Seek First: The Great Commission - Local

I am excited to be with you today. And I kind of scanned the room so I can see who's here and who I'm talking to. All my friends out here, I love to come to church on Sundays to worship with you all, to hear from God's Word. And today we're gonna pick up in Matthew 22. We've been in this seek first the Kingdom series.

And I don't know about you, but if you've been here, surely you've been challenged. And surely our speakers in God's Word have encouraged you, challenged you, excited you. That's what this series was all about. Kind of getting us excited about what God would do through his church to bring Kingdom here on Earth. So we're gonna continue that.

And if this is your first time here, which I hope there's some of you out there, you've picked a great day to come. Not just because I'm up here, but because we're gonna talk about really what Christ followers do. And hopefully it'll be a good message for you to hear and you'll wanna lean in more. It's gonna give you a really good picture of what Whitewater's all about, what the Church of God's all about. And I'm just really excited.

So Josh shared with us. He's our senior leader. He shared with us a couple weeks ago the greatest commandment from Jesus. And I think that this is so important for us to understand, so we're gonna continue that lesson today. So we're gonna read together Matthew 22 in verses 36.

So if you have your Bibles, you can go there with me. If not, we've got it for you on the screen. Let's read it together. Okay. Greatest commandment from Jesus.

So I think we wanna listen. Teacher, they asked him which is the greatest commandment in the law. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's where we're gonna be today. So this command from Jesus isn't really a suggestion. This is like the foundation of our faith.

Everything about following Jesus boils down to those two commands. So I think if you're a Jesus follower, you. You're gonna wanna listen. Our faith, our faith, our commitment to Jesus is like, wrapped up in loving others. And this command to love others, like I said, isn't an option.

This is at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus like this is it. So if you wanna know what it's about, what following Jesus is all about, or what it looks like to be a Jesus follower, this is what it's about to be a disciple, which we're all striving to be here in this whitewater body. To be a disciple means you love others as you love yourself, to bring kingdom here on earth, which I think most of us would agree, we would appreciate a little bit more. Kingdom here on earth. This is required to love others as you love yourself.

Today we're gonna kind of practically talk about what this looks like, or at least from my experience, what this looks like in real life. Couple ways. We're gonna talk about how loving others is our expression back to God for the love that he showed us. If we love God, then our response is to love others. We'll talk about how loving others is gonna require from us sacrifice and some thought, some intentionality.

And finally, we're gonna talk about, this is the most fun one, how we love others. This is a way for people to experience Jesus here on earth. Without our love for them, how are they gonna know what Jesus is all about? So this foundational command, like we're standing on it, this command from Jesus, this is gonna be continue to be a lesson for all of us to learn. I don't think anyone in here has mastered fully this great command.

So I don't want you to say, well, I've heard this before, or Josh talked about this two weeks ago. Done. Check. No, this is a lesson that we all need to continually learn and listen to and understand and perfect, even though we're never gonna do that. So I wanna pray for us because I just want God's word to penetrate you.

And I want us to learn something as we walk away today. Because again, until our time on earth is through, we're gonna have the opportunity to love people and show Jesus to them. So let's pray. Father God, I'm grateful for the opportunity to gather together, not to speak, not to be up here, definitely not that. But to be in the presence of people who love you, to have an opportunity to worship through our songs, through your word, through giving, all of that God.

I'm grateful for that. I ask right now that you put a new heart within us, remove our hearts of stone. A lot of us have hearts of stone when it comes to loving others, myself included sometimes. So God, remove our hearts of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that Feels that, that sees that just is so in tune with you. That's my prayer, God, and it's big.

It's big that we all need this heart transformation. But I know that you can do that. So God, I'm asking for that today. It's in your son's name that we pray. Amen.

So we're gonna start with how loving others is our expression or our response back to God, because he so greatly loved us. So John, chapter 13. I've been in that this week. It's, it's a really great chapter. If you're wondering like, oh, I should read my Bible, don't know what to read, Go ahead and read John, chapter 13.

But we're gonna just talk about a few little verses. So verse 34 through 35, let's read that together. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples.

If you have love for one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another. Right here, it tells us if we love people, they will know we are Jesus followers. That's huge.

And really we could just stop right there. But Jesus, he's so gracious. He gives us an example. He doesn't just say good luck, good luck in loving others. He gives an example.

And in verse 15, he says that, for I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done. And maybe you're like, okay, what has he done? I don't know what he's done. So that's why you should read the whole chapter. Because Jesus, he gets down with his disciples and he does what's kind of like off limits for what should be off limits for Jesus.

He gets down low and he washes his disciples feet. So I don't have time to go into all of that, but just know that was not really a role designed for like the teacher or the leader or the king. He's not gonna get down low and wash people's feet. So that's what he did. So as Christ followers, we are to reflect that.

And he said, I am your example. This becomes really hard for most of us. And I know because I know me and I know it's hard for me and I know that you guys are similar to me in that our actions, our words, our posts, they do not reflect the example of Jesus all the time. I like to think that we get it right sometimes, but a lot of times we don't get that right. And as I was studying this this week and you know, on Instagram, cause that's really gonna help me with the message.

But I saw a post from somebody who used to follow Jesus and you know, I've been kind of looking at her posts a lot because it's, you know, this is a really kind of tumultuous season for our country. And her posts have been like, kind of eye opening. But this verse, like the whole Jesus washing disciples feet verse, and follow my example, that was in a list of lots of other verses about like, here's why I don't follow Jesus anymore because Christians basically. And it was really sad. And it just reminded me like kind of how important our role is as little Jesus ambassadors, that people are watching us and we don't do a really good job all the time.

Our words don't always match up with our actions. And that becomes super hard for people who are watching us, people who are looking to us to be the example for them. So this is where we need God. This is where we need his spirit to come in. Because we can't do it on our own.

We say that we love God and Josh delivered a great message on our worship towards God. We are to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength. We say that, that we love God with all of that, but we do or don't do something that speaks differently. And that's hard. But these commandments that Jesus gave, they're interconnected.

Like you can't separate them. It's not love God, and if you want love others, it's not love God. And if you get a chance, if you get around to it, love others. No, they're inseparable. The commands are inseparable.

It's not enough, guys, to just love God and to not love his people. We can't stop at just loving God. It's just not how it goes. So through this series and through studying for this, like God has been working on me, my eyes are open differently. My heart is heavy because as I reflect on my words and my actions, not even to mention my thoughts, like I've had to confess and repent and ask for forgiveness.

So I wonder if you were to give a little bit of time and kind of reflect on how you've been doing with the greatest commandments, what would God reveal to you if you spent time thinking, hey, do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, strength? Do I love others as myself? What would God reveal to you? He revealed to Me that my humanness, my tendency is selfishness. It is super easy to look after myself, to care for myself, make sure my needs are met.

I might get around to my family, but it's super easy to make sure my needs are met every morning. If I think about today, got dressed without thinking, took some vitamins, drank a big old thing of water, stopped and got myself a dunkin'. All of that comes pretty naturally. Like, that comes easy. I don't even have to think twice about taking care of myself.

Imagine if we approached the needs of others with that same instinctive care. Like it's within me to care for myself, to feed myself. What if we took. What if our approach to others came with that same instinctive care? It is what we did that seems impossible and it seems out of reach.

It almost seems like God is asking us, Jesus is asking us to do something that we can't do, love others as ourselves. It seems impossible because we, as humans, we're often tempted to be like, okay, I hear you, Jesus, and I'm gonna do the bare minimum, like, whatever it is I can do to, like, get by. But it's really not what God is asking of us. And we've learned in this series that it's gonna require all of us for all of our life. Like, I think.

I don't know who Josh probably said it, like, for all of time, all of me, like, something it's gonna take all of us. Following Jesus is gonna take all of us. So I also wanna point out, like, we say we love God and all of our parents in the room, grandparents in the room, teachers in the room. Like, when children obey you, you feel loved, right? Like, yes, they are listening to me.

I think our obedience to this is our response back to say, we love you so much, God. We trust you so much that we're gonna obey you. So I can imagine in this space that this isn't the first time we've heard this command. I mean, we. We definitely heard it a couple weeks ago, but this is like a Christian thing, right?

We love others as ourselves. Whether you're brand new in your faith or you've been following Jesus for years and years, this has probably come up. So I. I realize I'm not teaching you anything new. You're not like, oh, I should love others as myself. This is something you've heard before.

So I really today have asked God to, like, use this space for us to come together and to just stay like, where am I in this? Am I? Like, I probably need to move the Needle a little bit more this way. I just want us to check in together. I want us to be one step closer to obedience in our relationships with God.

So for me, there's an opportunity today to realign and refocus. And I'm just asking that you do that with me. God has been really good to us, so this is a way that we can express our love back to him by loving others. So if we're committed to that, if we're committed to, okay, I'm gonna obey God, I'm gonna love others as I love myself, then it's gonna take intentionality and sacrifice. This isn't something, like I said, it's not first nature for us.

It's not gonna just happen on its own. This love that we're to extend to others, it's not like a sit back and do nothing kind of love. It's gonna take sacrifice and intentionality. God's kingdom work looks like real life action. So I hate to break it to you, if you thought that we got to bring kingdom on earth just by sitting down and doing nothing, it is gonna require us to do something to show up in real life.

We can practically do this through hospitality, through care, through service of others, through generosity. If God is at work in us, it will show in our love for people around us. I don't know about you, but I want God's work within me. So if God's work at work in me, it's gonna show out in my love for people around me. Our Bible is filled with stories of how Jesus meets the needs of others.

He heals people. He feeds crowds. And in those stories, you're gonna see, like, Jesus had to sacrifice stuff, or Jesus intentionally took this path or that path to meet people. It takes intentionality and sacrifice. In John 4, Jesus is worn out from this journey.

Like, he's tired. He went from Judea to Galilee. Someone out here probably knows how far that is. I don't know, but he was going from point A to point B, and on the way, he stopped in Samaria and he needed to, like, rest and get a drink. So in this story, you guys can read this on your own too.

He didn't let an opportunity pass him by. And that opportunity was a woman who was sitting right there at the well. Jesus was present with this woman. And I just keep seeing, like, the chosen episode here. He was present with this woman, and he intentionally had conversations.

He talked about some hard things. Because with love comes truth. That's a whole nother lesson we need to learn. But Jesus intentionally left space in his time to meet the needs of somebody else. And this wasn't a physical need.

This was a spiritual need for this woman. But Jesus intentionally left the space. So I had to think, when have I left intentional space in my life? And I was reminded of a time two years ago that I said, yeah, I'll let that little boy live in my house. I'll foster that little boy.

And I probably looked crazy as a single mom at the time, taking on another child. But I remember when I was presented that opportunity that, you know, I have a lot of space in my life to give back. I have opportunities of love that I could give to somebody. And it was like, okay, this is my moment to sacrifice something. I say, I love God.

This is my opportunity. So perfectly landed on my lap. It was. It would be bizarre for me to say no. And in my obedience to that, I experienced a lot of growth and a lot of more.

I was, like, more in tune with Jesus because I said yes to that. It far exceeded my expectations. That's just a little story or a little example of how I left some intentional space or I sacrificed something and I was able to experience what God would have for me to experience, which was crazy. I was reminded in that season, too, that, you know, God cared for me. God used lots of you to provide, you know, support for me emotionally and physically and financially.

That because God cared for me in that way, I am to care for others in that way. So it reminded me of 2 Corinthians 1, 3, 4. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So I realized that there was so much more room in my life for others. I just had to think about how that could fit in.

Because loving others and caring for others and sacrificing for others is not my first instinct. It required that intentional thought. So I thought, God, how can you use me to help and care for others? So I don't think that I'm challenging. I don't think that I'm challenging any of you to foster.

Sometimes I do think that I should challenge you in that. But I am telling you that God has more for you and. And more to do through you. If you can just be open to some sacrifice and if you can put some intentional thought around it, God has more to do through you. So how can you intentionally love others?

And when I ask you questions, I'm wanting you to think about them. What can you sacrifice for others? I can't tell you what you can sacrifice. I can't tell you how you can intentionally look at your schedule. Only you and God are gonna be able to figure that out.

I thought of it this way too. The love that I extend to others right now, to my husband, to my family, to my neighbors, does it require any sacrifice for me? Do I put their needs before my own? Not always. And as I reflected on that this week, I was like, well, I don't because of this and this and this and this.

Excuses, right? There were a couple excuses as to why I don't sacrificially love. And I thought I would share two of those with you. And you can probably relate. An excuse that I have all the time is I just, I'm too busy.

I don't have time for that. Nobody's got time for that, right? And like when I say I don't have time for that, I'm probably being truthful. I probably don't have time in my life for one more thing. Because our world screams the opposite of that for us, right?

There should not be a moment in your schedule that is free for you. So you should be at everything, at every event, every sport, whatever. So. So I'm like real life fighting back a little six year old on this. Like, no, we're not gonna do that.

No, we're not gonna add that. You may do one thing, you know, but she wants to cheer, she wants to be a girl Scout, she wants to go to dance and all of the things. We don't have time. We fill our schedule to the brim. We have zero space to be sacrificial, to be loving, to take care of anybody else's needs.

So what space is left in your life to serve others? What space is left in your bank account to be generous? What space is left if there is an emergent need next door, will you even have time to help them? At the end of the day, I just want to remind you that we're only going to find our purpose and joy and fulfillment in Christ. The things of this world, the events of this world are never going to satisfy us.

Maybe that's why we're filling and filling and filling and. Or looking and looking and looking for satisfaction and it's not going to be found. So excuse number two was I don't even like them. How am I supposed to, How Am I supposed to love them when I don't even like them? Like, that's hard.

It's really easy to love people we like. I mean, I don't even know if it's really easy to love people we like. If we're talking about love being sacrificial and intentional. Like, are we willing to love everyone? Like, as Christians, I think this is a huge deal.

Luke 6:32. And this is, like, one of those verses that says a lot of, like, the same word, like, and it's a little confusing, so pay attention. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what.

What benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same? If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return.

For your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as the Father is merciful. So I have to stop and think, you know, like, the benefit that we receive from loving, not like this world, is a benefit that it's hard to articulate until you experience it. But this verse is so different from what the world tells us, which is really.

What's really fun about the kingdom of God is that it's drastically different than the kingdom of this world. So shifting our minds, it's not gonna happen overnight. We're not gonna wake up one day and finally feel like, yes, I'm gonna love that person. I don't. Like, I'm gonna give all that I have.

I'm gonna be sacrificial. Like, it's not gonna happen overnight. Becoming more and more like Jesus is a process. And I've learned this in the last couple of weeks. Big word called sanctification.

Becoming more and more like Jesus is a process. But we can start today, each day with new mercies to say, God, I want to be more like you today. And then the next day, I want to be more like you today. It's so tempting, you guys. And I know it's so tempting to be like, I don't have time.

I don't have space. I have to go to the next thing. I have to do or buy the next thing. I get it. But obedience to Christ is following this command.

So that means we intentionally and sacrificially love those around us. And we're going to find joy, purpose and fulfillment in that. Choosing others over ourselves and oh, this is good. Choosing others over ourselves is our way of waging war against the selfishness that pulls us away from God's kingdom. So we are all trying to be more in tune with the kingdom we want to seek first.

The kingdom, while choosing others before ourselves is how we fight back against the ways of this world. Because the world is me, me, me, me, me. We. What do I want? What do I get?

What do I want? This is how we fight against that, by putting others before ourselves. So if you're wanting to be more like Jesus, then try to put others before yourself. Being a part of the kingdom of God means that we represent him. This is the part of loving others is how we introduce people to Jesus.

Maybe you love Jesus a whole lot, but you don't really know how to share that with anybody. You don't have the right words, you don't know enough scripture. Okay, then your actions and how you love and treat them is how you can show Jesus to them. When we love others in tangible ways, we're inviting them to experience Jesus through us. Like, that's really cool.

So the next time you host or do or give, think about it that way. This is my way of being Jesus. I'm gonna smile, I'm gonna look at them. This is my way. I can show Jesus to them.

Because practical love shows God's presence more than the words we say. We know this. The love that we extend as Christ followers is different than the love the world extends. The love that we give as Christ followers. It like demands people's attention because it's so different.

You know, the love described in the commandments is agape love. It's action oriented. It's a choice. It goes beyond just how we feel. It shows up in patience and kindness, humility and sacrifice.

Opposite of the world is the kingdom of God. In Luke 10, we find the same command. We've been reading it out of Matthew 22, but if you you see it recorded in Luke chapter 10. And Jesus gives a lovely example of this through the parable of the Good Samaritan. Again, most likely not a story that is new to us, but that story is a great reminder that Jesus uses to say, hey, loving others is gonna require like, even love for the ones that are different than you.

Even taking risks. It's gonna require taking risks and giving generously. And here's a big one, not expecting anything in return. So this love, this is the love and this is the compassion that are really gonna show people who Jesus is. Jesus said, go and show mercy.

So I'll say this too. Like, we don't have to be perfect. It's not like Jesus is waiting for us to have the right thing to say or to have the right resource to give. He just wants us to be obedient, and that's where he's gonna show up. So don't fall into the trap of, I can't love them.

I don't really have any extra money. I can't love them. I just don't have anything to offer. Don't wait until everything is perfect to show up. Just show up and let God do something.

So I have a couple short little examples that have just happened in the last couple of weeks. I wanted to give you guys some of. Like, here's how this played out in real life. So a couple weeks ago, my friends that I fostered for the boy reunited with his family. It was wonderful.

And in recent weeks, the mom and dad have had another baby. And my friends are like, how can we support this family? They're gonna need a lot of support. Well, we thought, well, like, a meal train is a practical thing to do. So we set that up, and it was my turn to cook a meal.

I was like, yep, I'll handle Monday. Wouldn't you know it, Monday shows up. And I was like, ooh, I didn't make a meal. Ooh, I do not have time for that. Called him up.

Hey, guys. So sorry. I've just been so busy, you know, doing good things, that I don't have any time to make you a meal. And they're like, no, it's okay. And I said, how about Wednesday?

I'll have it for you Wednesday. Okay, perfect. All right, Wednesday. My phone rings. I was like, I was supposed to make them a meal.

Hi, guys. Yeah. Yup, I'll be there. Yeah. Yep.

Got you something. I had nothing. So I meet this family, and I'm like, I'm really sorry. I did not make you a meal. But here's 40 bucks.

Just go buy something. Cause I have time to buy something. But I was really like, man, I've ruined this moment here to actually bless this family. But I decided to show up anyway and hand them the money. And the dad said, why are you doing this?

And at first I was like, is he mad? And I said, well, I said, jesus. Cause Jesus loves us all the stuff, right? No, I didn't. Would have been a good opportunity to do so.

But I didn't. So I said, well, you know, we really love you, and we just want to take away some pressure during this time. That's what people do when they care about you. They. They help you.

So I was still able to share a little bit about that with him, and he was still able to be like, why are they giving us money? It was that love that kind of demands attention. My point in that story is I was so not prepared, so selfish. But I took a little step, and God still showed up and was able to have them pay attention to that. Another story is, is I'm in this book study online, right, with some women.

I volunteer with the Eve Center. And one of the women on the call, she's a recovering addict. She's overcome homelessness, all of this stuff. Her name's Amy, and she's. I wanted to bring her up here.

Cause she would have told all y' all how to love. But she shared with me. When I told her we were doing this, she said, hey, Jerrica. When I was homeless, just sitting on the streets, I didn't need a bunch of stuff. I just needed people to pay attention to me.

So she said, for her, the pivotal moment, or what gave her the strength to continue on was that people looked at her and smiled and said, have a good day. They didn't have anything. They didn't have the right resource or anything like that. And then the third thing that's happened recently that made me think of this was I'm a part of the Life center team. And I was there one night, and a woman comes in.

She's ready to shop at the community pantry. And she's a little shook. And I can tell. I'm like, what's going on? And she was like, well, in just a minute, my ex husband's gonna walk through the doors.

And I picked him up on 128 as I was on my way here. And he's on something right now, and he's pretty dirty, and he's got lots of sores. But I picked him up. Cause I thought maybe I could do something if I brought him here. And she's like, do you have any food?

I was like, well, yeah. And then she's like, do you have a bathroom? Well, yeah. So we were able. She was able to provide for her ex husband.

Bandages, food, water, a space to sit. It was really powerful. And, you know, I don't know the whole story there, but what I do know is that she went out of the way for someone who she shouldn't love, right? Somebody who's really caused a lot of pain in her life. She went out of that way and, and showed someone some love.

And she didn't know what she was gonna do at the time, but she was obedient and she brought him there. And it made me wonder, you know, I don't stop. Like, would I stop for an ex person? I don't really have any, but would I stop? I don't know.

I definitely don't stop for strangers if I see him walking down 128. But then I was like, man, so kind of what Jesus does for us. Like, despite our, our failures or our messiness or whatever, he stops for us. So despite my laziness, my shortcomings, my selfishness, God extends love to me. I don't always obey his command.

And you guys can probably relate. I chase after things of this world far more than I chase after him. I satisfy my selfish cravings over meeting the needs of my neighbors or even my own family members. But if I do live out this command, like maybe giving some money to my friends or helping somebody in need, like, I experience a lot of joy.

So I learned through those stories that there's multiple ways that we can love people. Practically we can provide something. So I was able to provide 40 bucks. We are able to provide something to someone in need. If you see someone in need, maybe you don't have anything to provide, but maybe you can protect them or you can point them to their next best step.

So my friend who picked up her ex husband, she didn't have anything physically to give, but she was able to point him and kind of protect him in that night and lead him to a place that did have answers. Maybe you're like my friend Amy and you don't need resources, you don't need protection in that moment. You just need the presence of someone. So I just wonder if there's something you can provide, if there's something you can, someone you can protect, or some way that you could be present with someone. These are some practical ways to love.

So as I kind of wrap up here, I'm reminded, I was reminded harshly, I think, a few years ago of how the things of this world kind of don't matter. So four years ago, I had the opportunity, the gift to see physically firsthand how the things of this earth don't matter. I was going through my late husband's things and had them all spread out in a room. These were like clothes and hats and shoes and not, if I think about all the money that was there. That's kind of depressing.

But, like, also what you don't see in the picture was, like, a cell. Cell phone and a wallet in a car. And, like, it was in this moment that I'm like, here it is. Like, here's where we put a lot of time and money and thought into, and it doesn't really matter anymore.

And it was in that space in my room that, you know that verse of, like, things of this earth are gonna, like, get dusty and mothy or whatever. You know, they're not gonna go. And I was like, okay, this is a moment in my life where I can kind of, like, pivot. I can put the needs of others. I can put generosity.

Like, there's other things I can do with my stuff, with my time, like serving others. And I think that's maybe why I'm really passionate about this, like, serving others and orienting my life around relationships. That matters because it allows us to introduce people to Jesus, and that matters. I will remind you that introducing people to Jesus matters because it's gonna give them a relationship. It's gonna give them grace and forgiveness that lasts.

So sometimes we're reluctant to serve, to love because it's gonna be uncomfortable or inconvenient. But I just want you to think, like, will that person experience Jesus any other way? I mean, maybe he will miraculously show up and say something to them, but most likely it's going to be through us that people experience Jesus. This is how we build the kingdom. So as Christ followers, we're seeking first his kingdom.

We're being disciples who are making disciples. And this is. Is how we do that, by loving people. So Jesus has been really good to me. He's been really good to a lot of us, right?

He's shown us compassion and mercy. Our response to him today is to be faithful, to be obedient, to love his children, to magnify him in this way. Not to shine a light on us individually, not to shine a light on our generous, big old church, but to shine a light on Christ, to point people to Him. We have freely received this love from Jesus. We can freely give it to other people.

So today you have an opportunity to do this, like, in a really practical way, like, financially. You can provide to this church so that we can continue to practically show love to other people. If you haven't done that, I would encourage you to do so. It's really fun to watch God realign our hearts in a way and to watch the things of this earth. And this world to just, like, grow less and less important.

And I know we're not always going to feel like loving people, but we're going to do it anyway because that's what Jesus did for us today as a church. We're perfectly positioned to put some of what we've heard into action. So it's time to, like, start loving people right now. And I am going to send you off in a little bit with like, something to tangible to do. Here at Whitewater, we love to meet the physical needs of people around us in our community so that eventually we can have spiritual conversations with them.

We care about kids in our local school districts. So today we all get to show up in real life and do something. Like, we get to support what's called the backpack club. And today, as you leave, you're going to get an opportunity to be given one of these cards, and it's going to tell you exactly what to buy. And here's why this is important.

Because through the backpack club, we get to support 170 kids. 170 weekly during the school year. That's a lot of kids who otherwise would be not given the resources that they need on the weekend. Like, they. They're insecure when it comes to this, and they need us to support them.

So through the community pantry here at Whitewater today, we have an opportunity to jump in. This is one way to obey Jesus, by following this command, by loving others as we have loved ourselves. And it's gonna take sacrifice, remember? So in the days ahead, I want you to be attentive, to look for needs around you. Ask God to give you eyes, to see things in a different way.

And then once you see it, do something. Maybe it's something small, maybe. Maybe it's something crazy big. Just do something. I want you to show up, to be present and to watch how God will work through your obedience, if you would, and if you're able, would you stand to your feet?

I want us to respond now in worship, to respond with praise. We're gonna lift up praise. We're gonna thank God for the ways that he showed up in us. And I want you to use this moment to be inspired and encouraged to give that love back, to give it out. So the song talks about how God has showed us compassion and mercy, though we have chased after so many other things.

So let's realign our hearts now. Let's thank God now. And then here in a little bit, we're gonna leave these. These doors and love people as we love ourselves. All right?

Let's worship together.