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♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ It will never lose ♪ ♪ Its blood ♪ ♪ Say it one more time ♪

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♪ Oh the blood ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh the blood ♪

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♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh the blood ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ It will never lose ♪

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♪ Its power ♪ ♪ He was despised and rejected ♪ ♪ Man of sorrow ♪ ♪ He was wounded ♪

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♪ Wounded for our transgression ♪ ♪ He was bruised ♪ ♪ He was bruised for our iniquity ♪ ♪ But early one Sunday morning ♪

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He said, "I've got all power in my hands." Going back to his Father in glory, But he's soon to come again. Oh, the blood of Jesus,

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Oh, the blood of Jesus, Oh, the blood of Jesus, ♪ Oh, the blood ♪ ♪ The blood of Jesus ♪

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♪ Oh, the blood ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ It will never lose ♪ ♪ Its power ♪

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♪ He was despised and rejected ♪ ♪ Man of sorrow, man of sorrow ♪ ♪ Acquainted with grief ♪ ♪ He was wounded, wounded for our transgressions ♪

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♪ He was bruised, he was bruised for our iniquity ♪ ♪ But early that Sunday morning ♪ He rose and said, "I've got all power in my hands." Going back, going back to his father in glory.

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But he's soon to come again. Oh, the blood of Jesus. ♪ Oh, the blood ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪

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♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood ♪ ♪ The blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood ♪

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♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ It will never lose ♪ It will never lose its power. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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It will never lose its power. Amen. Amen. Of the good Samaritan.

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The parable as Jesus tells it begins with Matthew the 10th chapter and the 30th verse. a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. This story comes as a result of a question Jesus is asked by a certain lawyer who is in the crowd not for the purpose

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of learning, but for entrapment. He wishes to test Jesus to see if he really knows what he's talking about. Those of you who have been engaged in the teaching

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profession recognize that ever so often you have a student in the group that while you're trying to teach, they're waiting to see if they can ask you something you don't know.

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Amen. This question that the young lawyer schooled in the Torah, he knows what is said in the Pentateuch. He spent his life engaged in the study of the books of law.

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But he asked Jesus this question. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? This was a question that had been discussed widely in first century Judaism, what can I do in order

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to inherit eternal life? Well, Jesus says, you know the law. And he said, yes. He quotes it.

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"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." commandment to love. And the second commandment is to love neighbor, the first to love God, the second to love neighbor. And it's interesting that the commandment to love, think about

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that, the commandment to love. God commands it. It is not something that we have an option about. He commands it. Thou shall love. It's not something that we do that's a request. It is a command. Thou shall love in order to live the abundant life.

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Thou shall love. And after he has received these questions from Jesus, you know the law. How do you interpret the law?

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And these two commandments are lifted up. Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. The love of neighbor is second, but the love of self and neighbor are together as thyself. Then he asked this question, "Who is my neighbor?"

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And in answering this question, Jesus just tells him a story about a certain man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Notice he goes down, Jerusalem is up, and he is taking a downward journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. It's a rather rough and rugged terrain. It's rocky, hilly.

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I've been on that Jericho Road and in ancient times it was a safe haven for thieves, for bandits. Jericho Road. And this man who travels that road is on a dangerous journey. Life is dangerous. If we would live the

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abundant life, we must be prepared to live dangerously. So this man, who, oh, he's probably, we don't know, but he could have been to the temple to worship and now he is returning home. He's going along peacefully,

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he's not bothering anybody, but he is attacked by robbers. They're ruthless. They show him no mercy. They

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strip him of his clothing. They beat him unmercifully and they depart from the scene leaving him half dead. Now this Jericho road, evidently has no highway patrolman to come to his rescue. He does not have this wounded man. He does not have a cell phone so he could dial 911.

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They have just beat him, they've taken what he has. They've taken his Hickey Freeman suit. They've taken his Edmund Claps shoes. They've taken his Rolex watch.

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They've taken everything of value that this man has. and they have left him in a ditch, half dead. And by chance, a priest comes that way. He has been up to the temple and he is on his way home.

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And as he approaches the scene, no doubt he hears the groans and he gets somewhat near and he crosses over to the other side, over to the other side. Looks like since he's a priest it seems to me that he should have at least gone and had prayer with the brother, but he

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doesn't do that. Or he could have administered, since the man was left half dead, he could have administered the last rites, but he did none of it. He crossed over to the other side. In other words, he wanted to put as much distance as he could between himself and this man. So he just crossed over to the other side. He left

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the scene of the crime. He did not want to become, as we so often put it, involved. So he crossed over to the other side. And there later was a Levite who came that way. The priest is connected with the temple and so is the Levite.

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They are both connected with the temple. and the Levite, when he came to the place, he too crossed over to the other side. In other words, it seemed that he let the priest

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be his guide. And they both crossed over to the other side. I think maybe we ought to see why some of the priests crossed over. The priest, you see, was identified with the temple sacrifices, and he had to always be

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clean, and if he had gone over and got identified with this half-dead man, he would have possibly been unclean and he could not have offered the sacrifices. And if he didn't offer the sacrifices he wouldn't have his cut from the sacrifice, the meat that was offered. And so he's not gonna risk that. The priest goes his way and the

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Levite also is connected with the temple of worship, and he was in charge of taking the offerings for the tithes. And if he were declared unclean, then it means that there would be a reduction in his salary.

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He didn't want that. So he follows the guidance of the priests. the priest and the Levite crosses over to the other side. Both of these brothers did not want to take any risk.

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There was no risk. So they crossed over to the other side. No dangerous journey for me, they thought, but every one of us has to take some risks. If we would live the abundant life to take risks.

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I was in college, I often when I wanted to come home, my parents didn't have any money to send me the money to come home, I would hitchhike. So I know how it feels when you're out there on that highway hitchhiking. And so I had the habit of picking up hitchhikers.

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And most of the time my parishioners would say to me, "Rev. don't do that. You risk your life." And every time now I see one I think I ought to do this, but I hear the voice of those people saying, "Don't do that."

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And you know what I'm talking about. there's someone sometimes that's out there in the cold, in the way. But don't take the risk. You don't know what they may take your life if you try to do good to them. Well, isn't that

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what happened to Jesus? Don't do that. And so they chose not to to live dangerously. And so they pass by on the other side, the other side. And later, a Samaritan comes that way. We call him the Good Samaritan, but we have to be careful about that it may, it suggests possibly to some that the other Samaritans were bad.

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But he belongs to a despised group, they are rejected. Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, in fact when Jesus was with his disciples and passed through a Samaritan town they did not accept him and they wanted, the disciples wanted Jesus to cause fire to come down from heaven and burn up that city. Samaritans were different.

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They were a mixed group. Mixed Assyrians, Jews, mixed marriages, mixed. And so they were not accepted by the Jewish people. They were mixed Samaritans. In fact, the Samaritans had their own Bible.

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What we call the Samaritan Pentateuch, their own Bible. They had their own place of worship, Mount Gerizim. And the woman said, you worship at this mountain. What about the-- what's the right place?

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They were different. So this Samaritan comes by, different, from a different place, different background, despised is he.

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And when he comes, he sees the man. All of them saw the man. But he sees the man, and he goes to him. They pass by on the other side.

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But he goes to him and he anoints his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, puts him on his own beast and carries him to an inn

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and says to the innkeeper, "Take care of him." And when I come back, I will pay you if there are some additional charges. I will pay you.

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Take care. And he gives the man two pence. It is said that a day's wages was one pence, a denary. And he gives him two.

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Some say that this might be interpreted that he probably gave the man a week's pay. and went on his way saying whatever you need I will supply when I pay you back when I come again. Well, which one, who is the one here who is the neighbor?

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the neighbor. This question now is to be answered by the man who asked the question. The one who was the neighbor was the Samaritan. So those who

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are neighbors to us are those to whom we show ourselves neighborly. And sometimes we find that the neighbor is a stranger. Neighbor is a stranger. That's the message. These people in the crowd, no doubt they're looking at Jesus in a strange way anyway. He has all

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these queerdoes in his band of disciples, and there's Pharisees and Sadducees who are following him around. And they wonder, if you are who you say you are,

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why do you associate with these kind of people? They drew a circle, shut me out, heretic. a thing to flout. But we drew a circle that took them in.

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That's the spirit of Jesus Christ. So the Samaritan, the Samaritan, the Samaritan is the one who is the hero. He's the one that the crowd would have least

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expected to be the hero. But he is the one who goes beyond what is expected. He is the hero in this story. So the priest and the Levite do not do what is expected,

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but the Samaritan, the one they least expect to do it, emerges as the hero. Some say we ought to call him the compassionate Samaritan, rather than the good Samaritan, compassionate.

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That he is moved. Being compassionate is one of the attributes of God, that this Samaritan is moved. In other words, he feels as he believes this man would feel.

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So he's touched by a situation. He empathizes with him, this Samaritan does. He is compassionate. And he doesn't mind getting some blood on his hands.

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He is moved with compassion. You know, I wonder, since this man was left naked, He had to find some clothes for him. He had to put them on him.

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He had to listen to his groans as he takes them up. He reaches down in the ditch and he takes them up and puts him on his own beast. And I don't know whether he walked

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while this man was riding or not, but it could have been that way. He was compassionate. And Jesus says,

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Go and do likewise. You'll find some strange neighbors. Most of us may not even know the person who lives next door. Oh, who is our neighbor?

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Is it the post person, post lady, or the postman? Who is it the person that I work with on the job? Is it someone who's far away? Who is my neighbor?

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Well, the one to whom I show myself a neighbor. And we have some strange neighbors and the one who shows neighborliness in their relationship with us.

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We have some strange neighbors. We're finding it rather difficult now to think of Arabs as neighbors, even though they're American citizens. We're finding it rather difficult to think of them as, in fact we've just discovered how to pronounce their names. some call them Arabs, you know, and by the time we understand how to really pronounce

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their name, we find ourselves in this predicament. Who is my neighbor? And we have persons now advertising, "I'm an American, I'm an American." Well, we should have known that all the time. that we are a melting pot, that there are many of us. We are like a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

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That God has all of us as his family on this earth, and he wants us to live together as neighbor. That's what God wants of his people. Who is my neighbor?

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Well, as you look at this story, with whom do you identify? The robbers, the wounded man, the priests, the Levite, or the Samaritan? That's the question for every one of us here this morning.

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Who is my neighbor? One thing is sure, that Jesus has been for all of us, the good Samaritan. He found us when we were down in the ditch.

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Lifted us up, placed our feet on a solid rock. And he lifted us by love. We used to sing, love lifted me, love lifted me. nothing else could help. Love lifted me. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the

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peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But, that's a significant but right there, but the master of the sea heard my despairing cried, "From the waters lifted me, now safe am I." We come now to extend the invitation to Christian discipleship. You may come by letter, by Christian experience,

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or profession of faith as we sing. [MUSIC] I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, seeking to rise no more.

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But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry From the waters lifted me, now safe am I Love lifted me, love lifted me When I asked for help, love lifted me.

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Love lifted me. You can see me. Love lifted me. When I asked for help, love lifted me.

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All the heart to Him I give, ever to Him I'll give In His blessings, presence, and favor His praises give Love so mighty and so true, there is my soul's best source Faithful, loving, serene, true to Him they lie

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Love lifted me, love lifted me When I rested here, love lifted me Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me.

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♪ The throes of change come to our Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, the King who saves ♪ ♪ He will lift you by His love ♪ ♪ Out of the angry waves ♪

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♪ He's the Master of the sea ♪ ♪ Fill us with His will, O God ♪ ♪ He, your Savior, wants to be saved ♪ ♪ Today, all are lifted, me ♪

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♪ Love lifted, me ♪ ♪ When nothing else could have, lifted me ♪ ♪ Love lifted, me ♪ ♪ Love lifted, me ♪

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♪ When all the elves could have ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ Lifted ♪ ♪ Me ♪

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- Amen, let's listen to the report from our church clerk. - I'm coming to make a profession of faith, a young sister of her mom and grandparents are here. Her name is Delisa White.

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She's a candidate for baptism. All right, Delisa would you stand? You accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you want to be baptized as an expression of your faith? All right. This is a very important decision and we're delighted that you have decided to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and

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