I. Scripture Text Luke10:25-37 (Amplified)
25:And then a certain lawyer arose to test Him saying, “Teacher, what am I to do to inherit everlasting life?
26: Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
27: And he replied, “You must 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.”
28: And Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
29: And he, determined to acquit himself of reproach, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30: Jesus replied, “A certain man was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him of his clothes and belongings and beat him and went their way, leaving him half dead, as it happened.
31: Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down along that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32: A Levite likewise came down to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side of the road.
33: But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled along, came down to where he was; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity and sympathy {for him},
34: And went to him, and dressed his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine. Then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35: And the next day he took out two denari {two day’s wages} and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I {myself} will repay you when I return.
36: Which of these do you think proved himself a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”
37: The lawyer answered, “The one who showed pity and mercy to him”, And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
I want to speak this afternoon along the lines of this very simple thought, “If I Only Had A Friend”.
II. If you’ve ever done any sort of counseling or spoken with anyone who has, there is one common element that most all counselors will hear from nearly everyone who comes through their doors.
“If only I had someone that I could talk to”.
“If only I had someone that I could depend on and trust.”
“I don’t have any REAL friends.”
“There’s no one that I can depend on and really trust in.”
“I’ve been burned by people and I’ve been hurt so very deeply and I just don’t trust anyone.”
“I’m so full of pain and hurt and I have all of this bad going on inside of me and if I only had someone that I could talk to and empty all of this pain into and allow them to pour something good on the inside of me.”
“If I Only Had A Friend.”
Folks, America needs someone to talk to.
They don’t care what it’s about, it doesn’t matter what your beliefs are, they just want someone who’ll listen and who’ll care.
The internet has become a place where people are spending their quality time, in an effort to fill this longing for a friend.
People are going into chat rooms and there they can pour their hearts out, anonymously and they can fantasize that someone is on the other side listening and caring.
People call chat lines and pay upwards of $5.00 per minute to talk to some stranger on the other end of the line and pour themselves out.
People are turning to psychics and spiritualists for help and direction, because they need real answers.
They’re hurting and wounded and they need somebody to love them.
The World, along with many Christians, are crying out for someone to talk to.
III. There are 4 very important things in an individual’s life.
1} Physical Needs – Food, Clothing, Shelter, etc.
2} Emotional Needs – To love and Be loved.
3} Social Needs – Job, livelihood, Provision.
4} Self Worth
You may be able to survive without some of the first 3 of these 4, but you will NOT survive very long, without some level of self-worth!
You will die lonely, depressed and confused, unless you realize that you are worth something and allow something of good to be placed in your heart.
Suicide rates are soaring around the world, because people feel like they are worthless and there is just nothing to live for.
IV. Reverend Robert Schuler built the massive Crystal Cathedral out in California.
He went there and he rented an old vacant theatre and he has now touched millions of lives around the world through that ministry.
He was asked one time how he did it.
Dr. Schuler replied, “I found a hurt and I tried to heal it.”
This generation is crying out, like never before, for somebody to love them.
This world doesn’t need Christians walking around in robes of judgement.
It needs Christians who are full of the love and grace of God, who will bare their burdens with them and sincerely sympathize with their situations and who are ready to heal their hurts.
We need stretcher-bearers, who will pick up the wounded and hurting and carry them to the feet of Jesus.
He is the ONLY thing that will satisfy what our souls long for.
The world doesn’t need more things.
We have a world full of things.
Many of us have multiple cars.
Many have vacation homes.
Every sort of gadget that money can buy.
But money and possessions won’t satisfy.
We need a friend!
We all need a friend.
V. I find, that there’s absolutely nothing, that brings more joy, than to find a hurting, wounded individual and helping to heal those wounds.
You want joy unspeakable, help someone who’s hurting.
Help someone who’s wounded.
The church world, as a whole, needs to fall in love with hurting humanity.
Folks I want to see this assembly, become a body that is ministering to hurting people.
I want us to be a place of refuge for folks who are wounded.
Many have been wounded by religion, I want them to find healing here.
There are those who have been wounded by their family and their home life.
I want to see those who have made a mess of their lives, come here and find a new beginning.
Jesus came to save those who are lost and hurting.
He came to bind up the broken hearted and to heal those who are bruised and wounded in this life.
He has commissioned us to reach them with His love.
We can have programs.
We can have a great move of the Spirit.
We can have wonderful music.
The Bible says that we can speak with the tongues of men and of angels and even have the gift of prophecy, but if we don’t have love, it is all in vain and worthless.
We must have love!
VI. Our greatest show of Christianity, is not when we get dressed up and carry our Bibles to church on Sunday and drop our tithes and offerings in the plate and maybe sing a few songs of worship, listen to a 30-minute sermon and head home.
That’s all nice and good, but that’s not it folks.
Our greatest witness of Christianity, is when we find a man or a woman who is like that one which we read about moments ago in the words of Jesus, who is on the side of the road of life and we don’t care how bad off they are…
We don’t care what they’re involved in or what they’ve done…
But we’ll love them regardless and we’ll care for them and help them to heal their hurts and restore them in a spirit of love and compassion and lead them to Jesus.
That’s what we need.
VII. The reason that many of us are hurting right now and that some of us have come through some hurts in our lives, is because until you’ve hurt and until you’ve been broken, you can’t heal the hurt and the broken.
You can’t feel another person’s pain and sympathize with them, until you’ve felt pain and the agony of despair yourself.
GOD BREAK ME IF YOU MUST, BUT LORD, HELP ME TO HELP THEM!
Somebody’s got to touch lost humanity and if not us, then who will it be?
You may be broken today, but Jesus wants to heal you.
Jesus wants to mend you.
Then He wants you to heal the hurts of others.
You’ll look back on your pain one day and you’ll say, “What the devil meant for evil and what the devil meant for my destruction, GOD meant it for my Good!”
You’ll say as David did in Psalm 41, “By this, I KNOW that you favor and delight in me, because my enemy does NOT triumph over me!”
VIII. Jesus called us to 2 worlds;
1} A Lost World &
2} A Hurting World
When it comes to helping a lost world, most Christians never have a problem with Mathew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
That goes down easy, but where many of us have trouble is in the later part of Mathew chapter 25 concerning a hurting world.
There Jesus says that those who are identified with him…
Will give food to the hungry…
Will give drink to the thirsty…
Will welcome the stranger…
Will clothe those in need…
Will visit and minister to the sick…
Will visit those imprisoned…
He said that if we are to be identified with Him, we will do these things.
I want to identify with these things.
I want to identify with “God so loved the world that He GAVE… He GAVE… HE GAVE!”
I don’t want to go through life just taking, but I want to be a giver.
I want to learn to give more of myself.
IX. In our scripture text, we read that the priest saw this man who was hurting on the side of the road and he crossed to the other side and walked on by him.
Then a Levite man came and did just like the priest before him, he looked at him and walked on by.
I can only imagine what they were thinking.
“I’ll just act like he’s not there and ease on by him, like I never saw him.”
“I’m too good for that, I wouldn’t want anybody to see me, someone with a name and a reputation, down there helping the likes of him, besides I really have too much going on to waste my time.”
There’s no telling what they were thinking.
But now I want us to think about, where do we fit into this story?
We all fit in somewhere.
Then the third man came by and when he saw him, he came to where he was and had compassion on him.
The others went on, but this one cared.
He didn’t care what anyone else may have thought.
He didn’t care that he may get dirty.
All he saw was a man who was hurting and destitute and needed help.
We need compassion for others.
X. We read about a woman in Mathew Chapter 15, who came to the Lord and cried and threw herself upon His mercy.
His disciples didn’t like it and felt that she was too much trouble and they said, “Send her away.”
These were His disciples.
Friend, if they’re too much trouble down the road or elsewhere, send them this way.
I don’t care what mistakes they’ve made.
I don’t care what’s in their past.
I want to love them.
I want to help them.
I want to see them healed and I want to see them loved.
Somebody’s got to love them!
His disciples obviously didn’t understand His purpose and they had absolutely no compassion or mercy.
Lord, don’t let us fall into that position.
We MUST understand His purpose.
We MUST share His love.
We need to love a lost world whose on it’s way to hell and we must love one another and heal each other’s wounds.
We need to join hands and love each other, because we all hurt at times.
There’ve been times in each of our lives, when we’ve most likely said something like, “If I only had a friend.”
XI. I can’t help but think of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
He’s been out wallowing in a pigpen and he is now an outcast.
He’s filthy and he stinks and he’s coming home.
His father rejoiced at the sight of him and began preparing a huge party in celebration of his son’s return.
He didn’t care what he’d done.
He didn’t care what he looked like or smelled like.
He loved him and was just so thankful to have him back home again.
However, his brother didn’t feel the same way.
He didn’t think anyone should get excited about his return.
I can almost hear him and his judgmental attitude, “I can’t believe how he looks.”
“He’s filthy.”
“I can’t believe that you’re gonna throw a party for that no good boy.”
“He don’t deserve it.”
Can you imagine what he must’ve been saying?
I wonder if we were there, would we honestly feel like the father or the older brother?
We are to bind up the broken hearted.
We’re to heal the bruised.
Those who are being held captive by their past, their shame and their guilt, we are to help set them free.
How do we do it?
We show them the love of God.
XII. I was thinking about it.
If Jesus came to Hattiesburg, where do you think He’d go?
A city the size of Hattiesburg, there’s a lot of places that He could go.
There are some very beautiful churches here.
There are many, many places of worship, where wonderful Christian brothers and sisters go each week to praise and worship God.
Some of these places are extremely beautiful and extravagant and there are some very wealthy and elite Christians that attend some of these highly esteemed houses of worship.
Then there are some other houses of worship, where there are some very righteous people.
I even thought about it, here we are coming together and starting a brand new work.
Surely He’d want to come here and be with us and see what’s going on.
Maybe, He’d want to drop in at each one of our places of worship and be with us all.
That all sounds nice and good, but I’m afraid that’s not the reality of it.
If He physically walked into our city, I don’t believe that He’d want to drop into our churches or hang out with the hierarchy of the church.
But based on His Word, He’d be found with the losers… With the sinners… With the outcast… With those who are hurting… With the poor… With the sick… He’d be with those who may look together on the outside, but who are falling apart inside.
He’d be saying, I’ll identify with you.
I can understand your pain.
I’m not ashamed to put my arm around you and be your friend.
He’d love them, just as He loves you and I.
