The World’s Inner Circle Inner Circle (Part 3)

1:25 Specifically meaning reaching what God has called us to do. And we clarified even the difference between purpose and potential. You see, a lot of us are trying to reach our potential, what we could do. But we need to be focused about our purpose, what we should do, what God has called and created us to do. And there was a missing link. And that missing link was godly community. Everybody say godly community. Godly community. And we looked at the Bible and every story in the Bible, every person who reached purpose, they have people in their lives. So week one, we talked about the missing link. Last week, we talked about the roller coaster of relationships. The roller coaster of relationships and that in any relationship, in specifically godly relationship, that there is a roller coaster. That there are going to be tips and there are going to be turns and there are going to be drops and there are going to be all different things that happen. But we got to buckle in and realize that regardless of through those things, that we're committed to the relationship. And if you didn't get a chance to hear those, I would encourage you, go back, watch those online.

2:25 Our pastor, Michael Todd, is an amazing, amazing communicator, an amazing pastor. And you should come back next week because the new series we're starting is about to be fire. That's all I'm going to say. So you need to join us. But I'm excited for this week. And the title of my message, if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. If you're not taking notes, I would encourage you to take notes. You don't have to wait in the line when you get to heaven if you show them your notes. So that's a, I'm just kidding. I got my notes, Jesus, and they just let you, they open the side door, you go right in. But the title of my message today is called The World's Inner Circle. The World's Inner Circle. And I want you to go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. And I just again want to reiterate, thank you so much for everyone who has signed up to be in a belong group.

3:17 For those of you, man, yes, it is absolutely amazing. And I'll even mention again, some of you are in here like Jonah, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. God said you need to lead a B group. You're like, I'm going to go jump in the ocean and swim with this whale. But you need to just step up. I promise. It's not, you don't have to preach. You don't have to have it all together. You just got to commit to say, you know what, I can talk with people. I can open up my home. And so I would encourage you guys to do that. But Luke 10, verse 25, we're going to read this right now, a little portion of scripture, and it's known as the story of the Good Samaritan. You're probably familiar with this story, but we are going to read it today. So Luke 10, verse number 25 says this. It says, one day, an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him a question. Mistake number one, don't ever try to test Jesus. But anyways, the teacher, what should I do to inherit and turn in life?

4:12 Jesus replied, what does the law of Moses say? How do you read it? The man answered, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength, and your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. That portion of scripture right there is known as the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus responds, right, you got it, bingo. Do this and you will live. Now, the man wanted to justify his actions because he just realized that God told him to love everybody all the time. And he said, God, there are some crazy people. So he says, who is my neighbor? Like, I know I'm supposed to love my neighbor. So let's just clarify. Obviously, my neighbor isn't everybody, but let's see who my neighbor is. So Jesus tells a story. He says, a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was attacked by bandits, then stripped of his clothes.

5:05 and they beat him up and left him half dead beside the road. By chance, a priest came along, and when they saw him lying there, they crossed over to the other side. And then a temple assistant or a Levite walked by and looked at him lying there, but he passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion. Going over to him, The Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine, and he bandaged them up. Then he put the man on his donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of them. The next day, he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I will pay the next time I am here. This is classic Jesus. Never answers your question, but answers your question with a question. He says, now which three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?

6:04 The man replied, he doesn't even say the word Samaritan. I just want you to realize that. That's how much they didn't like each other. He doesn't even say the word. He says, I guess the man who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, yes, now you go and do the same. The title of my message today is The World's Inner Circle. I have a question for you. Does anybody remember the first time you told maybe your significant other or maybe even someone you were dating? Do you remember the first time you said, I love you? Does anybody remember that? Anybody? No one. Okay, goodness. That's a little sad. Anybody? Let's try again. Anybody remember the first time you said, I love you? Somebody's like, it's been so long ago, I don't even remember. I remember with my wife, Abby, this, and she doesn't know I'm telling this story, so it's about to be really funny. But I remember the first time we said, I love you to each other. and I'll just paint the picture. Abby was living in California. She was working and interning for a magazine out there. And so the first six months of us dating, she was in LA and I was here. And we are in there and Abby calls me and she's like freaking out. She was working for this magazine.

7:11 It was like her dream job. And she was like, oh my gosh, babe, they pretty much just offered me a job and I don't know what to do. Oh my gosh, it's so excited. And I'm going to stay here in California and it's amazing. And it's blah, blah, blah. And then just hangs up the phone. And I was like, what? Like, we've been dating for like six months, and we're like, we really like each other. And she pretty much just called me and said, I'm staying in LA. And I was like, what the heck? Like, and I started thinking, I was like, okay, I guess we don't like each other that much. Or like, I started going through my head, and like, I was, after two weeks of knowing her, I was in love. I was like, girl, I love you. I didn't say it yet, but I was thinking like, oh. So when she called and just hung up and pretty much said, like, I'm staying, I was like, what in the world? Like, you don't even love me, girl. Like, I thought we had something here. And so I'm just sitting there depressed, like, okay. And she didn't even, she just, I'm staying in L.A. Bang, just hang up the phone.

8:04 Like, okay, that's cool. So 30 minutes go by, and Abby calls me back. And I'm just like, oh, I guess she's calling to break up with me because she's staying in L.A. she calls me and she was like hey um I realized that that I was just really excited and I said I'm staying in Los Angeles and that's crazy um and I'm sorry and I you know I just it's um I love you and I was like oh you love me okay I was honestly so caught off guard because it was so emotional and I was like I'm just sorry and I love you I was like girl I love you too man you're so amazing. Oh, I love you. And I still love you today, sweetie. You're the best. But I think the world, and when I say the world, I'm going to mention the world a lot in our sermon today, in the message today. I think the world, meaning people who don't have a specific relationship with Jesus Christ, I believe they're asking a similar question that I was thinking when Abby hung up the phone. They're asking and they're looking at the church and they're looking at us.

9:12 and when I say the church, it's not a building, it's not an organization, it's organisms. We are the church, you are the church. They're looking at the church and they're asking, do you love me? Like, am I accepted? Like, am I going to be able to walk in and not be judged? Are there going to be people who care about me? Like, I know you say everybody's welcome, but some people, when I walk in, they look at me differently. And so I want to know, like, do you actually love me? Like not do you love the idea of everyone's welcome, not do you love the idea that we're supposed to accept everybody, but do you actually love me?

9:50 And it was funny, I was listening to a song, and I heard this song on the radio, and it made me think of what the church's response has been for so long. I want you to, DJ, play that song real quick. Hey, hey, she said, do you love me? I tell her only partly. I only love my bed and my mom, I'm sorry. 50-dub, I ain't got it, had it on me. No, no, listen, listen, listen, listen. I don't know what that dance, that was my white side dance. I don't know.

10:24 Some of y'all are so confused. My dad's black, my mom's white, that's what I'm saying. But no, I want you to listen to this. It said, do you love me? And I said, only partly. I think for so long the church's response, the world has asked, do you love me? And we've said, well, only partly. Like, only if you clean up your life, then you can come to church. Like, if you'll stop cussing and stop sinning, then you can come to church. Or, better yet, if you learn to hide your sin. Because the reality is, some of us have just learned to hide it a lot better.

11:03 We say, only, only partly. As if there's any hospital where they ask you to put on band-aids and fix yourself before you walk in. that I came to tell and to just share in case you did not know at Transformation Church that is not who we are at Transformation Church we are here to re-present God and here's why we're here to represent because there's so many people that have walked into church or been in relationship with church people that told them only partly when you get your life together when you stop doing that, when you get it all fixed up, then we'll love you. But that's not who we are. We are a home for humanity, and that means everybody. We're a home regardless of what you're going through, regardless of what you did last night, regardless of what you're going to leave here and do. You belong here. And the truth is we are called to be the world's inner circle.

12:01 This is not a Christian club. This is not a place where we come to escape from the world. This is a place where we come to encounter Jesus because the truth is we're all messed up. We all need Jesus and it's by his grace, his love, and his mercy that we can be in here right now. We are the world's inner circle.

12:50 The church is the world's inner circle. You and me, we are the world's inner circle. And I want to look at this story today of the Good Samaritan and I truly believe I want to look at three specific characters. And in looking in this, I want to just show you three different characters. And I truly believe we're going to be able to relate to these characters in a new way. And if you're taking notes, I want you to follow along with the characters. So just kind of track with me. The first character we're going to talk about is the traveler. Everybody say the traveler. It says in verse 30, Jesus replied with a story. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now what you need to know is Jesus was an amazing, amazing storyteller, and his stories weren't just completely random and off the wall. That road from Jerusalem to Jericho was an actual highway that he was talking about. It was an actual place that was being traveled, and he said there was a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. You know, when you think about it, that sounds a lot like our lives or a lot like people in the world. They're traveling from one place to the next. I'm traveling from this job to that job. I'm traveling from this relationship to that relationship. I'm traveling from this high to this high, and we're going back and forth. And we talked about even a little bit ago that we're striving and we're reaching and we're trying to make things happen. It sounds a lot like the world traveling from here to there, just trying to get to the next place, trying to get out of this situation, trying, if I could just have that. If I could just arrive there, then everything would be all right. And what happens?

14:31 So many of us were traveling through life, and then it says something. It says he was attacked by bandits. Translation, life happened. He was traveling through life. He was living his life, and life happened to him. And anyone who's been alive longer than two seconds know that regardless if you're following Jesus or you don't even believe there is a God, life plays no favorites. Life happens. There are things that we're going to go through. There are ups, there are downs, and there are people who are hurting and broken, and they're like the traveler, and they're thinking, I'm just trying to get through life, but life happens, and it happens to all of us, and this traveler is just going through his life, and it says they attacked him. They stripped him of his clothes. They beat him up and they left him half dead. That phrase, it sounds like a lot of people in the world today, half dead. They're going through life and we're more connected than ever before. We got more friends and followers and all this thing that we ever have, but we're still empty. Even as you look in the news and the tragedy of school shootings and racism and all these different things that are going on, it's a result of people who are half dead. Alive on the outside, but really dead on the inside. By definition, a lot of us in the world is half dead. But then look what the scripture says. It says, by chance, by chance a priest came along.

16:02 But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed on the other side. And it says a Levite walked by, But looking at him lying there, he passed by on the other side. You know, when Jesus was telling this story, what the priest and the Levite represented was church people and the law. The priest represented the law. It says, and the law saw him, and it passed by on the other side. I wonder how many times as followers of Jesus, we look at people that are hurting, that are broken, that are just trying to get from one place to the next. and we look at them and we see their pain, but we pass by on the other side.

16:42 Because we forget that, man, there was a time where we were going through things, but we just look at their situation and we say, you know what? The law passes by, meaning you have to clean yourself up. Or maybe that's just what you deserve because, you know, you did that. You made that happen. So you know what? I'm just going to pass by on the other side. And if we're not careful, we become the priest in the story. We see people who are hurting. We see people who are broken, and we say, you know what? I'm too busy traveling myself, so I'm just going to go around, and I don't really have time to help you. It says the law passed by. It said a priest passed by. And this brings us to our second character, the Good Samaritan. Now, if you've been in church at any time, or you don't even have to have been in church for a while, you've probably heard the term or the phrase the Good Samaritan. And a lot of times we think, man, this is who we're supposed to be.

17:36 This is, you know, we're supposed to be nice to people and all these things. And I want to look at this scripture really, really intentionally. It says, then a despised Samaritan came along. When he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds and bandaged them. And then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn. If you don't know anything about Samaritans and Jews is they did not get along at all. For a couple of reasons, ones, they were different races. And the Jews saw the Samaritans as really a half-breed. Then they were a different socioeconomical class, and there were all these things that separated. And no doubt, when Jesus even uttered the word Samaritan, the entire room would have gasped. They would have thought, no, no, no, no, no. You didn't bring them into the story. But as I look at the story, it says the Samaritan felt compassion.

18:33 And as I start reading the scripture, I start to think, what kind of person feels compassion for someone who's hurting and broken and someone who would never speak to them, would never even acknowledge that they were alive, but they feel compassion for them? what kind of person sees someone who's hurting and dying and cannot help themselves, but would come down from where they were, and they would come to that person, and they would kneel down, and they would help them, and they would mend them, and they would heal them. What kind of person is that good? And if you look at the story, a lot of times the lawyer, and we're looking at the story, and we think, man, we're supposed to be the good Samaritan. We're supposed to be the neighbor. I would present to you the day that there's only one person who is actually that good.

19:51 There's only one person who saw people who were hurting, who were dying, who were broken, and it says he came down off his animal. He came down. He came down. It says he was despised. What did they say about Jesus? He was despised and rejected by mankind. I would present to you today that you are not the good Samaritan. I am not the Good Samaritan, but Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He's the only person that can come down and heal and mend people and put them back together. And what does that mean for you and me? We don't heal people. It is not the church's job to fix people. It is not our responsibility to do some kind of, we may know Jesus, but we never can get it twisted. We are not the savior. We are not the healer. We are not the one that puts people back together. It's Jesus. Jesus is the good Samaritan. So we have the traveler, which represents the world. And I want to show you this. The traveler is the world. Then we have the good Samaritan. And the good Samaritan, it's not me, it's not you. The good Samaritan is Jesus. So at this point in the story, You kind of slow down, and this all happened when the man asked, what should I do to get eternal life?

21:11 He says the greatest commandment. Then he asked the question, who is my neighbor? So at this point in the story, Jesus has kind of proved his point. He's proven that, okay, he said, who is my neighbor? And Jesus pretty much just responded with, be a neighbor. Like, don't ask who is my neighbor. Just if you'll be a neighbor, then you'll figure out that that's how life is supposed to be. So at this point, you kind of slow down and you realize, okay, the world is the traveler and Jesus is the good Samaritan. But there's this other thing that kind of comes into the picture. And it's this little inn.

21:49 Jesus starts to talk about this inn. And I want to talk around this today. It says, Luke 10, 34 says, Then he put the man on his donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. then the next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins telling him take care of this man if his bill runs higher than this i'll pay you the next time i'm here i wonder if jesus is showing us something i wonder if jesus is showing us that that there are people who are going through life that they're traveling and then life happens then they get hurt or or the business doesn't work out or they get a divorce or they get rejected or something happens and they're traveling through life. But then Jesus comes and he kneels down and he heals them and he puts them back together and he saves their lives and he cleanses them and he makes them clean.

22:43 And then the Bible says he takes them to an inn. I wonder if Jesus is saying that after he heals people and he puts them back together, he takes them to an inn or he takes them to church. that maybe Jesus, when he heals people, he puts them in a place where they can find restoration. He puts them in a place where there's someone whose sole job is to take care of them. He puts them in a place where they can find healing, where they can be revived. He puts them in a place that is shelter from the night. God puts people in church. And I want to present to you today that this church is the world's inner circle. Or cheesier than that, the church is the world's inner circle. But I want to look at this end, and I believe there are some key things that we can learn from this end of how the church is supposed to operate.

23:45 And remember, the church is me and you. It's not just a building. It's not just going to magically happen. We are the church. so there's the in the in is the church and the church is the world's inner circle and something about the world's inner circle i want you to write this down the world's inner circle is close to the pain it's close to the pain. You see, these inns were actual places, and the reason they became so popular is because roads like this became dangerous. At night when people are traveling, there were caravans, and bandits and robbers would hide, and in the height of night, they would attack people and beat them up and steal all their stuff, and these little inns started popping up. And they started providing cover for the night, a place where people could go when it wasn't safe, A place where people could go if they were worried about if they were going to be able to make it to their destination. I want to tell you that a key part of the church is the church is close to the pain.

24:47 We do not run away from pain. We don't run away from people who are hurting. The church, meaning me and you, are close to pain. This is not the top floor corner office of the hospital. I want you to know, this is the emergency room. Me and you work in the emergency room where people walk in and they're bleeding and they're hemorrhaging. And we are the ones who are there to take care of them because we are close to the pain. And a lot of us, we sign up to follow Jesus. But then the moment we start getting dirty or the moment someone comes in, we're like, whoa, I don't know what to do. I don't know. That's what we signed up for. We're close to the pain. Jesus was close to the pain. This is not a place where people walk in and we're like, oh, I don't know what to do. This is what we signed up for.

25:40 What did they say about Jesus? Look at this. In Luke 15, 2, this made the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complain. Pause. The context for this story is Jesus is hanging out with some people that the church people don't approve of. He says complaining that he was associating with such sinful people I wonder if we're going to preach the message of jesus and we're going to follow the message of jesus If maybe we would be criticized as jesus was criticized And they said jesus hung out with sinful people the people who who weren't doing the right thing The people who the church would say no, you're not okay You see the church is called to be close to the pain me and you are called to be close to people's pain. And we can't pick and choose when we want to follow Jesus. We can't say, I follow Jesus when he blesses me with a new house, but when my cousin comes in and they're broken and this is the 10th time they've come asking me for money, I can't say, no, that's okay. I don't really do that. If we're going to follow Jesus, we got to do this thing all the way. And the church is a home for humanity, period. Jesus didn't interview people before he asked them to follow him. This is a home for everyone. And that's the kind of church that we are. We are close to the pain. The second thing that I want to point out about this little inn, write this down. The world's inner circle reserves the right to care. We reserve the right to care.

27:19 Verse 35, the next day he handed the innkeeper, that's me and you by the way, we're the innkeeper, two silver coins telling him take care of this man. Take care of this man. I believe one of our primary jobs as the church is simply to take care of people. Just take care of this man. Just very simple instructions, very simple to do. Just take care of him. And the thing is, many of us as followers of Jesus have relinquished our right to care about people. we've stopped caring about people because other christians think we're being careless they say man you know what they did right you know what they're involved in you know who she is you know that that they do that or they're not a good person and you should watch hanging out with them because if you care for people you condone people and we've got it mixed up we thought if i care for people they're gonna think i'm condoning what they're doing so i'll just step back and i won't care for anybody.

28:29 come on guys we got to be real we have to care about people period there is no qualifications there are no interviews it says take care of them and the church's responsibility is to take care of people that's it take care of people but sometimes we get so worried about what other people may think what other people may say if they saw us hanging out with them or going there or whatever and so we think you know what i just don't know if i'm going to care for people because I don't want other people to think that I'm condoning what they're... Be quiet. This is people's lives. This is eternity. This is not some game. We need to care for people. Take care of them. Take care of them. And this is something right here I even want to point out. Sometimes we say, you know what, we just need to pray for a miracle in their life. We just need to pray for them.

29:23 We just need to pray for the sinners. We just need to pray. And prayer is amazing and it absolutely changes things. But instead of just praying for a miracle, how about you and me, we participate in the miracle of someone's life. Let's just make a decision that as the church, as the world's inner circle, we reserve the right to care for anyone and everyone at all times, no matter what.

29:48 And here's a statement I want you to write down. Now, the inn or the church for me and you, the inn is a place where you can belong before you believe. That's what the church is. It's a place where you can belong before you believe. You don't believe me. Look at how Jesus did it because he's our example. We don't just follow the message. We follow his method. Jesus walked up to people who are working regular jobs and he says, come follow me. You don't see an interview. You don't see them say, now, do you know who I am? Do you know that I'm going to save you? Do you know who? No, he just says, come follow me. Fast forward a little bit in the story. They're in a boat. There's a storm coming. And Jesus quiets the storm. And they say, who is this man that the winds and the wave listen to him? What does that tell me? Jesus realized that if they could just get around him, it was only a matter of time before they figured out who he was. The church is a place where people can belong and have a home before they even believe what me and you believe.

30:50 And that makes some of us a little uncomfortable because, no, you got to get it right. And no, they got to know. And they got to if they would just get around Jesus, if they would get around his love, it's only a matter of time. I'll take it even a step further.

31:35 The inn is a place where you can belong before you believe, but the inn is a place where you can belong before you even behave. So many times we don't tell people, you got to get your life together before you come in here. you got to stop doing that before you come in here you got to stop you got to get it together look at jesus called peter a rock peter didn't act like a rock we talked about it last week you you were a follower of jesus right now i'll play i don't know him not me no no no no i saw you this is you and jesus right here i told you i don't know him then p jesus called peter a rock and he didn't behave like a rock there was literally the third person that came up to Peter was a little girl. And she's like, you know Jesus. A little girl, if you don't back up, I don't know it. before Peter behaved like the rock, Jesus called him a rock. And we have to be a place and a church and a community where before people believe what we believe, before they behave, we say, no, you're welcome here. You have a home here. You belong here. We are the world's inner circle.

32:46 We're not going around saying, man, they just don't have any place to go. That's so sad. No, this is their home. If it's a home for you and a home for me, it's a home for everybody. We are the world's inner circle. And we reserve the right to care for people. Write this statement down. We care for people with no exceptions. Because the thing is, we think, again, we get it twisted. Remember, we're not the good Samaritan. We don't heal people. That's his job. Our responsibility is just to take care of them. Take care of them. We're close to the pain and we take care of people.

33:29 Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking, you know, Charles, that's great and that's really nice. But you don't know all the people that I know. like there are some people you're you're doing exactly what the lawyer did in this story he's saying now just love your neighbor and he's like hold up like who exactly is my neighbor because clearly there's there's a separation and again this is where we get the the greatest commandment it says this verse 27 the man answered you must love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul all your strength and all your mind love your neighbor as yourself And a lot of us, it's been reduced, this scripture has been reduced to love God, love people. Love God, love people. Love God, love people. That's what we're called to do.

34:22 But if you look at the scripture, that is amazing, but that's not actually what it says. Pause. You don't believe me? Some of you are like, heresy. Just read the scripture. It says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength, and your mind. love your neighbor there's a caveat this tells me that your limit to loving other people doesn't have to do with them or what they've done it says love your neighbor as you love yourself and there are a lot of people who the reason we we think that it's because of what they've done or because of of what they struggle with or who they are but this says love your neighbor as yourself which tells me We can only love people to the ability that we love ourselves.

35:15 And there are so many people who struggle with loving other people because you don't love yourself. And the reason you don't love yourself, because you haven't met the good Samaritan. There's a story, and I want to illustrate this way. There's a story in Luke 7, 47. And to paint the picture for you, Jesus is over at some church people's house. They're having dinner. And this lady walks in. And the title of the story is called The Sinful Woman. Now, this lady, what she does is she walks in. And immediately when she walked in, everyone would have known who she was. She was a prostitute. And the scripture is going to talk about how she anoints Jesus' feet with oil. And I just want to give you perspective of why the church people responded the way they did. She had this oil around her neck. Now, what this oil was, if you don't know about this time, what it was is she would open it when she was open for business.

36:13 She's a prostitute. Would open that, and the aroma, as she would walk by men, would tell her, tell them, oh, okay, so she's working right now. she walks in with church people and Jesus and proceeds to pour this oil all over the feet of Jesus and the church people go whoa Jesus do you know who she is do you know what that oil is do You know what's happening. And look how Jesus responds.

36:49 Luke 7, 47. I tell you, her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven. So she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love. You know what I think? Sometimes we forget in the church, in the inn. we forget that me and you at one point, maybe even right now, are the traveler.

37:25 Like we get all bandaged up. Jesus heals us. I'm saved and sanctified. And we forget who we used to be. And we start saying, you know, I'm good, I'm good. And I used to have that problem, but I've covered it up and I'm stitched up and I hide it now. And so I'm good. But we forget me and you were the traveler at one point. We were hurting. We were broken. But by God's grace, he came and he saved us and he healed us and he mended us. We weren't always this put together. Who are we kidding? We come in church and try to act like, oh, I'm good. I've never struggled. I've never did anything. Some of us are struggling right now. I'm struggling right now. It's his grace. It's his mercy. Let us never forget who we really are without Jesus. Without Jesus, I'm a liar. I don't make the good decision. Without Jesus, I'm addicted to pornography. Without Jesus, I'm nothing.

38:19 It's his grace. And me and you, we have to remember who we are without Jesus. Because if not, we start to back up. And we see people who used to be where we were and we think, you know, I'm not there anymore so I'll just pass by. You and me, we're the traveler. We're not the good Samaritan. we're not. Jesus heals people. We are the traveler. And when we realize how much we've been forgiven, that it's by his grace and his mercy that we're even able to stand up and make it through another day. It gives us perspective on how to love people. It says she's been forgiven much, so she loves much. There are some of us, if we just made a list of who we used to be and what God has forgiven us from, we would start loving people so much because we realize that his grace and his mercy and his love is new every morning. It says his mercies are new, just like the sun. We are the world's inner circle, and we're close to people's pain. We get close to when people are hurting, when they're broken, we run towards them, and we reserve the right to care for people.

39:29 The thing about this story, it's so amazing because it says this. It says, take care of this man if his bill runs higher i'll pay you the next time i'm here what was jesus saying he was saying i'm coming back and i'm coming back for people i'm coming back to the church where i'm coming back for my bride and i'm coming back for people who have realized that they've been forgiven much so they're going to love much i'm coming back from my church and that includes you because i've forgiven you and My grace is sufficient for you. And while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus said, I paid the price for them. And I'm putting them in your protection. And the thing is, now that Jesus is gone, me and you are the representatives of his grace, of his love, of his mercy. It says you will be known that you follow me by how you love each other.

40:31 We're close to the pain. We take care of people. And I want to close with this scripture. I'll show you this. So the traveler is the world. Just to recap, the traveler is the world. The Good Samaritan is Jesus. And the inn is the church. 2 Corinthians 5, 18 says this. And all of this is a gift from God who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us, God has given the church, God has given you, God has given me the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

41:24 So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. I want you to know God left and he's coming back, but in the meantime, he's entrusted us. He's entrusted us to get close to people who are hurting. He's entrusted me and you to just care about people regardless of what they're going through, regardless of where they're at. And he said, the ministry of reconciliation is now your responsibility. It's my responsibility. and I think if we could just slow down and maybe stop striving and start striding, the beautiful thing about striding is when you slow down, you're able to see people who are hurting, and it makes the decision that much more because you've slowed down, and you see, okay, I see they're hurting, and actually, I recognize that because I used to be that, so let me get close to the pain, and let me set up shop here, and let me point you to Jesus who's going to heal you and put you back together. But then welcome to the end. Welcome to the place where there are some of us who are still bleeding and we're still hurting and we're in the process of getting healed, but everyone belongs here.

42:45 and me and you we have the responsibility of reconciliation yes it's not an we don't just get to walk through life and say you know what i got my ticket into heaven i'm not going to hell and i'll just exist like that that that's not even living that's just existing like that's the jesus said i came to give life and life to the full part of that full life is taking care of people that's what it is some of us that's that's part of the link that we're missing we've become so secluded and we forgot who we were that if we would just get close to people's pain Some of my best friends are hurting.

43:31 And they're broken. It's because they went to church. And the church told them they had to fix themselves. and I'm tired of people saying, yeah, I don't do the church thing. It's not because they don't love God. Jesus is amazing. We got to take care of people. We got to love people. We've been loved. This isn't something where we can just come and show up and we check the box and it's okay. This is people's lives. This is eternity. We got to take care of people.

44:11 And it's not super complicated. It means when they show up and they're hurting and they're crying and they're broken, you say, come inside. In the belong groups, the amazing things about those is it's a place where people can belong. And some of the most powerful words ever said in a belong group are me too. I'm struggling. Me too. I don't know if I can do this in me too.

44:34 Man, what would it look like if we just said, you know what? We're going to be this in. we're going to take care of people. We're going to get close to their pain. Man, I truly believe that the life that we could only dream of, John 10, 10, in the message translation, it says he came to give life to the full, a life that you could only dream of. The life that me and you could only dream of is by God's grace. It's loving our neighbor as ourself. coming up in five weeks is a pretty big Sunday for us as followers of Jesus some of you think what Easter it's kind of the reason we're here but coming up is Easter and this is one of the times where where people who don't normally go to church that this is the time they're most open to church and what I want to say I want to make this very practical. Right now, we're closing in just a couple minutes. Right now, I want you to get out your phone or a piece of paper or something right now. Everybody in the room.

45:41 Some of you are still looking at me. Like, seriously, get your phone out right now. Is this ethereal? No, serious. Get your phone out. And I want you to think of two people who maybe life has beat them up, and they're not a part of the end. they're not here right now maybe they were at one point maybe they've kind of got burned by church or maybe they've never been a church i want you to think of just two names and write their names down some of you the name's going to come immediately too some of you may have to think about it but people who need an encounter with jesus i want you to write their names down i'm going to ask you to do two simple things one i'm going to ask you over the next five weeks just commit to pray for them at least once a week some of you god's going to ask to pray every single day for them. I'm just going to say just pray for them at least once a week. And then I want you to make a commitment to pray for them, but also a commitment to invite them to church.

46:39 Invite them to Easter. Do whatever it takes. I can't tell you how many people I've tricked to come into church. But if people can just get around Jesus, if they just have a, they don't need a person. We're not the one who heals them. If they just come in this place and they realize that there's someone who cares of them and they would walk in this room and we are the ambassadors of his love and when they come in and they encounter Jesus, when they encounter the good Samaritan, when they encounter his love, when they realize that he is love, that everything he does is love, that he's not out to judge, he's not out to get people, but he loves people. If we can get people to just have one moment man people will they'll come running i believe people actually regardless of what you heard people i think actually love jesus a lot more than we give them credit for like you just read this book jesus was awesome who a guy who just loves people and just cares for people and even if it was like even if you don't even believe it's true like a man who would do that, who truly believed that he was like, people love God.

48:01 And we have the responsibility of reconciliation. Let me pray for you. Lord God, you're so good. Thank you for your grace. Lord, thank you that you saw us on the side of the road, hurting, broken, worried, afraid. And you took time and you stopped and you kneeled down and you put us back together and you saved us and you made us a new creation. Lord, we're so grateful. Lord, I thank you that everyone in this room, regardless of where they are with you, Lord Jesus, I thank you that you're close to them, Lord Jesus. Lord, I pray as people who follow you, Jesus, if we call ourselves Christian, Lord, I pray that you would allow us and give us the boldness and the responsibility, Lord, and to realize that we're to get close to the pain, that we're gonna care for people, Lord Jesus.

48:59 And I pray it would all come from a place of realizing how much you have forgiven us. And it's by your grace, it's by your mercy. We love you so much, in Jesus' name, amen.