I thought it was really important, am I on? Yes.
For us to spend a little bit of time reflecting on evangelism and mission.
I read this week that this, what's the difference between mission and evangelism?
Some person suggested evangelism is when you tell people within your own culture about Jesus,
and mission is when you do it cross-culturally.
Anyway, something for you to think about.
And so three weeks on evangelism, and I thought, great, you know, the church and us,
we really need to reflect on this subject.
And I'm solely responsible for picking the passages for last week and this week.
And last week's passage was not at all what I was thinking,
which was quite distressing when you start preparing a sermon.
I thought, I want to say this, but the Bible says this.
And I came across the same problem this week with this short story.
And there are three problems.
One is, what's this got to do with evangelism?
I mean, at least last week's sermon, there's some explicit reference to a mission.
There's no Matthew 28, you know, authority on heaven and earth.
There's no, you know, none of that.
And I thought, how do I...
First problem.
Second problem is, we're so familiar with this story, you know.
And looking at a familiar story is like hearing a familiar joke.
And everybody knows the punchline.
And I spend 20 minutes telling you a joke that you already know.
So, how do I...
You know, is it familiar?
And how do we...
What does it mean for us?
So, that's my second problem.
The third problem is, when I spend a little bit more time looking at this passage,
I kind of found that it's not what it seems.
And I want to take you through this.
Hopefully, it makes sense.
And hopefully, I'm being faithful to what the Bible says.
So, it's not really what it seems.
And I think it does have something to say about evangelism.
And we need God to help us.
So, will you join me in praying to God and ask that he might help us to listen to him?
Great God and Heavenly Father, we praise you that even though words that have been written so long
and so familiar to us can come alive in ways that we would never expect,
help us not to presume on your word.
And we pray, Father, that tonight you might speak again to us by your Spirit,
stir our hearts, lift our eyes and move us into the world.
And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
The story is fairly familiar to us.
It's a story about a smart Alec lawyer.
And there is no other type.
Trying to trap Jesus with his cleverness and learning.
And Jesus, the real hero of the story, kind of turns the situation around,
outsmiles the guy by a story.
You notice Jesus tells a story, an earthy story with a twist.
You know, parables are often stories with twists.
And this parable has a twist.
The twists come in the form of the hero of this parable.
It is an unlikely hero because it's a Samaritan.
Again, we kind of missed it.
And I'm sure that you have heard this explained to you.
The Jews hate the Samaritans, you know, with a vengeance.
And so the whole being the hero thing was just unexpected for them,
but familiar to us.
And as I was telling this morning's congregation,
I was struggling to think the type of hatred, you know,
the Smiths know what I'm talking about.
You know, swan supporters.
West Coast would be the Samaritans.
The dirty, no good, parasitic, you know,
they should be destroyed from the face of the earth.
I get you, but nobody else.
Maybe people who are from Sydney, you know.
Sydney would be like the Jews.
People living in Melbourne, they're like the Samaritans.
You know, just, they wish they've got, well,
they don't even have a harbour.
What do they have?
A brown river.
But, you know, it's not quite,
and this morning I thought maybe it's like the JWs.
It doesn't really quite capture it.
And I was thinking this afternoon,
I think it's more like this story was told
and the hero of the story is Richard Dawkins.
Right?
Or a Muslim.
Okay?
A Christian audience.
The first two guys are good Christian folks
and they turn out to be bad.
And then there's this guy that you kind of think,
I can't stand, can't possibly be good.
And Jesus says, that's the hero of the story.
Shock, horror.
But it still really doesn't answer the question.
What's the point?
You know, is it saying that we ought to be like this guy?
I mean, after all, this is what Jesus says in verse 37.
Go and do likewise.
Be the Samaritan.
You know, look after,
look out for the needy and the marginalised in society.
Is that the point that Jesus is trying to make?
But as I said before,
if you dig a little bit deeper
and read it in the context of what's before and what's after,
I want to suggest to you,
there's only a lot more to it than first appears.
Well, firstly,
the parable comes in the context of a conversation
with an antagonist.
The antagonist we introduce in verse 25
as an expert in a law.
Presumably a wise and learned
and spiritual and respected person.
But an antagonist, nonetheless,
is obvious to us as the reader
because we have an insight into his motives
as opposed to the people present in our conversation.
We are told by Luke in verse 25
that he's come to Jesus to test him.
I don't get a real sense
that this guy is a genuine spiritual seeker.
You know, he's come to Jesus
to not so much put him in his place,
but perhaps to reveal Jesus for who he really is.
Some sort of peasant,
popularist,
uneducated,
not a really spiritual person.
To test Jesus,
you know,
to see really what,
you know,
the true shallowness
of Jesus' spirituality.
I think that's what he's come to do.
And in verse 29,
we saw that he's a guy
who wants to justify himself,
and we'll come back to this point
a little bit later.
Our scene starts with a question.
What is that question?
Have a look
if you've got the Bible in front of you?
The guy comes to Jesus,
and he says,
teacher,
very respectful,
you know,
flatter him.
And there's a question,
you know,
what must I do
to inherit eternal life?
Very familiar passage.
Very familiar question.
It comes to us
in other contexts
with a rich young man.
A very odd question
when you think about it.
Let me read that question
to you again
with my emphasis.
What must I do
to inherit eternal life?
Okay?
Don't bring in Luther
and the whole justification
by faith debate,
but just on the terms
of the question itself,
doing and inheriting,
what philosophers would call
a category error.
You know,
like what color is Monday?
There are different categories
of things.
Doing
and inheriting
belong to different boxes,
and you don't normally
put them together,
except when you want
to manipulate your kids.
Imagine if you're a parent
or a young one,
speaking like this
to your parents,
I've been good.
You know,
I worked hard at school.
I don't bum around
like my brother does.
And I'm most likely
not going to put you
in a nursing home.
But I am concerned
about how many
overseas trips
you're taking.
Because you are
squandering
my inheritance.
And while I'm
at it,
because I've been
so good
and my brother
suck,
do feel free
to leave him
out of your will.
Of course,
being nice people,
we don't say that
to our parents.
But if you were
a parent,
you might gently
remind your dear son
that it's not
his money.
And it may never
be his money.
It is your money
to squander,
to spend,
to allocate,
to give.
It is
the nature
of an inheritance.
You cannot be
a good son
and expect
to have an inheritance.
An inheritance,
by definition,
is a gift.
If it is no longer
a gift,
it's not an inheritance,
it's something else.
You've earned it.
It's a wage.
It's a salary.
You cannot,
by definition,
do anything
to inherit
a gift.
A first curious thing
is a curious
confusion,
a category
in the mind
of this expert
of the law.
Jesus,
just in case
you
confuse
his endorsement,
you will note
that doesn't
sort of respond
by saying,
well, okay,
you know,
fair question.
Here's the ten steps
to heaven.
Step one,
you need to join
a good church.
Step two,
you've got to start
reading your Bible.
No,
he doesn't
endorse the question.
He simply
asks a question
in response
to the question.
Verse 26,
what does the law
say?
By that,
he meant
the Torah,
what the Jews
would call
the Old Testament.
What does the Old Testament,
what does the Bible say?
When you read it,
what do you understand
is the basis
on which
you can
inherit
eternal life?
And we see
the answer
by the man
in verse 27,
and it's a fairly
standard answer
of the spiritual
people of the day.
You know,
if you ask
a person
what a Christian
is today,
you might get
two ways to live
or bridge to life.
This is the equivalent.
You know,
what does the Bible
teach you
about eternal life?
And the guy says,
well,
two things,
perfect love for God,
you know,
love God
with everything
that you have,
all your heart,
all your soul,
all your mind,
all your affections,
and love people,
love your neighbor
as yourself.
Perfect love
for people around you.
So love God,
love people.
Great answer.
Doesn't fault it.
Jesus doesn't do that
in verse 28.
He endorses
the answer,
not the question.
And we'll come back
to that answer
at the end
in the conclusion.
But not so great
a response
from the lawyer,
verse 29.
We are told
that he wanted
to justify himself
and we're not really
quite told
what that means.
Maybe there's
a bit of a crowd
and,
you know,
he's asked this question
and Jesus kind of said,
well,
you know the answer,
you tell me.
And he looks like
an idiot,
so he has to kind of say,
well,
I'm not a idiot.
That was a really
legitimate question.
Maybe that's what
he was doing.
Maybe,
I don't know.
Maybe he wanted
to tell himself,
convince himself
that he's
on the right track.
You know,
to get,
he kind of assumes
that he has
eternal life,
he's done enough
to inherit
eternal life
and he wanted
Jesus to endorse
that.
Maybe that's the thing,
like justify himself.
But make a general
observation.
Any lawyers in the house?
Judy?
Thank you.
Any other lawyers?
Okay,
good.
Sorry,
I'm going to apologise.
I'm going to seek
forgiveness
before,
but,
you know,
when you go to a lawyer
and ask them a question,
sorry,
I was a lawyer.
I love them.
My best friend
is still a lawyer.
Not a son of a lawyer,
no,
but,
but I think,
you know,
lawyers,
they kind of reflect
more us than them,
but when you go to a lawyer
to ask a question
about law,
what are you seeking to do?
You know,
for those of you
young ones,
you know,
one day you're going to
finish uni
and you're going to
have this great job
and you're going to have
squillions of dollars
as pay
and,
and that's right,
that's right.
Education department,
that's right.
And,
and you're going to go
to a big firm,
an accounting firm
or a law firm
and you're going to see
the top charging partner
and it will invariably be
the tax partner
and you ask the tax partner,
I want to know about tax law.
Now,
why is that?
Is it because
you want to pay more tax?
You want to find out
about the law
so that you pay more tax
or fair share of the tax?
No.
When you see a tax lawyer
it's because you
don't want to pay tax.
Right?
Sorry,
Katrina,
you're a lawyer.
I'm sorry to you as well.
You know,
when,
when you go to a lawyer
they're not really interested
in upholding the law.
Really,
even though we took an oath
to do that,
what are you,
what are you really seeking
to do as a lawyer
in finding out
what the law says
is to actually avoid the law.
That's what lawyers,
and,
and this is what
I think this guy's doing
in justifying himself,
whatever that might mean.
So,
the law is
love my neighbor.
Okay,
let's,
let's have some definitions
because I'm not so sure
about
neighbor.
That's a very interesting word,
isn't it?
Yeah,
I want to know about
the boundaries,
you know,
the semantic range
of the word.
I want to know
what the limits are.
I want to,
particularly,
I want to know
what the exceptions are
to this love
the neighbor law.
You tell me,
Jesus.
Because,
of course,
after all,
that's the only way
to keep the law
is to find those exceptions.
Well,
it is in this context
that Jesus told
the story
of the good Samaritan.
And like every good joke,
it comes in three.
There's a victim of crime.
The guy is traveling
from Jerusalem
down south
to Jericho.
He's in the wilderness.
There's this road,
easy picking
for thugs
and stuff like that.
And sure enough,
you know,
if he's telling this story,
everyone will go,
oh yeah,
yeah,
that road.
Oh yeah,
yeah.
He got mugged.
Yeah,
his phone got taken.
Yeah.
And his shoes.
But he's sort of
beaten senseless.
He's left without his shoes
and he's unconscious.
And three guys
sort of went by.
The two obvious
sort of characters,
religious type people.
There's a priest
and a Levite.
And what is clear
is that they didn't help.
They didn't,
they so much
didn't want to help
that they actually
crossed the road
so that they didn't
have to help this guy.
Right?
And we don't know
the reason,
speculative,
obvious,
you know,
if you see
a person
who's just been mugged
and you stop
and help,
the thought might
go through your mind,
you might be nixed,
you know,
the thugs
might still be around,
your phone might be taken,
so maybe
it's better
to keep going
and just call the cops
on your way.
Maybe that's what
they were doing.
They were going
to Jericho
to call the cops.
Maybe,
more likely,
there's a fear
of defilement
and contamination.
They were,
see,
we don't get it
because this isn't a temple
and I'm not a priest.
Right?
In the old
sacrificial system,
the whole world
is divided into
at least two categories,
clean and unclean,
and the two can't mix.
And a priest
is a clean person.
It's his job
to be clean.
And one of the things,
not hygienically clean,
ceremonially clean,
and one of the things
that defile you
as a priest
or as anyone
is if you touch
a dead thing.
if you come
into contact
or even within
the vicinity
of a dead body,
that makes you unclean.
And so for the priest,
and it's very clear
in the Old Testament
that you're not even
to go to the funeral
of your family member.
So imagine this priest.
It's part of their job.
You know,
their son could be dead
and they can't go
to the funeral.
So strict.
Because,
after all,
if they've been defiled,
no longer a priest,
what use would they be
as a priest
for the people?
Understandable.
Or maybe,
like all of us,
you know,
they kind of focus
on what they have to do.
You know,
you're driving along,
you've got an appointment,
a lunch appointment,
you see someone break down,
and you think,
oh, you know,
I could stop,
but then I'll be late,
and that wouldn't be,
I'm sure somebody else,
you know,
who isn't on the way
to somewhere else
in a car driving somewhere,
they'll stop,
I'll just keep going
because I don't want
to be late.
Maybe these two guys,
you know,
we've got to go to Jerusalem,
important appointments.
We're not told,
what we are told
is this third guy,
the enemy,
the hated Samaritan.
He,
we are told,
felt deep compassion,
a stirring of the heart,
of the gut,
for this victim,
and what we have
is a picture
of extravagant
and lavish care.
Every conceivable need
is met,
not just the present one,
but he said
to the innkeeper,
if you spend money
on the guy,
I'll come back
and I'll pay.
It's rather
an unrealistic picture.
Who would do
such a thing?
Perhaps this is part
of the intent
of this character.
It is so extravagant,
it is so obviously
a caring,
good,
loving thing
to do
that you cannot
mistake
the difference
between the third character
and the first two.
And Jesus finished
this story
with a question,
who's been a neighbour?
And the answer,
of course,
is the Samaritan.
Somewhat of a twist.
Again,
Jewish
hearers would go,
what?
Don't get that.
But I think
there's a bit
more of a twist
as well too.
Obviously,
Jesus really
doesn't answer
the question
of the lawyer,
if you notice.
The lawyer,
okay,
you know,
the command
is to love
your neighbour,
so my question
to you is,
who is my neighbour?
Who is it
that I have
to love?
What's Jesus'
answer?
The Samaritan?
Doesn't make sense,
does it?
So,
if I'm supposed
to love my neighbour
and the Samaritan
is the neighbour,
how does that work?
You know,
it's kind of curious.
It's a curious
ending
to the story.
I'd rather think
Jesus kind of
turns the question
on his head.
As the lawyer
is asked
the wrong question,
category errors,
he's possibly
another category,
error.
You want to know
about the neighbour,
who the neighbour is.
And what Jesus does
is he turns
the noun
into a verb.
Changing categories.
The question is,
who is my neighbour?
And the question is,
who has been neighbourly?
Who's the one
who loves?
Perhaps the question
is the wrong one.
Who's the neighbour?
It's the wrong question.
The question is,
what does it mean
for me to love
to the people around me
who I need,
who I come across
my path
on my road,
on my way
to Jerusalem?
The lawyer wanted
to justify himself,
we are told.
It's pretty clear
that God
has rather
a simple expectation
on his creation,
us.
Love God,
simple.
Love people,
also simple.
Which one
is easier?
Which one
is harder?
Let me
take you
to one John.
John says,
if anyone
who says,
I love God
yet hates his brother,
he's a liar.
Why is that?
Because anyone
who doesn't love
his brother
whom he has seen
cannot love God
whom he has not seen.
So there's a two love,
love God,
love neighbour.
John says,
it is impossible
for you to claim
that you love God
if you can't even
love people you see.
you're lying.
And of the two commandments,
the two expectations
that God has
of this lawyer
and of us,
Jesus kind of picks,
well,
let's go with
the easier one.
Okay,
let's go with
the loving people one.
How are you going
with that?
How is that
working out for you?
And it's pretty clear,
I think,
from the parable
that the guy
isn't really
interested in love
at all.
Perhaps it shows us
something about us
and our love
and our claim
to love God.
He doesn't really
love his neighbour.
He's interested in the law
is to avoid it.
Find me the limits,
find me the exceptions.
If you caught it,
the context
of this conversation
is the mission
of the 70.
70 disciples
stand out,
seeing God at work,
amazing stuff,
comes back
and Jesus,
that's wonderful,
thank God
that your name
is written in heaven
and then he breaks
into prayer
and he says,
Luke says,
at that time,
Jesus,
full of joy
through the Holy Spirit,
said,
I praise you,
Father,
Lord of heaven and earth
because you've hidden
these things
from the wise
and learned
and revealed them
to little children.
Yes,
Father,
for this was
your good pleasure.
The things of God,
the things of the kingdom,
the way into heaven,
the way to inherit
eternal life
is hidden
from the wise
and the learned
like this lawyer.
Yeah?
He's one of these guys
who doesn't get it.
Not, I think,
because of his learning
or whatever it is,
he just doesn't get it.
Perhaps it's this
self-righteousness.
I don't know.
But I think that's part
of the point
of that particular section
of the parable.
The guy's asking
the wrong question.
The question isn't,
who's my neighbour?
It's obvious
that he cannot love
this extravagant love
that Jesus talks about
in this parable.
Well, what's the point
of this parable?
I think the first point,
most obvious point,
is that
we need Jesus.
I don't know.
Do you love like that?
If you can't love
people like that,
how much do you think
you love God?
I can tell you,
and you don't even
have to know me,
I don't love like that.
I know I don't love God
with my whole heart,
with my whole soul,
with my whole energy.
And it drives us
to desperation,
to be like a helpless infant,
coming to God
with nothing to offer him
in terms of righteousness.
We cannot demand
that he will
eternal life to me.
There was no good
to be found in us.
And I think
this is part of the first point
in understanding
Jesus and us.
We need Jesus.
Without him,
we will not
make it.
And I hope,
I hope you understand this.
if you,
in any possible way,
identify with this
learned,
wise lawyer,
in any way,
thinking that,
in some way,
you know,
you can justify yourself
and wanting to,
then I want to invite you
to come to Jesus
as a child
and to ask him
to help you.
I think that's
the first point.
The second point,
and much more difficult,
and you might think
this is a really long bow,
well,
I'll tell you the point
and you decide.
What's this got to do
with evangelism?
You know,
it's like,
if I had picked
Matthew 28,
it's really obvious,
you know what I'm going to say,
so I thought,
I'll pick something else.
It has nothing to do
with evangelism,
and I'll talk about evangelism
from there.
Maybe.
Just to keep you interested.
Maybe,
you know,
I could have gone
with Matthew 28,
you know,
this is like
the great commission,
the great command,
you know,
you are all,
I am all commanded
to be making disciples
of the nations,
teaching Jesus,
you know.
Personally,
I find it really hard
to be motivated by that.
It's like evangelism
by guilt.
You know,
you're guilty
because Jesus commanded you
and you haven't done enough,
so you need to get cracking now.
I think this is why
it sort of drew me
to this passage
and Leviticus 19.
I won't go into Leviticus 19.
It's a very complicated
and simple passage.
It starts off
with the holiness of God,
if you notice.
You know,
be holy because I'm holy.
And the rest of the chapter
actually expounds
on what that holiness is about.
And what is that holiness about?
Right in the middle
is a summary
of the whole chapter.
Of course,
you shouldn't be surprised
to know that
the summary of the chapter
is to be holy like God
is to love your neighbor
as yourself.
Right in the middle
of Leviticus 19,
love your neighbor
as yourself.
This is where
the lawyer got it from.
See,
the whole intent
of God
has not changed.
The very purpose
for which we have been created
has not changed.
We have been created,
we have been manufactured,
designed
to love God
and in that
to find freedom.
And we have been designed
to love people
with this deep,
dying,
unyielding,
crazy,
irresponsible love.
That's what it means
to be truly human.
What Jesus does,
other than affirming it,
is to save us
from our failure
to do that
and secondly,
to give us
his spirit
so that we can
live it out.
I'm only quoting,
you don't need
a genius,
a religious genius
to tell you
to love your neighbor
as yourself.
What you need
is the power
to do it.
That is what we lack.
Jesus comes,
he dies,
he rises
and he sent
his spirit
to change
our hearts
and now
he gives us
a heart
of flesh
so that we
delight
in this command.
It is not
a burden
to love.
We love
to love.
We love
to love
strangers.
That's what
Christians do
with new hearts.
Why don't
we do it?
Sorry,
why don't
we evangelize?
Why don't
the,
and I don't
know if you
do evangelism.
I know I don't
do it and I feel
awful and guilty
about it.
And the top
three that I
can put down
is firstly,
I'm too busy
and I'm a minister
so there are
lots of good
things I can do.
So I'm too busy
to evangelize.
There's no
decent program
to be involved
in.
And thirdly,
we're already
doing it.
There's a whole
range of activities
that we call
evangelism.
So we are
doing it.
That's me.
The reason
why I come
to this
passage,
I wonder
whether the
reason is
actually a
little bit
deeper.
And I wonder
whether this
is actually
the reason
why we
lack so
many of the
things that
we see the
Bible describe
and we don't
experience it.
You know,
we lack
community.
We are not
perhaps as
welcoming.
People aren't
as diligent
in their
ministry and
we don't
evangelize.
I wonder
whether at
the heart
of the
matter for
us
is that we
have no
love in our
hearts.
God's
love in our
hearts.
We know
what the
law says
but as we
travel down
the road
and we see
our neighbours
in desperate
need,
lying,
sprawn,
bloodied on
the ground
and for
our own
purposes
we decide
to cross
the road
to go
on our
way.
And
evangelism,
like everything
else,
is just
one of the
many things
on our
list to
do.
Good
intention,
when I get
around to
it,
I'll get
to it.
Yeah?
We're too
busy with
that list,
with our
own needs.
we fill
the calendar,
our personal
one and
church calendar,
all sorts
of things
but I'm
not saying
it is,
I'm just
wondering
aloud.
And often
I see
churches,
what they
do is
they default
into a
position of
being friendly.
You know,
for the
hurting,
dying,
desperately,
I need
God people,
when they
come into
our midst,
if I
were one
of them,
I really
don't want
friendly.
What I
want is
love.
What I
want is
people who
care enough
about me
to give
me time
to understand
me,
to listen
to me,
to maybe
think about
me during
the week,
to pray
for me,
to see
me in
sin,
to care
enough to
rebuke me.
You don't
need to be
best friends
with people
you love.
Perhaps
that's the
other mistake
as well,
too.
We keep
thinking,
everyone
needs to
be our
best friends,
so I
can only
have one
best friend,
I can't
love anybody
else.
No,
I...
Deep love
is to have
a concern.
And one
of the things
I want to
say is,
and I
don't do
this very
well,
is what I
call,
we need
to make
relational
space for
people.
In my
own life,
I'm pretty
filled to
the brim
with relationships,
you know,
with a family,
an extended
family,
and you
guys,
and this
and that,
and all
sort of
stuff.
And when
that happens,
we just
don't have
space for
anybody else.
And people,
you know,
needy person
come into
our life,
and it's just,
look,
I just can't
handle this,
you're going
to have to
be somebody
else's one.
We don't
say that to
them,
but this is
what we
think.
And we
don't make
time for
non-Christians.
We don't
make time,
we don't
make relational
space.
And let me
encourage you,
if you want
to,
as a
practical,
small practical
step,
is to make
that relational
space for
people who
don't know
Jesus.
Okay?
And I can
tell you now,
making room
costs.
It will
cost you.
It might
cost some
of your
other
relationships,
it will
cost you
your time,
your interests,
or other
things.
It will
cost you
because it
requires
commitment
and conviction,
it will
cost you,
but the
only way
that you
can truly
love people,
I want to
suggest to
you,
at least a
small step,
is to make
that space
for people.
There's a
small group
of people
that I
work with
to help
them to
talk to
people about
Jesus,
and one
of the
things,
small
target,
that I
invite them
to do,
is simply
each week
to pray
to God
to bring
someone
into their
life that
they can
love.
Okay?
It is as
simple as
that.
Now,
the Lord
might decide
not to
give you
anyone,
or more
than one,
but why
not start
with just
asking him?
Yeah?
And I'll
share this
story with
these guys,
and I'll
share it
with you
guys as
well.
There's a
little old
lady,
I can't
remember her
name,
she lives
in North
Carolina,
in her
60s,
she was
involved
in a
car accident,
pinned in
a car,
and she
was in
such
excruciating
pain,
she called
out to
Jesus to
take her
at that
point in
time,
and she
felt a
deep
conviction
that Jesus
answered her
by saying,
I'm not
done with
you yet.
She survived
the accident,
went to the
hospital,
and she
wondered what
that might
mean.
You know,
what does
God want
of me that
he's kept
me alive?
And she
was sharing
some of her
experience with
the staff in
the hospital,
and she
decided,
okay,
well,
maybe what
I can do
is to tell
people about
Jesus,
you know,
at the age
of 65 or
whatever,
start telling
people about
Jesus,
and she
said,
okay,
what I'm
going to
do is I'm
going to
keep a little
journal,
of the
people I
spoke to
about
Jesus,
that Jesus
led into
my life
to share,
and I'm
just going
to start
praying for
these people
in this
journal.
That was
20 years
ago.
She's still
alive and
kicking in
her 80s,
and in
that little
book,
she has,
or maybe
it's more
than one
book now,
she's got
about 4,000
names.
A 65-year-old
woman in
a car
accident,
that God
can do
this sort
of work
through.
I wonder
for you
young ones,
well,
not so
young ones,
what God
can do
through you.
A simple
commitment,
just ask
God to
lead you
to someone
who needs
you to
share Jesus
with them.
Don't know
how?
See Deb.
She's running
a great
course.
We're having
two missions.
They're simply
seeking to,
and I've
sort of chosen
to call to
missions,
who is my
neighbor mission,
because I want
to remind us
to ask that
question,
who can I
love?
Who can I
love in this
period of time
that I can
share Jesus
with?
my hope
and my
prayer before
today is
that we
would fall
in love
with our
city.
Without
love,
we will
not go
to them
with Jesus.
It will be
under obligation,
it will be a
sense of duty,
but if we're
in love
with the
people in
Chesswood,
with the
people around
us,
we would
care enough
for them
to want to
share our
lives,
and to find
out about
them,
and to share
Jesus with
them,
because he
will meet
all their
needs.
Amen.