July 14th, 2013
Luke 10:25-37 NRSV

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ 27 He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ 28 And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

After reading this passage of scripture we will be using in today's Sunday Lesson. I was reminded of the Lord of how each and every one of us are vulnerable at some time in life. Yet, when we become stable, or established look down upon the plight of others, and do not respond in love. Believing rather that the strong, the rich and the powerful have no responsibility, but to maintain oneself and his or her dominion. Accumulating wealth and giving scraps or peripheral donations to the poor in order to look pious or charitable.

The Lord reminded me of when we were born. We were all quite vulnerable. We were all the same, totally dependent on our parents or guardians to take care of us. In of ourselves we had no strength, and were totally dependent on someone else to take care of us. We came into this world totally dependent, and not self sufficient. Yet, somehow as time goes on and we take upon the mentality of our society, or our peculiar philosophy's in life. We tend to forget where we came from and chagrin the poor, the needy and the less fortunate.

This type of attitude or spirit is within our society's attitude, culture and governmental policies in many ways. However, it shows a lack of understanding of humanity and who we are. For we are no better than the lowest common denominator in our society, and to rise and become stronger we must secure and give hope to hopeless, and touch those who have no power to help themselves. To ignore or to say that this problem doesn't exist in our modern society, is to deny what is ever before us, in an attempt to live in our protective cocoon of self delusion.

In the story of the good samaritan we have a story of an individual with great compassion. Who was from the other side of the tracks if you will. Someone the broken and beaten man would never had associated with. Nevertheless, whom became his hope for healing and restoration of life.

It is this type of love and compassion God wants us to embrace as we live out the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For Christ uses this story to explain to a lawyer how you might inherit eternal life. This is not just a story, this is the example of how a believer's life lives out the gospel message. The one Christ wants us to emulate in lifestyle by sharing Christ's compassionate love to one's fellow man. Rather than with tokenism or scaps off the table, but from a heart of compassion without hesitation and at whatever cost is necessary. That is the message of this passage and that was the sacrificial love that God has shown us by His life, death and mercy as the son of man.

If you would like to listen in to the recording of the message you may. It has been saved on the CGMF Prayerline. You just have to call in as you normally would the Prayerline at 712-432-8399. When prompted enter the conference id number 584684 and you will be placed into the conference, the recording will then start. Our UK number is no longer available. We are trying to get a new number for the United Kingdom. Please be in prayer with us as we try to purchase a new UK phone number for the Prayerline. The service making it available to us has changed its system and so the UK numbers are no longer available.

Our latest installment from our lesson series " Christ In Session " is available for your study today. We pray that you will be blest by the spoken Word of God.

Changes, Upgrades and CGMF News For July.
July 7th, 2013

I know a lot of you have been on vacation, and we have had a hectic last few weeks. Updates other than fixing the School of Faith archives, is just about all we've been able to accomplish online. Our home fellowships are operating as normal, but consolidating in some locations.

This week online we will have two items we will be paying attention to. One, editing and uploading part 4 and 5 of our Christ in Session teaching series. Which has been very well received in our midweek groups. Two, we are trying to upload full files instead of links to many of our audio messages on our ministry archives page. The reason for this is that Xanga, which has hosted these for the past five years is revamping its company or will not be operational after the 15th. From what we have been told they are making the transition to a new service, but our link locations could change. That being the case we are not taking any chances and are working on uploading full audio files onto our archive page. That is proving more difficult than once thought. Nevertheless, we are working on it and progress is being made.

In our home fellowships we are consolidating some groups for better organization. As we have split up some of our groups for a men's only study series on The Authentic Man. CSM Ministries has given us new cd's that didn't have the bad recordings we had previous. They are much better for our use in the study as a whole. I can't wait to see the fruit from that series. A lot of guys are looking much differently at their marriages, relationships, etc.. The mothers and wives I have talked to have been ecstatic about the series so far. LOL.

Keep all this in your prayers. Have a great week folks.