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a deep philosophical question sometimes for people, but for us today, I hope that this passage from the book of Psalms, Psalm 95, will help you with that question, where the writer says, Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our king, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand. Today, if you would hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as was done at Meribah, as in the time when your fathers were testing God and they tried him even though they had seen his work. So if you would join me as I pray for our time together. Father, we come to you. I do pray that we would come with worship in our heart to hear from you, to sing praises of your name, and to learn from— of you from our scriptures. From the Scripture. So we pray that you would guide us, guide us in Jesus' name today.

Amen.

Okay, good morning everyone. We're a bit low in number, uh, potentially because the weather, but I'm sure more people will end up showing up as we join together in singing, uh, because they'll be so jealous they'll want to join. All right, so can you all please rise and join us as we, uh, seek to worship our Lord this morning? Sing the Splendor.

The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. And darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And oh, see how great, how great is our God. He's our God. And age to age He stands, and time is in His hands. Beginning and the end, beginning and the end, the Godhead, three in one. Father, Spirit, and Son. The Lion and the Lamb. The Lion and the Lamb. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Oh, sing. How great, how great is our God. God, you're the name above— name above all names. You are worthy of all praise, and my heart will sing how great is our God. You're the name above all names. You are worthy of all praise.

And my heart will sing, how great is our God.

How great is our God.

Sing with me.

How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God.

Sing that one more time.

How great is our God.

How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great How great is our God!

In the darkness we were waiting without hope and without light till from heaven you came running. There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets. To a virgin came the Word from a From a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings. To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, to redeem the whole creation, you did not despise the cross. For even in your suffering, He saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation. Jesus, forsake you, died. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, Majesty. Praise forever to the King of Kings. In the morning that you rose, all of heaven held its breath till that stone was moved for good. For the Lamb had conquered death. And the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe. For the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored. And the Church of Christ was born, then the Spirit lit the flame. Now this gospel truth of old shall not kneel, it shall not faint. By his blood and in his name, it is freedom, I am free.— for the love of Jesus Christ who has resurrected me. Praise the Father. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the King of Kings. Praise forever to the King of Kings.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this morning that you've given us. Thank you that you've brought us here safely. We pray that you would be with us this morning, and we know that your promise is just that, that wherever we gather We know that you are among us, Lord, that you dwell with us. Thank you, Lord, that you grace us with your presence and that you see it fit to dwell with us even though we are sinners. Lord, thank you that your grace is sufficient for us this morning, that we are not just left as sinners, but we're sinners saved by grace, Lord. And not just saved by grace for the sake of it, but saved that we might be transformed and conformed more in your image. So Lord, would you help us to just take a little bit more of that in this morning as we take just even a single step towards you, um, wherever we're coming from, wherever we are right now in our lives, wherever, whatever we're dealing with, um, in our lives outside of these walls. Lord, would you help us to focus our eyes and fix our minds on you in the short time that we have together, that we might be able to, um, receive your grace once again in all its fullness, that we might be able to to love you fully and be sustained as we prepare to go out back into our lives and back into the world, Lord, which with new renewal and with your spirit just re-fulfilled. So be with us again this morning, Lord. Would you be with the word that's preached? And yes, Lord, help us to just take to heart every word and every message that you have for us and that you would transform us through that. We thank you for this. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Before you're seated, could you please take a few minutes and just greet those around you?

Sí, I think that may be fine enough for me. I don't think I need to change it. Jonathan, the only thing I'm uncertain about—

oh, sorry, what?

The only thing I'm uncertain about is the microphone.

What about the volume?

Oh yeah, I hear it.

I'll sit there, I'll sit there.

Do you need a microphone too?

Yeah, I do. I would like to play classical guitar, but it gets my back. Sorry, my shoulder.

Yeah.

Are you guys both on Zoom?

You guys are on the same channel, right?

Hey, what's up?

How you doing, man? Good. What's that?

I do everything.

No, I've— it's a COVID guitar. It's a COVID guitar?

Yeah.

It's all right.

How you Good.

Is it PRS?

Uh, nope, it's a Schecter.

It's a little heavy.

What's that?

Oh, well, thank you. That was a little weird there. A little diddy, I don't know.

Huh?

No, I'm joking. Michael looks good too. He's ready to rock. All right, let me get out of here.

All right.

So today the sharing time is a little bit different. Let me make sure you can hear me. Today the sharing time is going to be a little bit different. So I had asked Forrester if he wanted to get together and do exercise one day, and he said, "Nope." He said, "Let's play guitar." And so— and then it developed into something about let's play guitar together and sing a song or something that we can do at church one day, maybe lead worship one day. But we're not here to lead worship. We're going to play a song called "Way Home." So when Forrester said, "Let's play some music," I said, "Send me some examples of some music that you'd like to play." And so he sent me a whole list of songs, and unfortunately I didn't pick the song he really was hoping that I would play, and it's from the '60s or '70s, and I had actually not even heard of it, and he was so disappointed. But anyway, the song "Way Home" caught me because it talks about a guy who's 16 and it says he was hell-bent and reckless, never stopped for directions. So it's an analogy of driving it around and when I was— it's an analogy of our lives being driving around. And so when I was 16, I think I started driving at 15, but anyway, I'm not sure if that was legal or not in Mississippi at the time, but we were kind of in— We were not exactly on a farm, but they have exceptions for when you drive. Anyway, I diverge. So it's an analogy to driving, and in it, it mentions Firestones. I'm not sure how many of you guys know what Firestones are. It's tires, and the idea of the Firestone smoking means he was driving so fast that the tires were smoking. So in his life, this guy is describing driving way too fast, going way too fast in life, making a lot of bad decisions, and yet kind of like Amazing Grace, the guy turns around. So, Forrester.

I was running wide open, firestone smoking the The day that I turned 16, I was hellbent and reckless, never stopped for directions, off track with no way back for me. Well, they say life is a highway, and I put some miles on mine. More than one time I took the wrong two-lane, just letting my horses run wild. Yeah, I was lost I got lost until I got found, and now it is well with my soul. I just ride in the seat next to Jesus, 'cause I know he knows the way home. It's kinda nice that I don't have to drive to anywhere. End up where I'm supposed to go. At the end of the day, it's better this way with a little more rock in my roll. Well, they say life is a highway, and I put some miles on mine. More than one time I took the wrong two-lane, just letting my horses run wild. Yeah, I got lost until I got found. And now it is well with my soul. I just ride in the seat next to Jesus, 'cause I know he knows a way home. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. Well, they say life is a highway, and one someday I'll run out of road. He'll meet me out front in the driveway, and we'll roll around streets of gold. Hey, I got lost until I got found, and now it is well with my soul. I just ride in the seat next to Jesus, 'cause I know he knows the way home. Just ride in the seat next to Jesus, 'cause I know he knows a way.

Too loud at the end.

Okay.

I was wondering why Paul was looking at me. I'm supposed to read the verses too. Our passage today comes from Luke 10 and a few verses, verses 21 through 24, where it's written It says—

Excuse me. The verses on the screen aren't the same as what you're looking at on your phone.

OK. Would you mind—

can you read the screen?

Yes, I can read the screen.

It's a little backwards.

Oh, OK. I didn't practice this one.

OK. Fair warning.

Yeah. Jesus sent 72 disciples in pairs to towns he planned to visit. These were his instructions: Do not take any money with you. Whenever you enter someone's home, say, "May God's peace be on this house." If those who live there are peace-loving, peace will remain on them. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality. If a town welcomes you, heal the sick and tell them, "The kingdom of God is near you now." But if a town refuses to welcome you, say, "We wipe even the dust Cast off your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this: the kingdom of God is near.' Then he said to his disciples, 'Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me, and anyone who rejects you is rejecting me, and anyone who rejects me is rejecting God who sent me.' They returned with joy, saying, "Even evil spirits obey us in your name." "Yes," Jesus told them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you authority over the power of the enemy. You can walk among snakes and even crush them." In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

Thank you, Michael. There was a morning, a Sunday morning in Guangzhou, we were at a church that we were participating in the leadership and a guy showed up, a new guy, and he asked me, he said, "Who is the leader?" or show me to your leader, basically, is what he was asking. And I said, "Sure, but who are you?" He said, "We are the Covenant Players." He had his— looked like his wife was with him. Well, I'd never heard of Covenant Players. Has anyone heard of them before? Yes, yes, they do little drama skits, a Christian group. He said, "We're a group that travel around in twos and fours." This is a true story. Playing short— doing short plays in churches and depending on the hospitality asking for the hospitality of their congregations to put us up while we're visiting. Can we perform at your church and stay with one of your families? What would you do? What would you do if Covenant Players, a couple, showed up at our church today? Well, you'd probably go on the internet and find out, you know, what are the reviews of these people. But this is before the internet. And long story short, we said, "Yes, why don't you come and you could stay at our house." Stacy and I didn't have any children at that point. So we put them up and it was an eventful week. They came, we learned a few things from them and they performed at a Christian school that we knew the principal of. And they did a performance at the church and it was pretty good. The thing I most remember about them, however, is what they taught us about being houseguests. He said, "If you want to be a good houseguest, the rule is if you go into someone's refrigerator, don't open any cartons and don't finish any cartons. You can help yourself to anything that's open as long as it's not— as you don't empty it." I thought that was pretty good advice. And that may be the only thing you remember from today's message. So the context of the scripture is just such a story where Jesus sends out these 72, two by two, and they go and they put themselves at the disposal of various villagers. And sure enough, they find people who are willing to take them in. Of course, there were others that were rejecting them. And they just had a simple message saying, basically, the Messiah has come. And like Jesus and John, they are announcing its arrival. They found people who were willing and they ate together. And then of course there were some that rejected. Now we, we read that Jesus was delighted when he hears their stories and they came back. Why is he delighted? Well, he says evil is being displaced. It's like light is moving in and the darkness is going away. Something good is happening. And he's delighted because here are just common people that are able to do a lot of the work that John and Jesus and John were doing. It solved this problem that he had, which are too few laborers. But he was also surprised by this aspect. He says, "You've hidden these things from the wise and understanding people and revealed them to little children." In other words, all of that action that was happening in these villages, there were no professionals. There were no scribes. There was no one educated, no master's degrees. These are just common people, and they're getting a great response. And so it really raised this thing. Perhaps it suddenly dawned on him that a lot of the work of the kingdom would be done just by average people. Now, of course, this raises the question, you know, we spend all this time in school, and we're all going to get these degrees. Does that mean being wise This is a bad thing and we shouldn't try to be understanding? Well, of course not, because we read all through the Proverbs, it's telling us over and over that we should seek wisdom, seek understanding. That's not a bad thing. But then why would Jesus hide, or why would God hide things from them? Here's another translation. It says, Father, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike. So I don't think he's saying that he had to actively hide. He's saying that the wise will sometimes overthink. They might have a good thought, but then they will talk themselves out of it, or their wisdom has become a kind of source of pride, and that will not allow them to— that just blinds them sometimes to doing. The right thing, whereas the childlike can, can take it in. Now you'll often hear that children are naughty by nature, but I have recently had the opportunity to have two grandchildren in our household, or I should say right next door, and so we spend a lot of time together. And yes, we do witness a lot of those naughty moments, but what I've been really impressed by is how often these great great moments of really touching moments where the good comes out of them as well. We tend to think, oh, you know, we just have foolishness bound up in the heart of a child, as the proverb says. But there's also this instinct to do the right thing sometimes in some beautiful moments, which I hope sometime I would have time to share with you. So this is a problem, the wisdom or the over-intel— over-qualifications getting in our way. And Apostle Paul himself admits this in the scriptures. He says, "I was circumcised the 8th day. I was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews." He was very zealous according to the law, and he was a Pharisee and well-educated by the best rabbis. And yet he was blind to what the church was until that one day— what happened? On the way to Damascus. He was struck by this blinding light and knocked him off his horse and knocked him to the ground, and he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And that's what it took to get through that. So he had the heart to respond to God, but he had in his head so many things that were fighting against it. Now, it would be nice, wouldn't it, if in the Bible we had examples of this dynamic? Who is the wise person and who is the babe? And then we wouldn't have to guess at what it's meaning. Well, it turns out in the very next verse that Luke puts this story, what we know as the Good Samaritan, immediately after this record. And it goes like this. A lawyer asked him, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? 'He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself."' Jesus said, 'Correct! Do this and you will live.' But the lawyer—" and here we see his overthinking, right? "Desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who exactly is my neighbor?'" Now when it says lawyer, you know, we might think of these slimy guys in three-piece suits, but this is an just that image of lawyer. These are well-respected people who knew the law, which was God's law. These are Torah teachers. These are wise— the scholars and the wise people of the day. So it wasn't really a bad question, so to speak. But what's the problem? What do you think he's thinking of when he says, "Who is my neighbor?" Is he wanting to learn how to love better, or he's wanting to learn to Who can I ignore? Who is my neighbor and who is not my neighbor? He wants to be able to draw a line, right? And then we can kind of limit our responsibility. He wants to do the minimum. So Jesus tells a story. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. And they stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And so likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. What were the priest and the Levite thinking? When they came up to that man? Matthew? Didn't want to get involved, right? But don't you think they thought to themselves, they're supposed to love their neighbor? I mean, they knew the rules, right? But they somehow justified, that guy is not my neighbor. They came to that conclusion. They knew they had other things to do, right? They had duties in town. They were important. They might have thought that they would get dirty too if they got involved with him, or maybe the robbers are still there and gonna rob them too. "I don't have time to stop," they thought. But what did the Samaritan think? What was he thinking when he saw the man? He just didn't have that sort of calculus in his head. His heart felt compassion. He stopped. He touched him, he bound him up, he lifted him, he pays for his bill, and he even promises to return. So that going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds. This is the story that you all know. He put the man on his own donkey, he took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he gave money to the innkeeper telling him, take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, 'Yes, I will pay you the next time I am here.' So what— so then Jesus concludes the story by saying, 'Which of these do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?' And the lawyer answered, 'The one who showed him mercy.' So the lawyer asked the question wanting to know, what is the limit? How can I do less What is loving, or what can I feel justified in doing? Jesus answers with a story that doesn't show the minimum. Jesus is showing the maximum. Does he expect us all to stop our car and do everything for every person that we see that's in need? I don't think that's the point of the story. But he is showing the standard of what we could do if we had the time and energy and inclination. That's the maximum way of loving our neighbor. But the main thing he's showing is that the Samaritan is willing. He's take— gonna stop what he's doing. He acts instinctively to react to the man's pain. He is a good example. And Jesus says, "You go and do likewise." He's training our instincts. He doesn't have to teach him how to be compassionate. We all have that in our heart when we see someone in need. But he's showing him how not to be talked out of it like the lawyer by making rules that show us what the minimum is. The lawyer could, by having that— drawing that barrier, that boundary, he could find a way of loving that didn't require him to transform or to change at all. He could be comfortable. In where he was. But what the Samaritan shows is that we can't be comfortable. It shows an opportunity to go beyond, uh, by our imagination of what can be and how we can help and to make a difference. The lawyer wants to self-justify, but we want to prove God is— God's love is real and is able to bring great great blessings. Now I know some of you are thinking, because I lived in China so long and they're very practical, and so I've had this conversation and my Chinese friend will say, "But come on, our time is limited, our money is limited, how are we expected to do anything like this?" And so I wanted to share that this story of the Samaritan is not about unlimited resources. It's about our willingness. And if you notice, he doesn't— the Samaritan doesn't go and get a committee together to try to solve the crime problem on the Samaritan Road. And he doesn't raise— he doesn't try to build a hospital. And he doesn't try to— he doesn't go bankrupt himself, like building a home for this guy, or quit his job. He used the oil that he had on him. He used the coins that he had on him. And he used his time to do the next thing that he could do. Now, nowadays we have credit cards. I don't know if that ruins the whole calculus. But he did promise to come back. And that shows a kingdom instinct, that he was just in that willingness. Now, there was a morning, again, at this church in China, Stacy and I held the cell phone. Our church did not have an office in Guangzhou. There was no permanent place, but we had a cell phone. And so we had an ad in the newspaper that if you're looking for a church, you could call us. And so one Saturday morning, I got a call. And this woman's voice, kind of desperate on the phone, said, "I need help. Can you help me?" I'm like, "What's wrong?" She says, "My name is Angie, and I've been kidnapped," basically. Is what she said in so many words. She's from Mongolia. I'm from Mongolia, and a Mongolian guy promised me a job in Guangzhou, and now I got here, and it turns out to be prostitution. And I don't want to— I don't— I'm not a— this is not for me. I said, well, where are you? And she said, I'm at a certain university, Jinan Daxue, and she was right across the street from a school that was like a landmark I said, "I'll come pick you up." And so she said, "I'll wait for you at the gate." We're about 20 minutes away. How, you know, there's a sea of people there, but somehow she figured out who I was. She had gotten my number from the phone of the, I'm not sure how she got it actually, but I think it was the guy that trafficked her had called before and saved the number as church or something. Anyway, she got her number. And I called her up, I picked her up. So now what? So this lady, and what are we supposed to do? We don't have like a special center for trafficked women. And so I'm like, I'm scratching my head. She's like, so thank you for picking me up, I was about to be, you know, forced into prostitution. And I said, well, what are we gonna do? She said, well, I want to go back to Mongolia. But she didn't have her stuff, she didn't have papers, needed to get her stuff together. So she needed a place to stay for I don't know how long, weeks? So I didn't know what to do. So we're driving around, I think, I forget if I called Stacy or who I called, but I thought, oh, I knew a restaurant that serves English speakers that could probably put her up. And I knew at that restaurant that they had little housing for their waitresses. And so I, and I knew the owner because we used to eat there a lot. So I I called up the owner. I said, "I'm coming over. I want to talk to you." And I introduced the owner to this Mongolian, you know, young woman, 20-something. "Can she work in your restaurant and live in your dormitory for your waitresses for a couple of weeks while she gets her stuff together?" And she said yes. She had compassion on this woman and she saw the whole situation and she agreed. Her name was Gail. Happy ending, right? Well, about 2 hours later, I got a call from Gail saying, "You have to come pick up this girl." Oh no, what went wrong? She said, "Well, it was okay, she was fine, but the other girls, other waitresses didn't like it. They didn't want to have this Mongolian who doesn't speak Chinese living with them. They didn't trust her. She just dropped in out of the, you know, came in by parachute." So she, it wasn't the owner of the restaurant that didn't want her, it was the other coworkers. So she was definitely being rejected. So okay, I went back, I picked her up, and now what are we gonna do? And so it occurred to me, you know, there was a lady in the hospital. There was an American getting medical treatment who was bored out of her skull. She was sitting in this, she had this hospital room with two beds all by herself, didn't speak a word of Chinese. And I thought, you know, I wonder if she could go over and take care of this girl, Angie could take care of the lady in the hospital. So that's what we did. We went to the hospital, they said yes. She stayed in a hospital bed with the approval of the hospital for 2 weeks while she got her stuff together and paid attention to and comforted this lady that was in the hospital. So it was a really happy ending in the end. A lot of good, you know, kingdom moments, but it all started with— there was some willingness, but also some rejection going on. And it was a great celebration when she finally— we took her to the airport and she went. So I don't know how, and I'm sure, I hope that you'll share some of your stories of these like God moments, things very unusual that happen when we take a little bit of risk and try to do something that we might not ordinarily do. Now, immediately after the story of Samaritan is another story of Mary and Martha, which in retrospect, now that I read it this way, you can see they're paired very intentionally, that Luke has put these stories together also to illustrate the same principle but from a different angle. So it's still like the wise versus the babes. So we saw the lawyers versus the Samaritans, and now we're going to see— it's not Mary versus Martha, but we're going to see how the two characters illustrate a different posture and what happens. So Mary welcomed Jesus into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell Mary to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. So Mary instinctively sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to what he had to say. But Martha is sticking to her ways, and she's like the priest and the Levite, she's sort of unwilling to break out of that routine, but not in a bad way. She's justified because she's doing good, right? She's busy and she's following through the convention. But she's so busy, or she's so doing so well what she's doing, she's missing the presence of Jesus in her home. And she even wants Jesus to validate her way of thinking by getting Mary to do the same. She's confident. Martha's confident, and she knows what hospitality looks like, but it blinds her to what Jesus is doing in the moment. She's distracted by these visible things and unable to see the invisible things. Now, it sort of rubs us the wrong way when we see Martha, who's cooking food. Come on. Getting rebuked. But Jesus is not rebuking her action or what she's doing externally. He's talking about her internally, that she's troubled, she's distracted, she's not happy. And in this case, Mary is like the babe that God is revealing something to him. Well, Mary, even though she's doing the right thing, she has the blinders on. Now again, I can hear you saying, look, If no one cooks, no one's going to eat, right? And indeed, that is correct. That's the practical voice. But Jesus is not prescribing that we should have the permanent cooks or a division of labor between people who are spiritual and people who are practical. No, instead he's talking about the truth in the moment. What's going on? There is a time to sit and there's a time to serve. And in the story Mary is showing the willing heart and Martha is showing her being a little bottled up. So we shouldn't let our busyness replace the relationship. There was— I had a godfather. If you grow up Greek Orthodox or Catholic, I guess, you have a godfather. I don't know how many have seen the movie. I haven't. But I had a godfather, Andy Vance, and when he was older he had both of his knees replaced. I didn't get get to see him much. He lived in New York City. And we had— if I'm not mistaken, it was the last time I saw him. I forget who invited who. I was going to visit him at the Harvard Club. He was a very proud graduate of Harvard University. And so I was meeting somebody else at the Harvard Club earlier, like at 3 o'clock, and I was going to meet Andy at 4 o'clock, something like that. He came all the way from Scarsdale, New York, which is like an hour commute, on two replaced knees with canes on either side to meet me at the Harvard Club. What happened was the meeting ran long, the business meeting. I knew that Andy was there in the next room or in the— Harvard Club has several different restaurants in it, that he was there. And I was late for the meeting, but this— I couldn't like get rid of this. This business thing was going on, and I, for whatever reason, I didn't just cut it off. And so I really regretted it. I can't remember how many minutes behind, like 20 minutes, a significant amount of time. I finally got over to see my godfather, but the time was cut short, and I really felt bad about that. And that was a time when I let the business sort of override what was something that was much more important. And that business deal never amounted to anything. And I never saw that guy again. But my Andy Vance, if you're listening, as sometimes people would say, I'm sorry. Because of course I said I was sorry, but you could see that the little bit of pain in his face, having pain in his knees mostly. That he had come from such a long distance and that I would kind of stand him up. So let's look at, in conclusion, a few practical takeaways from each of these three stories. So we saw the people going two by two. What can we learn from that? I think we learn even though we're not with no money, Jesus doesn't say to go out with no money, right? I mean, you should have your money in your pocket when you go out or your card at least. At least. But even if we have a little, that's not much, right? In other words, we still depend on God. We still need to remember we never have enough money for everything. We depend on other people. We depend on God. And so we should be willing to have some interactions with the people around us and not just be fully self-sufficient. Another thing we can learn here is how When they go into someone's home, they're bringing peace. He says, "Heal the sick." But we can't necessarily heal their sick physically, but we can heal— we can do a lot of encouraging. We can bring a lot of comfort and share a lot of good news. I know we feel like we have limited bandwidth, and that's why we need to divide the people who are receptive and people who are rejecting. If there's people who are toxic or that are getting in our way, we have to sometimes let people go. Or we can't maintain every relationship in order to be with those people who are peaceful that we can have a good relationship with. So what are some practical takeaways from the Samaritan story? And to me, I think the most is the— are we noticing the people around us or the pain that is around us? If one of us were lying on the floor right now with blood pouring out, we would all notice it. But as you know, most wounds are not physical. Most wounds are not visible. They're going on inside people's hearts and minds. And so how can we see those? Even. And so it takes some energy to notice if people's face— budui jin, as we say in Chinese— it's like it doesn't look quite right. And so we can probe and have to find out, how are you really? And then listen. And to do that, we have to slow down a little bit, slow down sometimes. And that's not easy. It seems like we miss opportunities for these kingdom moments, not because we're hard-hearted, but because we just are in a hurry. And I think related to that is, is what about being interrupted? How do we handle interruptions? Are we interruptible? Because it seems like some of these things happen in those moments. They show up in some unexpected ways. And so we need to at least give those a chance. Not every interruption is going to be profitable, but some Some of them will be. And I think we learn from the Samaritan that little bits of mercy can go a really long way in making God's word, God's kingdom, to be a reality. And finally, what are some takeaways from the Mary and Martha story? And I would ask the question, how much time in a day Are we being still? Like let's just say like right now, could we just take one second to just stop? I could just stop talking. How much time are we still in a day? Do we need to schedule quiet time? Is enough? I know for me the quiet time, the best time is in the hot shower. And the problem is that sometimes the water, hot water runs out or runs out for the person after me. Another thing we can take away, I think, is if we're being distracted or irritated by what we're doing, it says God loves a cheerful giver. So if we're doing what we know we're supposed to do it and we're kind of rationalizing, okay, this is the service I should be doing, but it doesn't feel right. Maybe there's a reason, and maybe we do need to think about it or step, step back. But indeed, we live in a Martha world and we have responsibilities, but we still want to cultivate this Mary-like heart and balance the services that we do with stillness. So Jesus rejoiced that day when he heard what the 72 what you were doing. And we should rejoice too because God's kingdom, as invisible as it is, is real and people are responding just like you are here today. And evil is being overcome just as light is dispelling darkness. We shouldn't be surprised that everybody can participate from the babes, from the 2-year-olds through the 82-year-olds. And the way we respond is just by saying yes in the right moment. So let me pray. Father, your kingdom is beautiful, and it's more wise than the most clever of us could ever design. And I want to confess on behalf of all of us that many times we are distracted like Martha. And many times, like the lawyer, we do want to just do the minimum. And I'm afraid our houses sometimes have been shut, shutting people out that we shouldn't have. And I ask, Father, you forgive us. And let peace be in and around our houses and let them flourish with Shalom, your peace. Let us receive your Spirit and share it generously with each other in whatever way that looks like. I know it looks different every day. And let your kingdom be more real, more present day by day. Let that Samaritan inspire us in a willingness to pause our day to help And may Mary inspire us to pause our day to receive your words by the Holy Spirit. Thank you for all these things, in Jesus' name. Amen. Could you please rise and join us?

—my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus, for my life is wholly bound to his. Oh, how sweet Strange and divine, I can sing. All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me. The night is dark, but I am I am not forsaken, for by my side the Savior, he will stay. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need his power is displayed. To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley he will lead. Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. <LYRICS>No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future's sure, the price, it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon. And he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold.</LYRICS> My sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my plea.

Oh, the chains are released.

I can sing, I am free.

Not I, but through Christ in me.

With every breath, with every breath, I long to follow Jesus, for he has said that he will bring me home.

And day by day, I know he will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne.

Sing that again.

With every breath I long to follow Jesus, for he has said that he will bring me home.

And day by day I know he will renew me. —until I sit with joy before the throne. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus.

All the glory and the glory will be given to him when the race is complete. Till my lips shall meet me again. But through Christ in me.

When the race is complete, my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

You may be seated.

Do we have any first-time visitors here today? If so, we have a gift for you. Raise your hand, we will get it to you. If not, go on to the next slide. We have multiple ways to get more information, and I'm trying to be very brief this morning because we have a longer announcement, and I'm trying to yield time to them. But if you need to get more information, it's the weekly bulletin, or you can go to churchcenter.com and you can get more information. So I'm going to briefly go over go over what's up in the next slide. In terms of opportunities coming, you can read yourself there. And so if anything is interesting, you can look in the bulletin or ask us and we can get you more information. So I would like to yield my time where I do announcements today to Richard Zhang. Richard is the chair of the Elder and Deacon Board of WCC. So Richard, come on up and tell us what's going on.

Thank you, Mike.

All right, before I go quick, the information that I'm going to share, I just want to say a few words. And last year, Elder and Deacon Board asked Minister Paul Condrell, Elder Chengxi Huang, Paul Condrell and myself to look into whether the building expansion, what we call the multipurpose hall, was possible. We shared what we learned with both congregations. And in October last year, the church was called to make a pledge. The goal was $1 million. What we said, we will get that if we can get a pledge of $1 million, then we we're going to form the building expansion committee. By God's grace, the pledge went over $1.5 million in January, just last month, and this year. So praise the Lord. And because of that, the board approved the building expansion committee this month. I just actually— actually, it's a couple of days ago. And I'm happy to introduce the team members to you now. Okay, so we'll have a— basically our church expansion structure is there is a special PEC, is a Pastor Elder Board, and it's looking to the spiritual authority. But underneath there's a steering committee, but this committee is just a direction, give a direction, give a approval, give a— if there's a conflict, we try to find a solution, so resolution. So this committee have 7 people— Paul Lu, Paul Condrell, Huang Chengxi, and myself, and Li Yao, and David Liu, and Bai Yufeng. So it consists of different persons, various persons. 10 persons. So some, as they are pastors, some are just ordinary church members. So just give a— basically, it's the steering committee. We also would call the core team. Okay. The next one. So then underneath, there's 4 committees. One is the Ministry and Spiritual Care Committee. This is just make sure that the— what we're doing, the building expansion, Serving our mission. Okay, in this team, there's Paul Condrell, lead this team, and then there are Michael, Michael Badarola, David Zhao, Nihao is another elder, and myself, and then . So basically, we're looking to make sure that our church has unity, and through this project, and follow the— serving our mission. The next one is the design, building design. Design and Site Development Committee. This team is looking to the— what we're doing, we're going to build, it fits our purpose, and how it works, how it looks, and under our boundary. So this team was led by Paul Lu, is our pastor. Members are Lee Yao, Andrew Shen, Rich Xiao, Bai Yifeng, Ashley Yu and Zhang Jie, Yangming Rui, Tsai Jai, Wendy Badarola. So some of them have a specialty in the architect or in the civil engineering. Some, they have some kind of— from other perspective. So this team just work on the design Expansion for the expansion committee. All right? The next one is the construction, because when we— this team is going to engage with the contractor, make sure that the— through the groundbreaking to the completion of the building. So they're going to make sure that's their task. So this team was led by Rich Shaw. If you know that, actually, this West Wing when it was building, Rich was in charge. He was like a project manager, and he also was our chair of this board. Okay, the members will be David Liu, Andrew Shen, and Tu Qiang, Liu Renhua, Youyou Wen. It's also Zhu Hai. He's our deacon for General Affairs. And Kevin Lee is from this congregation, and Paul Lu. Okay, this is the construction team. Finally, it's most important, is finance team, okay? It's keep this project financially wise and also legally correct. In this team, they're led by our elder Huang Chengxi. He is looking into that, and also Sifu Gan, Su Taixia. Su is actually— she's the lawyer. She's a lawyer. She wanted to look into our— make sure that the project is— document was signed, was legally protected. And Bai Yufeng and Julie Tannis. Okay. So this is our full team. So this is— so I want to say a few words on this. When we start this journey, Committee. Okay, just a few reminders. First, this is God's work, it's not ours. Okay, Psalm 127:1 said, uh, tells us that unless God builds a house, we labor in vain. Okay, so this is also a whole church effort, not even we— if you're not on the committee, we really need your prayer and support. And I just heard Paul Condrell just said, we never had enough, right? So we need a continuous prayer, and we are— and we're doing this for the, uh, for the next generation. And so many people in our community can come to know the Christ, okay? And also, this building is not— it's also supporting our other programs. We A couple days ago, when in the board meeting, we're talking about the senior cares program because we have more and more retirees in our church and how we're going to serve them beyond the Bible study. So we're, we're church looking to that. So with this facility, it's going to help us possibility. Okay. And also the, as for the timeline, by this October October. Okay, this, this year's October, all subcommittees will complete their task, and the board will review the plan and submit it for our annual congregation for approval. If approved, and we will start the project early next year. Okay, 2027. So I'm here and just ask everyone to keep praying for the unity, wisdom, and face as we move forward. Okay, that's my report. Thank you for your attention.

I did forget one announcement. We had anticipated the snowstorm might be earlier than it's planned today, so we canceled lunch. And so I believe we're on then for now Next Sunday, perhaps? No? No. Yes or no? OK. OK, all right. Anyway, we've bought food, I guess, and they'll sort it out. OK, so we're not cooking next Sunday, but we should be back to eating in the cafeteria next Sunday. If you would, please rise for the doxology.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below.

Praise him above the heavens.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Remain standing for this benediction. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Amen. Thanks for being here today, and go in peace.