Heart: Wk2

Loving and caring for the people in our communities

Pastor Todd & Tiffany Blansit

Serving and loving people is not a list of things we do, but a lifestyle we live.

Galatians 2.6-10
6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 
7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 
9 James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 
10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

All believers are called to use their talents and resources to serve and reach people.

Peter was able to reach the Jews and Paul the gentiles, but they all cared for the vulnerable.

Luke 10.25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ c ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 
31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 
32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 
33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 
35 The next day he took out two denarii  and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Identify who is your neighbor?

The people were really wanting to know who their neighbor wasn’t, in other words who could they avoid serving. Tell me who I don’t have to love

When we place value in people we in essence are stating we deserve something they do not.

Psalm 68
4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds ;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

I heard a pastor once say, God doesn’t just put people in churches, he puts them in families.

Family is more than just blood, that is relatives. Family means serving each other.

There are people in and around us are harder to love.

The word neighbor in Luke is not about proximity, but more like who is my family, in other words, who do we have to take care of.

Those I have to love and those I don’t have to.

Our journey to foster care has been full of highs and lows, much of it centered around learning to love.

In Luke Jesus says a priest happened to be coming along, the message says luckily.

But he was to busy doing Church to be the Church.

Levites were the leaders in the Church, but he made an effort to not get involved.

When we are confronted with a true need, our actions will reveal our heart.

So easy to fall in the routine of life that we miss the most important of all the commandments.

Luke 10.27
27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to show us the needs, or is our opinion of “certain” people driving our actions?

Potato peeler recap.

Sometimes we find a need and sometimes we fill a need.

To have a strong community, you to be willing to be community for someone else.

From the start of the Church in Acts, community was how the Gospel advanced.

Acts 2.46-47
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Most people that are hurting don’t need our deep theology, they need to know that truly care about them.

Jesus fed the multitude, he didn’t just give them the gospel.

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