ALIVE Wesleyan

This lawyer has lived his life in his bubble. But, his bubble was not about personal space thing. Because, from his perspective, eternal life - the good life - a life that would honor God means staying away from everything that would make him dirty. It means following all the rules, staying clean, and trying to convince everyone else to live like him. This is why walking by on the other side would make sense to him. His bubble was meant to keep bloody, beat up, dying people outside. His bubble was meant to keep him focused on keeping things clean.

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We can never be good enough. We can never earn what we do not deserve. And what the lawyer didn’t understand is what some of us do not understand. The answer to his problem was standing right in front of him.

God loves his creation and he sent Jesus to do what we could not do for ourselves.

Luke 10:29 (NRSV) 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Luke 10:30–37 (NRSV) 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him (literally means, came down upon him) and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them.

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’

36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The word Jesus uses in the story is this word,

Σπλάγχνον--splangkh´-non – it literally means “to have the bowels yearn.”

Luke 15:20 (NRSV) 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.

36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

ἔλεος -- el´-eh-os

The Greek term for mercy, eleos, is often used to characterize the action of God’s faithfulness. To be merciful is to be like God; to give because someone has need, not because someone deserves. 

Luke 1:78 (NRSV) 78By the tender(splongnon) mercy (elehos) of our God,

Mercy does not need reasons.

What can we do, out of compassion and mercy, to prevent people from getting in the ditch to begin with?

1. Dream Center

The Dream Center exists to encourage, educate, and empower people in need through the love of Jesus Christ. This is a focused ministry to the poor of our communities. In 2017, 353 people in needing some sort of emergency assistance. 190 of them were considered homeless 176 of those with children.

Opportunities : Teaching classes on a variety of topics, helping out at Opportunity Village, to serving food at SHINE, the soup kitchen.

2. Volunteering in Pickens County Schools

Opportunities: become a reader, a classroom mom or dad, helping with homework, going on field trips or working one on one with kids in the classroom. Volunteer Training here at the church.

3. Meals on Wheels

Mission: 

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I pay my own way. I am all that. The two great cliffs people who follow God frequently make the mistake of jumping off of. And you know what, people who do not believe find these two schools of thought repulsive and they detest any gathering that espouses these two ideas. And if that is you, you are just like Jesus. He too detests these religious ideas.

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He talked about how we can be like the religious lawyer and get stuck thinking 

I’ve earned it and I pay my own way. 

How can we be a people who give mercy away?

The story is in Luke 10:25-37. If you have a bible Luke is about 3/4ths of the way through. In this passage Jesus is talking to the religious lawyer. And he has just had this conversation with the lawyer about what must I do to inherit eternal life, Jesus has tried to tell him he can’t earn it and he’s not all that, and here is the follow up response from the religious lawyer:

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

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Let me share the two mistakes the lawyer makes and perhaps some of us make, as we relate to God.

“Pay my own way.” Another more boring term would be to over-moralize. “God blesses me because I am good. The “good-er” I am, the more blessings I achieve.  

The second mistake is “I am all that.” A more boring term for this would be to over spiritualize. “I am at the head of class when it comes to God. God and I are good, in fact we are probably better than anybody else, certainly better than anybody else at church. 

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We all have a personal code we live by. Last week, we discovered the code of Jesus.

First, he tries to appeal to the physical desires and physical appetites.

When the temptation to his physical desires doesn’t work, he appeals to the possibility of personal gain.

Satan plays his biggest card and tempts with power and personal glory.

And we all get this because every temptation in our lives is this temptation.

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What is the code that moves us from regret to redemption?

If the only things that change are time and circumstances resulting in less opportunity to build regret, then we haven’t really changed. Circumstances do not build solid character. Circumstances reveal character. 

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Last week we began this series called back to the future.  This idea that looking back we see a series of events that lead us to this moment.  If one thing had been changed the outcome could have been completely different and you may not be sitting here.   When we look back, we do so knowing the outcome of the story, and this is the case in the incredible story we are going to be diving into. 

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Speaker: Matt Irvine

Ruth 1:1
"In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion."

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The issue is not how big this moment seemed to be but rather how small and insignificant we label the miracles God does in our lives every day

What matters is our anticipation of them and our response to them.

This requires anticipation.

This requires belief.

This requires hope.

This requires action.

So what is our part?

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