The Good Samaritan

Who is My Neighbor? Discovering Eternal Love in Action

Bible Passage: Lk 10:29–37

"Samuel Morris, born and raised in the Kru tribe of Liberia, was the eldest son of the tribal chief. This position, while honorable, brought with it a unique vulnerability. In this region, a grim reality existed: after tribal wars, the losing tribe would be forced to offer up their eldest son as a pawn to ensure the payment of war reparations. This was Kaboo's fate – a fate that befell him not once, but three times.

Each captivity was a descent into unimaginable horror. The first, inflicted by a young boy, was a blur in his memory. But the second… well, the second was a darkness he never spoke of.

The final captivity was the most brutal. Captured by a ruthless chief, addicted to alcohol, Kaboo's father, despite his best efforts, was unable to secure his release. The chief's demands were insatiable. Driven to despair, Kaboo's father proposed a heartbreaking trade: his most beautiful daughter for his son's freedom.

But Kaboo, witnessing his father's anguish, refused. 'My sister will not endure the torture!' he cried, begging his father to allow him to remain captive instead. His father, knowing the inevitable fate that awaited his son, reluctantly agreed. As he left the warring tribe's camp, the weight of his grief was heavy, the certainty of never seeing his son again a crushing blow.

Kaboo's captivity was a living hell. He witnessed unspeakable horrors, the dehumanization of fellow captives, and endured unimaginable torture. He was whipped with a poison ivy vine, his flesh torn and infected. The anticipation of the final torture was almost unbearable – to be buried up to the neck, his face smeared with a sweet substance to attract ants, and then, the ultimate torment, the release of driver ants to devour him alive.

Just as his captors prepared him for this gruesome end, fashioning a makeshift cross for the final lashing, something extraordinary happened. A blinding light descended from above, and a voice, clear and powerful, commanded him, 'Rise up and flee!'

Weakened and despairing, Kaboo found the strength to obey. He fled into the dense forest, guided by this mysterious light, a beacon in the darkness. He evaded capture, escaping the clutches of his captors and the numerous tribes that would have gladly returned him for a hefty reward. This miraculous escape, guided by an unseen force, led him to an encampment of slave liberators.

He was free. No longer a captive, no longer a slave. Rescued by a strange white light and a booming voice, his life forever altered.

And so, I ask you, my friends, what kind of man did this make him?

Prayer

Lord, you are good and in that goodness you sent your son born in a manger with no worldly acclaim to his name to teach us instructors and show us how to love you rightly and love our neighbors as ourselves. Lord help us to not forget that these are the very words of Christ, let us know. Just look at these verses with Redding without remembering that we are hearing from our God Jesus Christ, who spilled his red blood for us. Lord, thank you for eyewitness testimony accounts by several witnesses, cooperated by other eye witnesses that we may have confidence in the words that you wrote down for us. let us be reminded this day that your word can be trusted that your word brings life and that your word is truly sufficient. Let us be washed over with the word as the parable of the good Samaritan instructs our hearts this morning. Let any deficiency of the sermon be removed from every ear that the sermon heard would be far more beneficial than the one that is preached help us this day. Amen.

II. Context: Love Beyond Borders

"This harrowing story of Kaboo reminds us of the fragility of human life and the devastating impact of violence and injustice. But it also points to something deeper, something more profound.

To understand this, we turn to a familiar parable: the Good Samaritan. This story, found in the Gospel of Luke, paints a vivid picture of compassion and love in action.

Now, imagine the historical and cultural context of this parable. In ancient Judea, the concept of 'neighbor' was often narrowly defined. Love and compassion were often limited to those within one's own social and religious group.

But the Good Samaritan, a despised outsider, defied these societal norms. He saw a man in need, not as an enemy, but as a fellow human being. He acted with compassion, demonstrating that love knows no boundaries, no racial or religious divisions.

Just as Kaboo's experience transcended the boundaries of tribal warfare, the Good Samaritan's actions transcended the limitations of social prejudice. Both stories highlight the importance of love that extends beyond our immediate circles, love that embraces the stranger, the outcast, the one in need."

III. True Biblical Love Compels Us To...

A. Confront Religious Comfortabilities:"The lawyer in the parable, when asked by Jesus how to inherit eternal life, recited the law flawlessly: 'You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.' He knew the words, but did he truly understand their meaning?  Jesus, recognizing the lawyer's desire to justify himself, probed deeper. He asked, 'Who is my neighbor?' The lawyer, likely seeking to limit his responsibility, would have defined 'neighbor' within the confines of his own religious and social group.But Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, challenged this narrow view. He said, '...the lawyer thought he had a definitional problem with the word “neighbor”—jesus said brother, you have a LOVE problem and too, because if you think that our God only compels us to love those who look and sound like us, you’ve missed the mark...'This powerful truth resonates today. We can easily fall into the trap of comfortable religious routines, defining our faith within the confines of our own community, our own beliefs. We may be more concerned with upholding traditions and doctrines than with truly loving and serving those outside our circle.illustration

B. Compassion in Action:"The Good Samaritan didn't just sympathize with the injured man; he acted. He bandaged his wounds, cared for his needs, and even paid for his lodging.This story reminds us that true compassion is not merely an emotion, but a call to action. It's about translating our faith into tangible acts of service and kindness.'Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.' This powerful quote emphasizes that love requires more than just feeling sorry for someone; it demands that we roll up our sleeves and get involved.What does this look like in our own lives?

C. Loving Like We Have Been Loved:"Kaboo's story is a testament to the transformative power of experiencing God's love. You see, for Kaboo, like the good Samaritan, Christ pursues us long before we pursue him. Even in the depths of his suffering, God did not abandon him. He was rescued, not by human strength, but by a divine intervention – a 'white light,' a guiding voice.'Kaboo was a prince made slave, Christ is our King who came to serve and save!' This stark contrast highlights the profound difference between human suffering and the selfless love of Christ.This experience of God's love radically transformed Kaboo. He became a missionary, sharing the good news of salvation with his people.

IV. The Gospel: A Life Transformed

"At the heart of this message lies the core of the Gospel: humanity's separation from God due to sin, and God's extraordinary act of love in sending Jesus Christ to bridge that divide.Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth, not as a conqueror, but as a servant. He lived a life of perfect obedience, sacrificing himself on the cross to bear the penalty for our sins.This is the ultimate act of love, a love that surpasses all human comprehension.Just as Kaboo was rescued from his captors, we are offered a rescue route from the bondage of sin through faith in Jesus Christ.Using the powerful analogy of 'bread of life,' Samuel Morris eloquently expressed this truth: '“Bread is one thing, a stone is another thing. In Africa they show me a stone and they say there is gold in it. Gold means much money and buy lots of barrels of flour to bake bread. Now when am hungry i do not eat the stone i must have the bread. So is this thing true of my soul. When i find the bread of life ''Jesus'' i do not need anymore the things of the world. they are the stone i cannot eat. but i can eat the bread of life. and this i have for all of the time”'  This powerful image reminds us that Jesus is the true source of life, the nourishment our souls crave. He alone can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts."

Samuel Morris was born and raised of the Kru tribe in Liberia.

He was the oldest of his father's sons who happened to be the Chief of their tribe. In this area of Africa, it was commonplace after a war between tribes, that the losing tribe would offer up their eldest son as a pawn, to be returned to their tribe and father, once the war indemnity had been paid. Samuel Morris's original name was Kaboo and Kaboo was captured as a pawn a total of three times.

Each more gruesome than the last, the account of his captures are bone chilling. Upon his first capture, he was by a young boy, so young that he doesn't even remember it whatsoever.

But his father was able to pay the indemnity very quickly, returning the boy to his tribe within days. The second time was said to be so brutal that Kaboo never even spoke of it. The last and final time he was captured was by a ruthless chief.

This Chief had become addicted to much alcohol, so upon Kaboo's father's attempts to pay the indemnity, all of their possessions were taken of the Kru tribe and it still was not enough. His father returning back home was heartbroken and decided that the only option left was to take his most attractive daughter and bring it to the chief to propose a trade. Kaboo, hearing his father's offer refused, saying that his sister would not be able to bear the torture so he begged his father to allow him to stay in her place. This was the final time Kaboo's father attempted to pay off the chief, and as he left The warring tribes camp, he knew that he would never have enough to satiate this evil chief—understanding that it was almost impossible he would ever see his son again. Kaboo, while in captivity was subjected to too much torture and witnessed many captured men be worthless, a torn apart.

He would be whipped by a poison ivy vine that would tear his flesh and infect him at the same time. He longed to see death before the final torture—this final session of torture would have been for his captures to dig a hole and bury him up to his neck and dirt and to cover his face with a sweet substance that the ants would bite him all over, and then finally they would release driver ants, which would literally eat his flesh off of his bone, and then they would place the skeleton in front of the camp as a warning. Just before these sessions, they fashioned him a cross, threw him over it to give him one more lashing, and as they lashed him, a bright light shown from above, and a voice audibly said rise up and flea now Kabu hadn't eaten in days and he felt as though he had no strength left, but in this moment, his strength was revived and he left down and ran as fast as a deer into the thick forest. He hid and hauled out tree before following this white light that is quite reminiscent of the pillar of clouds in Isaiah, that led him past the numerous of tribes that would have all either killed him, enslaved him, tortured him, or worse, returned him to the cruel chief for a hefty reward. This white light led him to the one encampment of slave liberators. He was free from his bondage and was no longer a slave, having been rescued by a strange white light and a booming voice.

My question to you church is this: What kind of man did this make him?

Prayer

Lord, you are good and in that goodness you sent your son born in a manger with no worldly acclaim to his name to teach us instructors and show us how to love you rightly and love our neighbors as ourselves. Lord help us to not forget that these are the very words of Christ, let us know. Just look at these verses with Redding without remembering that we are hearing from our God Jesus Christ, who spilled his red blood for us. Lord, thank you for eyewitness testimony accounts by several witnesses, cooperated by other eye witnesses that we may have confidence in the words that you wrote down for us. Let us be reminded this day that your word can be trusted that your word brings life and that your word is truly sufficient. Let us be washed over with the word as the parable of the good Samaritan instructs our hearts this morning. Let any deficiency of the sermon be removed from every ear that the sermon heard would be far more beneficial than the one that is preached help us this day. Amen.

Context of The Good Samaritan

One of the most important parts of each text is the context.

See if I were to start at verse 30 where the subheading begin begins typically, it would begin with “Jesus replied”, and then the telling of the good Samaritan. Praise God for the foundation that our Protestant forefathers laid of expositional and exegetical preaching.

Expositional being that we do our best to determine the actual meaning of the scripture, as it was intended, not trying to impose our own meaning onto whatever text best suits us. And the exegetical part meaning that we desire to set this passage and it’s proper historical setting and context, without the context this sermon wouldn’t be nearly as helpful or effective as it could be, and I would be doing us a disservice to omit the context of this text.

So let’s dive in to the context—

Jesus earlier in chapter 10 of Luke sent out the 72 in pairs stating that the “Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few” (back in verse two of chapter 10) Upon returning they were ecstatic

In my sanctified imagination, I would think they weren’t just walking back to Jesus. They probably had a little skip in their step, they were walking like they had aura, they returned with a little different swagger than they had when they left out. You see they were given by Christ power to heal and dominion over demons. When they gave the report back to Jesus, it was evident that They were especially excited to see that they had power and dominion over demons. Jesus responded “And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning…”— Luke 10:18 ………any aura, swagger all deflated—but Jesus made it very clear

with a sobering warning: “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”— Luke 10:20

A sobering Reminder to rejoice in our salvation, not in the glory it may bring

Jesus preached and spoke of heaven and after a quick aside to the disciples, a lawyer stood and tried to test Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.

Does this question sound familiar? This is almost the exact same question that the rich young ruler asked Jesus in Matthew 19 Jesus, my prince of peace doesn’t give generic canned answers but rather has his finger on the pulse of the root of the question.

When the rich young ruler, which these days sounds less like a description and more like his rap name if I’m honest, when he asked “what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke makes it very clear that this lawyer (the nomikos) is testing the teacher (or didaskolos) in Jesus and is wishing to justify himself. You see this lawyer is well read in the law, but is missing the purpose of the law. Jesus, knowing the heart of lawyer just as he knew the heart of the rich young ruler, asked him what the law says. The lawyer recited the law from Deuteronomy 6:5 which states

“You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”— Luke 10:27

You see, although he studied the law intently, the lawyer already had preconceived notions about who it was. He was responsible for keeping the law to. He also, upon studying the Old Testament law, would’ve heard repeatedly that following the Commandments of the law would earn him his inheritance of heaven.

You see if we are to keep the law perfectly, then we deserve to inherit heaven. But John Calvin lays out why this is not possible and the true purposes for the law that I think would be helpful for us to hear this morning.

The threefold purpose of the law for Christians is one, that the law would reveal our sin and drive us to Christ, secondly that we would Have it as a mirror in order to rightly see our sinful nature, exposing our need for grace, and thirdly, to guide an instruct believers and righteous living as a standard for Christian conduct. Much like this lawyer, we could compare ourselves to the most depraved of our enemies, coworkers, or even family members and see our self is justified. I would argue that the large majority of the world thinks that they deserve heaven because they are a good person.

They think because they have done good things, that means they have earned their inheritance of heaven. Tony Evans gives a helpful dichotomy for this situation.

He argues that what most people misunderstand is the difference between a good thing and a good work, whereas even evil people and people far off from morality can do a good thing i.e. helping an old woman across the street or even handing a few dollars to a homeless person. These are good things within themselves, but fails to be a good work unless the object of that work is God. A good work is inextricably connected to the father, while a good thing it’s not necessarily so. We see this clearly in Ephesians 2:10, For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.". And Matthew 516 it says “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”

Such a do a good thing that does not bring glory to our good God, is just that a good thing.

But a good work glorifies our God in heaven, which, according to Ephesians 2 is what we were created in Christ Jesus to do, church it is our purpose to not do good things, but do good work that would glorify our God.

When we used the law as a mirror, we rightly see that even if we had innumerable good works, we do not hold a flame to the perfection at the law requires.

We cannot fully keep this law and so we need one that would keep it for us, being Christ. So we defined the three uses for the law, namely, to reveal our sin and drive us to Christ, to act as a mirror, reflecting our sinful nature, and to guide and instruct us and righteous living as a standard for Christian conduct. But what about the word love? What does the word love mean in this context. We use this word interchangeably, and very generally.

I often say that I love a meal, or that I love the game of soccer, and I also say that I love my wife, but these are all different types of love that we generalize. The type of love described here is an Agapao love.

Vines dictionary, defines biblical love in a few ways, especially the agape love.

“Love can be known only from the action it promise God love the scene in the gift of his son. But obviously this is not the love of complacency or affection that is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in this object.

It was an exercise a bit of vine will, and deliberate choice made without assignable cause Save that which lies in the nature of God himself. It goes on to say that “love had it perfect expression among men in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christian love is the fruit of his spirit in the Cristian.“ “Christian love has God for his primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to commandment. Self will, that is self pleasing, it’s the immigration of love to God.“ Christian love, whether exercise for the brother or toward men generally is not an impulse of the feelings, it does not always run with a natural inclination, nor does it spend itself only upon those for which some affinity is discovered. Love sees the welfare of all and works no ill to any; love seeks opportunity to do good to all men and especially toward them who are the household of the faith, as we hear from Galatians 6:10. Voddie Baucham gives a helpful definition of biblical love, he says “Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object” Sacrificial love is not dissimilar to childbirth.

You see it is an action, accompanied by emotion but not driven by it. With each contraction,

A lawyer in the Bible was more of a general term.

The scribe or grammateus, would’ve been a scribe who could’ve devoted himself to the law, while a nomididaskolos would’ve been a doctor to the law— which we learn in acts five that there can be a doctor of lol who is also a member of the Sanhedrin which was a council that had jurisprudence during the time of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. However, in this passage, we are left with the generic term that is “Nomikos”, which simply means one who is learned in the law. Notice the lawyer asked “what must I do?”

Jesus knew His question displayed his lack of knowledge of salvation, justification and how it is accomplished.

But Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom and therefore examines this fruit, and instead of directly correcting him for his misunderstanding, Jesus knew it best to get to the root of this issue.

You see we often, when counseling others or even when dealing with our own sin, spend too much time focusing on the bad fruit, but not actually using incisive questions that get to the ROOT of the issue See if we were gardeners, we would be bad ones.

We often about the lack of growth from the gala apples, while ignoring that our trees are diseased and will die. Looking at the shriveled and withered fruits is important, but it is more important that we root out the disease that we may produce good fruit Jesus spoke to this lawyer, as though he should know the law, as he would be expected to.

Instead of telling the lawyer, what he needed to do in order to Garner eternal life, he first asked a cutting question. How many of us have been asked a question much like this one?

We ask a question that we should know the answer to, and our parent, spouse friend or coworker instead of giving us the answer, gives us another question. I am too often immediately annoyed when confronted with another question as I am impatient, sometimes a bit lazy, and also prideful. So when the lawyer asked, what must I do and Jesus replied, how does it read to you, in my sanctified imagination, I imagine that this might’ve frustrated the lawyer. So he quickly responded likely either reluctantly or pridefully with the law that he had undoubtedly studied over and over again from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus replied “you have answered correctly, do this, and you will live” with the latter portion of his message being derived from the many passages in which the Lord tells his people in the Old Testament to keep his commandments and they will live.

Now Jesus knew what he was doing by giving a truncated response, so simple and succinct. You see we know, based in the context, that the lawyer wasn’t asking these questions genuinely—but rather testing Jesus to justify himself. (Anecdote/illustration) I think The lawyer knew in the back of his mind that he did not meet up to the standard that was set by scripture because of His reaction; a clarifying question. * “Well, well hold on—Jesus what is YOUR definition of neighbor?—let me just make sure we are in the same page here. This begs a question to all those who claim Christ—The question of us is this: If you were to rundown and give an accurate inventory for how you love the Lord and your neighbor—Would Jesus reply, “My son, my daughter do this and you will live?”

You see we may have all knowledge but without love we are nothing.

You see the lawyer would’ve studied Deuteronomy 6 since he was young Jewish jit, which if you don’t speak Floridian simply means since he was a young boy.

He would’ve recited the shema (shema yisrael, YHWH eloheinu, YHWH ehad) over and over Wishing to justify himself, the lawyer asked who he is responsible to keep this law towards by asking “Who is my neighbor” Within the Jewish tradition, your neighbor was typically someone in your own community—meaning he likely would have believed himself to have upheld this command to his fellow Jew, which they interpret from the previous verse ( Deut 6:3-4) meaning they would not be responsible to treat outsiders as neighbors. The prevailing thought of the day amongst Jews, that still permeates Judaism to this very day is that the only neighbors that they must love as themselves are their fellow Jews. In the Old Testament, when it spoke of loving your neighbor, it was often in the context of laws being given that govern how Jews interacted with Jews, not necessarily the outside world. You see what this lawyer failed to recognize or was purposefully ignorant of was that salvation came first to the Jew but now the Gentile as well. But this phrase, “wishing to justify himself”, can seem like a throwaway editorial note—but Luke is peeling back the curtain on the motives of this lawyer. This brings us to our first point, of which all will be questions.

The first point for today if you are a notetaker, is what shall we do about our justification?

To be justified means to be made right, and in the case of our Lord, it is to be made righteous. Now, according to the law, no man is righteous and according to Romans, three no man is good nor does no man seek for God no not one. How then can we be justified? I believe the prevailing thought of today is that we are justified by being a good person.

If you were to ask anyone on the street if they think they will make it to heaven and why or why not, the overwhelming answer that you would get is “yes, because I’ve been a pretty good person“. Or maybe “I know I have good intentions, and God knows my heart” coming to life, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The theologian Wesley Huff points out that this is

Because our God is unlike any other God, you see in every other religion their God must sacrifice either mercy for justice or justice for mercy. When it comes to karma, everyone gets Justice, and no one truly gets mercy.

You see karma states that at the end of your life, however, you acted during your life you will receive a retribution for. There is no room for mercy. The Muslim religion, Allah does the opposite, he sacrifices justice for mercy.

In that he seemingly arbitrarily chooses who to justify, not based on repentance or justice of any kind. But our God does not forsake either justice or mercy.

Our God is perfectly just perfectly merciful, and full of grace. You see because of Justice, and the fact that he is a perfect God, and we are imperfect sinful people we deserve death in a life separated from him. Because of his mercy, we do not receive that which we deserve, and because of his grace, we actually receive something that we don’t deserve. And his merciful kindness he sent a son that would live a perfect life, according to the law, but would die in the place of all centers, taking on the sin that we commit in order to justly and mercifully give us grace. This is why no amount of good works makes us a good person, because we are still sinful people and good works do not negate sin, only righteousness does.

Jesus with all wisdom, gave a parable, and then asked another pointed question at the end of it… This parable is the one of the good Samaritan.

This may be a story that we have heard in numerable times, or maybe you are hearing it for the first time today, on either side of this equation my hope is that none of us would leave here unchanged by this illustrious example of true sacrificial love. So Christ tells a story of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho— which upon first reading, I think most people would skip over these seemingly nominal details , but this trip would be very familiar to all those listening.

This path was a notorious and infamous one called the way of blood as many who traveled along this path were beaten, robbed or worse.

the lawyer thought he had a definitional problem with the word “neighbor”—jesus said brother, you have a LOVE problem and too, because if you think that our God only compels us to love those who look and sound like us, you’ve missed the mark

the word he needed clarification on was the word neighbor—Jesus said naw bruddda, I need you to understand what LOVE is too, let me tell you a story and make it stick

Application

Rejoice in your salvation not your earthly exaltation

Christians! Do we rejoice in our salvation?

When’s the last time someone asked you what you been up to and you said, imma be honest I been rejoicing in my salvation on my way to work….

How often Do we return to the foot of the cross which saved us?

How often are we moved to tears or driven to our knees in prayer thinking of how the lord carried us through times we thought we wouldn’t get through…through times of depression, distress, disappointment and even a family death, he has brought us and sustained us through it all… and for those here…

When I hear the song, I never would have made it I never could’ve made it withouuut you—when I hear the sweet sound of the saints here in this room singing of our salvation, it is a foretaste of deliverance!

Love like Christ does

Gospel Pres:

You see, for Kaboo, like the good Samaritan, Christ pursues us long before we pursue him.

And when we are completely unable. Kaboo was a prince made slave, Christ is our King who came to serve and save

Kaboo was saved physically and spiritually, and because of the rescuing love he experienced, he was compelled to seek the rescue of all those he came in contact with—it wasnt an option for him, Christs love was a take it or take it type of offer.

Scripture says we, before salvation, are dead in our sins.

If you are here this morning and you feel like you have Been beaten down by life’s circumstances, or bloodied and bruised trying to live life for you, trusting in your own limited wisdom and falling flat on your face, if you feel like you have been passed by and ignored by religious folk like the priest and the Levite, maybe someone who claimed Christ hurt you or were supposed to help and did nothing—I want to say to you today that Jesus WILL NOT pass you by There was no hope for the man on the road,

Jesus will not ignore your groans on the side of the road, your pleas for help call out to Jesus! He is faithful to forgive you to heal you to protect you He is the one who picks you up on his donkey, clothes you, gives you the oil and wine, stays up all night keeping watch and tending to your deep wounds, leaves

If you are more like the lawyer, maybe you have grown up in the church of some kind and though you’ve never truly put your faith and hope in him for salvation but rather feel like you might make it in on account of being a good moral person…it doesn’t work that way

You must call on Christ! Tell him If you are here this morning and you have not been saved by placing your faith in Jesus as Gods Son, understanding that his work on the Cross paid for our sins, his grace and mercy is what picks us up on the side of the road, heals us and makes us whole.

You see we are so steeped in swine-stenched sin that we feel beaten bruised and left for death and its stings but our savior, our savior swiftly salvation brings

Run to him while it is still today. He will bear your burdens, he is the only one capable of filling that God-sized gap in our lives, no amount of money, status, prestige, gifts, New Year’s resolutions completed, promotions garnered, not the perfect house or car, will bring true joy you know why?

Because all of these things will pas away! Our cars will rust, houses will fall apart, positions will become cumbersome, but our Savior says his in Matt. 11:30, for my yolk is easy and my burden is light, so ask Him to enter into that void, take those burdens and make you whole.

Samuel Morris after his conversion put it this way, “Bread is one thing, a stone is another thing. In Africa they show me a stone and they say there is gold in it. Gold means much money and buy lots of barrels of flour to bake bread. Now when am hungry i do not eat the stone i must have the bread. So is this thing true of my soul. When i find the bread of life ''Jesus'' i do not need anymore the things of the world. they are the stone i cannot eat. but i can eat the bread of life. and this i have for all of the time" 1

It would be the joy of anyone here this morning to talk with you about this; about the bread of life and about how Jesus took us wretched sinners…and by grace alone thru faith alone, made us to be called saints and granted us entrance upon death of this body to a lifetime of joy with Him. How the joy of being rescued by a good God compels us to love others even when it is at a cost, even when it is dangerous and messy. and boy I hope heaven looks like this, like this Sunday morning right here, with singing like this, worshipping next to people who have shown me Christ all my days, my beloved church, I long to see each of you on the other side of pain, disease, sorrow, anger, disappointment, depression, and despair.