(Psalm 51:7 NLT) "Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
(1 John 4:9-10) "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
(1 John 4:11) "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
(Matthew 22:37-39 MSG) "Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
Three Attitudes Toward Others
1. Keep your distance.
(Luke 10:30-31) "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side."
2. Curious but uninvolved.
(Luke 10:32) "So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side."
3. Treat others how I want to be treated.
(Luke 10:33) "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him."
Loving Others
1. See the needs of the people around me.
(Luke 10:33 Message) "When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him."
(1 Corinthians 10:24) "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others."
2. Identify with people's pain.
(Luke 10:33) "…and when he saw him, he took pity on him."
(Galatians 6:2) "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
(2 Corinthians 1:4 LB) "(God) comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials so that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us."
3. Seize the moment.
(Luke 10:34 NLT) "Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them."
(Proverbs 3:27-28 Message) "Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person. Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now."
4. Do whatever it takes.
(Luke 10:34-35) "…Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"
(1 John 3:17-18) "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
(Isaiah 58:10-11) "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land."
For more information on the vision of Freedom Church, please visit our website at www.freedom-church.org.
