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Father, we give you thanks for the gift of this day, for the magnificent expression of your grace which is new every morning. We pray for the presence and the guidance of your spirit as we seek to worship you in spirit and in truth. Have mercy upon us and grant that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts may be acceptable in your sight,

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O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. [ Music ] >> Let us all stand. [ Music ]

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To God be the glory, great, thankfully, and done. So love in the world He gave us His Son, Who healed in His life and atoned for sin, And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

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Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come, O come, ye Christians, let us adore him, and give him the glory, great King Jesus Christ. (choral music)

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♪ Recognition of virtues of God ♪ ♪ Here and beneath the crown of God is our God ♪ ♪ The Father, the King, and the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ We praise the moments of Jesus in the heart of these things ♪

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♪ We know, we know that the earth is full of His glory ♪ [Music] ♪ Oh, God, we love thee ♪ ♪ We love thee, God, God ♪

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♪ And we bring thee glory ♪ ♪ Bring thee peace and love ♪ ♪ Bring thee tears of blood ♪ ♪ Bring thee tears of blood ♪

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♪ And praise thy rejoicing ♪ ♪ When ye have done so ♪ ♪ How good thy might, and praise to thee be ♪ ♪ How wonderful thy grace to me, praise God so dearly ♪

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♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ The good Lord, the great God ♪

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[music] What shall we then say to these things? if God be for us who can be against us? He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all

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things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or

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or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor

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things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Scripture lesson, the epistle of the Romans, the eighth chapter, the 28th through the 39th verses. May we remain where we are for our prayer this morning, and would you join hands

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with the person that is situated near you as we bow our heads now for our time of prayer together. Sweet hour of prayer calls us from a world of care. God our Father thou who has made us

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and by whose grace we come to this place this day we pause to say thank you for the gift of life We thank you for the church. We thank you for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

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We confess our weakness, our failures. We know that there are things which we have left undone which you've assigned to our hands. But we pray that you would forgive us

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and we pray not only for ourselves but we would pray for others. We pray that you would make us a channel of your grace that we may go forth with boldness to declare the good news of your salvation Oh bless and use us this day.

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Be with those who are carrying on for you the mission field here at home as well as abroad. And as we in our church

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focus attention on our mission work. We pray that you will be with us this week in the special services in which we will be engaged.

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That through this experience our understanding may be expanded and our commitment may be deepened as we respond to the challenge of bold mission thrust. Be with the one who has come to share with us in the service today and grant that each of us shall go from this place with renewed strength to run the race which you have

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set before us we ask it all in Jesus name amen (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) (dramatic music) [MUSIC] ♪ ♪

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(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(gentle music) ♪ Keep me a safe guard ♪ ♪ Oh, I may serve thee ♪ ♪ On which my hope ♪

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♪ Today may be loosed ♪ ♪ I live for thy good worthy ♪ ♪ I'll follow thee ♪ ♪ If we are free ♪

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♪ Then I'll follow thee ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see ♪ ♪ Father, please fill this house with my praise ♪ ♪ I'm not asking for a raise ♪

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♪ But for all my praise ♪ ♪ Please give me more, give me more ♪ ♪ Be kind ♪ ♪ That I may follow thee ♪

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♪ Give me of thee ♪ ♪ Love ♪ ♪ And I'll follow thee ♪ ♪ And the best ♪

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♪ Sometimes I am down ♪ ♪ Sometimes I have almost to cry ♪ ♪ Please give me more, give me more, give me more ♪ ♪ And I will follow thee ♪

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♪ If thee are dear ♪ ♪ And I'll follow thee ♪ ♪ If thee are pretty ♪ ♪ So I may serve thee ♪

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♪ I deserve thee ♪ ♪ Lord, please come home ♪ ♪ So that I may use thy feet ♪ ♪ For I'm not worthy ♪

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♪ I'm not in need ♪ ♪ If he has been born ♪ ♪ I have not been born ♪ ♪ If he has been born ♪

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♪ So I've been searching ♪ ♪ For peace, my love ♪ ♪ Somewhere low ♪ ♪ In the hills ♪

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♪ I've been ♪ ♪ For I've been searching ♪ ♪ Above the mercy ♪ ♪ And the unending ♪

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♪ Love ♪ ♪ And the unending ♪ We come now to worship in the sharing of gifts. The first gift is the gift of self and then the gift of substance.

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So as we worship the Lord and rededicating ourselves to him as well as giving of that which he has entrusted to us, let us do so recognizing that we give him but what is already his we are stewards, stewards of the Lord. May we pray. Bless us O Lord in this time of sharing grant that we may give with hearts of love of sacrifice in Jesus name, amen.

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So let us hear with prayerful hearts Dr. Emanuel L. McCall after the singing of the next selection by our Chancellor's Choir. [Music] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC PLAYING] (dramatic music) [Music]

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♪ Oh, to Jesus ♪ ♪ I surrender ♪ ♪ Oh, to Him ♪ ♪ I give my all ♪

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♪ I will ever ♪ ♪ God has trusted ♪ ♪ In His presence ♪ ♪ Many years ♪

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♪ All to Jesus ♪ ♪ I surrender ♪ ♪ Lord, I give my heart to Thee ♪ ♪ Filled with Thy love and power ♪

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♪ Let my blessing follow Thee ♪ ♪ To honor our King ♪ ♪ Christ the King ♪ ♪ Evermore ♪

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♪ Christ the King ♪ ♪ Evermore ♪ ♪ All to Thee, my ♪ ♪ Merciful Savior ♪

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♪ God of our ♪ ♪ Infernal life ♪ ♪ With Christ the living ♪ ♪ Lord, you are all ♪

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♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All I am ♪ ♪ All to thee my ♪ ♪ Worship's savior ♪

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♪ I surrender ♪ - As they march down the small street, they're cool. ♪ I surrender ♪ ♪ I surrender ♪

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[Music] Pastor Griffin, to you my brothers and sisters, I thank God for the opportunity of worshipping with you today and for the opportunity of sharing with you something of my impressions and convictions concerning the faith which

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we have in common in Jesus Christ. I was not anticipating having this opportunity. I wrote Pastor to indicate that I was going to be in the city on this weekend for another assignment, but I needed to counsel with him. I needed his counsel because of some denominational concerns, and in the

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process of that he indicated that he did have an eight o'clock service and would like for me to come. I'm so glad that he did. I want to say a word of thanks to you for sharing him. I know sometimes it probably seems strange to a congregation that pastor is not always there to hold my hand when I'm sick and to pray and

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all of these but I hope you can also see the larger contribution which you make to Christianity around the world. We at the Home Mission Board are grateful that he is on the board of directors which gives oversight to what we do. We're appreciative of the wisdom which he along with other pastors and laypersons

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give to be sure that you are well represented, that those monies that you invest are being used as you would have them used. And so we're grateful for that kind of time giving of himself that he does. Even this morning he has helped me to understand some things that I needed to understand in order to be more

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effective in what I'm trying to do. During the last year we have even been brought a step closer to the Griffin family because his daughter and son-in-law worship at the church that I attend in Atlanta. Lawrence is now director of or Dean of Men at Morehouse College and when it's possible, which is quite often,

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and we're glad to have them as worshipers and fellow travelers, and so we feel even a closer kinship to this family. I want this morning to lift up before us

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a passage of scripture that is familiar, but I want to present it again with the understanding and hope that God will speak to us anew and afresh. From the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10,

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I want to begin reading at verse 25. A teacher of the law came up and tried to trap Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to receive eternal life?

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Jesus answered him, what do the scriptures say and how do you interpret them? The man answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, all your mind and love your neighbor as you love yourself. You are right, Jesus

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replied. Do this and you will live. But the teacher of the law wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, who is my neighbor? Jesus answered, there was a man once going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him and beat him up leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest

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was going down that road when he saw the man he walked by on the other side in the same way a Levite also came there went over and looked at the man and then walked by on the other side but a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon the man when he saw him his heart was filled with pity. He went over to the

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man poured oil and wine on his wounds and banished them and then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, take care of him he told the innkeeper and when I come back this way I will pay you

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whatever else you spend on him and Jesus concluded in your opinion which of these three acted like a neighbor toward the man attacked by robbers the teacher of the law answered the one who is kind to him Jesus replied you go then and do the same I want to talk about what happens when religion gets in the way

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And I want to pose the suggestion that sometimes our religion can get in the way and keep us from being Christian. And I want to labor at a distinction which ought to be made between being religious and being Christian. All of us are religious, all men are religious, even the atheist is religious. Being religious simply means that one recognizes a power or force outside of himself to which he gives his allegiance.

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and whether one worships at a Shinto shrine or whether he worships Buddha, whether he worships a code of ethics, or whether his commitment is to the Sun or to the moon or to the stars, or even as I've seen some worship a tree, or even worship a monkey going up and down the tree. All men are religious and even

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those of us who claim a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ can be religious without being Christian. It is possible to assume that my coming to the church house is an act that will put me in good with God. You see being religious means that I am always trying to work my way up to God.

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I am doing things, doing deeds, doing acts. Whatever I think it will take to please and to satisfy God, I find myself doing that hoping that I can climb my way up and be in good favor with God.

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Now, that's different from being Christian, for being Christian means that I recognize what God has done through Jesus Christ on a cross called Calvary. I'm not trying to work my way up to God,

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but I'm recognizing that God has come down. And because I make a commitment of my life to God, thereafter I'm not trying to work to get saved, but I'm working because I am saved.

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And that which I do, I do because I love the Lord, and not because I'm living with a defense notion that if I can just do so many good deeds, I can work my way up into the kingdom.

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And so when I come to the church house, I come because I love the Lord and I love his people. And I love to be in that assembly of the fellowship where God visits with his spirit

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and communicates through his word and through the singing of hymns and the praying of prayers and all that it takes to strengthen the inner man in us. I come not because I'm trying to work my way up to God,

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but I come because I'm already committed. If I give of my tithes and my substance and even all that I have, I do so not because I'm trying to work my way up to getting good favor with God, but because I recognize what God has already

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done through Jesus Christ and because I want to be a part of what God is a part of. I give, I give knowing that I am privileged to join God in his worldwide redemption. It is possible then for you and I to be religious and not necessarily to be Christian.

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There was a song some years ago that somehow crept into our hymnology and I'm glad that it is sort of faded by the wayside. There is a song talking about sending up my timber. of you may recall it. The idea was that the deeds I do and the songs I sing and

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the prayers I pray are pieces of building material that I'm sending up to God and God is going to build me a mansion. And I can recall even hearing some sing and some preach of it in such a way as to suggest that when they got to heaven they were going to have a better mansion than somebody else

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because they thought they had done more deeds and more acts of love and more kindnesses and it even became sort of a hypocritical Phariseeism in which one bragged about his goodness and his deeds thinking that this put him in better relationship with God. Well in this passage of scripture Jesus lifts up

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before us what it really means to be Christian over against what it means to be religious. In the setting in which it is presented in the gospel of Luke, a teacher of the law comes up to him. Luke helps us immediately to understand the man's intentions. He said he didn't come with a noble purpose, he came to trap

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Jesus. He had seen the others trap Jesus and he wanted to be among those who because of his intellectual perception could astound this teacher upstart as he was referred to from Nazareth. And so he raised a rather profound question before Jesus. He said, "Good master, what is it that I must do in order to inherit

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eternal life. Now Jesus immediately saw through this dude. He wasn't coming by on the slick side. Jesus looked at his garment and knew immediately that he represented the professional teachers of the law. They had a certain garment, academic garb if you please, that they wore all the time. Jesus also knew

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something of his intentions, something of his heartstrings. And Jesus responded in a very shrewd way, "You're a teacher of the law? What does the law say about inheriting eternal life?" And the man goes on to give Jesus a discourse on what the law had said. In summary he said that the 618 do's and don'ts that are a part of

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our legal system have all been summarized in two commandments love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our mind with all our soul with all our strength love our neighbor as we love ourselves Jesus respond all right you've answered your question you do that if you can

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love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. If you can love your neighbor as you love yourself, you've already solved your problem. I can imagine seeing Jesus turn to go on to some other things and this fellow couldn't afford to be put down like that. After all he was the one who was to come

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out clean. He was the one who was supposed to have trapped this young upstart from Nazareth. And then he asked another question that he thought was so profound that it would trap Jesus anyway he answered. He said tell me Jesus just who is my neighbor? Subtly in his mind he figured oh I've got him now. If he says his neighbor is

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another Jew I've got some other legal questions I'm going to ask him. If he says it's a Gentile oh I've got him, I've got him. And Jesus answered simply by giving him a parable. A certain man says he. He didn't describe him as black, he didn't describe him as white or Hispanic, he didn't say he was learned or unlearned, he didn't say he was rich or

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poor, because some of the distinctions that you and I make among men God does not make a certain man. He was a human being made in the image of God, a certain man. And you and I would do well if we could learn to put aside some of the distinctions by which we distinguish human beings.

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Just this last week, I've been engaged trying to help a couple in our church settle a dispute, which is based because one of them is lighter complexion and the other is darker,

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an age-old thing that one would think would have died out since we're all in the same bag. but somehow we get caught up on trivial things. Age, old and young fighting against each other.

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It's even among some those who think they're thinner and trimmer than some others. Use that as a badge of distinction. Jesus didn't go on to describe, he just said a certain man,

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A child of God was on his way down from Jerusalem, on his way to Jericho, when there were some robbers who sat upon him. And they beat him, and they stripped him, and they left him half dead, over in the ditch if you please. I want to depart a moment again just to say a word because I think you and I must be

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careful in letting sociology override moral judgment. For a long time, we've tried to make excuses for young men and women who were too lazy and too shiftless to work.

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And we've referred to any number of sociological statistics facts and data. We've used that as an excuse. But you and I better be careful. Same ones we try to protect who don't have their heads together and their hearts right. You and I will come back and find our own houses emptied of those

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things that we worked and saved and slaved to accumulate to make life comfortable by persons who have not been disciplined. You and I better be careful how we lift up and hold with high images the pimps, con men, those who get by by cunning and craftiness and who parade around in fine cars and lavish clothes

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we better be careful how we lift them up because our young people may be emulating those models and feeling it somehow appropriate not to lift a hand, not to learn a skill, but to see how they can get by by hook and crook. Some robbers set upon this man and beat him and stripped him and left him half dead.

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Jesus said there came by that same road certain man who was a priest and I know I've been guilty of preaching the scripture wrong and I'm sure those of us have taught it and preached it wrong. When I read this again I was quickened because of what the scripture says. It does not say that this priest was on his

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way up to Jerusalem. We often explain this away by saying, "Well, he was going to be late for church and he didn't have time to stop and help this man in the ditch." No, the scripture says he was coming down from Jerusalem. He's on his way to Jericho. He had already been to the temple. In fact, this priest had been there

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probably a whole month serving his term as each was required to spend a whole month doing all of the ministrations that were required of priests in the temple. Now that makes it even more damaging because one would assume that if this man had been in the temple for a whole month if he had been in religious

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environment for a whole month hearing the songs of Zion and hearing the word proclaimed and handling the sacrifices and offering up to God sacrifices, rams and doves and turtle doves and goats. Lord accept the offering on behalf of John who has sinned and Lord accept this peace dove on behalf of Sam who has done

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wrong and all of these things if if one had been in a religious environment for a whole month and then could walk down the road and see a man in trouble and pass him by, then that means he was only being religious. Something of his religion didn't get inside of him. It was an outside affair. But his religion got in the way at a couple other

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points because the religion said that if that man is over in that ditch, beat up, it means that he sinned. And a righteous upright person should not contaminate himself by touching the likes of a sinner. So you walk by on the other side and you keep from getting your hands dirtied. The religion never

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stopped to ask the question whether the man could have been beaten by robbers, whether he could have been the victim of cruel circumstances of nature, they simply passed judgment. If he's over in the ditch, he is sinned. And regardless of how he sinned, how he got there, he's there. And a good upright religious person

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doesn't spend time with sinners. You pass him by. Does that say anything about where you and I live? I would not try to pass judgment on you but I know what happens in the church where I attend and I know what has happened in the churches where

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I have served as minister. I remember one very tragic incident that I can never erase from my memory. One of the men in our church had been witnessing to a man for a good while.

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He had finally succeeded in getting that man to be willing to come to worship service. At the conclusion of the worship service, he wanted the man to come up to meet me, the pastor, hoping that by establishing a relationship, I could continue to witness and talk with the man. This man had not been used to attending church. He was not familiar with the kinds of religious things we did.

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At the time that he was brought up I was busy talking with another person and this man sort of leaned against the communion table down front. That offended one of the dear ladies in our church. Her mother had

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helped give the money that paid for that table. And it did not somehow enter into her mind that here was a man who might have needed the Lord. All she could see was somebody

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halfway braced on the communion table, and she proceeded to tell him off. And so devastating was the man's response that he left the church.

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And during the remaining three years that I was there, he never did come back again. Whether he was ever one to the Lord or not, I'll never know, but I remember how callous one who was so religious was that

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it never entered into her mind to be compassionate for another human being. Churches I've been a member of, if a girl had had a child out of wedlock, questions were never asked about who fathered the child, but just the fact that a girl had a child out of wedlock she'd be banished from the church

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instead of being loved and strengthened and nurtured, kicked out, talked about, let a boy get in trouble, let somebody get in jail, let somebody's life get rip-shared, let there be trouble in a family and those who thought they were the pillars of the church, the saints, somehow could not tolerate somebody else coming in.

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Whatever made us believe that the church was a museum for saints? When I see what Jesus says throughout the New Testament I'm always getting the impression that that somehow he thought of his kingdom as a hospital for sinners. And if somehow our religion so gets in the way that you and I can't be compassionate and reach

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out to a person who's down and out, and if we can't tolerate to sit next to a person who may have a questionable reputation, or if we're so sanctified and righteous that we can't afford to be seen in the presence of somebody who may have a questionable reputation, then something is wrong with our Christianity.

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Well this priest came by and he saw him over there and he just could not afford to get in the way. A Levite, one who was like this man, a teacher of the law, one who not only had to memorize the 365 don'ts, but also the 248 do's of their religion. One who not only had to master and memorize the laws, but the interpretations of those

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laws. And then he had to come back and memorize the interpretations of the interpretations. He had to know it inside out, backwards and forwards, be ready to give judgments whenever he was called upon to do so. When he comes by and he sees the man and his response is

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the same way. His religion got in the way so much so that he couldn't stop to help a man who needed somebody to love him. That's all he needed. Somebody to love him and to express that love by ministering to him where he hurt. Real love can be a gift. It can be love can't say to a man who's down you get up and then I'll love you. No no no.

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Real love helps that man to get up out of the ditch. It loves him in spite of what he is and who he is. It does the same thing that God through Jesus does to us. He picks us up without making judgment except that here is a child of God. My love won't let him stay down there. My love wants to lift him up and

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help him to become whatever he can become. Jesus illustrates this by talking about another man that was considered not even to be a part of the household of faith. He was a Samaritan. The Jews hated him. Half-breeds they called them. Took a myth of history and condemned the whole nation of them. Jesus said a

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Samaritan came by that way. He saw the man, he cut off his beast, he did not risk whatever, it didn't bother him that to get into the ditch would hurt his reputation. To have blood from this man stained on his garments wouldn't affect his religion at all.

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[ Silence ]