Luke 6:45
Matthew 15:8
 
I was reminded of the story about a lady that lived in London England who wore a little gold locket in the shape of a heart around her neck.  And there were people that would ask her Hey let me look inside of it -  let me see what’s inside your heart,  but she wouldn’t let anyone look in it.  So when she died and family members were going through her things they ran across this locket that she had been wearing for years.  Everyone wondered what was inside of her heart shaped locket. Some thought it might have been a picture of an old boyfriend. But when they opened it up there was not a picture, but a little slip of paper. On that slip of paper it said “Him who I have not seen, yet loved”.  In other words she was saying that the Lord Jesus was her love.  She hadn’t seen Him but she loved Him.  It’s just like us today, we haven’t seen the Lord but we love Him and I’m quite sure those people that opened it were really surprised when they saw what was in her heart-shaped locket.  So the question is: what’s in your heart?

In our passage from Luke we read “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh..”

In other words the good man brings forth good things out of the treasures of his heart.  Jesus also says in the latter part of that verse out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  In other words, your mouth will echo what’s in your heart, whatever it is.  Whatever is in your heart is going to come out. Sometimes people say: I don’t know where that came from.  It was in your heart!  

So what’s in your heart?

In Matthew 15:8 Jesus quotes from the book of Isaiah: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (NLT).

In other words they talk a good game.  They put on a good show, but Jesus knows their hearts.  Jesus says their hearts are far from me.  If their hearts was were in line with what their lips say, they’d be all right.  You’ve heard people talk about giving lip service – that’s what He’s talking about, they say the words, but it isn’t sincere.  As He says: “You draw nigh unto me with your lips (with your words) but your heart is far from me.”

God wants our lips and hearts to line up with Him.  We definitely need to look at what’s in our hearts.  If God were to examine each of our hearts – like the woman’s heart with the slip of paper - what would He find?

What would he find in our hearts?  I think that’s a question that each and every man and woman needs to ask themselves this morning.   If God were to reveal what’s in my heart to every man or woman around me, what would they see?  A lot of things would pop up and we’d probably be embarrassed. We would want to hide or put a mask on our face so people wouldn’t recognize us. 

God looks at the hearts of men; He doesn’t look at our intellect.  Here at the University a lot of times you’re looked at for your ability or your intellect but God is not looking at our intellect.  He’s not looking for our ability; He’s looking for our availability.  You see the bible even tells us that the disciples were unlearned men.  They weren’t highly educated with PHDs and doctorates and stuff, but one thing they had going for them - they had a heart of serving.  They had a heart of availability and they had a heart for God.  So - what’s in your heart?
​~J.T.

John 12:23-26
If you take a grain of wheat or a grain of corn and lay it on a table, nothing will happen.   But if you take that grain of corn and bury it, it‘s going to break down, to decompose.   Not only is it going to decompose - if the conditions are right it will germinate and grow.
 
Jesus is comparing himself to a grain of wheat or a grain of corn that has been sown into the ground.  He says unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground it abides alone.  But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.
 
 Just think for a moment - Jesus is talking about his death.  That’s what He’s talking about; He’s talking about dying.  He was preparing to go to the cross.  He knew what He came here to do.  He was born to die.
 
Jesus was talking about himself as a grain of wheat, how He would go into the ground and be buried and rise on the third day.   Just think, through one Man, through His resurrection, look how many millions and millions of people have come to Him.  One man/one grain of wheat falling into the ground, and as it says, bringing forth much fruit.  
 
Even as we are talking this morning there’s somebody right now that’s surrendering their heart to the Lord.  Someone somewhere is giving Him their heart this morning, being born not by physical birth but being spiritually born.   Jesus was talking about a spiritual harvest, a sacred harvest.
 
In another passage Jesus tells us in Matthew 9:37 “The harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers are few”.  We’re talking about a spiritual harvest.   Pray that the Lord will send laborers into the harvest.
 
Every day we need to be praying that God will ignite our hearts to share the word of God with somebody that doesn’t know him.  Some people say “Well I’m sending up my timber” – maybe you all have heard that expression “sending up timber”.  I want to be able to get to heaven and see some of the “fruit” that I have sent up. I want to be able to see somebody that maybe I have encouraged in the faith.  I want to be able to see somebody that I shared this gospel with; somebody that received Christ.  We all should be striving and trying to send up or create a spiritual harvest, by sharing the word of God with someone.
 
Jesus is comparing himself to a grain of wheat and we all are familiar with planting things. Some of us may be familiar with gardens and farming; I am familiar with that and I have seen things germinate and how they would bring forth fruit.
 
You can take one grain of corn and plant it, water it and fertilize it and when that blade comes up most times it puts out two ears.  Just think of how many kernels are on that one or two ears.   Then you take those same two and you take them and seed them and next year when you plant them you’ve planted a whole field.  That’s what happened when Christ died on the cross; He was buried, was resurrected on that third day and inspired those disciples to write the gospels.  They shared with us, and even as we share today, people are steadily coming to Christ - it’s multiplying.
 
It starts with a seed that must die to itself.  May we all be willing to die to ourselves in order to reach the lost.  Let us continue to pray that God will send laborers into the vineyard. 

John 21:2-17
A few months from now we will celebrate love.  Valentine’s Day is a day where people all over this country will be telling their wives, girlfriends, or husbands “Honey I love you”.  They’ll be buying candy and flowers, going out to eat, and all these kinds of things.  Telling their loved ones “I love you”.
 
At the time that our scripture takes place Jesus had been crucified and He had been resurrected.   In the first part of this chapter Peter tells the other guys (paraphrasing), Hey I’m going fishing, and they say I’m going with you.  Remember, Jesus had called several fishermen to become His disciples.  So they get into the boat and they go.  
 
They fished all night and they didn’t catch anything but the next morning Jesus was standing on the shore. Jesus asked them “Children have you any meat?” and they said “No, we haven’t caught anything”.  They told Him they’d been out all night long and hadn’t caught anything. Jesus told them “cast your net on the right side”.  When they cast their net on the right side they got this multitude of fish.  When they got them to the shore Jesus had prepared breakfast.  He told them in the 12th verse to “Come and dine”.
 
Jesus has been crucified and rose from the grave but here He is fixing breakfast for the guys that had been fishing all night.
 
But we see on down in the 15th verse of that chapter Jesus has a question for Peter.
Do you love me?
 
Jesus tells Peter “If you love me, keep my commandments”. Then He said “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you”.
 
Jesus wasn’t talking about that friendship type of love -that “phileo” or friendly type of love. He wasn’t talking about that feeling type of love - you know how you say “Oooh, I really love you girl”.  He wasn’t talking about that type of love.
 
He was talking about “agape” love, unconditional love – God’s love.  The type of love Jesus was talking about was the type of love that would esteem another higher than one’s self.  A higher love, this is the type of love that Jesus was telling Peter about. 
 
Jesus was commissioning Peter to become a pastor.  That’s what He was doing when He said “Feed my lambs” and “Feed my sheep”.  You ask, Who were the lambs; who were the sheep? The people; we the people are His lambs and His sheep.
 
In other words Jesus was saying Peter, you don’t need to be going back there doing the old things I called you from.  You need to be doing what I called you to do, and that is to pastor - to share the Word.  And later in the book of Acts Peter delivered the first message; over three thousand folks got saved at his preaching.  That’s what Jesus was calling Peter to do; He was calling Peter to pastor His people.
 
Just think for a moment - what if He was standing right before each one of us?  What if He asked us that question - Do you love me?  If we love him, we’ll keep His commandments.  If we love Him, as He said, we will love one another as God has loved us.   If we really love Him we will love our neighbors, we’ll love our brothers; we’ll reach out to those who maybe have drawn back from us, if we really love Him.
 
So He’s asking Peter that question this morning – Peter, do you love me?  Just like Peter, He doesn’t want us going backwards.  He doesn’t want us going back to the old life.
 
I’ve told people that before I go back to where I was 35 years ago, I would rather die. God is my witness, I would rather for Him to snatch the breath out of me because if I go back I might not make it back to where I am now. I might not make it back.  So I’d rather go now - I’d rather die in Christ than to die outside of Christ.  If I die in Christ I’ll go to heaven.  If I die outside of Christ ain’t but two places to go, and I don’t want to go to hell.
 
So I won’t go back.  After receiving the call of Jesus, Peter didn’t go back.  Jesus poses the question to all of us – Do you love me?  He will know the answer not by what we say, but what we do.  Don’t turn back.  Love Jesus.  Love one another.
~J.T.

Matthew 6:19-21
{Note: this devotion was given at the shop in early January 2010, more than a year before the devastating Tuscaloosa Tornado of April 2011}
 
When you think about the word “treasure” one of the first things that comes to mind a lot of times is a treasure chest.  The ones like you see on television – pirates go out and find the treasure chest that has gold in it, silver, jewelry – all types of expensive things.  I think about the movie that Nicholas Cage was in called National Treasure – they found this huge basement with nothing but gold and all kinds of things.
 
Here in this scripture Jesus is speaking and He says in that 19th verse: Lay not up for yourselves treasures……
 
Jesus is telling them not to lay up treasures on this earth.  But there are so many people that are doing just that.  There are people right now that put all their trust in the hands of people.  People have lost millions of dollars putting their trust in people like Bernie Madoff and others.  People have lost their treasure trusting in men and money, trusting in the things of this world.
 
In one instance Jesus said what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?  So we have to be careful where we lay our treasures.   He goes on and in the 20th verse He uses the phrase “where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal”. 
 
We know what moths will do, moths eat holes in fabric.  We know what rust does, it destroys.   I don’t care what it is - leave it out there in the weather long enough and it’ll start rusting.   It will rust away.
 
You can take a silver spoon and lay it up in a cabinet or in a drawer, after a length of time it’s going to be tarnished.
 
Thieves may steal things, and moths and rust will do just as worse as thieves because eventually these treasures may be eaten or corroded away.
 
Instead of placing trust in earthly treasures Jesus tells us in the 20th verse “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”.  He is letting us know that our soul is a precious treasure, and we must take care not to lose our soul.
 
If we want to be effective in this life we should not focus just on putting money in AmSouth, the credit union, or Southtrust.   We need to put up things that will not rust and things that will not deteriorate.  We must trust Jesus Christ for the saving of our soul, and become rich in love for our fellow man.  When we begin to help our fellow brothers or our fellow sisters - these are the things that thieves cannot break through and steal.
 
Jesus has promised that we have a treasure/a mansion that he prepared for us.  He said “I go to prepare a place for you” and “in my Father’s house are many mansions”.  Jesus is saying the place I’m going to prepare for you - you won’t have to worry about termites.  You won’t have to worry about water damage.  You ain’t got to worry about hurricanes.  You ain’t got to worry about any of these natural disasters, like what happened in Haiti.
 
Let us keep Haiti in our prayers and keep Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross in our prayers because we know that it effects all of us spiritually.  Look, I’m a 200+pound man but I tear up when I see what’s going on there and I know for a fact it could be right here.   Two or three F5 tornadoes can flatten this city and we could easily be in that same shape right here.
 
Where is your treasure?
 
In the 21st verse it says, “…for where your treasure is there your heart will be also…”
 
If we put our treasures in heaven our hearts are going to be in heaven.  But if we put it in one of these credit unions or banks it will fail.  This system that we all operate in with the debit cards, credit cards, and financial things could fail at any time.
 
I remember one time years ago, I went to get some money out of the credit union and they said I couldn’t because the computers were down.  Now, if I want to go to God for something I don’t have to worry about Him being “down”.  There will never be a time that I can’t get my prayer through-  I can always get an answer.  God is never “down”.
 
Let us put our treasures in the right place; let’s keep focus in the right place.  Let us continue to keep Haiti and the relief agencies doing their part in that part of the world in our prayers.  And if we can do something to help, let’s do it. If you can donate, great.  Like I said, it could be us. We’re not exempt from natural disasters.  We might not be in an earthquake prone area or a tropical area but as I said earlier a couple of F5 tornadoes could flatten this city and we’d be looking for someone to help us.
 
In God we trust? Yes, we can trust God – He is a safe place to put your treasure.
~J. T.

Exodus 33:7-11
There are countries in the world that still have kings and queens, such as Queen Elizabeth of England and the king of Saudi Arabia.  Queen Elizabeth’s son Prince Charles has two sons - Prince William and Prince Harry.  Prince William is an heir to the throne, and will probably be king one day.  So in today’s time, we have kings and queens.  Many people desire to be in the presence of a king or queen, and they are expected to behave a certain way if  given the privilege to do so.

When you go into the presence of a queen most times you bow, and a lot of times you are expected to kiss her hand.  The same thing is true of the king – you may be expected to kiss his hand or kiss him on the side of his cheek and these types of things.

Now, you can’t just walk into the palace of a king or queen and think you will be taken in to see them.  You won’t see them without going through some sort of process or procedure.  You will have to have permission or approval to see the king or queen.

In His Presence
In the Old Testament and even at times in the New Testament we see that the priests had to go into the presence of God on behalf of the people.  In the book of Exodus Moses went into the temple, into the Holy of Holies and he talked with God.  Moses talked with God face to face as one would talk with a friend. Can you imagine? Can you imagine standing in the Presence of God or talking to God face to face?

I’m sure that was awesome!  Now, not everybody could go into the Holy of Holies, the holiest place in the temple.  It’s not like just anybody could go and stand in the presence of God.  Only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, and he could only go once a year.  There was only one time a year that a man could be in the presence of God.

There are so many, even today, that are trying to figure out - how can I go to God?  They may say: I heard that He is a holy God. How can I go into the presence of a Holy God?

But I thank God that Jesus Christ made it possible for us to stand before God anytime.  Jesus Christ made it possible for us all to go into the presence of God, and we thank God for blessing us to be able to go into His presence. 

It doesn’t matter who we are, as Christians we are allowed to go into His presence.  Even though God is a holy God, a rank sinner could come before God, confess their sins, ask God to forgive them of their sins, and they can be forgiven.  Right then he can go with a repentant heart into the presence of God, even as a sinner.  God welcomes sinners into His kingdom.

As the scripture tells us Moses went into the tabernacle, and God came down in a cloud and talked with Moses.  The people that stood in their tents seeing Moses began to fall down and worship.  They saw the cloud that came down; God was in that cloud and He spoke to Moses.

I want to let you know today that you too can go into His presence.  You don’t need Pope John Paul or Pope Benedict or any other priest to go into the Holy of Holies for you.  Jesus Christ has made it possible - Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Romans 8:34).
​
We can go today my brothers into His presence - don’t let nothing or nobody tell you that you cannot go into the presence of God.  Although God is a Holy God, the righteousness of Christ has made it possible.
Would you like to talk to God, would you like to feel the presence of God?  Then look to His Son, Jesus Christ for salvation.  Let Him take you into the presence of God.
~J.T.

Psalm 121:1-8

I can remember as a little boy there was this thing called a salt box.  They would kill hogs and after they had butchered it they would put it in the salt box, putting salt on the meat to preserve it.  Even now, we can go in the store, pick up a package of ham and see from the label that sodium or salt is used as a preservative.  Without a preservative, the surroundings or the environment – bacteria, heat, humidity, etc. – would cause the meat to spoil. 

We have to have a “preservative” as well.  If we don’t have a protector or preserver our surroundings, the sin in this world, will cause us to deteriorate.  We need to be sealed and protected from the evil of this world.

Psalm 121:7-8: The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.  The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
 
The Lord will keep us as we go and when we return.  I remember one time I left home, like I did this morning, expecting to go back home like I came, but I didn’t.  Before the day was over I was in a bad accident.  I was put in the hospital; I didn’t go back home for over 12 or 13 days.  Did God go off and leave me? No! Sometimes God allows us to go through things, but He still kept me.  I lived to tell the story, and now I know from experience that if I give my life to Him, God will take care of me, no matter where I go.

We thank God for the Lord Jesus who, as He told his disciples, asked the Father to send another Comforter back.  And in the 2nd chapter of Acts we see the answer to Jesus’ prayer; the Spirit of God came to preserve them.  That’s what we have to keep us now - the Holy Spirit.  You have to have the Holy Spirit.  
So we thank God that He’s a keeper.  We thank God for our “preservative”, the Holy Spirit, that keeps us regardless of where we go or what we might do.  He’s my Keeper, and He can be your Keeper too.
​
~J.T.

Psalm 121:1-8

I grew up in the country where we had a cow, chickens, hogs, and we had a big old garden.  I can remember my Mom canning peas, okra, even peaches and apples.  She would take them and put them in jars, preserving them for later on that year or even the next year.  I remember listening for the top to “pop”, and then you would know that it had sealed.  When we heard that sound we were sure that it was sealed and preserved.

In our passage today the psalmist turns our attention to “the hills”, looking up to God who is our Keeper; a God that doesn’t slumber, and doesn’t sleep.  Regardless of the time of the day or night, we can call Him.  We know by faith that He hears us, and we believe what the scripture says, He is always on watch for us; He never slumbers, nor does He sleep.

Verse 5: The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

As I was reading that I thought about the Exodus.  I thought about the children of Israel when they left Egypt and when they were going toward the Promised Land.  The scripture tells us that God was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. 

So we know that God protected them - He was preserving them.  It says that the “sun shall not smite thee by day” - why? Because God was their shade.  “Nor the moon by night”? God was protecting them. He was preserving them.   There was a place they had to go; a purpose and a promise to be fulfilled.

A lot of times we may wonder about our purpose.  We ask: Why am I here? The scriptures teach us that God preserves each one of us for a purpose.  God preserves us for a special task, even for such a time as now. 

Verse 7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil…..

In the book of Samuel and also in the book of Chronicles we learn about David and how God preserved him.  The prophet Samuel came to his father Jesse’s house to anoint his son to be king.  He anointed David as king and to my understanding it was 15 years later before David became King.  The Lord had the man of God to anoint David, but there was a time of preparation and preservation before David became king.  He preserved David all that time for a special purpose, for a specific time.

Sometimes God can have a task for us and we might feel that God wants us to do this thing right now - we might say I think God wants me to do this or do that.  But God might be saying it is not time yet - I’ve got to preserve you through this trial.  I’ve got to prepare you and I’ve got to equip you. 

"Being preserved."  As I said earlier my Mom and others would take things from the garden and preserve them.  Your parents may have done some of the same things, or maybe your grandparents.  They would cook them and sterilize those jars and caps.  They would fill those jars and would tighten them down and then when they heard the pop of the top they knew they were sealed.  The preserves would last in the season to come.

We thank God that He seals us - that the Holy Spirit preserves us and keeps us.  I’m not saying that we won’t make mistakes.  I’m not saying that we are not going to error.  I’m not saying that we’re going to live above sin – we’re not going to.  But we thank God that we have a Keeper - that we have a Someone who preserves us from all evil.  We thank God for the Keeper of our souls.   
​
~J. T.

​John 10:15-18
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Matthew 16:24
 
When we go shopping before we take an item to the counter we’re going to look at the price. We aren’t going to just pick something up and take it to the counter and pay for it without knowing the price.

Also stores have areas labeled “Clearance” where you can go and pay a lower price, maybe sometimes less than half.  You go in some stores they might have what they call a “red tag sale”.  But there is a price….

In our passage from John chapter 10 we see Jesus is telling us about laying his life down. He says He’s going to lay his life down for the sheep. Who is He talking about, who are the sheep? We are - the church; we are the sheep.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for us.  He came into this world specifically to do what He did.  No one else could do what Jesus did.

We should note that He tells us no man takes his life.  He said “no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again”.  He was willing to make this sacrifice; He was willing to pay the price.

Jesus didn’t go to the clearance rack; the clearance rack was not suitable enough.  The “Red Tag Sale” wasn’t suitable enough.  The blood that He shed paid the ultimate price -  it was red but it wasn’t a “Red Tag Sale”.  When it comes this price I’m talking about there is no such thing as a clearance rack or a doorbuster sale.  The wages of sin is death, therefore a sinless life was required.  There is a price for sin, and Jesus paid that price.

In 1 Cor 6:19 we read:  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Paul, the writer of Corinthians tells us that the body that we possess is the temple of God.  We may look at the church as a temple or a place of worship but he specifically says to us that our body is a temple and it belongs to God. In verse 20 he goes on to say: “For ye were bought with a price…”

There is a price.

Paul tells us “therefore glorify God in your body”; since we know Jesus paid the ultimate price, let us glorify God in our bodies. We should glorify God in our bodies - our bodies should be holy to God because our bodies are the temple.  Our body is where the Holy Ghost dwells.    
In Matthew 16:24 we read:  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

If we are going to follow Christ, there is a price.  Jesus tells us right here if any man comes after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  That’s a cross we can take up every day.  Each and every day we take that cross up and follow Christ.
We take up that cross by surrendering our hearts to him.
We take up that cross by committing ourselves to him.
We take up that cross by being obedient to His voice.
We take up that cross by obeying his word.
We take up that cross by reading His word.
We take up that cross by encouraging brothers in the faith; by encouraging others.

So I try to encourage you, my brothers.  If I can just say one or two things to encourage you that’s all I’m here to do.  Like I tell people I don’t have to get an offering. I don’t look to get a pat on the back. I don’t look for nothing because what I do, I do it for the glory of God.  There are brothers that have never come to this devotion but I still glorify God.  I believe there will come a day when God will ask them: Why didn’t you come? I was there - I had a word for you.

So many times people have a tendency to look at the man. Don’t look at the man. Forget about the man!  I can worship with you - it doesn’t matter if you are black or white.  If God is your Father and He is my Father then we are brothers. I don’t care what color you are.   But you know Satan will hold that between us.  Satan is the one that raises up that thing that divides God’s people but it was never intended to divide us.

Jesus paid the price for us all, no matter what color.  God wants to do some things and He wants to do it in the hearts of men.  He wants to use men from all races.  God needs men that will bring light into the world; this world needs a reflection of Christ, men that are following Christ. 

Brothers, I’m excited because I believe that God is going to do some awesome things in the lives of brothers that are committed to him.  We can turn this world around, we can turn this country around and we can turn our communities around.  If we step up, if we are willing to pay the price by taking up our cross and follow Him.
~J.T.

Luke 10:25-37

I was sharing this morning how in big cities you can live next door to people and not know them, especially in places like Chicago.  I lived up there way back in the 70's in a little studio apartment up there.  In this apartment building there were people on the same hall that I was staying on and I didn’t even know them.  I’m talking about people that are living a door or two down from you yet walk by you like you don’t even exist.
 
Here in Alabama we wave at people and we speak to people but in those kinds of cities and places people don’t even speak.  They can live in the same building where you live and walk by you without even opening their mouth.  Thank God that we’re not that way here in Alabama.
 
In Luke chapter 10 this lawyer began to ask Jesus “Who is my neighbor?”  In that day and time they would use lawyers to try to entrap Jesus or try to trick him.  He asks this question and Jesus responds with a parable, as we see, beginning with the 30th verse.
 
In this parable Jesus said “a certain man” (he didn’t call him by name) went down to Jericho and he fell among thieves.   The thieves stripped him – we would say today they mugged him – they robbed him, beat him, and left him half dead.  A priest, supposedly a man of God came by and he looked over there and saw him, then he walked by on the other side of the road.  Then a Levite came.  Levites and priests were men that stood before God, men that led worship, and men that taught the Word. This Levite he went by on the other side of the road. 
 
The priest went by on one side and this Levite went by on the other side - this makes me think that this man that was beaten and robbed was lying in the center of the road.  I also think about Jesus our Christ hanging on the cross - there was one man on the right, one man on the left, and He was in the center. So the priest went by and the Levite went by but Glory to God there was another man, a Samaritan. Now the man that was beaten was likely a Jew, and this priest and this Levite are Jewish men.  I’m talking about men that should have had compassion on this man.  The Jews and Samaritans didn’t have any dealings with each other, but a Samaritan is the one who comes and has compassion on the man.
 
Even today there are men and women of God that go to church each and every Sunday and walk by on the other side.  A lot of times there’s little kids playing next door and they haven’t even taken time out to stop and ask the parents Hey, can your kids go to Sunday school?  Now the parents they might not be going, they might have even just gotten in, but we have to be like that Good Samaritan.
 
We have to be willing to reach out to neighbors - that woman, that man - sometimes we just need to take the time to talk to them.  We can start reaching out, picking up that little boy or girl; you and your wife taking that little child with you to church.  That child will come back and begin to share with them the things that they have learned.   Maybe it’s some little Sunday school books, some little drawings or something that they’ve done in Sunday School or church.  You keep picking them up and the next thing you know that parent wants to go and see what’s going on.  We can be like that Good Samaritan, seeing to the needs of others.
 
This man took the injured man, put him on his own beast (donkey or horse) and bound up his wounds using oil and wine to aid in the healing.  He took him to an inn and took care of him, telling the innkeeper as he left that whatsoever you spend, next time I come I’ll pay you.
 
The passage reads: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
 
That’s what Jesus tells this lawyer: You go and do likewise.  Don’t do like the priest and the Levite.  You do like the Good Samaritan - you go and do likewise.
 
This Samaritan had compassion on this man.  He had a heart of compassion; he was willing to lend a helping hand.  As one preacher expressed it:
The robber beat him up;
The priest and the Levite passed him up;
But the Samaritan picked him up.
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There are neighbors in our midst that surround us, neighbors that are hurting, and neighbors that are in need.  We need to reach out to them.
~J.T.