Msg #24047 Good Samaritan Phase I
What The Bible Says
Good Samaritan’s Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice
Since my childhood when Rices sat around the Thanksgiving table and sounded out about what they were most thankful for, the resounding theme was set by my father, “That God would save the likes of me.” “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (Jhn.3:17). In Luke 10 Jesus answers a lawyer’s question, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He answers with a profound parable of “The Good Samaritan”, who we often role-play, missing the depth of his answer. To inherit eternal life one must first role-play the certain man who was left half dead. Priests in black dresses cannot save you, religion’s Levitical religiosity cannot save you. No, it takes one from out of this world, one who comes to where you are at, one with selfless compassion who pours in oil and wine to lift you up and quicken your soul. Praise God, it takes the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, … that the world through him might be saved.
After salvation one can be Christlike and role-play the Good Samaritan; to seek out with compassion the half-dead and to lift them up with the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, but look first at the account that precedes the lawyer’s question. Jesus said to the seventy returning witnesses, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Jhn.10:20). Every Thanksgiving since 1958 my father Levi Rice, mimed that next verse, saying, “I’m thankful that God would save the likes of me”; most thankful for salvation. Two years later, I started; “I’m thankful that God would save a wretch like me.” Happy Thanksgiving.
An Essay for week #47, Nov 24, 2024
Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/ gs241124.mp3
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A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit
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