It's great to be back with everybody today. At
the same time, it's a privilege and an honor
to be asked to preach anytime. I'll have to say
that I have done good with my retirement. I've
avoided any ministerial stuff as much as possible
and have tried to be a good granddaddy and a
good husband. and a good hunter and a good fisherman.
So I've enjoyed that very much. It's been great
also to sit under the ministry, whether I've
been sitting under Kenny or Jonathan or at my
church, and it's been a great honor to just hear
the word and just soak in stuff. I'm telling
you, when you're a minister, you do this all
your life, and every Sunday, if you're a senior
minister, every Sunday you've got a sermon prepared.
and you've got to present God's Word to his people
and stand as it were between him and his people.
And that's a daunting task. I don't care who
you are and I don't care how long you've been
in the ministry. It never is something you're
comfortable with. So it's great to be able to
sit at this time in my life and receive and that's
just been so good. Now I got one announcement
and Kenny didn't say any, he'd probably say shut
up if he knew what I was going to say. He didn't
say anything, but October is Pastor Appreciation
Month. And the color of appreciation is green.
Just to let you know that, that's Pastor Appreciation
Month. And that's just something that I won't
say anything else. My journey has been, since
I left Fairview, I spent four years in Virginia,
five in West Virginia, 13 in Louisiana, and then
nine more in Louisiana. The last nine years of
my ministry has been an independent church. We
started a church after the church got enough
of me and said it was time for me to be on my
way. Of course, I had other ideas about that,
but God knew exactly what he was doing and taught
me so much about his faithfulness through those
times. And I'm standing before you now as somebody
who has really been kind of gotten outside of
the church, not that I left the church ever.
but gotten outside of a framework of stuff that
we're familiar with and examined things from
what the Word says and just gone back to the
Bible. I've been enjoying this time so much because
I've just gone back to the scripture and let
the Word of God speak to my heart and let it
speak through me instead of trying to conform
to the ideals of men. And it's been absolutely
exhilarating. I mean, I preached for nine years
in blue jeans and tennis shoes and a t -shirt,
and I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Now, I did
wear a tie today. I'm trying to be thoughtful
of everybody, but I could be just as comfortable
in a t -shirt and tennis shoes and blue jeans.
And the pastor I sit under right now preaches
at barefoot, so you know there's no help for
me now. I do have my boots on. Let's pray. Father,
we're about to open your word. It is life. It's
about what living is for. And I pray, Father,
that you would talk to us today. I know that
there is so much in me that... is going to hinder
this. There's so much about me that's not right.
But there's nothing, nothing that's not right
about you. And there's nothing that's not right
about your Holy Spirit and how he comes to us.
And if there's one thing I ask today, Father,
is that you get a hold of our hearts. We get
so comfortable. And we get so in ruts. we want
you to be this great blade today and remove those
from our lives and bring us back to Jesus Christ
and who we are in him and Help us to live that
way Speak Your servants are listening in Jesus
name The word of God comes to us today from the
book of Luke, Luke chapter 10, beginning with
verse 25. And behold, the lawyer stood up to
put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Now notice, first
of all, the lawyer comes up, and I'm not gonna
say any jokes about lawyers, there's plenty of
that out there. The lawyer comes up, and in classic
lawyer fashion, test. Jesus. You got to see this.
There's arrogance here. It's a question, but
it's arrogance. And Jesus is about to show him
exactly what he means in his word. So that's
the preface here. He said to him, Jesus said
to him, what is written in the law? How do you
read it? And he answered, you shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with
all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.
Can't you just hear him say that? And he said
to him, you've answered correctly. Do this and
you will live. And Jesus is ready to drop it
right there. This is what it means. But he desiring
to justify himself, you know, in the ministry
you meet all kinds of people and I remember one
lady that had been married two or three times
and she was on the third one I think and and
we were have we were visiting one time and she
and her husband good people live right behind
the church loved them but she was giving all
these excuses as to why she had divorced why
she was in the position she was in and I'm not
saying anything about divorce Both my kids have
been divorced, okay? I'm not saying anything
about divorced people, but I am saying this.
She was justifying everything she had done. She
is justifying why she had left, how intolerable
her husband had been, and all this stuff, wishing
to justify her actions. And I just stopped her
and I said, look, repent. All you have to do
is repent and say, Lord, help me. Don't try to
justify what you've done. Listen to the Holy
Spirit speaking to you instead of coming up with
all these excuses. Admit that you're a sinner.
That's all she had to do. And Jesus received
sinners. Jesus came for sinners, like me. The
lawyer desiring to justify himself said to Jesus,
and who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, a man
was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat
him and departed. This is New Orleans. This is
Chicago. This is Greenville. Now, thugs everywhere.
This is why I have concealed carry permit. I'm
not packing now, but that's why I have it. leaving
him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going
down that road and when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. Okay, by chance, Pastor
Steve was driving down that road and he saw the
guy and he passed by on the other side. Or Reverend
Jones was going down that road and he saw the
man and he passed by. So likewise, a Levite,
when he came to the place and saw him, passed
by on the other side. So we've got a pastor,
now we've got a theologian, a church worker,
an elder maybe, I don't know, saw the problem,
didn't want to involve himself in the problem.
So he avoids the problem. How easy is it to close
your eyes and not see the problem? How easy is
it for you and I to cross by on the other side
and not stop and help? How easy that becomes.
In a world of cell phones, in a world where we
can justify our actions, Now listen, I want to
make something really clear because I want to
make a point today about helping people, but
I want to make something really clear. Ladies,
you're exempt from most of this. Point to your
husband. But guys, you're not. Ladies, I don't
expect you and God doesn't expect you to put
your life in danger by stopping and helping somebody
that could take advantage of you in any way or
anything like that, okay? But you still need
to listen to the sermon. But guys, I'm speaking,
I'm preaching to you, and the Holy Spirit is
too, okay? So likewise a Levite when he came
by, passed on the other side. But a Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when
he saw him, he had compassion. I don't know if
we can get this analogy really. as good as it
was back then, but to the Jews, you've heard
this a dozen times. To the Jews, the Samaritans
were derped. You don't touch a Samaritan. You
don't have any dealings with a Samaritan. They
are the people, if you rub up against them, you
might get a mark on you. You know what I mean?
They're the kind of people that stink. They smell.
They don't bathe right. They don't take care
of themselves. You don't want anything to do
with them, and you better not play with them
or dance with them or anything like that with
them. there was a separateness there between
the Jews and the Samaritans and it was based
on ceremonial law and the fact that for centuries
there had been animosity between those who had
left and married intermarried with the pagan
tribes and had this mixture of religion the Samaritans
versus the Jews who had been pure. Jesus comes
in the middle of all this mess and uses us American
to shame the Jews. And you think about what he's
saying. And you can fill the blanks in. I don't
have to say anything to you. You can fill the
blanks in about who he's talking about here.
In every culture, there are cast, there are differences.
There are people who we don't want to be part
of. We don't want to be around. But what if that
person comes up and changes your time? And what
if that person comes up and gives you a cup of
cold water? How do you feel now? He went to him
and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his own animal and brought,
put him in his pickup truck, took him in his
Mercedes or whatever he's driving and brought
him to an inn and took care of him. And the next
day he took out two denarii and gave them to
the innkeeper saying take care of him and whatever
more you spend I will repay you when I come back.
Now that's care, that's real care. that's personally
involving yourself and somebody with need, that's
love. That's neighborliness. You know, I love
coming back to the South. I've been in the frozen
North of West Virginia. I've been where there's
a culture that's so much different from mine.
I remember singing Dixie and crying. I was in
West Virginia and it was so different up there
in Charleston. Oh my goodness. I longed for the
South where I could come back and you could put
your finger up and just wave at people. My daddy
told me when we were growing up, you can wave
at men but you can't wave at women. That's the
rule. Unless they wave at you first and then
you can wave at them. And the rule is, you never
pass somebody in an older vehicle when you're
driving down the road because you don't want
to shame them. You want to stay behind them.
I don't care if they're going 25 in a 45. You
never pass them on a two lane road. That's just
the rules. That was how we were raised because
you know what that taught me then? That taught
me to care about people that didn't have the
V8 engine and the fancy car that I was driving.
That taught a lot of stuff. And parents, I don't
care how old your kids get, you're teaching them
every day of your life because they want to please
you more than they want to please anybody on
this earth. And they'll always want that. There's
a lot to be said about what you teach your kids.
So take care of him. I'll repay you. Which of
these do you think proved to be a neighbor to
the man who fell among the robbers? He said the
one who showed him mercy Jesus said to him you
go and do likewise Well folks I What what we
want to be about is first of all show this Jesus
cares. Jesus cares. He cares for you. And he
cares for you whether you're the rich man. It's
harder to enter heaven than for a rich man to
go. It's easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
heaven. He cares about rich people. He cares
about poor people. He cares about sinners. Jesus
cares. And Jesus says for us to go and do likewise.
And what I'm wanting to proclaim to you today
is that God can take your heart and make you
somebody who cares. Maybe you're a hard butt
like I've been. My son, I remember when he was
15, he said, I can be a hard butt. If you want
to be a hard butt, I'll be a hard butt too. I
don't want to be, and I thought myself, and that's
not the words he used, but that's what he meant,
okay? We're in church. But it's possible for
you to harden your heart. Sometimes we think
it's probably easier for us to harden our heart,
because when our heart's not hard, that makes
us vulnerable. And one of the things we fight,
we hate. Men, especially eight, is to be vulnerable.
Emotionally, with our spouse, or socially, with
other people. It's hard to be vulnerable. It's
hard to open yourself up and really listen to
what the Holy Spirit is really telling you. I
had an experience. I was driving up from Interree.
We're staying down at their little place at Interree.
gets fixed. If anybody knows a good plumber,
I'm all, I'm in the market. Every plumber in
the Piedmont of South Carolina has got six weeks
worth of business ahead of him. So we're, we're,
we're needing plumbers. But anyway, I think I
got somebody I don't know. So we're down at Interree.
We got a little double wide trailer. I always
joke with Eunice when we first got married. The
country song was out at that time. I'll make
you the queen of my double wide trailer with
the polyester curtains and the red wood deck.
I'd sing that to her just to mess with her because
that's where I wanted to live, you know, in a
double wide trailer with all that good stuff.
Well, now I'm living in a double wide trailer.
I love it. And I tell her all the time, it took
45 years to get you in a double wide trailer.
And we're happy. But we're down at Ennery and
I was driving up to Spartanburg coming up 26
and I had I thought about preaching on another
sermon. Kenny had asked me to preach. I go to
Sam's every couple weeks to get our stocks and
supplies. I was driving to Sam's and there's
this guy that's at Sam's. I got off 26, come
down 29, turned in there at Sam's and there's
this guy that's right there. I don't know if
you've been to Spartanburg Sam's. Just about
every single time I've been there in the daylight,
this guy sits on the corner. He doesn't have
a sign or anything. He's sitting in a wheelchair.
He's got one artificial leg. He's just sitting
there. He's never said anything to anybody, never
made eye contact with me or nothing. He just
sits there. So I go to Sam's and I'm thinking,
you know, preacher, you're thinking about preaching
on the Good Samaritan and about caring for people
and you're about to drive, right? by this guy
that's sitting on the corner. So I came back
out of Sam's and I came back out the driveway
and I pulled into the parking lot and I stopped
and I got out and I crossed over the road and
I said, how you doing? My name's Steve. He said,
I'm Wayne. I said, tell me about yourself, Wayne,
what's going on? He said, oh, I'm just trying
to get enough money to eat. He said, yeah, he
said, the police let me sit out here if I don't
have a sign. He said, McDonald's lets me store
my wheelchair in their shelter. And he said,
I said, where are you staying? He said, I sleep
in a tent with another guy over a couple blocks
away. And I said, OK. I said, what do you need,
Wayne? And he looked at me and he said, you know
what, I really, he said, Walmart has a policy
that they'll let, he said, he told me, now this,
I may be wrong, but this is what he told me,
has a policy that if you just stay overnight,
they'll let you sleep in the parking lot and
leave then. He said, boy, I'd love to get a little
minivan. I said, well, I don't have a little
minivan. Wayne, I'd love to help you. He said,
that's okay. He said, that's fine. I talked with
him a while, and let me tell you, as a pastor,
you'd meet all kinds of people with their hand
out. And the churches that I've been part of
have had a policy from right here on up. I mean,
we had two people drive in one time when Eunice
and I were here, and they were in an old, old
beat up car, and I don't know, they were a mess.
But anyway, we tried to help them out, get them
on the road. the church did. So, there's a problem
with getting old because if you get off on a
subject, you're gonna forget where you were supposed
to be, but I'm okay. I was singing in the, I
know y 'all probably heard me, I was singing
the second hymn there and I didn't realize there
was a stanza, so I'm, you sing the first verse
and I just jump right into the second verse and
I'm singing loud and bold and everything and.
doesn't sound right because the choir is singing
something different and I'm thinking, you idiot,
you need to read a little better and so I'm sorry
about messing everybody's singing up. But I finally
got back on track. So anyway, Wayne, Wayne just
needed help. That's all he did. He's homeless.
And you know, you don't have to look past Fountain
Inn. You don't have to look past Simpsonville.
You don't have homeless people. I remember when
we were living in Charleston, Nathan and I would
get up in January, the walleye and the sauger
would start spawning and they would run real
early and they were a night feeder. So there
was this creek called Campbell's Creek that went
into the canal river right across the road from
where we lived. So we would drive and park on
the interstate frontage road. we'd cross under
the bridge and we'd walk out the sand bar and
we'd fish under the lights from the interstate
and there's four or five guys that would do that.
We'd catch sauger and walleye but as you go under
that bridge there was always two or three people
that were sleeping under the bridge. That's where
they slept. That's where they had. And I'm talking
about when I was going fishing out there I had
five millimeter thick neoprene chest waders and
I was cold. And the ice would form on the rod
guides. And these people were sleeping on concrete
under the bridge. The homeless are everywhere.
And Jesus said they'll always be poor with you.
There's always, always going to be the poor.
And I know, I know, they made bad decisions,
didn't they? They drank a little bit too much
wine, didn't they? They got involved in drugs.
They made terrible decisions and they're paying
for it now. But you can't stop there, folks,
because the same people back in Jesus' time,
there was plenty of wine to drink back then,
and plenty of people got sloppy -dog drunk drinking
wine, and they lost their jobs, and they lost
their families, and they became alcoholics, and
they couldn't make a living, and they ended up
on the street. And there was plenty of beggars
that just were begging for some crumb to fall
down so I could put something in my starving
stomach. Just some place. And Jesus cared about
the people that made bad decisions. I look at
Steve Leonard's life, and I see a man who's made
some bad decisions. Why on earth, Lord, have
you loved me through those times? And I'll tell
you why. It's so I can show that love and that
compassion to the people that I live with today
that have made some bad decisions. So the question
before you today is, you see somebody on the
side of the road. You see somebody homeless.
You know a family that needs help. It's real
safe. It's real easy. To say the church is gonna
do or the government is gonna do or this person
is gonna do You say to yourself I'm gonna get
dirty That's where the change is going to occur
That's what Jesus Christ is all about because
when you have a personal relationship with the
God of the universe through his son, Jesus Christ,
it changes you. It changes your heart. And it
smashes the stone that makes up our hearts. And
that's what we need today in the church. That's
what we need today. We need revival. And we need
to be uncomfortable. And we need to ask Jesus
what. would you have me do? What would you do?