Sermon Audio: Ministry of Nearness

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On March 10, we continued our study on the Message of Jesus. We studied one of the most famous Parables of Jesus, that of the Good Samaritan. The Scripture text is found in Luke 10:25.

We invite you to take a listen and be challenged to consider the ministry of nearness.

Also, here is a follow-up small group guide:

Study Guide for March 10, 2013

 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Read the Story: Luke 10:25-37

“Neighbor” also means “near.”  In essence, the teacher who was looking to justify his decisions and life was asking, who is near me? Who am I responsible to love?

We know that the answer Jesus gives is very simple, yet incredibly demanding: You are to love everyone.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan becomes this beautiful illustration of a person who, despite the differences, is willing to be near the person in the ditch and help them at a great personal cost of his own.

There are several questions that require our further discussion, they are a bit random, but I think highly beneficial if we take the Parable serious enough to influence how we view others:

1.     The Samaritan is racially different then the person in the ditch, we suppose. How have racial difference affected whether or not you help someone? What sort of racial biases do we have that prevent us from helping someone “different” than us? Or the more general question, should we even have racial biases in light of the message of the Kingdom of God and that Jesus died for ALL people?


2.     How does our culture/world prevent, or get in the way of a ministry of nearness? Or, another way of asking – why do we have a hard time getting close enough to help people? Why do we have a tendency to keep to ourselves?


3.     The Samaritan helped at great personal cost. I am so proud of the generosity of EGCC and know that many are willing to give and help those at great personal expense. I know that many are on a fixed income, yet still consider the needs of others as greater than their own. Thanks for seeking first the Kingdom of God in your attitudes and generosity. The last question is, how can we continue to encourage one another in helping the forgotten? How can we increase communication so that we might be of greater help to others? It’s hard to help someone out of a ditch if we don’t hear his or her cry. Let’s continue to encourage one another – how can we do this?


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