Kindness

A little different. We're going to kind of ease into it. We're going to try some things to keep sanitation in place and different ways to do our normal kids ministry. It might look a little different than our normal kids ministry, but we're going to begin to put that back in place next week. So I encourage you to come out, you 4th of July liars out there and different ones.

Come back next week and we'll be ready for your children to start that back up again. I'm just praying that we get to normalcy it very, very soon. Amen. But we will do whatever we need to do to keep you guys safe and to honor you and respect you during this season. And our online will continue to make that better for you as well.

So we are in a series called Church and Culture, Church and Culture. And the subtitle of this is counterculture living in an age of outrage. And it is an age of outrage, right? In fact, it's always been an age of outrage. And when we see Jesus in his ministry, we see that.

And in this series, if we if we're exploring the messages of or we're exploring, you know, kind of what it means to be counterculture, what Jesus taught us to be counterculture in an age of outrage. And last week we talked about mission, right? We talked about counterculture mission, how to be a missional person, what mission means and that as believers, we are on mission. We are missionaries, right? We are walking this world as missionaries.

We live as missionaries. And we talked a lot about that. And if you want to go back next week, you can listen to that message and get get the information from there. But this week, I want to start with a question. Does it ever feel like today's world is more rude and more condescending and uncivil and unkind than it's ever been before?

As the world becomes more bad mannered and polarized, the Bible invites us to be a little different, right? A little different. So so but but we often respond. I think most people respond with wrong, wrong for another wrong, right? Our reaction to things that happen to us is that if they do that to me, I'm going to do that to them.

If they act this way to me, I'm going to act that way to them. Right. If they if they say that with me, we like to return sin for sin. But God calls us to do something completely different. So so here's here's the scripture that's going to kind of set us up today says make sure you never pay back one wrong with another wrong.

Instead, always try to be what try to be kind. See, we want to be kind people to each other and to everyone else. It says first Thessalonians five fifteen. So how many of you let me ask this, how many of you had spent time getting ready this morning and it took you a little while to get ready? You looked in the mirror, you had to get your your.

How many of you were late to church this morning because it took you a little time to get ready? OK, OK. So what if we spent more time working on how to be nice to other people than it takes us to look good ourselves? What if we worked a little more on the inside of us than we do on the outside? What would that what did that be like?

See, people are like begin around people like being, excuse me, being around people who are nice, people that aren't mean. You know, when someone's around you, that's nice. They're more attractive for some reason. There's beautiful people out there. But if once you get to know them, they kind of turn ugly.

Have you ever met anybody like that? It just, you know, they're not really attractive because of their personalities and and whatnot. And so we need to spend a little more time on our attitudes. Right. We spend a lot of time on how we look and and how we dress and and we're dressing for success.

Right. We dress for success. But what if we spent more time on dressing for success another way? Look, look what the Bible says about that. As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, with kindness, with humility, gentleness and patience.

So clothe yourself. What if we put on that type of clothing? Here's what Philippians four or five says. Your kindness should be known to all people should see your kindness. We should operate in kindness.

And God wants you to have a reputation of kindness. He wants to be he wants a people that are seen by their kindness. We should be people. You know what I want for you and I want for our church to be a church of kindness. When people see Salt Church, they're like, wow, that's a really kind church.

They you know, I mess up and I do things, but man, they're so kind. They bring me back in. They help me. They're a kind church. God wants us to be kind people.

That's counter culture to think that way. Right. But we are to act kind even when those who believe differently, that act differently, have different ideologies. We are to be people of kindness. And.

In first Corinthians 16, 14, it says everything you do must be done in love. Everything. There's no hate. And there's there's love and kindness is love and action. Once you put that down, kindness is love and action.

By the way, I forgot to tell you, you can go on the YouTube version Bible app and you can pull up events and you can find Salt Church there. And I have some notes there for you since I'm not able to give you handout notes. OK. So kindness is love and action. So kindness.

Is not an emotion. OK, we often think of kindness. I'm a kind person, but kindness is an action. What we do is is kindness, not what we think. We can think we're kind and we can think about being kind.

But unless we're doing it, it's an action. It's an event. It's a it's important. It's so important to Jesus that he felt the need. And it's so important to the father that he felt the need to give Jesus a story about a good Samaritan, a good Samaritan.

And this is probably one of the famous most famous stories in the Bible. Most of you have probably heard of the good Samaritan, whether you've been in church, whether you've not been in church Samaritan's Purse. And everybody likes the idea of a Samaritan, you know, like like I'm a good Samaritan. But let me just explain to you what that looks like. And by the way, this is found in Luke 10, 25 and 37.

The historical context of what was happening here was was counterculture for Jesus's people. It was counterculture for the Jewish people. Those Samaritan. We're of a different race. And there was a lot of bigotry.

There was a lot of racism. There was a lot of prejudice between both groups. They did not like each other. They, in fact, hated each other. They saw them as enemies of each other.

A Jew would say, it is better to be a dog than to be a Samaritan. They would often say that. In fact, they considered Samaritans half-breeds because there was Jewish tribes that left. They left the tribes and went in. And infiltrated is what they said.

Infiltrated with other cultures and other races. So, they were considered half-bred. I mean, just animals. They would treat them like animals. They would treat each other hateful.

They were bigots. They were mean to each other. They were not kind at all. So, when Jesus uses a Samaritan as a hero in the story, this was beyond anything that anyone had ever heard before. Are you kidding me?

A Samaritan. A Samaritan. And the scriptural context here. So, this Jewish leader or this educator or this Jewish expert in the law comes to Jesus and he asks this question. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What must I do to be saved? What do I need to do? So, I love how Jesus responds because Jesus often responds with a question himself. He puts him on the spot. He says, well, what is written in the law?

Let me ask you. You're the expert. You're the law expert. And he responds, well, love the Lord with all your heart, with all of your soul, with all your strength, with all of your mind. And then, love your neighbor as yourself.

Now, he probably really got the whole love the Lord with all your heart situation. You know, yeah, yeah, we need to do that. But you're telling me to love my neighbor. Okay, that's a little different. So, the guy, I'm sure he's thinking, he's like, and he responds to Jesus and he says, who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor? See, he was looking for a loophole. That's what was going on there. Because he knew good and well what Jesus was getting at. But isn't that interesting?

We're kind of like that, right? We're always looking for loopholes. We're like, okay, who is my neighbor? You know, God wants me to love this person. God wants me to do this.

We find loopholes around sin. And what he's trying to do is trying to pull it, kind of sidestep Jesus' question. And Jesus responds with this story, with this story of the Good Samaritan. Now, this scripture, there's three different people. And I want to introduce three different attitudes that people have.

Now, what I would like to say about these attitudes, it's not like you can be one and not the other. In fact, you can be all three of these attitudes in one day. You can be all three of these attitudes in one day. And what's interesting about this story is that they are going from Jerusalem to Jericho, which was a very windy road. It was a road that no one really wanted to travel alone because there was a lot of theft and there was a lot of robbery.

There were wooded areas. There were pinpoint turns and things like that just all over the place. So it was easy for someone who wanted to rob you to hide and jump out and rob you. So they knew exactly where he was talking about. So he goes into this story and he shares these three people.

One of them was a priest, one of them was a Levite, and one of them was these God-awful Samaritans. So he has three different people. So the first thing I want to mention about our attitudes is I can keep my distance. When someone's in trouble, I can keep my distance. So as you know, what happens here in the story is this man was robbed.

He was beat. He was on the path. He was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was beaten on the path. So it picks up from here.

If you go to verse 30 of chapter 10, it says, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and when he was attacked by 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. The pastor, you know, the preacher, the one called by God was going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he saw the man, he passed by him on the other side. This is avoidance. So many times we tend to avoid it.

If I can't see it, it must not be there. If I can't, I've got to get away from it because I know that the need's there, but if I don't see it, it's not there. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't have to pay attention, therefore I'm not responsible.

This is that type of attitude. I'm tired of all the stuff going on, so I'm just going to remove myself altogether from all the people that need help. I don't even want to see them. I don't want to even put them in view. I'm just going to go along my way.

And isn't that so easy to do? Like, think about Virginia Beach is the easiest place to do that. I mean, we've got these things called garages, and some of you, I don't have that, but some of you do have that where you hit a button and it opens up and you can just roll right into the garage, you know. Don't even have to wave at your neighbor. You just slip in.

And then others of us that don't have garages, we just hop out and say, oh no, where's my neighbor? I better roll, you know. I better get inside really quick so I don't have to talk to anybody. And it's so easy today to avoid the very people that live beside you. It's easy for us.

There's times we don't even see our neighbors, you know, for days and sometimes weeks. It's real easy to do that, and we can get caught up in that. It's real easy to do that. The second thing I want to mention is I can be curious but uncaring. Meaning I can see it, and I know it's there.

I'm not simply avoiding it, but I'm actually seeing it, but I don't really care. I don't really care. And this was the Levite. Now let's just go back. Okay, a priest and a Levite.

It doesn't matter how religious you are. See, that's why I love Christianity because Christianity isn't about a religion. It really isn't a religion in the first place because what religion says, I do all the right things and therefore I enter into heaven. What God says is all you need to do is have a relationship with me. I've already rescued you just by leaving me.

Come into my family. I am available for you. Now here we see a Levite, a religious person, not being nice. See, some of the most hateful people I've ever met were church-going people. Church-going people.

See, that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much you go to church. It doesn't matter how much you pay your tithes. It doesn't matter what you do. You can be as nasty as the person down the road that's completely irreligious.

Religious or irreligious, you can be un- Kind. It says this in verse 32, so to a Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by him on the other side. See, the Levite was apathetic about what was going on. He saw the victim and he didn't only see him. He possibly even stared at him and thought about it.

And well, he'll be OK. Somebody else will come along. He'll be OK. So they move on. Some of you are like, Pastor, I would never do that.

You know, somebody was beaten in the road. Something happened. I would never just ride by him and not try to do anything. But we do it all the time. We call it onlooker delay because we ride by and we see a wreck or we see somebody broken down on the road and we look over and we're like, hmm, they'll be all right.

Hmm. We stare at him, don't we? We want to. We're curious about what's going on. But we're not interested in helping them.

We're uncaring. We're moving on. I have a friend. His wife is always complaining because he's so kind to people on the side of the road. He's always there.

They always they're always late getting somewhere. And she's a very functional person, a punctual person. And she's always wants to be on time. But they're never on time because he'll be riding down the road and he'll look over and see somebody's car broke down. I got to go help him.

Turn around, loop around, go back every time. It makes her sick. But he's such a kind person. He really cares about people. Look what Exodus 23, 5 says.

If you see the donkey of someone who hates you falling down under its load, do not leave it there. Be sure you help them with it. It's this is like someone that hates you, someone that doesn't like you. What are you going to respond? Usually we just look at him.

Well, they don't like me anyway, so I'm not. You know, look at them. But here's the thing, if you claim to be a Christian, you have no choice but to be kind. There's there's no option. As Christians, we are kind people.

We respond kindly. We act kindly. We pursue kindness. We have no other option but to be kind. It's a command.

It's a command. And unfortunately, there are many that are dragging the name of Jesus Christ through the mud because of their lack of kindness, their lack of kindness. Here's the third point. I can show kindness. I can show kindness.

The Samaritan. It says, but a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He had a kind heart. He had a heart of kindness. He felt pity for him.

He felt he felt his need. Here's what the golden rule says. All of you know this in Matthew 7, 12. Always treat others as you would have them treat you. But the question is, does unkindness actually get you anywhere?

Does unkindness get anybody? Assess that just for a second. Does unkindness really get us anywhere? I mean, maybe for a short period of time. It'll get us down the road a little bit.

But ultimately, it comes back to bite us, right? Over a period of time, after being unkind, over and over, taking advantage of people, over and over, doing things over and over, you come back to emptiness. This is why Galatians, I love how the message says this, the message paraphrase in Galatians 6, 7. It says, the person who plants itself, selfishness, ignores the needs of others, harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds.

I mean, God says, I'll bless you with kindness. Or you can just try it yourself and you'll just end up at the end of your life with weeds. So here's what God says in Proverbs 11, 17. Your own soul is nourished when you are kind. You are actually nourished.

It's actually, it actually helps you. So let me ask this. How can I become a kinder person? How can I become a kinder person? That's the question of the day, right?

How can we become a kinder person? Three things. Or four things, rather. I must see the needs of the people around me. I've got to see.

I've got to pray to God that he opens up the antennas, the spiritual antennas, to be able to see the needs of the people around me. Look at this, Luke 10, 33. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. And what does it say? He saw him and he took pity on him.

Love begins with looking. You don't care unless you first are aware. You've got to be aware in order to care. You've got to be. Kind of starts with the eyes.

Kind of starts with seeing. Kind of starts with just being open. Because everyone has wounds, guys. Everyone. People right in here have wounds.

And they're hurting. I mean, right beside you. Everybody, everybody, I think it's inevitable for anybody to go through life without some, no matter where you are in your spiritual walk, in your Christian walk, people hurt everywhere. But the reasons we don't see it are two things. First, people hide them.

They don't talk about them. They're going to hide them. They're going to sit right next to you in church and they're going to hide them. They're just not going to share them. And the second thing is we're too busy.

We're in a hurry, so we fail to see the needs of people. We're always in a hurry. We're always getting places. See, when I'm in a hurry, I can't see things. But when I stop, as Jesus stopped in Scripture and saw the needs of people, instead of being in a hurry, you know, stop and look and see the needs of people.

People have needs all around us. So we need to be, we need to, you know, consider, and I love how this particular phrase, somebody said this, hurry is the death of kindness. Hurry really is the death of kindness. It kills kindness. And we don't stop, we don't slow down, and we don't see more.

We'll never see what we need to see. I think about, you know, if I take my kids and my wife and our family on a trip across America, I'm going to California, let's say. If I ride a plane to California and I get there right away, you know, what am I going to see? I'm going to see clouds and I'm going to, you know, see the air and this and that. And I might see a few cities from the sky, but I'm never really going to get a clear view.

But if I take my time, if we get in a car, if we drive across state, we stop at different places, we're able to see. We're able to see what's around us. We are able able to see the communities, the surroundings, different parts of America. Those things are are that make us aware. So slowing down is supremely important.

First Corinthians 10 24 says look out for the good of others. Right. We need to look out. We need to look out for the good of others. And some of us this comes naturally for we're able to look, but others of us it doesn't necessarily.

Right. But we can work on it, which leads me to my next point. I must sympathize with their pain. It's one thing to see it, but sympathizing is another a whole nother level that we need to reach. Do I sympathize with their pain?

I think about a friend of mine who's in homeless ministry and he actually goes out and lives among the homeless for days just to feel their pain. I mean, just to go out, he wants to relate to their pain and what they're going through. We need to do the same, not literally go out and sleep with the homeless, but we need to figure out ways in which we can experience and sympathize with people's pain. Here's what verse 33 says. And when he saw him, his heart was filled with compassion.

When Jesus ministered his heart, what what stopped him in his path? What kept him from hurrying, looking at the crowd and having compassion because they were lost sheep without a shepherd? We need to stop and listen. And listening is so important because here's the deal. People want to be understood and people want to be validated.

You know, we got these things called mirror neutrons that are that are a part of us. And that's why when you watch a movie and you connect with a place on a movie, maybe a kiss, a passionate kiss, you know, you're like, woo or whatever. Or if there's there's somebody's hurt in the movie and you're like, oh, I feel that pain and start crying and stuff because we naturally are are made to be able to sympathize with people, sympathize with others. It's actually built in us. Mirror neutrons are built in us and people want to be understood and people want to be validated.

And we are there to be able to sympathize with them. So we need to start by asking the right questions instead of stop asking this. Stop asking what is wrong with them? You know, that's usually where we go. Right.

What's wrong with them? What is going on with them? We got to figure them out. See, as men, we try to figure out things. Right.

Like I know I do. We got to come up with a game plan. This is wrong. We got to we got to get this sin out of their life or whatever it is. You know, we got to fix this.

Right. But instead of doing that, because what happens, we lack grace when we do that. When we think about what did they do wrong? It's like Job, you know, and his friends and they were looking at him and they were doing, you know, call. What did you do to God?

And why did God do this? And you need to correct this and you need to correct that. Sometimes it's just important to listen to them and then stop asking what is wrong with them and start asking what happened to them. Start asking what happened to them. Stop asking what was wrong with them and start asking what's happened to them.

Galatians 6, 2 says, share each other's troubles and problems. And in the same way, you obey the law of Christ. I think about my friend Jack, who I actually spent some time with a few years ago, ministry and homeless ministry. And he loved the homeless. And I was out there with a group of people.

And we were kind of handing out blankets and coats and doing a lot of things like that. But the thing that was different about Jack, Jack not only handed out the coat, he gave the people the coat, but he actually sat down with them. And he just leaned over like he really cared. And he started asking the questions, you know, guys, man, what happened? What happened to you guys?

I mean, are y'all like just down and out? What did y'all just like lose it? He was interested and they just started sharing and pouring their hearts out. He would just sit there and listen. And I'm thinking, wow, we've got a lot of blankets to give out.

We've got to do this by this time because I'm in a hurry. But then I stopped for a second. I looked at him and I saw, wow. And I grabbed my group. I said, y'all come around here.

Watch him. Watch him. This is ministry. This is ministry. He's not only giving them a blanket, but he's relating to them.

He's sympathizing with them. It's the law of Christ. Thirdly, I must seize the moment to help. See, it's one thing to see it and there's one thing to feel their pain. But it's another thing to actually help.

Help in that moment. Don't delay. Help. When God tells you to help, help. Stop standing around and looking and help.

Help. Get out there and help. Kindness isn't something I wait to feel like doing. Kindness is something I do. Kindness is something I walk and do.

I go out and do. I immediately know and I do. I see it and I do it. I fulfill that. He went on.

It says in Luke 10, 34, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, a Samaritan pouring on oil and wine. So he took his tunic off. He started wrapping him up. He took care of him. He had some oil and wine immediately.

He didn't wait for the paramedics to get there. He didn't do anything like that. He didn't look around and say, well, I don't have anything. He started looking immediately where he was and he started pulling things out and helping this man. Immediately, he helped him.

He helped him. But we've got to do two things in order to do that. First, I have to be willing to be interrupted. That sometimes schedules go out the window. That my time schedule, I've got to be willing to be interrupted.

When I'm helping people, I've got to be willing to let my schedule go once in a while. Now, that's not to excuse those who don't honor schedules because I know a lot of people are bad about times and stuff like that. They don't, you know, but sometimes you might have, you have a meeting and you just have to call that person and say, hey man, I know I was going to have coffee with you this morning. I know we're going to talk about this, but can we reschedule? I've really got somebody with a big need and I'm going to have to help them.

You know, sometimes we're going to have to be willing to be interrupted. Look what it says in Galatians 6.10. Whenever we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it, but we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers. So whenever the opportunity comes, we should be helping them.

Well, she's annoying. He's annoying. You know, yeah, they're in my church. They're in my small group, but they're just so annoying. Well, maybe God's trying to help you become a kinder person.

Maybe that's what God's trying to do in you. Maybe they are annoying. Maybe they are aggravating. Maybe they bother you too much, but what if it's you and not them? Because you're not kind.

I got a lot of response on that one. That was a good one. I'm glad I made that point. Secondly, I must move against my fears. What ifs?

What if? What if? What if? What if they're shamming me or they're doing something to deceive me? Or what if they reject me?

Or what if I help them and other people see that I'm helping them and think differently about me? And whatever it might be, you've got a number of excuses. You've got a number of excuses, but you've got to move past your fears, guys. You've got to move past your fears. Look at what Proverbs 3, 27, 28 says, 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. Stop putting aside people, and I'm going to help them later, and you never help them. We can help them now. And just as a side note, we don't like to get involved in other people's lives when we're broken ourselves.

Because we're afraid our brokenness is going to be brought up. Can I ask you as a pastor? Get help. If you're somebody who can't help others and you can't be kind because you're broken yourself, that means you need help yourself. Get good counseling.

Get good help. You've got to get through that because God wants you to be a kind person, and you need to get established so you can move past your past and be kind people. Be kind people. And fourthly and lastly, I must spend whatever it takes. Some of you are like, spend?

You're talking about my pocketbook. Not necessarily, but maybe. Not necessarily, but maybe. Maybe you are a person that has the money, the financial resources to help somebody out. But maybe you've got time.

Maybe you've got energy. Maybe you can just give them attention, some type of attention. And you should be able to even spend your reputation because there's times when you help people that you aren't going to have a great reputation, right? And we need to put the time. See, Jesus never worried about the guilt of being with someone.

I mean, he chose the nastiest people you could possibly be with, the most unkind people in the world. He chose a tax collector who was a swindler. You know, he saw him. And he responded to them and he sympathized with them and brought them in and took care of them and guided them into the greatest men that ever lived in the church. The apostles, fishermen out on ships all day, boats all day.

Probably the worst of the worst. Nobody associated with a fisherman. But Jesus did. Look at Luke 10, verse 34 says, but then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn where he took care of him. And the next day he took out two silver coins and took out financial help and all that and gave it to the innkeeper.

And he told the innkeeper, take care of him. And when he and when I come back this way, I will pay you whatever else you spend on him, whatever else. So not only was he going to leave him there and give him money to take care of him, but if if if it costs more, I'll spend more. What does he gain from this? Nothing but favor from God.

Nothing but God's favor in a kind heart. We are to be kind, kind people. Luke 10, it says, which of these verse 13 going on the verse 13, which of these three is what Jesus asked? He said, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to a man who fell into the hands of the robber? An expert of the law replies, the one who had mercy on him.

And Jesus told him. We'll go and do likewise. Can I say, Salt Church, go and do likewise. Jesus has told us that you go and do likewise, be kind, do something for somebody, reach out to somebody, do something for someone this week. Look at Proverbs 19, 17 says being kind to people in need is like lending to the Lord.

He will repay you for the kindness you have shown. Look, it's like it's as if God has something for you. You're kind of it's like the currency of heaven. You're doing time for people. You may not get that money back.

They may even use you at times. It may be irresponsible. You know, people are irresponsible all around you with what they do. But if God is calling you to do something, if God leads in your heart to be kind to that person, if you're looking to be kind in whatever way that is, I'm looking at Jesus. I'm not looking at the person.

I'm always asking God, what should I do in this situation? And there's times I know that that person is probably going to go out and do something wrong with that money. But there are times where God leads me, you know, give them a twenty dollar deal. And then other times it's something else, you know. Maybe some kind of direction, some kind of resource, some kind of prayer, some kind of, you know.

But but the point is, go and do likewise and be kind. Ephesians 2 8 says this. Let me go back for a second, though. Here's an action plan I got for you this week. Here's the action.

I want you to think of one person you see every day. One person you see every day. And preferably somebody you don't like. I'm gonna make this really hard for you. And I want you to be kind to them.

I want you to be kind to them. Lastly. It says in Ephesians 2 8 that God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift.

From God. See, it was the kindness of God who leads us to repentance. If I could get some music here in the background. But just as we end. But kindness is a gift from God.

Salvation is a gift from God. It leads us to repentance. It's it was the greatest act of kindness was God's act of kindness. God's act of kindness. And here's what I want us to do today.

I think it doesn't matter where you are in your spiritual walk. I want us just to stop for a second and assess our lives. Where are we. Where are we. Our kindness.

Odometer. Where are we. Let me pray with you today. If you're here with us with all heads bowed and all eyes closed. God, I pray over Salt Church.

I pray over Salt Church. I pray over all the people watching today, I pray God that you would begin to stir our hearts, stir our hearts for kindness. Lord, as I was looking to do this message and pulling together the notes to do this, months ago I had no clue that we would be up against what we're up against today with all the hate. People hating people, hating people, instead of loving people regardless of how they feel about them. These Samaritans and these Jews, figuratively speaking, happening today.

Just the hate. But God, let us be counterculture. Let us be different, Lord, that no matter what people say, no matter what people do, no matter how people act, no matter what goes on in the lives and hearts of others, Lord, that we respond with kindness. Help us to do that, Lord. Let us see the need.

Let us respond to the need. Let us sympathize with the need. And let us go and do, Lord. Let us be that people. Let us be that church that reaches those that are hurting.

And staying in that same spirit of worship today, I just want to ask. Maybe you're out there and you haven't given your life to Christ. You don't even know what it's like to have a relationship with Him. You don't know anything about the kindness, this kindness, this free gift that we talk about. Or maybe you're on the other side and you need to rededicate your life.

You need to give your life to Him. Maybe you've walked away from Him and it's time to get back. It's time to, I'm a prodigal, I've got to get back. If that's you today, I want you to experience the kindness of God today. Because it's through faith, by the grace of God, that we can have this thing that Jesus was sharing with this man about eternal life.

By the kindness of God that He gave His life to you. And you do that by believing and trusting and submitting to Him. Not religion, not doing the right things, I've got to get my life right. No, Jesus has already gotten your life right through the cross. All you have to do is believe through faith, by grace, because His grace is available to you.

If you would pray this with me and believe it in your heart. It says, He who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's what salvation is about. So just pray this with me. Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God and I know that I am a sinner and I've walked away from you.

Or I've been separated from you, Lord. But I can't do it my way any longer. I realize how separated I am. But I believe today and I've made that decision today. That you died on the cross for my sin and you've come to save me.

So I accept you as Lord and Savior today. I give my life to you. Come into my heart. Make me you. This day, I walk with you from this day forward.

Forever now. And to eternity. Amen. Amen. Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise?

Now, if you gave your life to Christ, some things are going to happen. Here's the deal. Things are going to happen. You're going to start acting different. You're going to start thinking different.

But here's the first steps. First of all, you've got to get plugged in. You've got to attend church regularly. I don't know how you're going to do that with COVID going on. But you've got to get plugged in with the family.

And you've got to do that. You've got to get plugged in maybe with a small group. We've got small groups here you can get plugged into. You can do that. You need to read your Bible.

You need to pray. You need to surround yourself with people. You've got to do that. And you've got to get baptized. Baptism is super important.

So I ask you today, if you could do that, we want to help you take those next steps. We can get you to where you need to be. We exist so that those far from God can be growing in a relationship with Christ. We want to help you grow in a relationship. We want to help you take those next steps.

So if you would fill out our connection card online, let us know. Type in, I gave my life to Christ today. We'll connect with you this week. We'll help you get there. But we love you so much.

Welcome to the family. You are welcome. You are wanted. And we love you so much. So thank you guys for being with us today.

Listen, okay. So before we... We're just going to... If you're giving, continue to give online. Y'all have been doing a phenomenal job.

Continue to do this so that we can make this church work. And all the things we're doing. You can give three ways. You can give through our website. You can text to give.

Our guys, I think they're going to pop that up on the screen. I don't see it up on the screen. But if you want to text to give, you can do that. You can give through our church center app. You can also mail in your giving.

There are still many ways to give. If you're here with us today, again, you can drop it off. But Lord, bless us and keep us. May your face shine upon us. Be gracious to us and give us your great and mighty peace as we leave today.

Bless our offering. Bless our giving. We love you so much. We do it through loving with you, Lord. And we ask this in your name.

Amen.