Because nothing melts a cold, callous heart like mercy. Mercy has the ability to melt a heart. Mercy has the ability to transform the untransformable. Mercy has the ability to change the unchangeable. Mercy has the ability to stop the unstoppable. It is mercy.
So Jesus is saying that we are to show compassion and mercy to our neighbors. This is what Jesus is calling us to do. This is what he's asking us to do. And mercy is so, so powerful because mercy is we're giving somebody something that they don't deserve. Sometimes in life, you got to give people what they don't deserve. You got to love the unlovable. You got to serve the unservable. This is what Jesus is calling you to do as a believer.
In other words, as I operate this week, my behaviors, my posts, my energy, is it loving and serving my neighbor, or is it harming my neighbor? Wow. Am I building my neighbor up, or am I tearing my neighbor down? Yeah. And these are the questions we have to ask each other in times like this. Jesus wants to serve, and he wants us to love, and he wants us to build up our neighbor. Which means we are to show compassion. We are to show mercy. We're to show empathy. And we are to show deep, deep care for our neighbors.
The Bible says that a gentle answer turns away wrath. A gentle answer, but a firm answer stirs up anger. Our job in this hour is not to stir up anger. It's to turn away wrath.
There's something that I've mastered as a husband. When my wife and I would get in an argument, we don't really argue much anymore. I don't know what happened. Maybe I just learned to shut up. I don't know. I just think I learned over time like, just shut up and pray. Um, or maybe she learned that. I don't know. One of us, maybe we both did.
But I remember we would get in arguments, and then at a point an argument would reach a volume that was so loud nobody heard what the other person was saying. You didn't know. You were just, "Ah!" And that was, "Ah!" And you was, "Ah!" And that was, "Ah!" Everybody, "Ah!" And you just hollering. And then finally, I'm like, "I'm the party that's going to get put on the couch. Let me fix this. She cooked the food. She's going to determine where I'm sleeping tonight."
Like, like, like, you know, 'cause it's like the issue is, it's like when the fight's over, the man, he just kind of like, "All right." Like, "I'm done." Like, "Hey." And she like, "No, boy, you better back up." You know what I'm saying? It's like, I know. I don't want part two. Like, you trying to lay by her. She's scooting over. So, you like, "Hmm, this is not going to affect me well tonight. I need to fix this."
And what I would do, I remember in those moments, I would just grab her, hug her, and tell her I love her. And sometimes it'll work, but she's still kind of holding up her fight. And then I would just start doing my banana dances, and she would just bust out laughing. And then all of a sudden, I can lay next to her and get a plate of food. Who wonders? Like, like, this is awesome. But I realized something: at this climate, at this volume, at this inflammation, nothing I say will be heard.
See, it's not that I don't want to go online and post and get my point out and get my view out, or even get the gospel out, but am I going to be heard at this volume? Am I going to be heard at the inflammation of the climate of our society? Because when I got online, I went and I scooped through some comments, and guess what I noticed? Nobody changed nobody's mind. Nobody changed nobody's mind.
You made a comment. The people that agreed with you liked it. The ones that didn't got mad. The people that didn't agree with you made a post. The people that agreed with them liked it in a comment. The ones that didn't agree got mad. Which is division. And division has never added anything to this country. It only taken away.
So I'm all for standing, being bold and courageous. It's like, "Hey, lace up your boots." Like, I'm all for being courageous, but my question is, what am I trying to accomplish? Am I trying to war against my neighbor, or am I trying to serve my neighbor? We can't get so lost in this hour that we forget who our neighbor is and who our enemy is.
I want to tell you something. The people that you feel like are posting foolery, they're not your enemy. They're your neighbor. And some neighbors are dumb. Some neighbors are stupid. And in my case, some neighbors are naked, but they're still neighbors. So if I see someone that don't agree with me, I don't want you to unfriend me. I want to bring you to church. I want to pray for you, serve you, and be a good Samaritan to you.
So we got to act, 'cause you got to understand, do you know that when you say, "You know what, forget them," the devil's like, "Yes!" Awesome. I mean, he's like in hell, just, he's in hell having a time of his life. He's just in hell like, "This is awesome. Revival was breaking out. Now everybody's fighting." He's in hell just, just, I mean, the devil in hell like, he just, he's in hell having a time of his life because he would want you and your neighbor to sit down over coffee and have conversations that are uncomfortable and get clarity. He wouldn't want you and your neighbor to hold hands and pray. He wouldn't want any of that. That's what Jesus would want. He wouldn't want you and your neighbor to come together and pray. He won't want you and your neighbor to come talk and have difficult conversations and get clarity. Satan, if he had it his way, it would look exactly how it looks now.
So, I got a question. Do you want to hurt your neighbor, or do you want to hurt the devil? Come on. [Applause] Because disunity hurts your neighbor, but unity hurts the devil.
Pastor, aren't we supposed to stand in times like this? Yes. United. United. We are. And again, I'm not one of these jelly-back preachers that's gonna fold on my theology. I'm a lion in my theology, but I'm a sheep in my methodology. My theology is strong, and it ain't caving. I'm standing, and I lay my life down on this, but my methodology is lamb. My theology is lion. And the issue we're having in the world is you may be aligning your theology, but if you are aligning your methodology, you're going to cause division, not unity. Not unity.
So, can we go deeper? Okay, let's get a little deeper then. Let's go deeper.
Now, let's look at what the Samaritan did for his neighbor. Because this is what Jesus, in this story—Jesus created this story. This isn't real. Jesus made it because Jesus was instructing us for such a time as this on how to respond to our neighbors when they're hurt and wounded.
Here's the first thing he did: The Samaritan went and he put bandages over the wound of his bleeding neighbor. That's right. God is calling us to bind up the wounds and bring bandages over our bleeding neighbors.
The second thing he did was he poured oil on his neighbor's wound. Our job is not to come and pour bitterness on our neighbor's wound. It's to pour oil. It's the anointing of God, the spirit of God, to be Holy Spirit-led in moments like this.
The next thing he poured was wine in his neighbor's wound. Why? Because wine disinfects and stops the body from being able to get infection. Wine is symbolic for the blood of Jesus. Our job is to bring the blood of Jesus to our neighbors to disinfect them from darkness, evil, and even deception, to bring them into love and hope in Christ. Our job is to pour not bitterness, but to pour wine in the wounds of our neighbor.
The next thing he did was he set him on an animal to carry him. Our job is to intercede on the behalf of our neighbors because we carry them with our prayers, and we carry them with our intercessory prayer.
The next thing is he took his neighbor to the inn so he can be restored. It was a place of restoration and hope. I'm glad that we have one called Radiant Church. Bring your neighbor to a place of restoration in hope so they can be restored.
And then lastly, he said, "Hey, I'm not just going to take care of my neighbor now. I'm gonna continue to take care of him because mercy ain't just a moment. Mercy is ministry, which means anything else he needs, I'm going to cover the cost." I'm going to tell you right now, our job is not just to bring people to church. It's to continue to stay with them and pray with them throughout the journey. Why? Because mercy ain't just a moment. Mercy is a ministry. I will walk alongside of you, pray with you, intercede with you, feel and cry with you. This is what we are to do for our neighbors. We're to love them and to serve them. This is what Jesus expected from the church. Wow.
He wasn't saying we shouldn't fight. He was just teaching us how we fight our battles. And this is how we fight: We fight against the enemy in the spirit, and we serve our neighbor in the physical. And when we do that, this is how we change the world. Can we give King Jesus a shout of praise in this place? [Music]
Well, pastor, that is hard. I know. But that is God. And that is the standard you've been called to. That's the standard. That's the standard. It is hard, but it is God. And I want you to know something. We don't just have a good Samaritan. We have a good, good God. Come on. So good. So good.
Because I believe as I read this story, I believe you missed some key components of this story. So let me slow down and dissect them. The first thing that you need to notice as you go back through this story, you need to slow down and see it because when Jesus was telling the story of the wounded Jewish man, he was prophesying about himself, because he was a man.
The man was walking down the path, and he was grabbed among thieves and stripped naked. Your God was on the cross between two thieves, stripped naked. [Music]
This man was beaten and bloody. Your God was hit with a cat-o'-nine-tails, with a crown of thorns in his head. He was beaten and bloody.
This man was left for dead. He was beaten half dead. Your Jesus was hanging on the cross, beaten half dead. Which means that the Jewish wounded man in this story was Jesus. Oh, but let me go one deeper to you.
He wasn't only the wounded, beaten, bloody, wounded Jewish man in the story. He was also the good Samaritan. Well, how do you know he was a good Samaritan, pastor? Because he showed compassion and mercy. And I'm going to show you Jesus do both on the cross, being the Jewish wounded man and the good Samaritan simultaneously.
Because when Jesus was on the cross, as people were crucifying him, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It takes deep, gut-wrenching capacity and compassion to forgive people that are killing you. To intercede for people that are puncturing you, to pray to save people that are killing you. He showed great compassion on the cross.
Oh, but he showed great mercy because the Bible said that he had 12 legions of angels at any point that were standing there ready to stop the crucifixion. What is 12 legions of angels? That means he has 72,000 angels standing there ready. One death angel wiped out a nation overnight. What can 72,000 do? They could have tore that nation up in moments, but Jesus showed mercy. What is mercy? Not giving them what they deserve. They deserve to be smited by this legion of angels. And Jesus said, "Hold." [Music] He showed compassion, and he showed mercy. Come on.
He wasn't only the wounded Jewish man. He was also the good Samaritan. This is your God. He said, "You know what? I am both. I'm the person that's been—I'm the person that suffered, and I'm also the person that saved. I'm the person that no one rescued, but the same person that rescues everybody."
Because when Jesus was on the cross, he was passed by by priests. He was passed by by Levites. He was even passed by by disciples. And everyone that passed him by and didn't rescue him, when he resurrected, he rescued them. [Music] [Applause] He's not only the wounded Jewish man, he's also the good Samaritan. Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper?
I'm going to show you something. I'm going to show you something. Here's how Jesus was the Samaritan man.
The Samaritan man poured out his oil to heal his neighbor's wounds. Jesus poured out his spirit and his oil to heal our souls.
The Samaritan man poured out wine for his neighbor. Jesus spilled his blood, which was the wine of our new covenant in communion.
The Samaritan man carried his neighbor's animal. Jesus on his shoulders carries your burdens, your sins, and the weight of everything that came against you.
The Samaritan man brought his neighbor to an inn, a place to restore. Jesus resurrected and founded the church so you can have an inn, a place to be restored.
And the Samaritan man covered not only the present, but the future expenses. Jesus didn't just pay for your salvation. He paid for your transformation and your sanctification and all your other "ations." He's not just a wounded man. He's the good Samaritan.
And if Jesus could say, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," why can't you? Jesus is saying, "Fight." But this is how Jesus is instructing us to fight our battles. I want you to know that some of the people that have done the most heinous things in your opinion, you can't understand how they can do this or how they can feel like this or "this isn't fair" or "you don't get me," "you don't get my pain," "you don't see what I go through," all the different things that you feel like you can feel. This is still a biblical response. So good.
This is a biblical response because just because you see foolishness from the world, it doesn't give you an exemption to not walk in the fruit of the spirit, which is love, gentleness, kindness, longsuffering, good report. You still have fruit to abide by, even in this time, even in this hour. You have to say, "Lord, examine me. I want to be like you," and I want to tell you, this is what Jesus would do in this hour. Can we give him a shout of praise? [Music]
The person that may be against you, that's still your neighbor. The person that's posting things you don't like, that's still your neighbor. The person who you feel like don't care, that's still your neighbor. The person that you feel like is resisting you, that's still your neighbor. The person who don't understand your pain and grief is still your neighbor.
And the reason why Jesus called him your neighbor is because your neighbor is the one thing in life you don't get to choose. Come on. You don't get to choose. That co-worker that you don't want to see at work tomorrow, guess who they are? They're your neighbor.
And if you need to know who your enemy is, I will tell you, the devil. [Applause] Who could love murder? Satan. The Bible says he's a murderer from the beginning. Pride and iniquity was founded in him. Our enemy is Satan, not our neighbor.
But pastor, we got neighbors that are low-key acting like Satan. I know. That's why they need you to be a good Samaritan and to bring them to an inn so they can have hope and restoration. And for you to not only have compassion, but also sometimes you got to have mercy before you can have compassion. I got to find the mercy to give you what you don't deserve. And sometimes you don't deserve compassion, but mercy gives me the ability to tap into a gear that can give compassion to those that don't deserve it. This is the Bible. Yeah.
And unfortunately, a lot of sermons won't be preached like this this morning. Unfortunately, but I believe, and I studied, and I prayed, and I got on my face, and this is the message I feel Jesus would share. This is the message. It would bring people together, not tear them apart.
That's my neighbor. Everyone say, "That's." "That's." "My." "My." "Neighbor." "Neighbor." "That's." "That's." "My." "My." "Neighbor." "Neighbor."
And guess what? Sometimes neighbors don't agree. Sometimes neighbors have different opinions. Sometimes neighbors have different political parties. Sometimes neighbors are wrong. That's right. But they're still neighbors.
I'm going to show you a couple of more things. Let me move quickly. Let me move quickly because we're going to go in time of prayer. I'm going to show you Luke 9 verse 51. I want to show you what happened before Jesus told this story to give you deeper context into the miraculous, extraordinary heart of your God.
Luke 9:51 reads, "Now it came to pass, when the time had come for him to be received up, for Jesus to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of Samaritans." So this is Jesus and his disciples. They entered a village of Samaritans. This is before the story Jesus told, by the way, to prepare for him. But they did not receive him.
So the Samaritans, they entered the village of Samaritans. They didn't receive Jesus. What did they do? They rejected Jesus because his face—it says—they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.
And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" I mean, come on. You can't say you ain't never felt like that before, just as Elijah did. "Lord, you want me to call down fire from heaven on these jokers?"
But he turned and rebuked them. I just want you to know when you want to call down fire on your neighbors, here's Jesus' response. I just want you to see it in your Bible. He turned and rebuked them and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And they went to another village.
Which means that Jesus Christ was just rejected by Samaria and Samaritans. And moments later, the next chapter, the people that had just rejected Jesus, Jesus told a story with them being the hero. Two disciples who just said, "Call down fire." And why? Jesus said, "I need you to know something. I get, I get you're mad they rejected me. I understand. I get you frustrated, but I need you to examine. And I don't care where you are in this room or what you think or what you believe. Who is pastor talking to? Every last one of y'all. That's who I'm talking to. Every last one of you."
You need to ask yourself one important question: What manner of spirit are you of? Jesus. What manner of spirit are you of? Come on. Are you of the manner of the Holy Spirit or demonic spirit? You got to answer that question. [Applause]
And sometimes you can see things that could pull you out of the Holy Spirit. And that's when you have to unplug so you can get back in the place of prayer because no one wants your opinion. They want the Bible. I have people calling me all week, "Pastor, what do you think? What's your opinion? What's your opinion? What's your opinion?" I'm going to go find Jesus's opinion, and I'll preach it Sunday. [Applause]
I'm too flawed as a human to have an opinion. My job is to stand on the Bible and the word of God and the truth of God in season, out of season. When they like it, when they don't like it, when they agree, when they don't agree, when I offend them, when I don't offend him, I'm standing on God. I'm standing on God. And whatever I felt Jesus would feel in this hour, I would have preached it, and I would have put my chest out while I did it. Because I'm here as an ambassador of Jesus, not a man with an opinion. Not standing up here as a black man. I'm not even standing up here as a Christian man. I'm standing up here as a man of God, preaching what I feel like the Lord would say straight from your Bible.
So, let's go a little deeper before I get ready to close. Let's get a little deeper. He said, "What manner of spirit are you of?" In other words, Jesus said, "Hey, I need you to know something. I need you to know that I get your frustrations wherever you are, but what manner of spirit you are."
And then after you check what manner of spirit you are, what is my purpose? And my purpose is not to destroy men's life. It's to save it. Which means that if his purpose is to save lives, that means my approach and your approach must be conducive to saving lives.
I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying don't do legislation. And I'm not saying don't hold people accountable. I'm not saying any of that. I'm just saying as a Christian, your purpose is to save. So you have to ask yourself a question: Are my posts leading people to destroy lives or save lives? Are my posts driving people to Jesus or away from him? You just have to ask these questions.
I'm not saying be a coward. I'm not saying don't stand on truth. I'm not saying don't speak your opinion. I'm just saying that know the intent and the purpose of Christ because maybe the people you're frustrated at are the people that God wants to reach. And maybe God is calling you to be a good Samaritan and a good neighbor. Maybe he's calling you to serve. Who do you see in your life that's hurting that you can grab hands with and say, "Let me pray for you. Let me speak into you. Let me show mercy and compassion to you." That's what we are to do as the church. So the question is, do you want to be the church or not? But if you do, this is what the church is commissioned to do.
I got one last story, and then I'm going to get ready to close. Hope this was a blessing to you.
There's a story, as my banquet gets ready to come up. There's a story of a man. He's a lawyer, and he is the most incredible lawyer in all of the world. What makes this lawyer so incredible is every case—he had a hundred cases. He won the cases a hundred times, and he got millions of dollars for each of his clients. He was an impeccable lawyer.
And then there was a young lawyer that joined the firm, and he said, "Sir, I just got questions for you." He said, "You've had over a hundred cases, and all hundred of your cases, you got your client settlement money over a million dollars. This is unheard of. This is unseen. No one has ever done this. Can you please, please tell me how you're accomplishing this?"
And then the old lawyer said, "Yeah, but if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." And the young lawyer begged him for weeks, and he still never told him. And then after a month, he said, "Ah, I can't tell you. It wouldn't make sense." He said, "But I tell you what, I can show you. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 5."
He picked the young lawyer up, the old lawyer, the next day at 5. They went by Walmart, and they loaded up a whole buggy of groceries. And the young lawyer is trying to figure out what has this got to do with anything. And they got all these groceries in the buggy. Then they go and they put the groceries inside of the van. Then they get together in the car, and they're making a trip.
And once they're making a trip, they've been driving for 30 minutes. Now they go out into this farm. They turn into this farm. It's real dark. And the young lawyer is like, "This is weird." Like, "Why is he bringing me to a farm? I don't understand this."
And then he told the young lawyer to get all the groceries out the car. They got all the groceries out the car. And they go inside of this home on the farm. And when they go inside of there, the young lawyer noticed that there was a little boy sitting on the couch with no legs.
The lawyer, he comes in, the older lawyer, he unbags everything, and he cooks them a meal inside of their home, and he serves them food. And then he asks them how are they doing, and they're like, they're not doing good because their son had just had to get his legs amputated because his legs were broken inside of a car wreck. He sat there, he prayed for them, and he sat there and he wept with them for hours. And then afterwards, he cleaned up all the stuff inside of the house, and he got back in the car with the young lawyer and started driving home.
The young lawyer said, "I'm still confused. I don't understand the lesson. How does this help you win your cases?" And he said, "See, you missed it. It's not about cases. It's about people. It's about compassion, and it's about mercy."
He said, "I don't care about winning a case. I care that a little boy has lost his legs, and he can never walk again. So my job is to stand for those who can't stand for themselves and to speak for those that don't have a voice."
And he said, "The reason why I believe I win my cases, the reason why when you study my files and nothing shows up extraordinary, is because compassion don't show up on paperwork." He said, "The reason why I feel like I win my cases is because when I go into the courtroom, I can feel the pain and the hurt of my clients. And when I get done, the jury can too." And that's why I believe I win my cases.
If we're going to win this war of division, if we're going to win this war of brokenness, we have to feel and be led with compassion. And when we do that, we can win the war against division. We can win the war against the demonic. And we can win the war in our nation.
Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share it with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they can be blessed as well.