Key points
- 1
1Jesus gives a new commandment: love others the same radical way He has loved us — and that love is the proof to the world that we belong to Him.
- 2
2The real question is not 'Who is my neighbor?' but 'Am I being a neighbor?' — Jesus flips the question to expose our tendency to pick and choose who deserves our love.
Paraphrase
For this world to get better, for this world to change, for this world to stop having prejudice and to stop treating people differently because they looked or act differently, theology is not gonna do it. Our good works aren't gonna do it. Our great songs aren't gonna do it. Good intentions aren't gonna do it.
- 3
3The despised Samaritan is a picture of Jesus — hated and rejected, yet the only one who stopped, bandaged wounds, and fully covered the cost for someone left for dead.
“when we spend more time with Jesus, we love people accidentally. It just becomes who we are”
- 4
4Mary's choice to sit at the feet of Jesus is not laziness — it is the one thing worth being concerned about, and it is the secret to loving people well.
- 5
5We cannot love difficult people on our own strength; the only way to love the unlovable is to spend consistent time with Jesus so that His love naturally flows through us.
- 6
6Practical tools — the YouVersion Bible app and the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) — can help anyone begin spending meaningful daily time with Jesus.
Paraphrase
What law and religion couldn't do for me, Jesus did.
“the only way for me to love people the way that God loves me is to be able to talk to God and communicate. And through prayer, I'm not gonna try to convince God of what he needs to do for me. I'm gonna ask God what he wants from”
“the only way that we're gonna love people who are difficult to love is when we spend enough time with Jesus that it just accidentally happens through us”
A story from life
The preacher's encounter with a hostile homeless man at a coffee shop in Downtown Chandler
Application
Pastor Tim's challenge is simple and concrete: start with ten minutes a day. Pick a passage from the New Testament, read it not to finish it but to let it speak to you, and work through it using SOAP — Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. As you observe what God is saying, write it down. As you apply it, ask honestly where you have walked past someone in need like the priest or the temple assistant. As you pray, stop trying to convince God of anything and simply ask what He wants from you. Do this every day this week. Pastor Tim promises that by the end of the week you will be better at loving people — not because you tried harder, but because time with Jesus naturally changes who you are and makes His reckless love for others flow through you.





