CaryCOG | Cary Church of God
Pastor Patrick Jensen brings us today's message, "Who is My Neighbor?"
Luke 10:25-37 NKJV
I. Regulations to love our neighbor do not always translate into practice
Luke 10:25-29
Quote:
But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" That's the question before you tonight. (Yes) Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job?" Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" (Yes) The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.
Martin Luther King Jr.
II. Compassion is the primer to loving our neighbor
Luke 10:30-33
Quote:
Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.
Henri Nouwen
III. A neighbor is anyone who has been brought near to you in need of mercy
Luke 10:34-37